66%

[Matthew]

What are your thoughts at the 2/3 mark through the book?

[Garrett]

I didn't know whether this novella would fall more on the horror or suspense side of the spectrum, but this is clearly a horror story. Just after the 33% mark, David is already interacting with the things in the mist. I was a little disappointed with that. As the reader, the threat of the unknown is always a little scarier than a tentacle monster/weird bird things.

That said, I don't think King is really trying to scare us with the monsters. Instead, this story is looking like a case study on how fragile our social structures are. We've got tribalism, neurosis (I'm guessing with the old lady; I truthfully don't know what's going on with her), people drinking themselves to a stupor, David having extramarital desires, etc. The mist has been around for half a day, and the group is falling apart.

[Matthew]

Yeah, I'm scared. That spider scene. *shivers*

@garrett: The Mist reminds me a lot of The Stand and I'm willing to bet the lady and the man in black from The Stand are very much the same kind of "person".

[Matthew]

How is everyone doing so far?

[Amanda]

Reading this in 2020 may make it read differently than if I had read it before. The group is falling apart and so quickly turning to anger or alcohol or insanity, and it just feels very much like how people would really react to this kind of hopeless situation. Would I have felt that way last year? I don't know.

[Bob]

Very interesting observation. My cynical side says these last 8 months have shown how we have deteriorated instead of unified (like 9/11/2001) under the stress