 "Just After Sunset I was disappointed." | 2009-10-24 |
| - Reviewed By bigrockets |
Most of the stories I've read from Stephen King I've really liked. Skeleton Crew and Duma Key were excellant. So I decided to buy a new Stephen King book. Just After Sunset, was a disappointment to me after the other two. The stories seem to ramble on, King gets a bit too carried away
describing useless information about the characters and what they are doing from one minute to the next. I actually skipped a lot of this useless stuff to me, just to get into the story. It's like I was at the gate but couldn't unlock it. When I finally did get to the good part it was just sorta dumped into my lap instead of a gradual introduction to the heart of the story which King is usually so good at.
The Gingerbread Girl was the best story I've read so far in the book. I'm about half way thru it and I'm still not impressed.
King has done much better work that what I've read up till now. |
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| "A Mixed Bag" | 2009-10-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1G7NIRU8QR7MW |
It has been a good few years since Stephen King has released a collection of short stories, so I looked forward to reading Just After Sunset. However, I did not think it was as good as some of King's other books of short stories e.g., Nightmare and Dreamscapes, or Skeleton Crew.
The best stories from this book I thought were Willa, Mute and A Very Tight Place, but I guess each reader will have their own favourites. |
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| "Just After Sunset: Stories" | 2009-10-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3I4GZJZO155GG |
I've heard that some of these stories were previously published, I myself haven't read any before. I do remember The Cat from Hell being part of Tales from the Darkside the movie.
Among my favorites was The Gingerbread Girl. I could not put the book down while reading this one. It's classic King, suspenseful, creepy, with a touch of sarcastic humor when you least expect it. I love that about him. When you're heart is pounding, just at that scary moment, King will add humor that will make you burst out with nervous laughter. Maybe some who have read his books will know what I mean. I can see this short story being made into a tv movie.
For the most part, I did enjoy most of the stories in this collection. However, there were a few I didn't like. Rest Stop for example is one I didn't enjoy. It wasn't boring, but I wanted creepy and scary; this wasn't.
I don't know what it is about Kings work lately, I didn't enjoy his past two books, Lisey's Story and Duma Key. For me, his older stuff is better. And his short stories are usually great. My favorite short story collection of his is Everything's Eventual.
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 "More hits than misses" | 2009-10-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: AOTEOBX9GFZ48 |
King's latest collection repeatedly touches on the themes of overcoming adversity, and of our curiousity/fear of death, and its aftermath. One or two entries harken back to King's earlier, more horrific, work, but this book is not as much of a 'scare-fest' as ere most of his earlier works(and particularly his early antholgy collections, such as 'Night Shift.')
'Sunset' hits most of the right notes, though there are a few that might have been limited by the constraints of the short-story format, and one or two that probably wouldn't have been good at any length.
Quick sum-up of each story:
'Willa'-Interesting idea of the afterlife, likeable main characters, but it seemed a little rushed.
'Gingerbread Girl'-Although 'woman fighting for her life' is not exactly King's most original idea, this was my favorite of the bunch, in a close call. A protagonist who was easy to root for, a nicely metaphorical title, and perfect 'novella' length.
'Harvey's Dream'-interesting take on dream symbolism and premonitions, but I never warmed up to the main characters, and wouldn't even have felt anything for the character most affected by the ending. My least favorite.
'Rest Stop'-OK. The 'Richard Bachman'-inspired 'author with dual pen-names and personalities' concept was better handled in 'The Dark Half'.
'Stationary Bike'-second-least favorite, another one plagued by an unlikeable protagonist, somewhat disjointed plot/writing, a little too much self-referencing of King's recuperation from his accident, and definite hints that King's use of hallucinogens, prescribed or otherwise, has varting effects on the quality of his writing.
'The Things They Left Behind'-another story enhanced by having more room to 'breathe'; a very realistically poignant, but not morbid, tale of 'survivor guilt'. Close second-favorite.
'Graduation Afternoon'-King takes that old joke about bad/uneventful story- writing...'When nothing happens, end the story with 'and then they all got hit by a bus'...and replaces the bus with a mushroom cloud.
'N.'-The narrative technique of letters, reports, news clippings, and e-mail, added something to what might otherwise have been another cliched 'crop circles and demons' tale.
'The Cat From Hell'-Far-fetched but fun.
'The New York Times...'-An even better view of the afterlife-and a nice way of saving the explanation of the title til just the right spot!
'Mute'-Chilling, with excellent insights into the characters.
'Ayana'-another interesting idea that didn't hit on all cylinders.
'A Very Tight Place'-The setup, characters, and motivations quickly give way to the gist-'How does he get out, and what happens next?' Some excellent twists in the answers to both questions!
As another reviewer noted, this is a more sober, reflective, 'Grown-up King'...though he still lets his 'naughty boy having fun' side out to play in a few stories!
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| "Some stories were good, others.....ehhh" | 2009-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: ANROCCNB0TUVD |
| I was excited to read this book when I received it as a gift. It's enjoyable to read a series of short stories and if you're used to reading long novels, this could be a nice change of pace. Some of the stories were good, very interesting; however, I was slightly disappointed because all of the stories lacked in horror. Some of the stories just left me scratching my head, wondering what the point was and feeling like the read was a waste. All in all, the good stories outnumber the less interesting ones and I'd recommend picking up this book. |
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| "Good. Not Kings best, but very good." | 2009-06-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A19I8UUGM3NA49 |
Overall, I have to say - not Kings best collection of short stories.... The first half of the collection seems to be filled with what are essentially throwaway stories. well written and constructed, but not gripping in any way - technically good but lacking any soul. Then the reader gets to the story "N."... and things change. "N." is perhaps one of the best written modern Lovecraftian stories I have seen this side of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The stories that come after that are uniformly good - with one or two truly great ones. "The Things they left behind" is mildly sappy, but heartfelt and worth reading. "Graduation Day" is fun, but I feel it's oddly placed, being right after "The Things they left behind"... But I won't hold that against it... "The New York Times at special low prices" (I might have the title of that one wrong) is really good. And the last story "A Very Tight Place" is just pure King-Gore that made me cringe a few times, and is also a brilliantly constructed allegorical tale to boot...
I still can't say that the book is worth the price in hardcover, but it is well worth reading. Overall, the collection is a solid 6 out of 10 stars. If the first half had been cut out, it would have been a 8.5 bordering on 9 out of 10.
P.S. - Show solidarity with the Amazon affiliates - buy this from Overstock or someplace other than amazon! |
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