Worst of Stephen King - Worst books or stories

[Colonel Gaddafi]

Yeah so, idk if I’ve already posted itt, if so rate me MATI.

Bag. Of. Fucking. Bones.

I’m a horror nerd, I read a lot of King. It took me MONTHS to finish that book. It could have been less than half of the length and been a serviceable haunted house novel, but no. Instead we get a creepy romantic subplot about an author fella wanting to bang a woman half his age, and she’s dying to get into his pants, naturally. Oh and the ghost? A nigger woman who got gang raped by a bunch of white guys (see how progressive I am you all?), so now she’s going to kill their descendants…literally generations later. As you do.

At some point his editors must have just said ‘fuck it’.

 

[Jason Wynn]

Yeah so, idk if I’ve already posted itt, if so rate me MATI.

Bag. Of. Fucking. Bones.

I’m a horror nerd, I read a lot of King. It took me MONTHS to finish that book. It could have been less than half of the length and been a serviceable haunted house novel, but no. Instead we get a creepy romantic subplot about an author fella wanting to bang a woman half his age, and she’s dying to get into his pants, naturally. Oh and the ghost? A nigger woman who got gang raped by a bunch of white guys (see how progressive I am you all?), so now she’s going to kill their descendants…literally generations later. As you do.

At some point his editors must have just said ‘fuck it’.

I read that book once (and only once) in my early 20s and all I remember was just how fucking boring it was. Only finished it out of my autistic obligation to finish every book I begin reading.

People say Tommyknockers is his worst novel (I liked it) but this has to be up there as one of his major clunkers

 

[countrybumpkin]

Yeah so, idk if I’ve already posted itt, if so rate me MATI.

Bag. Of. Fucking. Bones.

I’m a horror nerd, I read a lot of King. It took me MONTHS to finish that book. It could have been less than half of the length and been a serviceable haunted house novel, but no. Instead we get a creepy romantic subplot about an author fella wanting to bang a woman half his age, and she’s dying to get into his pants, naturally. Oh and the ghost? A nigger woman who got gang raped by a bunch of white guys (see how progressive I am you all?), so now she’s going to kill their descendants…literally generations later. As you do.

At some point his editors must have just said ‘fuck it’.

I came here to say this. Bag of Bones is not just the worst King book, but it may be the worst book I've ever read. Just awful.

You left out the pointless adoption thing that was thrown in at the end and left completely unresolved.

 

[Constellationzero]

Started reading From a Buick 8 a few days ago. I've already read a similar story in Bazaar of Bad Dreams that sucked. Had to do with an Eldritch car that ate people while some kid slept in an abandoned gas station/food court after drinking random booze he found in an abandoned Burger King.

From a Buick 8 is...okay. He's taking fucking forever to get to the point and I'm still trying to picture this old "Buick" and its instrument panel and huge steering wheel.

Anyone else read it? I almost feel like he heard From a Buick 6 and just decided to write some bullshit around it rather than have an actual story in the first place.

 

[Otoya Yamaguchi]

daddy molesting his daughter in Geralds Game. totally gratutious and served no purpose to the story

 

[Mola Ram]

daddy molesting his daughter in Geralds Game. totally gratutious and served no purpose to the story

It's not gratuitous at all; it's the psychological hinge of the novel and confronting it is what allows the main character to compose herself enough to figure out how to escape.

Which does not stop it from being one of the worst pieces of shit King ever wrote, however. I'd make the same argument about the preteen gangbang in It -- it's vile, it's loathsome, it's reprehensible ... but it didn't come out of nowhere, and is the scene which links the adult and childhood segments of the novel. It might make sense from a structural standpoint, but it's so graphic that it's otherwise indefensible.

Gerald's Game was part of this weird spate of feminist stuff he did in the 90s, books that focus on domestic abuse and often feature Stronk Wammen in the lead. Gerald's Game, Rose Madder, Insomnia (which includes a typically hamfisted take on abortion, and ends with the abused wife becoming a lesbian, because of course that's how sexual orientation works). The best of them, the only one really worth reading, is the companion novel to Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne. Both novels turn on the eclipse that takes place during the molestation scene you mentioned (in Dolores Claiborne it's during the eclipse that the main character kills her abusive husband). The importance of the scene to the plot might only be clear if you read both books, which makes one wonder why he didn't just combine them into a single novel. They're both very short by King standards.

I often wonder if this era for King was his response to his daughter coming out of the closet; I think she married a woman not long after he got it out of his system.

 

[Otoya Yamaguchi]

it's the psychological hinge of the novel and confronting it is what allows the main character to compose herself enough to figure out how to escape.

couldve gone a lot of other routes for childhood trauma. her mom couldve beat the fuck out of her, thats where my trauma came from

Which does not stop it from being one of the worst pieces of shit King ever wrote, however

i actually liked the book as a whole

I'd make the same argument about the preteen gangbang in It -- it's vile, it's loathsome, it's reprehensible ... but it didn't come out of nowhere, and is the scene which links the adult and childhood segments of the novel. It might make sense from a structural standpoint, but it's so graphic that it's otherwise indefensible.

i actually dont mind it AS much because, well, teenagers fuck and it wasnt an incest thing, or a rape thing.

I often wonder if this era for King was his response to his daughter coming out of the closet; I think she married a woman not long after he got it out of his system.

lololololol

 

[skykiii]

i actually dont mind it AS much because, well, teenagers fuck and it wasnt an incest thing, or a rape thing.

I thought the group-sex scene in It was infamous because they weren't teenagers--they were children. Like wasn't the oldest one only 9 or 10?

 

[CowPox]

Duhma Key was the last King book i started, one of the few books i've put down after reading about half. I considered giving his JFK time travel book a try but with so much other shit to read i may never get to it.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

daddy molesting his daughter in Geralds Game. totally gratutious and served no purpose to the story

King wanted to see if he could type one-handed.

 

[McMitch]

I thought the group-sex scene in It was infamous because they weren't teenagers--they were children. Like wasn't the oldest one only 9 or 10?

To be as fair as possible, they're 11 rather than 9, and it's a train rather than an orgy.

That whole scene really is the culmination of a bunch of different things regarding the writing of It and Stephen King's career as a whole. King is not a creative writer when it comes to inventing new plot points and tropes, but he is was very good at using ones he already knew. The two major hallmarks of his writing was the willingness to spend pages to describe a scene in effective detail, and his willingness to use events in his stories that would be describe as vulgar or tasteless if less craft went into them. King also infamous for plotting as he writes, which has resulted in a reputation for endings that fizzle more than anything else.

tl;dr Author known for writing shocking scenes in detail writes most shocking scene of his career in detail.

Quoting myself because I went on an entire diatribe that I don't think needs copied over in its entirety.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Stephen King really likes the gamer word.

 

[Mola Ram]

Stephen King really likes the gamer word.

Yet the cowardly sonofabitch has taken to capitalizing "Black" in his more recent work -- it's all over his latest one, Holly.

He's also intensely fond of Magical Negroes, about as much as he loves Magical Retards.

 

[CowPox]

Yet the cowardly sonofabitch has taken to capitalizing "Black" in his more recent work -- it's all over his latest one, Holly.

He's also intensely fond of Magical Negroes, about as much as he loves Magical Retards.

I sometime wonder if he's ever met a black person who has less than half a million in their savings account...

 

[Mola Ram]

I sometime wonder if he's ever met a black person who has less than half a million in their savings account...

It's very obvious he never met any Jews at all until after he was successful. His second novel, 'Salem's Lot, features a Jewish mortician whose every line of dialogue sounds like Jackie Mason shtick.

 

[Constellationzero]

So, I got to the part in the book where King dead ass mentions the song From a Buick 6. Now I'm convinced he just got autistic about that song for a bit and tried to write something around it as opposed to having a story in the first place.

Wonder if Tabitha reads much of his first drafts and how far back her eyes must roll when she sees her own IQ dropping.

 

[Bonesjones]

I sometime wonder if he's ever met a black person who has less than half a million in their savings account...

He lives in Maine. I'd be surprised if he saw more than one in passing.

 

[TVB]

Stephen King really likes the gamer word.

wtf i love Stephen King now???

 

[skykiii]

Wonder if Tabitha reads much of his first drafts and how far back her eyes must roll when she sees her own IQ dropping.

dunno about nowadays but I recall a story (possibly apocryphal) that said she's the reason he became a novelist.

The story goes he had written Carrie, but thought it was garbage... and chucked it in the trash. His wife found it, read it, and said "dude this is good! Get it published!"

So he did, and you know the rest.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

dunno about nowadays but I recall a story (possibly apocryphal) that said she's the reason he became a novelist.

The story goes he had written Carrie, but thought it was garbage... and chucked it in the trash. His wife found it, read it, and said "dude this is good! Get it published!"

So he did, and you know the rest.

Tabitha used to act as a sort of beta reader for him, including for Carrie. One of his big issues is that much like other major authors, he no longer has people like editors reading for him since they know that whatever he crapped out would print money as is. Carrie isn't his best work by any means, but compared to some of his other work (especially more recent), it's perfectly readable and memorable. The De Palma adaptation is superior, but I recall enjoying it as a teenager.