Worst of Stephen King - Worst books or stories

[Mola Ram]

Salem’s Lot is King’s Dracula fanfiction sequel, so it really does work better when you follow it up. Besides, if you’re undertaking reading Stephen King, especially when tackling his good body of work, then you’re really not there to compare it to other authors. Not everything you read needs to be Dovstoyevski.

I just don't think it adds very much to the story. If you're at all familiar with the Dracula story, just about any version of it, you have everything you need. And if for some reason you do miss something, King will helpfully point it out to you, like when the characters muse that the old teacher with all the vampire hunting advice reminds them of Van Helsing.

 

[McMitch]

I just don't think it adds very much to the story. If you're at all familiar with the Dracula story, just about any version of it, you have everything you need. And if for some reason you do miss something, King will helpfully point it out to you, like when the characters muse that the old teacher with all the vampire hunting advice reminds them of Van Helsing.

Yes, it’s more of the same but that’s fine. One of King’s strengths, especially pre-The Stand, was that he understood how character archetypes were the foundation to caring about what happens to said characters; which was more of the forefront when he wrote Salem’s Lot.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

Carrie would be another good one.

The Shining was the first book from King that I read, and that would be a good choice as well.

 

[Mola Ram]

Carrie would be another good one.

The Shining was the first book from King that I read, and that would be a good choice as well.

His early books are often lumped together, but there's lightyears of quality between 'Salem's Lot and The Shining. I'd suggest The Dead Zone, too.

 

[LateNightMuffin]

Goddamnit. I'm just at this moment watching The Twilight Zone: season 5, episode 22 "Stopover in a Quiet Town," and I'm not going to spoil either this show or King's Under the Dome, but I'll just say that they're the same damn idea.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I've been reading Salem's Lot as my first King book (not counting an attempt to read The Stand that I stopped not from disinterest, but because it felt too close to home during covid) and I'm not too fond of it. I get what he was trying to do making the entire town a character of its own, but Salem's Lot and its residents aren't interesting enough to devote hundreds of pages detailing them. The cast are basically all broad stereotypes and in spite of spending whole chapters describing it I don't get a good image and vibe of the town. It's a different medium, but I think Twin Peaks did a far better job with the "small town mystery where most of the focus is on the town itself" concept. I also don't like the weird jokes and sexual comments King includes that just kill any sense of suspense for me. No bigger mood killer of an ominous scene than an old guy farting immediately after.

Is Stephen King just not for me or was this a bad first pick?

I liked Salem's Lot, but I think that's because I'd read a lot of King's other work before getting to it.

I remember enjoying Christine when I was 13, it was my first King novel. Then The Shining and The Green Mile. Lost interest after a slew of bad ones, but came back when someone gifted me 11.22.63, I'd say check out that one.

Really, the best suggestion I can think of is go to a library or a bookstore, find his section (They usually have at least a shelf or two dedicated to him, sometimes more) and read the back covers until you find one that seems like your bag and grab it. If you didn't like it, you're not a Stephen King fan, and you don't have to waste time looking for that one King book that finally gets you hooked.

 

[The Un-Clit]

Is Stephen King just not for me or was this a bad first pick?

That reminds me, it's been a month since you made this post and were given a number of suggestions. Have you checked any of them out yet? If so, what did you think of what else you've tried?

 

[pururun]

That reminds me, it's been a month since you made this post and were given a number of suggestions. Have you checked any of them out yet? If so, what did you think of what else you've tried?

I appreciate you checking back up, but I'm sad to say that I haven't yet. I was taking a breather from King to recalibrate myself. I didn't think I'd be fair to another work after my experience with Salem's Lot so close. My next planned read is Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party, and after I finish that I'll try and check out one of the books mentioned to me.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Just spent significant amount of time searching for specific King book with a specific fucked-up autie little boy, but it turned out I was thinking of "Martian Time-Slip" by Dick.

King has so many fucked-up kids, brain starts to attribute them all to him.

 

[Tragon Dirtle]

I appreciate you checking back up, but I'm sad to say that I haven't yet. I was taking a breather from King to recalibrate myself. I didn't think I'd be fair to another work after my experience with Salem's Lot so close. My next planned read is Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party, and after I finish that I'll try and check out one of the books mentioned to me.

On the off chance that that's your first Christie, I'm afraid it's not one of her best either.

 

[pururun]

On the off chance that that's your first Christie, I'm afraid it's not one of her best either.

Rest assured, I've already read Death on the Nile and loved it. Even if it's not one of her best I wanted to read it for the season.

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

The Langoliers is a snooze fest. But I'm only basing my take off seeing the film. Never read the book.

 

[The Un-Clit]

The Langoliers is a snooze fest. But I'm only basing my take off seeing the film. Never read the book.

The book is a THOUSAND times better then the goofy-ass filmed story. Not the best thing ever written, but competent and an interesting concept well told with a very memorable antagonist who's head you get inside of far better then in the filmed version as well.

 

[sheepworldvizor]

What’s the short story with a teen boy self insert who is horny for a blond girl he sees jogging at night and it somehow ends with his having her AND a brunette as a throuple in the end?

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

The book is a THOUSAND times better then the goofy-ass filmed story. Not the best thing ever written, but competent and an interesting concept well told with a very memorable antagonist who's head you get inside of far better then in the filmed version as well.

Yeah, that's why I prefer novels, and even TV series: you can stretch out the story, as opposed to the limited, one-off runtime of a motion picture. I've made this kind of comparison before, but I'll die on this hill.

 

[Cr1ms0n_&_C10v3r]

The book is a THOUSAND times better then the goofy-ass filmed story. Not the best thing ever written, but competent and an interesting concept well told with a very memorable antagonist who's head you get inside of far better then in the filmed version as well.

I actually enjoy the film. It's so ridiculous it's amazing. The guy playing the man who has a neurotic compulsion to never be late to anything and ends up eaten by the Langoliers really holds the interest by totally hamming it up. The blind girl is so eye-rollingly the King trope of the magical disabled person too. I remember watching it as a kid and being shocked at how bad the CGI was when the monsters finally appear, and how the portal the plane passes through looks like a massive vagina....I couldn't finish the book because I got bored of it but the concept is actually pretty great, like a lot of King stories, but executed in an incredibly cheesy manner.

What’s the short story with a teen boy self insert who is horny for a blond girl he sees jogging at night and it somehow ends with his having her AND a brunette as a throuple in the end?

If you're feeling some kind of way, the Google search engine is your friend.

 

[innocent jogger]

i'm offended that "Writing himself in as god in the last three Dark Tower books" isn't in the poll.

Dave Sim did that in his Cerebus comic as well. Just like King, it was around the time his work started taking a nosedive.

 

[WhiskeyJack]

Finally rewatched The Night Flier for the first time in at least twenty years. Not bad at all. Very made-for-HBO feel to it but it works. Miguel Ferrer (RIP) carries the whole thing, and I liked the vampire design.

Way better than that Sleepwalkers cat-people incest film. That was utter garbage.

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

Watching the 2020 The Stand adaptation.

So many odd choices that bother me. #1 is telling the story in a god damn non-linear fashion which is so mind-numbingly stupid that I can't think of why they did it that way.

The second biggest mistake was completely glossing over the world going to shit. That's the most interesting part of the book and it's completely omitted from this which makes you wonder what even the point of adapting it was.

Having Hemmingford Home be a nursing home is insulting considering Mother Abigail's whole deal was being prideful that she had lasted so long and was still independent.

They glossed over Harold and Nadine's arcs completely which is annoying. They were both kind of rotten from the beginning and don't really convey the internal struggle they had with their destiny, they tried to do it with Harold a bit but Nadine was played as bad from the start.

The guy that plays Tom Cullen is fucking perfect.

Larry Underwood being race-swapped is whatever but the guy playing him has zero charisma and his character is basically blank. Not having Lucy Swann makes his character and relationship with Nadine pretty shallow.

The girl who played Fran was horribly miscast and can't act. I swear that Eion Bailey must have auditioned for Underwood but since they needed to race-swap him they made up a role for him.

The guy who played Harold is great and better than the 90's actor.

Marsden is great mostly because he's playing him the same way Sinese did in the 90s edition.

Ezra Miller doesn't hold a candle to Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man. Playing him as a spastic retard is bizarre.

J.K Simmons was a perfect Starkey.

Saarsgard plays Flagg a little too seriously. He's supposed to be Satan's imp and needs a little bit more fiendish humor than playing him as Satan himself. He actually should have just played him almost like Eric Northman from True Blood which would be more faithful.

I don't like how they made Flagg's side explicitly evil. I rolled my eyes when they mentioned how he had slaves and stuff. The point was not that his side was stereotypical bad guys. His side represented the old way of doing things, the old order. Not just all the bad people in the world grouping up. They were trying to recreate the old world rather than make something new and hopefully better. Fighting pits and strippers is just lazy story telling instead of having a bit of nuance and going over exactly what Flagg's side represented. Smooth-brained writing.

Lloyd Heinreid actor is fine but a big part of his character was he got smarter and more serious while in this he was played the same from the beginning.

Whoopie sucks and doesn't hold a candle to Ruby Dee.

Weird that they didn't do Nadine's black hair and white streak but I'm pretty sure that was just Amber Heard being a bitch and saying "nah, I'm not going to dye my hair for this role"

More as I think of it.

 

[catsandsoup]

The 2020 Lloyd actor looked like a potato and wore a fedora, couldn't replace Miguel Ferrer (even though he was too old for the part), RIP. And absolutely, ditto Matt Frewer, if all the crime hadn't killed Ezra Miller's career, this should have.
But yeah, Tom Cullen was great, sad that the actor passed, if he could come out well of this shitbomb, he could have done a lot more.
And what was with the Final Destination style ending in Vegas? The book is like 'the just and the unjust got wiped out', the show is like 'God will personally chase you with a lightning bolt for crimes against fashion, you leather clad whores!' Like, King is not really a guy who's interested in going deeply into morality, imo, he's fairly straight laced despite the liberal pretensions, but at least in the book you had like, the little kid in Vegas they were looking after, here it's just like a Jack Chick cartoon.