Skeleton Crew

This is another collection of short stories - 22 to be exact (19 stories, a novella, and 2 poems).  This also includes the first story King ever wrote, Here There Be Tygers.  Some are only a few pages, while others are quite lengthy.  Rather than go through each story, I will just tell you those that I enjoyed the most.

The Mist - this is the longest in the collection and also the first. This is the story about horrible lab experiment gone wrong creatures that are contained within a mist that rolls over Maine and most of New England. The story centers on a father and his son who are going to the grocery store after a storm has taken out the power - as they are driving there the mist is rolling across the lake and by the time they are ready to leave the store there is nothing to be seen outside but this thick fog. The father quickly realizes that there are creatures in the fog that are killing people, while some other people trapped in the store refuse to face reality. Eventually they are whittled down into two groups - those that make a plan of escape (which includes the father and his son) and a crazy group that believes a human sacrifice is necessary for the creatures and the mist to disappear. I really loved the tension of this story, but I could have done without the coincidence of a thick fog enveloping my city for the past few days!

The Monkey - You know those crazy mechanical/stuffed monkeys that wind up and clap symbols together with that shit eating grin on their face? Yeah, this story is about those freaky things.  I can honestly believe this one as those things are scary all on their own, who would ever give that as toy or think it is a good idea? Ugh!! Anyway, this monkey basically has the power to destroy people when it is wound up and its cymbals clink together. A young boy threw the monkey down a well when he lost both his parents and a best friend. Years later it resurfaces (not for the first time either) and now it threatens his family.  Toys that move around the room on their own and never seem to leave are always thrilling, right?

Mrs. Todd's Shortcut - I loved this one, it is about a wealthy woman who gets a thrill from driving her car fast and trying to be find the shortest route between two points. She pushes the boundaries so much that is just possible that she pushed right through them.

The Jaunt - Terrifying story about the ability to travel from Earth to Mars or from one point to another through a teleportation of sorts. And what happens when you know what you are experiencing.

The Raft - Ah being young and impetuous is such a wonderful thing - until you are trapped on a raft in the middle of a lake in only your underwear and the it is October in Maine. Oh, did I forget to mention the entity in the water that is consuming your friends through the wood slats in the raft? So how do you get out of this one college boy??

Word Processor of the Gods - If you had a computer, that could magically give you everything that you wanted and permanently delete those that you don't want, including people - what would you do? Thought so.

The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands - This was a quirky little story that I enjoyed mostly because it links back to the Breathing Method from Different Seasons.  So again a group of men are together and one is recounting a terrible tale to the listeners, because after all "It is the Tale, not he who tells it."

Nona - Bonnie and Clyde on a murder spree through Maine, except Bonnie has the power to make Clyde feel what she is feeling.  Oh, and Bonnie is dead, so it is really just Clyde in this case.

Survivor Type - If you were completely stranded on a small island that you could walk completely around in 2 minutes, without food, without water, but with several kilos of heroin, what would you do? The surgeon in this story decides that he has to eat, and without anything else being available, why not just eat yourself, from the feet up.

I have to admit that I stalled reading this collection as I know the next book is It and I am a little freaked out to read that again. But I have to do it, I have to face him once more.  I am finding it odd however that when I  am parking my car in public I seem to always find the stop right over the sewer grate. But, that is probably a coincidence, right?

Thinner

Another Richard Bachman - one of my favorites actually.  This is a twisted little tale about a fat lawyer who runs over a gypsy who was passing through town (she was jaywalking), he does not get punished for it by the legal system (connections, it pays to have them) so the gypsy's father puts a curse on him.  To do this he touches his cheek and says "Thinner". The lawyer stars fairly quickly to lose weight regardless of what or how much he eats, which at first is not so bad, but when a month goes by and he has lost 70 pounds, that is a extremely worrisome.  At this point he knows that he as been cursed, but his doctor and wife do not believe it and instead look for some other explanation.  Billy (our hero/lawyer) decides to track down the wandering band of gypsy's and confront this man about the curse asking that it be lifted.

When he finally finds them, he is very emaciated, his wife and doctor have had him committed in absentia, and time is ticking.  The gypsy refuses to remove the curse, so Billy curses him with the "white man from town" curse and calls in a friend of his who is a made man.  This guy starts out by killing their fighting dogs, then shooting up the camp, and finally by threatening to poor acid on the beautiful granddaughters face. The old gypsy decides enough is enough and calls a truce, saying he will remove the curse.  However, it is not that easy.  He puts the curse in a strawberry pie and tells Billy that whoever eats the pie will get his curse. So Billy decides to feed it to his wife so he can live a nice happy life away from it all with his daughter.

But, things don't always turn out as planned and in the end he discovers that Karma is bitch.

The Talisman

I should love this book, I really should - because it deals with the Territories and gives you just a whisper of the Dark Tower and Roland.  But, I did not love it.  Part of it had promise and at times I wanted to like it, but mostly I just wanted it over.  For one thing this book is long, too long.  There is a lot that goes on in here that does not add to the story and instead serves to drag the story along. (As the King said of Mozart's work in the movie Amadeus "Too many notes", this had too many unnecessary words) This book took me a very long time to get through, which is saying a tremendous amount since most of his books I finish in a week.

I found myself skimming paragraphs and trying to just get through, which it breaks my heart to say.  So is it King's fault or Straub's or the combination?  I don't know to be honest.  When I started reading this book it felt new and exciting, so I am wondering if I never read it before, read it and put it out of my mind, or stopped reading it because of boredom. Regardless, I made it through this time - none the wiser or happier for it.

I would love to tell you what this book was about, but honestly do not feel like I really know.  So much potential...."sigh".

Christine

This is the very first Stephen King book that I ever read, the one that started it all for me.  Funny, I still remember picking up this book from the Book Exchange where I lived at the time. Up until then I had mostly gone in for the V.C. Andrews books or kid stuff - this felt like my first real step into adult reading.  I will tell you my mom was not thrilled with me bringing it home - she was afraid that it would scare me too badly I am sure. From this book on I was hooked.  I believe I have read this book around 7 times, so you would think it would have been a faster read this time, but it seemed to take a long time to get through it.  I am sure that some of it was the holidays, but I think it also had to do with my wanting to take the time and really pay attention to it.

This is more than just a story about an evil car. It is a story about love and how we would do anything for those we love. Christine would do it for LeBay, Dennis would do it for Arnie, parents do it for their kids, etc. At the heart of this story is Arnie Cunningham, who is a bit of a nerd or loser in his high school.  He has one close friend, Dennis, who has been his friend since grade school (and is the narrator of the story).  Arnie finds a car one day, or maybe the car finds him, and becomes obsessed about owning it.  The man who had it previously is not a very nice man and was devoted to the car - at the sacrifice of his own family.  Shortly after selling the junker to Arnie, he passes away. Arnie spends every possible minute working on Christine - or seeming to - Christine really works on herself by running her odometer backwards and at the same time running herself back to her pristine condition.  At the same time, Arnie's acne starts clearing up, he gets a girlfriend, and all seems right with the world.

Then things start going downhill fast. His parents, who were beyond pissed that he got the car in the first place, insist he keep it at the airport parking lot instead of the do-it-yourself garage where he had it. While it is there it is vandalized by these bullies who had harassed Arnie at school and became expelled as a result.  Christine is beyond totalled, but some time in the next few weeks she manages to repair herself - only to then sneak out late at night (with no driver by the corpse of LeBay) and kill the boys involved with the vandalizing.  During all this, Dennis is locked up in school, Arnie's parents are in denial about the changes that are happening to him, and his girlfriend is too new to really appreciate what is happening..  The situation escalates when Christine tries to kill the girlfriend in the same way it killed LeBay's daughter.

Much like a lot of things in King's world, evil has a way of getting through and getting what it wants.  The situation may end up ok, but usually a high price has been paid to get there.  Christine is no different.