Least favorite King book?

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Least favorite King book?

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1TheTwoDs
Abr 4, 2007, 9:48 am

For me, I felt that The Tommyknockers just dragged on and on, lost its way several times and sputtered to a conclusion. I figure it might have to do with King being at rock bottom with his substance abuse struggles during the time he was writing it.

I also had a hard time finishing Insomnia as it just didn't grab me. Perhaps I was too young (in my 20s) to want to read about old folks. I will re-read eventually and come to it with a new perspective (and 15 more years).

2paghababian
Abr 4, 2007, 10:31 am

I agree with you on The Tommyknockers. I read about 50 pages and had to put it away.

Another least favorite is The Regulators. I enjoyed the connections to Desperation, but I would have hated it as a stand alone book.

3littlebookworm
Abr 4, 2007, 10:47 am

I completely agree about The Regulators. I bought it without reading Desperation and could not get through it.

I think that one and Pet Sematary are my least favorites. I just didn't like that one much at all.

4royalhistorian
Abr 4, 2007, 10:59 am

Funny, for me it's The Tommyknockers too! I read a few pages when I got it from my parents, but I didn't like the style so I put it away. Also, I didn't understand some things that happened in the story. Maybe I should try it again...

I had read Desperation (or was it the Regulators though? It's the book where cars are coming down from a hill and almost kill everyone off in the street) first and I was hooked. Then I read the other novel and it didn't grab me as I expected. The characters were way to unrealistic.

5atuinsails
Abr 4, 2007, 11:30 am

The Tommyknockers is the only book of Stephen King's I couldn't finish on the first try. Even rereading it didn't make it any less frightening to me. I have a real phobia about people messing around in my head sort of thing. I don't like The Tommyknockers, but only because it is one of his scariest books to me.

6cactus1girl
Abr 4, 2007, 7:10 pm

I was very dissapointed in Kings most recent 'Lisey's Story' I just couldnt get into it no matter how hard I tryed.

7andyray
Abr 5, 2007, 7:22 am

steve waxes brilliant, good, fair, and occasionally zilch. an example of zilch is the recent "Cell," which utilizes his frenzied trip in time plotting. there is almost NO CHARACTER fashioning. it's more like a comic book of fiction. didnt like his collaborations with peter straub much either. funny. i liked tommyknockers. it went darker than most.

8cdyankeefan
Abr 5, 2007, 8:54 am

i have to agree with you andyray- didnt like the cell at all- thought it was monotonous and would never end

9Bookmarque
Abr 5, 2007, 9:38 am

I actually quite like Tommyknockers. Gard ol' Gard cracks me up.

Least favorite, based on the fact that I didn't finish it is Insomnia. I didn't make it past the 4th Dark Tower book either. Just can't do it.

Least favorite that I did finish is From a Buick 8. Cell wasn't great either, but I would have to put it slightly above Buick.

10StefanY
Abr 5, 2007, 11:38 am

I'd have to say that my least favorite was Dolores Claiborne. That opinion may change as I am re-reading all of his works in chronological order, but for now, that's my least favorite.

11TheTwoDs
Abr 5, 2007, 11:47 am

StefanY - I am doing the same, but interspersed with other reading. Over the last few years I've made it from Carrie to Firestarter, while also skipping ahead to Everything's Eventual and Cell.

I did enjoy Cell for its fast pace and gruesome violence, it reminded me of a Richard Laymon type story, minus the gratuitous sex.

12StefanY
Abr 5, 2007, 12:16 pm

TheTwoDs, I usually have two books going at a time: one that I read at work and one that I read at home. I'm trying to keep at least one of those a King book at all times. So far I've made it from Carrie to The Stand: the complete and uncut version (I read the complete uncut version instead of the regular version because I didn't feel that I needed to read it twice.)

I'm starting on The Long Walk tonight, as I'm trying to work the Bachman Books in as well as I get to their place in the publishing order. Then it's on to The Dead Zone. I've got Cell and Lisey's Story, and I'll probably read them as my second book at sometime out of the order of the series. I thought about waiting until I got to them, but I don't think that I have that kind of patience!

13TheTwoDs
Abr 5, 2007, 12:20 pm

I know what you mean about patience, I feel the same way about Lisey's Story. I've read so many good reviews. The paperback is out in June, so I'll pick it up and read it then.

14Bookmarque
Abr 5, 2007, 12:23 pm

Lisey's Story was a challenge for me to get into. I almost gave up, but am glad I didn't despite Lisey herself being an annoying twit.

15SidWainwright
Abr 7, 2007, 7:58 am

I've never been particularly keen on Cujo - never warmed to any of the characters,thus didn't really care about their predicament...The movie's pretty terrible too!

16Bookmarque
Abr 7, 2007, 8:06 am

Ditto on the Cujo assessment Sid. I rooted for the dog. : (

17coloradogirl14
Abr 7, 2007, 3:48 pm

Cujo wasn't one of my favorites, but it's not my least favorite either. I didn't really care for Cell or Rose Madder either, and I haven't been able to get into the Dark Tower series (the first book just didn't grab me), nor Firestarter. I tried, but it just didn't interest me.

18littlebookworm
Abr 7, 2007, 4:56 pm

I forgot Dreamcatcher. That's the worst one of his that I've read. I think I liked Cujo, but I read it a long time ago so I can't remember much beyond that.

19quartzite
Abr 11, 2007, 4:59 pm

Pet Semetary and Cujo--animals or kids gone bad= bad horror in my book. Also Tommyknockers was pretty painful.

20royalhistorian
Abr 20, 2007, 9:13 am

Hm, but isn't that one of the fears of parents? That their kids do weird things or go wild? I thought that this was the moral of the story...

21basbleu39
Abr 24, 2007, 1:00 pm

I have said it before, and I will say it again, I barely could make it through Lisey's Story. That "language of marriage" on every page just caused me to stumble and stop. I was patient. I waited. The overall IDEA was appealing to me, but I was disappointed.

22codiebelle78
Abr 24, 2007, 6:07 pm

Delores Claiborne... I could never finish the book, also couldn't get through the movie. For some reason it didn't hold my interest at all.

23siew
Maio 1, 2007, 8:26 am

#1 - I didn't like Insomnia either; I forced myself to finish it, thinking along the way that things would pick up and the finale would be amazing or something, but the slow build up fizzled at the end for me.

24mrgrooism
Maio 6, 2007, 12:37 pm

I too agree that Tommyknockers was for me the worst, followed by Cujo and Dreamcatcher.

However, I love SO MUCH of his body of work, that these bumps don't bother me.

25Phlox72
Editado: Maio 6, 2007, 1:07 pm

Everything else besides Christine. I tend to see King as a master at verbalizing what is unimaginably repugnant. I don't get much more than that from his works.

BTW: Dean Koontz falls into the same category in my opinion. Only difference is I've read very few of his works and never one I liked.

26gmork
Maio 8, 2007, 11:18 am

Of what I've finished:

Rose Madder - possibly one of the worst works of fiction I've ever read, by anyone at any time. Truly awful.
Dreamcatcher - Yee gawds, what a trainwreck.
It - I'm probably the only person in the world who hated it, but I did. The characters felt liked they'd stumbled out of a comic book.

Didn't hate Black House but I was sure disappointed by it. I was really expecting a lot more there.

What I couldn't bring myself to finish:

Desperation/The Regulators

I may take another crack at this one, since I generally like everything he's written as Bachman. But I just could not get into it.

27coloradogirl14
Maio 8, 2007, 4:20 pm

I agree about Rose Madder, disagree about Dreamcatcher, and COMPLETELY disagree about It! lol But to each his own... :)

The Regulators is high up on my TBR pile, so hopefully I'll like it. If not, I'm only out a buck! (Gotta love used book sales at the library!)

28andyray
Maio 9, 2007, 3:09 pm

gnork: your hates and likes are easy to figure:
your mind works simpler than others. (not stupider; this is not a negative thing)! The Bachman books are wholly simpler than the others you mentioned, especially Dreamcatcher. i have a friend who groks Ram Dass and linear revelations, but who is totally lost with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He simply doesnt care about mystery, horror, or fantasy. "With the child-hood I had, you cannot frighten. Witht he drugs I took, you cannot beat the fantasies I've already experienced." so says he.,

29MEM82
Maio 9, 2007, 9:06 pm

I wasn't a a fan of the Tommyknockers or Rose Madder but the Stephen King book that I just hated from front to back was Gerald's game. I even re-read it a few months later just to see if I really did dislike it as much as I thought I did (sometimes I have to give books second chances... kinda silly, i know). Alas I hated it even more the second time around.

30gmork
Maio 10, 2007, 7:38 am

gnork: your hates and likes are easy to figure: your mind works simpler than others. (not stupider; this is not a negative thing)!

No offense taken. :)

The Bachman books are wholly simpler

Not sure what you mean by this, since Desparation/The Regulators was one I couldn't bring myself to finish. Didn't particularly care for Road Work, either, come to think of it. Probably King was trying to write like Donald Westlake/Richard Stark (whom I do like, I admit...in fact I learned about him via King in the first place) and did not do a particularly good job at it.

than the others you mentioned, especially Dreamcatcher.

What is particularly complicated about people dying by farting themselves to death?

And, like I said, I see to be a minority of one amongst King fans with It. Everybody else seems to love this one. Except me.

31coloradogirl14
Maio 10, 2007, 3:53 pm

Gmork - That was one of the things I loved about Dreamcatcher! But then again, I was raised with a somewhat crude sense of humor!

32gmork
Maio 11, 2007, 8:33 am

#31, to each their own, I guess. ;)

all the way back to...# 1 - I didn't hate Insomnia, though it did seem kind of over long. I thought the first part of the book was excellent, in fact, but that it went downhill with some rather odd things like a rant against those opposed to abortion (even though this does pretty much reflect my personal beliefs) and what to my eyes looked like a very forced tie-in to the DT series.

33Arwenya
Jun 6, 2007, 6:23 am

hearts in Atlantis I was very disappointed! nothing to do with his other works

34TheBentley
Jun 6, 2007, 6:43 am

Thank God someone finally mentioned Gerald's Game. There's a whole little spate of domestic violence books right around that time that I didn't care for at all, (Delores Claiborne and Rose Madder for instance) but Gerald's Game is by far the worst of them.

I've heard it suggested that those books were King's way of trying to artistically work through the frequent criticism that he can't write women. I think he just did the spouse abuse research for Insomnia (where it's a small part of the story) and couldn't get it out of his head, so he tried to write it out. (And, ironically, I think his earlier women--like Wendy Torrence and Donna Trenton--were much better characters.)

I wasn't a big fan of The Tommyknockers, but I think everything he wrote before he got clean and sober is better than anything he wrote after. I appreciate his need to put his life before his art. I think he should have done that. But the raw truth is that nothing he's written since he cleaned up his life can hold a candle to the darkness in those early books like The Shining and The Stand.

35paghababian
Jun 6, 2007, 8:32 am

Arwenya, Hearts in Atlantis had everything to do with his other books... but style-wise, I know exactly where you're coming from. It had the small town feel of the Derry books, but the mystery of Ted Brautigan is hard to realize without Dark Tower 7, which wasn't even out when Hearts in Atlantis was published.

36gmork
Editado: Jun 6, 2007, 3:17 pm

# 25 I felt the same you did re: Koontz until I read Odd Thomas and Forever Odd. (Haven't read the third one yet.) Nothing lifechanging or earthshattering in either book, but both were very entertaining.

37andyray
Jun 7, 2007, 1:32 pm

To TheBently: re your comment that everything he did after he got clean and sober wasn't as good as before. yeah. kinda. but (1) he came into his own in FANTASY (not horror) with Rose Madder and the nuances of The Green Mile and Hearts in Atlantis (novelette). Too, I got clean and sober in 1989 and hadn't published anything until 1990. Since then -- four books. Thought you'd like to know from the horse's mouth. (We can be blessed that he continues to publish consistently decent books (EXCEPT FOR CELL). Havent read Lisey's story yet.)

38andyray
Jun 7, 2007, 1:35 pm

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39andyray
Jun 7, 2007, 1:36 pm

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40DaintyC
Jun 7, 2007, 2:12 pm

I don't believe that S.F does a good "scary" alien/alien invasion story at all, hence his worst works IMAO, in numerical order are: Dreamcatcher, The Tommyknockers, The Regulators, Desperation (and yes, d....t!), It.

It did not have a great monster--I can't, can't for the life of me phantom what's so scary about a clown/giant spider/from outer space.

I am sorry to all those out there who are suffer from 'clown-phobia' and don't think I sympathize LOL....seriously, a scary clown?) but this story would have been great with a better monster.

41DaintyC
Jun 7, 2007, 3:08 pm

Oh, I bought Roadwork, read it, deemed it a waste of time, and traded it. It's the only S.K book (I was compiling a collection) I never wanted to read again, little did I know that worst was to follow. Insomnia and Everything's Eventual are also on the list of stinkers.
I will constantly re-read every thing (except the stinkers I already have, of course) he has written before The Dark Tower 7 and just assume that whatever follows are his 'finally run out of steam "what left" ' attempts.

42Bookmarque
Jun 7, 2007, 5:33 pm

DaintyC - I don't think it was the form of the monster that was supposed to scare you, but the fact of it. The fact that it is older than dirt and feeds off of humans in some atavistic cycle that we can not possibly control. The fact that it preys on our fears and creates them for us. It is the progenitor of nightmare. It is eternal. It needs us, and in some twisted way, we need it.

That's what was supposed to be scary, not the spider. Not the clown. The spider was just how it was hanging out now. The clown form is the same - a vehicle for fear. Something innocent or otherwise harmless made terrifying. Other forms of it had been around for a long, long time (check out The Library Policeman to see what I mean).

43Arwenya
Jun 8, 2007, 5:39 am

paghababian, Yes you're right I live in France and Dark Tower 7 was not published but this is not the matter . I will try to explain more clearly what I mean. Reading Stephen King's book I'm expecting to be taken from reality to terror, fright,fantasy, horror...and in hearts in Atlantis there are only small touches (and very few) & after 100 pages I was still hoping to be taken in this world but NOTHING till the end of the book so I was very disappointed.
It's like Colorado kid. I was also disppointed.
It's not what I'm expecting when buying & reading Stephen King's books.

44TheBentley
Jun 8, 2007, 7:22 am

>39 andyray: Andyray: I didn't mean to appear to support the myth that artists have to be drunk or stoned to produce. That's simply not true. (In fact, usually the opposite is true--in your case, for instance.)

I think it's an unfortunate fact in S.K.'s case, but I think that's because his special gift is writing about demons and he's mostly exorcised his own. His best work came out of that flaming pit that he was living in and you can see it. It's possible that to write truly gripping visceral horror, you have to be living it on some level. But Peter Straub and Phil Rickman both do some excellent work, and they seem to be perfectly stable guys.

And you're right that he's done some decent work since, which wouldn't exist if he hadn't cleaned up his act. By now, he'd be dead. Personally, I really liked Bag of Bones, and, at the risk of getting flamed on this particular thread, I really liked Insomnia.

And don't get the idea that I don't applaud his choice (and yours, of course). But I still think literary history will split King's work into the troubled years and the untroubled ones.

45DaintyC
Jun 8, 2007, 11:22 am

"...The fact that it is older than dirt and feeds off of humans in some atavistic cycle that we can not possibly control. The fact that it preys on our fears and creates them for us. It is the progenitor of nightmare. It is eternal. It needs us, and in some twisted way, we need it."

Well said Bookmarque! (You obviously totally got this book)

I can wholeheartly agree now that's it been explained from that point of view. But that it had to be explained for me to get 'the shivers' effect, total defeats the purpose of the book being a good scare (that saddens me).

Call me simple, but other that calling up the images that a writer's word invokes, I don't want to work at finding a deeper/hidden meaning for the thrill of the scare (I can just read Shakespeare or the bible for that--the hidden meaning, not the scare, LOL).

I like my frights, my monsters right up in my face--and thats why I can never appreciate It the way you and its fans do.

46royalhistorian
Jun 9, 2007, 4:30 am

I loved the Regulators, but didn't care much for Desperation. Didn't quite enjoy Hearts of Atlantis either.

47andyray
Jun 14, 2007, 5:03 am

for the reader who plaints that SK doesn't consistently reproduce the horror or thrill he/she expected, the key word to your problem is:

Expected.

when i pick up a king book, i expect nothing but to be brought into a world that he inhabits because he is going to tell me a story. it may be about a teenaged girl wandering through the woods trying to keep up hope by listening to a baseball game, or it may about a car with its own dark soul, or a rabid dog, but it is well presented and i feel comfortable in his world. the reason he's so good is he thinks of us before he writes and presents the story that way. he didn't do that in CELL and that book is the first strike he's made IMHO.

48andyray
Jun 14, 2007, 5:07 am

To TheBentley: you are absolutely right about the criticisms being split between two eras -- the using and non-using ones. At least, you would be right if our literary critics ever used chemicals to establish a "period" of a writer's life. unless we have a new kind of literary criticism of late, the 20th century critics would not get into chemical influences re a writer's works for love or money. to do that would take away from cerebral intent and make their psychology-prone slicing ineffective. It, in other words, would be too simple. SK has said he got his nightmares from his drinking dreams. cannot tell you how i know that. it's from an ANOYMOUS source.

49andyray
Mar 13, 2009, 10:41 pm

almost two years later from the last comment and here's the score:

lisey's story -- havent read, but own.
duma key -- havent read, but own.
blaze -- could not read. THE ABSOLUTE WORST THING SK HAS EVER DONE IMHO. I won't put ikt in my library if i can not get throiugh it, but i'll put it aside and try again later.

i have read insomnia again and this time it came across as an A rqatingl and i am wondring how much i have changed cause before i gave it a c and it was not particularly rememberable. Now, however, the litle doctors with their snippers and the mean little fellow with his rusty razon wont leave my mind.

50Moomin_Mama
Mar 28, 2009, 8:18 am

Gerald's Game, without a doubt. Utterly ridiculous. One of the worst books I've read.

51RebeccaAnn
Mar 30, 2009, 5:33 pm

Oddly enough, I despised Pet Semetary. I found it utterly boring. Maybe I went into it expecting too much (but come on, the cover of the book said Stephen King himself was scared to write this - I had high hopes!). I'm rereading all his books in chronological order and I'm definitely going to give Pet Semetary another shot, but man, that was painful the first time through.

52Swinny
Abr 3, 2009, 1:00 am

Well... I didn't care much for the any of the Richard Bachman books, the ones that I read at least. The Long Walk, especially, that would probably be my least favorite.

But as far as books he wrote under his own name, I didn't care much for Cujo, and I didn't think Insomnia was that great either, after expecting it to be one of his best after all the things I've heard about it.

There's really no books of his that I can say I disliked, but some weren't just up to his usually standards of writing.

53bardsfingertips
Nov 5, 2009, 12:30 pm

I thought Cell was just a bad, low-ball of a book. I did not hate it, I just felt it could have been much better had he focused a little more.

54absurdeist
Nov 21, 2009, 9:39 pm

I read everything King published between 1974 & 1987, including all the Bachman and Danse Macabre (but not The Dark Tower as it was still a rare, limited edition at that time) and even Cycle of the Werewolf - anything and everything I could find - but 150 or so pages into The Tommyknockers, I thought I'd quit King for good. Terrible book. King at his worst. Someone mentioned he had a substance abuse problem at this time; doesn't surprise me, but then he also published Misery that same year, and I thought it was a throwback to his really classic, edgier stuff in the mid-70s - terrific. Turns out I quit King for about two decades. I'm loving Under the Dome! Where has this group been my entire LT life?

Hi bardsfingertips!
Hi BeckyJG!

55bardsfingertips
Nov 21, 2009, 9:59 pm

Yo, Freeque!

I'll always be a King fan, so I will read whatever he outputs (in the form of Fiction).

565hrdrive
Dez 16, 2009, 11:03 am

Hey, I just found this group, took all of about two seconds to join up. My vote goes to From a Buick 8. Took me about five years and as many tries to get through that one.

57SirStuckey
Editado: Jan 30, 2010, 1:21 am

Of his novels my least favorite of the 22 I have read is Cujo.

- I didn't like any of the characters except pre-rabies Cujo.
- I thought the way Vic came to a realization that they were trapped in the car vs. Cujo was far-fetched.
- Feels a little dated.

I didn't hate it by any means it was just my least favorite thus far. Although a lot of the books being mentioned by others I haven't read yet.

58johnmischief
Fev 11, 2010, 1:45 pm

Cycle of the werewolf. nice illustrations, but weak story.

59Raychild
Mar 18, 2010, 6:59 pm

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60Raychild
Mar 18, 2010, 7:16 pm

I have to agree with Moomin_Mama on this one. Gerald's Game just didn't grab me. It's the ONLY Stephen King book I've ever put away unread after 50 pages. (Except for The Stand, but I was only 12 and I at least got halfway through it) A lot of the others listed here I haven't read, like Tommyknockers, Cycle of the Werewolf, From a Buick 8, or the Regulators. But I loved Lisey's Story, Cell, and Desperation. Soemtimes I think it depends mood I'm in when I attempt to read the book.

61vancelot
Maio 3, 2010, 2:30 pm

I have a hard time criticizing any of SK's stuff. Maybe I'm just some kind of weird King-ite. Anyway, while I've enjoyed at least part of everything of his I've read, and I've read everything he's wrote, a few books were hard to get into. Lisey's Story was slow reading for me. It wasn't necessarily bad, but just nowhere near my favorite, same with Duma Key. Gerald's Game just didn't stand out at all, and even though I've read it, I don't really retain much about it. From A Buick 8 was probably my least favorite. Cell wasn't a masterpiece from a storytelling POV, but was bloody, violent fun. I don't always love every part of every book, but I am able to find enjoyable parts of every book, and I'd read a book about paint drying if SK wrote it.

621dragones
Maio 3, 2010, 2:36 pm

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is probably my least favorite Stephen King book. I only bought the unabridged audio version... but I hated it so much I may never even look at the hardcover novel.

63bardsfingertips
Maio 4, 2010, 1:55 am

The Pop-up book for Tom Gordon is pretty neat ;-)

64Daedalus18
Maio 4, 2010, 12:28 pm

I'm pretty sure that Wizard and Glass is my least favorite King book. But my standards are shifty on this subject. The story was good - much better than some other SK books, in fact. The thing that bothered me most was the fact that at *least* a third of the book was unnecessary and didn't further, color or affect the story. The repetition was b r u t a l. I've never been so angry at a lack of editing.

Once the reader survives the flashback - they get shunted into the great idea that was the post Captain Trips landscape, which ends in a heartbeat and drops you into... Oz. I wanted to kill someone.

That said - the story is essential. I've recommended that people read a pared down synopsis rather than reading WaG. The best alternative, IMO is reading The Gunslinger Born instead of WaG (then read the last 50 pgs of WaG).

I know this isn't an opinion shared by all, or even a large minority - but I am gratified to read that a sizable number of people felt the same way I did in Amazon reviews.

The Wastelands is an inferior story - but Wizard and Glass is like a brick wall in the middle of The Dark Tower series, to me.

Once upon a time SK wrote about doing a giant series spanning reedit of the books (I hope I'm remembering that correctly - maybe the announcement was pre-Wolves of the Calla), if that was to happen - in a sane world, Wizard and Glass would be about 250 pages long.

65Daedalus18
Maio 7, 2010, 2:28 pm

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66sucksinked
Maio 9, 2010, 9:44 am

My least favourite Stephen King book was The Regulators. Was so happy to find it at the library - thinking 'wow, a stephen king I haven't read' and though it was terrible - very obvious and there was not a lot of the build-up as in his other books.

Also, I'm finding it hard to finish Bag of Bones, but it is atmospheric.

In contrast to many above, I loved The Tommyknockers!

67copefiend2
Ago 2, 2010, 7:25 pm

Being that I have liked all of Stephen King's novels I will have to say I didn't really care for any of his collections (with the excepetion of Skeleton Crew). In my mind his short stories do not allow King to do what he does. King is a master (imo) of setting the scene and bringing his readers into the story with a very deceiving and natural form of story telling.

If my arm is being twisted and I would have to name a single book I would have to say Blaze. Blaze had a nice little twist but it was given away to soon and way to predictable.

68BuffaloPhil
Ago 5, 2010, 11:09 am

Probably my least favourites would be similar to many here - The Tommyknockers, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Blaze and Gerald's Game. Just never really got gripped by any of them.

69bardsfingertips
Ago 10, 2010, 1:09 pm

Why do so many people dislike Tommyknockers? Though i enjoyed it, I am not trying to defend the book. I am just curious why that one gets the most flack.

The others ones, I have noticed the trend of them being novels that were too simple, too predictable.

70Clio08
Set 5, 2010, 5:57 am

For me, it was Lisey's Story and Gerald's Game. Contrary to a lot of other people who have posted here, I absolutely loved Insomnia. Even at his worst, or what I'd consider to be his worst, he's still better than the vast majority of current writers.

71vancelot
Set 5, 2010, 11:51 am

Clio. I loved Insomnia, and put it in my top 6 or 7 King books.

72BuffaloPhil
Set 5, 2010, 7:23 pm

Agree about Insomnia, think it's a great book, but I can understand why some people aren't keen as the age of the main characters can make it difficult to identify with them.

I was reminded by the book of the month thread that I'm really not very keen on Misery, I find it similar to Gerald's Game in that the action is almost all in one place with the exception of memory flashback scenes, which I don't find I get gripped by. The character of Annie Wilkes is excellent though, and I guess the scenario is pretty much the only one that she could have appeared in.

73Sapphiregirl
Dez 5, 2010, 10:22 am

I was dissapointed about Dolores Claiborne...don't really know why...I finished it but it wasn't really the Stephen King novel I was used too...

Gerald's Game put me off as well, no action, not really a lot of tension...just a women chained to a bed in the middle of nowhere trying to free herself, passing out from time to time, having flashbacks and hearing voices of her past...I found it quite boring

Unlike some of the comments, I liked Insomnia. It was bizarre and I had to drag myself a bit through the first few chapters but after a while I liked it. Wouldn't say it's my favorite but it's certainly not my least favorite =D

As for The Regulators I agree with #2 paghababian. I also liked the connections with Desperation but the story itself was...wel...don't know actually...I kind of liked it but if I have to choose, Desperation will definitely be in my top 5 and The Regulators will probably barely make it to my top 10

74tjm568
Dez 10, 2010, 1:24 pm

I didn't care for the story Delores Claiborne very much, but I enjoyed the voice he used to tell it.

I would have to say his worst was Gerald's Game, although all the eclipse books were kind of weak. (wasn't there a third? can't remember.) Didn't care too much for Rose Madder either.

However, I have to say, even his worst books are not painful to read. Even when the story is weak, the writing is strong, if that makes any sense. It is usually after I am finished that I reflect and decide whether I liked it or not.

75SuLa
Jan 28, 2011, 5:24 pm

Cujo, definitely. I was bored to bits by that book. Also, I thought Wizard & Glass was quite... well, not dull but way too long. Currently, I'm in the middle of The Dark Tower (Vol. 7) and I think that the series has... uhm... deteriorated a bit. It's still great stuff, mind you, but there are aspects about books 4-7 that I simply don't like and can't stomach. Ok, here we go - SPOILERS AHEAD.

For example, one thing I didn't like about Song of Susannah was the way King wrote himself into the book. It felt cheesy and cheap. I can understand WHY he did it. Still, it doesn't feel right to me. And this continues in Vol. 7 - there are references to "the writer" and that he's essential to the whole story (duh!), that he needs to be saved in order to save the Tower. I get that but I don't like it. Not one bit. I can, on some level, appreciate that King tried to deal with both his addiction to alcohol and the trauma caused by that accident in 1999. Still, I think it shouldn't be in the books. It feels so... self-centered.

76Nynaeve
Jan 29, 2011, 1:16 pm

SuLa: I feel the same way about the Dark Tower series. It just doesn't work for me, when a writer places himself it the story.

77TamaraMaya
Mar 6, 2011, 11:45 pm

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Roadwork

78Humblefish
Jun 12, 2011, 6:10 am

While I haven't read much of King's books, I found Dreamcatcher to be quite dull. It was my first Stephen King book though.

79Booksloth
Jun 12, 2011, 7:19 am

Lisey's Story - horrible, just horrible! After 3 attempts in which I got to around the same page each time and found I couldn't care less whether the damn woman lived or died as long as she hurried up about it, I gave it away unfinished.

Unlike many others I love Hearts in Atlantis and eventually grew very fond of Insomina though perhaps being an insomniac helps with that one.

I wasn't crazy about The Tommyknockers, thought Dreamcatcher was terrible and Gerald's Game just made me feel nauseous.

That's a frightening list really from an author I still revere in so many ways but the goodies make up for the baddies and even if he'd only ever written The Stand, The Dead Zone and Salem's Lot he'd still have earned a place in my heart. On top of that I'll never cease to be grateful for his having got my son, who until the age of 16 never enjoyed a novel in his whole life, to read and love every word of It (and he's been reading all kind of fiction and non-fiction ever since). In fact, I've known so many young readers who have discovered the joys of reading through King I sometimes wonder what the world would be like without him. I just wish there was some way of knowing whether he will ever return to his old brilliance because I seem to be unable to resist buying every book as soon as it hits the paperback shelves, just in case this is the one. I'm still waiting for Full Dark, No Stars to bring back the magic. Fingers crossed.

80Bookmarque
Jun 12, 2011, 7:51 am

I just saw FDNS in pb the other day, so I think you're all set. It is DARK though, he means it.

81Booksloth
Jun 12, 2011, 8:58 am

#80 It's not due out here in the UK for another 3 weeks or so which coincides perfecty with me grabbing my copy at the airport to take on holiday. Basking in the sun has a tendency to improve any book for me so I'm quite looking forward to this one.

82pollux
Jul 17, 2011, 10:29 am

Without a doubt, the worst are Desperation and The Regulators

83gryeates
Editado: Jul 22, 2011, 5:04 pm

I'm probably going to get shot for this but, for me, it's The Stand. Incredibly overblown, drawn out and far too black & white for me. It does have engaging characters but I could see their arcs and eventual fates coming a mile away which, crucially for a horror novel, took away any suspense or element of fear for me. It also has a dreadful triple ending that made me laugh more than anything else because it was so corny and weirdly evangelistic.

84Bookmarque
Jul 22, 2011, 5:06 pm

shun
shun
shun!! the unbeliever.

just kidding. When I recently tried to re-read it for like the 4th time, I gave up. Just couldn't keep the enthusiasm going. The opening scene though, at the gas station, is brilliant.

85gryeates
Jul 22, 2011, 5:09 pm

Hahaha. I agree on that, King has always had a talent for a great, engaging opening. I think he has trouble sustaining and then delivering a great ending though, particularly with his epic novels. I think his short novels, Carrie and the Bachman books, are amongst his best work.

86Bookmarque
Jul 22, 2011, 5:13 pm

well depending on the book, I kind of like the "bloat" as some call it. All those nasty little details in Needful Things as an example are deliciously brilliant because of the inter-connectedness of them.

87Booksloth
Jul 23, 2011, 7:47 am

So I finally got Full Dark, No Stars. Loved it! More of this please, Mr King.

88Bookmarque
Jul 23, 2011, 7:49 am

oh so glad you liked it. I'm always so bummed when a favorite author disappoints.

89tjm568
Editado: Jul 23, 2011, 1:49 pm

#83 & 84 I re-read The Stand a year or so ago (4th or fifth time0 and still enjoyed it, but don't worry, Idon't own a gun, and don't believe in violence over literary differences of opinion.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about King is his creative use of swear words. In the Stand he describes Stu "..wouldn't say shit if he was buried neck deep in it." Brilliant. You reminded me of this when you mentioned the gas station scene.

Hey maybe that would be a fun thread; favorite King curses.

90wm
Jul 23, 2011, 4:07 pm

To be honest, their's really not many of King's books i haven't liked, Tommyknockers and especially The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon(which i think was written for a younger audience)were not too good,but the man hasn't written too many bad ones has he?.I'm just about to start Full Dark and can't wait.

91Todd_Russell
Jul 24, 2011, 10:06 pm

Felt lukewarm over Cycle of the Werewolf and Cujo.

Just After Sunset is King's weakest short story collection I've read by far ("Stationary Bike" ???). A long way from Night Shift and Skeleton Crew which contain some of the best horror shorts ever.

92Tugar
Editado: Fev 26, 2012, 9:35 am

Seems like a good topic to revisit. I love King. I think he has written some of the best horror fiction in existence. I treasure his signed limiteds as the pride of my collection. I also think he is too prolific. Other than Isaac Asimov I don't know of another very successful modern author who has written so much. If I were to look back at his career, I would say his string of near perfect hits ended in 1987 after Misery. Tommyknockers Dark Half were to follow. Not terrible books, but they seemed to be written from a tired Stephen King in my amateur opinion. Some great short story collections and some more excellent novels followed, but now it seemed that greatness would be hit or miss. Anyone have a different opinion or timeline?

Edit for spelling.

93mainrun
Fev 26, 2012, 4:21 pm

I agree: good topic to revisit. A lot of the books I posted on the top books thread are in this list. But to each his/her own ;)

Needful Things is my least favorite. I enjoyed the first half, maybe more of it. Then it just became bad for me. I got so fed up, I stopped reading, not finishing it.

94jldarden
Jan 28, 2013, 1:01 pm

I have read most of King's stuff and he is hit and miss. For me the worst are The Tommyknockers, Desperation & The Regulators and Insomnia.
I am one of those that dislike the ties between The Dark Tower works and other novels and vice versa.

95sturlington
Jan 28, 2013, 3:23 pm

I haven't been real crazy about King's later fiction, although I have liked the last few novels (11/22/63, Wind Through the Door, Under the Dome). My absolute least favorite are Blockade Billy, Full Dark No Stars, Dreamcatcher, Duma Key, Blaze and The Colorado Kid. As for older books, I am not crazy about Christine or Gerald's Game, and while I think it's a fun book, The Tommyknockers can be pretty silly.

Sometimes King fires off some duds, but I think it's because he publishes absolutely everything he writes, even trunk novels he wrote as a teenager that probably should never have seen the light of day.

96artturnerjr
Jan 28, 2013, 5:03 pm

97madpoet
Jan 28, 2013, 11:08 pm

I agree with most of the posters here, about Tommyknockers. It's probably the worst of his 80s novels, which are otherwise really good. Pretty much everything he's written since the mid 90s, I've found disappointing, except The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which was ruined a bit at the end, by the appearance of the supernatural (?) bear. Under the Dome felt a bit more like the old Stephen King: I liked it.

98Bookmarque
Jan 29, 2013, 7:18 am

Poor little Thinner.
I love that book. It's zany. Madcap. And Richard 'the Hammer' Ginelli is such a riot.
Eh. To each her own.