Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I quit reading King around the time of 'The Tommy Knockers' It just felt to me his stories were silly. Obviously, he is a great writer. I love the way he writes, I just don't care for the stories he tells. I did read 'On Writing' which was great. His short stories which used to be shiny gems seemed to have lost their luster. But recently, I read his pulp fiction novel 'Joyland' which was fine. It was a coming of age story depicting a particular time in a young man's life. I also read 11/22/63 which was a great overview of Lee Harvey Oswald but was a little creaky in the story element that surrounded it. I could probably have left King off my reading list after my brief foray back into the King world.

But the news that he was writing a sequel to 'The Shining' resparked my anticipation for a new King novel. I even went out and bought the hardback, just like old times. And just like old times, I was left a bit disappointed by the latest King novel.

It was a tough act to follow to live up to the standard set by 'The Shinging'. It still is the scariest book I ever read. I had to spend the whole night reading it so I could get a bit of closure before I closed my eyes. I can still picture me alone in the Limerick house in my bedroom reading that book at 4am.

Which brings us to Dr. Sleep. The book tells the tale of what has happened to Danny Torrance after the events at the Overlook Hotel. But it is more the story of Dan's struggle with alcoholism than it is a horror story. There are horror element centered around the Knot, a group of psychic vampires, and their hunting of a psychic child but they are not scary. the problem is there is no mystery to them. You get to know everything about them and the familiarity doesn't make for anything scary.

Another problem was that it was derivative of so much of his earlier work. A psychic kid in jeopardy being helped by a psychic relative was done in the book 'Firestarter'. Wasn't roving bands of Vampires in Salem's Lot? And all the characters in New Hampshire sounded just like most of his Maine characters. It seemed liked he was just going to the same old well. Although I will give him props for setting his local near North Conway which is where I used to go as a kid.

And the whole Dr. Sleep thing wasn't all that exciting. You would think it was some great magical power but upon examination it doesn't appear to be all that magical. I would say more but no Spoilers.

So, the story wasn't that scary, but then how could it be? It was derivative. But it was well written. No sword fights. You can always borrow my copy.

[Drunk Monk]

You can always borrow my copy.

I will see you in two weeks. If it doesn't get hucked into the sell-back-to-used-bookstore bin...

[Drunk Monk]

I took Greg's borrowed copy to the beach on Monday - don't worry - I got less sand in it than there were already cookie crumbs. How many cookies did you guys eat while reading it anyway? There's like crumbs in every chapter and King writes super short chapters..and it's a 500+ page book! Anyway, I was hoping to finish it and get it over to CF so he could bring it back, but I got distracted by the beach. There was some sort of school of fish running, which attracted a huge flock of pelicans, some seals and otters and several pods of dolphins. Watching dolphins is like watching old episodes of Star Trek or the Twilight Zone; it just never gets old for me. There was also a huge fire in Monterey, and the smoke plume added drama to the bay. And then...thar be whales! Three of them at least by the spouts. They came in pretty close, followed by two whale watching boats. It was awesome.

But back to Dr. Sleep, I'm enjoying it so far. A good Halloween read. It's not scary, as long fiction seldom is for me (the original Shining might be the one shining exception for me), but it is engaging and I still love King's writing style. Pop fiction. I so seldom read fiction anymore. An RV just like the ones described for the True Knot has parked itself by Seabright and Windham, right near my bungalow. That really amuses me.

I doubt I'll be able to grab any more free reading time until this weekend.

Thanks for the lend, G!

[cranefly]

I sure hope you're not shaking out all those cookie crumbs.

[El Dingo]

Can I borrow it when you're done?

[Drunk Monk]

...and assuming it's cool with the Glynch. What say you, Greg?

The exchange would be a good excuse for a DOOM rendezvous for lunch or something.

I hope to finish it this weekend. So far, it's a quick read...typical King.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Of course. Just someday it should wend it's way back to me. I thought you were trying to give it to Cranefly next? Or was that just to return it?

I have no knowledge of cookies or sand.

[Drunk Monk]

... and so DOOM passes around Dr. Sleep like a high-grade fatty at a Reggae Festival.

Ok, that analogy only works for me. Not quite as good as King's 'nipples like punctuation marks.'

On the matter of DOOM residue, let's see now...
Greg = cookie crumbs
DM = sand
ED = ? Giants tickets? Dwarf scabs?

I pity the 4th DOOM reader.

[Drunk Monk]

I only read a few chapters over the weekend. Still about midway. Still enjoying it tho.

[Drunk Monk]

It was very enjoyable, however I do agree with Greg - it was not scary in the least. And that's a poor follow up to The Shining, which might have scared me more than any book I ever read. But I was an impressionable teen then, and like King himself confesses in the book's epilogue, that was a hard act to follow. It was that King writing style that kept me engaged. I really enjoyed his take on AA and Hot Spice; those felt spot on. The characters were amusing. Abra follows in a line of King's shiny teen ingenues, Carrie, Charlie 'Firestarter', and now her. I almost wanted him to link up his worlds, to have the Knot be connected to Salem's Lot and the Hot Spice cat connected to Pet Sematary. I was expecting more from the return to the Overlook. There were still some nice tie ins -not a mind-blowing book, but enjoyable.

There is still an RV parked near our street. And I still have some flea bite scars, like the Knot's measles.

ED, how do we make this book pass?

[Drunk Monk]

One more thought - this would make a decent movie...

[Drunk Monk]

Will ED hook up with DM before DOOMXMAS2013? Because I'm gonna return Greg's book to him then.

[Drunk Monk]

One more thought - this would make a decent movie...

DM FTW

Stephen King's The Shining Sequel, Doctor Sleep, to Become a Movie Directed by Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan will direct Doctor Sleep, the film adaptation of a sequel novel to Stephen King's The Shining. 

NEWSJohn Saavedra

Jan 26, 2018
Warner Bros. has found its director for Stephen King movie Doctor Sleep, according to THR. Mike Flanagan, who recently directed Netflix's excellent adaptation of Gerald's Game, will helm this sequel to The Shining.
Both WB and Flanagan are coming off major successes with King adaptations. Last year, WB released It: Chapter One, which went on to become the highest grossing horror film of all time, earning $700 million at the box office. Bringing on a talented director like Flanagan to Doctor Sleep bodes well for this next King offering, which has a pretty big act to follow. After all, The Shining may very well be the best King movie ever made. 

The Tracking Board reported back in 2016 that Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman had been tapped to write the screenplay for Doctor Sleep. Goldsman was previously involved in another high-profile King adaptation, The Dark Tower, for which he co-wrote the screenplay.
Doctor Sleep arrived in 2013, 36 years after the publication of The Shining, and stars an adult Danny Torrance still trying to cope with the aftermath of what happened so many years ago at the Overlook Hotel. Like his father, Dan struggles with alcoholism and anger management, but eventually gives up drinking and settles down in New Hampshire. He develops a psychic link with a 12-year-old girl named Abra Stone, who is even stronger in "the shining" than he is. Over the course of the novel, Dan discovers that Abra is being hunted by a tribe of psychic vampires who want to feed off of Abra's lifeforce, and it's up to him to protect her.

You could certainly call this sequel a bit more campy than its predecessor. I can't be the only one that is reminded of those cat-like energy vampires from the King-penned movie Sleepwalkers, right? Of course, this novel is much better than that movie. 
It shouldn't surprise anyone that King's sequel to The Shining is being developed as a film. In fact, it's more surprising that Doctor Sleep took this long to make it into a Warner Bros. board room. After all, this sequel could be the horror movie event of the year, following up on a film as revered as Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. 

Not to mention that with Doctor Sleep, we could have a potential "Shining Trilogy" from Warner Bros., which is also producing a Shining prequel called The Overlook Hotel.There aren't any plot details on that, but one can only imagine that this would be an origin story for the hotel and how it got so haunted. Last we heard, Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) was going to direct this one from a screenplay by former Walking Dead-showrunner Glen Mazzara. 

[cranefly]

Wow.  Nice five-year follow-up, DM.  I'm impressed.

[Drunk Monk]

Thread necromancy Fu.