Stephen King’s Holly Book Review | SPOILERS!!! |
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 жов 2023
- Let’s take a deep dive into Stephen King’s latest novel Holly.
WARNING:
This video contains plenty of spoilers.
Follow me on IG @ Jimmymango_
Email me @ Jimmy.mango19@gmail.com
Goodreads @ Jimmy Mango
Long days and pleasant nights!
Horrible book. Basically a collection of his twitter rants.
So glad I know not to waste my time on this book. I’m so over that stuff - it’s exhausting.
Thanks for the video! 🎃
Super respect to you Jimmy. From one SK fan to another, I didn't like Holly for a number of reasons. I've read every piece of fiction that King has published, but I might have to take a break for a while after this.
I may not agree with every single one of your recommendations, but I certainly TRUST that you're telling us how you really believe. Thank you for your channel and everything you do.
Thanks Steve! I appreciate that!
Stephen King had confirmed that his next book is You Like It Darker a short story collection book. I liked the book Holly, but I honestly want something else, and I can understand you frustration towards Holly. But do you have hope for Stephen King’s next book that is a short story collection? What I hope for a Castle Rock story honestly.
I couldn’t agree more!
I was right there with you......I didn't even FINISH it!
Richard
I felt the same way. Those political parts come off like reading a journal entry from a girl who got dumped. It's just weird. I don't need this - thank you for putting it into those words.
This was one of the worst Stephen King books I have ever read. In fact, I simply couldn't finish it. The politicizing of the COVID BS and editorializing against antivaxxers (who have now been vindicated) and antimaskers (who ALSO have now been vindicated) ruined this book. Absolutely ruined it. I am also tired of Holly and he needs to leave her behind. Now that she's (***SPOILER ALERT****) RICH, it makes her WAY more unlikeable.
Honestly I have too many other things to read to bother with mid King…
King seems a bit obsessed with politics these days. I’m pretty over it.
I'm with you on this one. It was a decent novel, but probably in my bottom-20 SK books. In sports terms, Holly is a great role player; if you try to make her the star of the team you're gonna suck. Fairy Tale was 1000X better.
On the investigation point, Mr. Mercedes had the same set-up, but it was done a million times better. The actual investigation process in Holly was extremely boring, which is pretty hard to do from my perspective
Thanks Jesse! Always appreciate your input. I agree with all of this.
The politics used to be a small comment in the story. Now, it’s brought up every chapter. I couldn’t finish it. I’ve never DNF’d a King book. Until now…
Same!
This book bored me to tears and I couldn’t even finish it. Not being vaccinated against Covid wouldn’t have made you an antivaxxer by the way.
I gave Holly 2.75 stars after finishing it, but the further away I get from it the more I dislike the novel. I love Holly's character and I enjoyed Barbara's subplot, but that was about it. But the covid talk really pulled me out of the story because it felt very exaggerated. I do agree with you that it was disappointing that there was no mystery to it since we knew who the killers were from the get go and we just had to wait for Holly to catch up. Definitely my least favorite King book to date. Still love King though!
the covers are getting better, the writting is getting worse...thanks for your honesty.
His books are still much much better than the stories written by Hollywood screenwriters.
@@ayanpandeydpsn-std9005absolutely not
Thank you for you honest opinion! I loved this review. Your opinions on the book are valid and I'm glad you shared them with us. Thanks!
I am also tired of hearing of Covid, from both sides. Any thing that’s has Covid in it I drop. I agree with what u said. Good job on the channel
Thanks Manuel!
I liked the idea of the book, but felt it was pushing a narrative. The cannibalism aspect of it was well done, and I felt like if we would have left the COVID stuff out of it, it could have been better. This one was a little too…. Pushy for me.
"Pushy"...well said!
I didn't read Holly, but I completely agree with your rant. Well said.
Stephen King is another one of those people who have had their souls violated and destroyed by Twitter addiction. I've seen this happen before, multiple times and with different types of people.
I personally wish he would write more sci-fi and drop Holly for good before his eventual death.
I was excited to read Holly but, quickly took it off of my TBR as I heard reviews, I don't read fiction to read about Covid nor politics (either side). Bummer
I don’t think it was meant to be a mystery but more of a criminal minds story. The evil in the book is interesting. I myself really liked the story. But you’re right that Stephen king has lost his mind on twitter and it’s sort of affecting his work a little now.
Speaking of your countdown, are we getting an updated list with Billy Summers, Gwendys Final Task, Fairy Tale and Holly thrown in? I'd love to see it
I feel like I want to re-read a bunch of older ones again before I do a new ranking video. Hopefully I’ll get to that soon.
@@jimmymango it'd be good to see a redone list with the new additions
Jimmy, thank you for the honest review. I couldn't agree with you more! It hurts me to say because I would not be into reading if it weren't for King. Luckily, I still haven't read a lot of his older stuff, so for now I will just stick with those.
Your review of Holly was spot on. I was so disappointed in this book and Mr King .
Really miss your reviews and can't wait till your next post!
I can mostly ignore King's politics, but this is the first book that I was really rolling my eyes and getting sick of it. From now on I will look into Kings books before buying them, I don't want to waste my time with anymore of his books that are whining about Trump.
I really appreciate the honesty and integrity you have for your content! I'd be shaking trying to be that honest in a video like this.
As an American who hates Trump in a family/community of Trump supporters and being vaccinated in a family/community of COVID vaccine refusers, I get where King's rage might be coming from, and I think his position on Twitter is a factor too. I agree with you that the rage exhausting and it's just not always the place for it.
Anyway, great breakdown and great content as always. Thank-you.
Great video. I love some of Kings books. But the last thing i ever want is a ham fisted opinion on American politics in a fictional story. I don’t care about it. I’m sick of hearing about it. I don’t need it in my fantasy novels.
Stephen king writes what he wants to write and doesn’t care what people think of him. I respect that about him. I thought Holly was ok. Not sure if she can carry the story with out Bill Hodges. I think she needs a partner that balances out her personality. It was just ok.
I think that's totally fair.
I just finished the book today. I liked it. I didn’t love it. I agree with a lot of the points you made in the video. However, I love holly as a character while it’s true, she’s not the same Holly that we got in the Bill Hodges trilogy, the outsider, or if it bleeds I’m still grateful to have had a novel about one of the characters that I actually really like. Do I think he did her character justice, 100% no. I think he changed her a bit too much from the source material we grew used to I also understand character development, and growth over time insist upon the character maturing, and changing but at our core, no matter how mature we become we’re always the same person, recognizable by our traits … with all that being said, that’s the beauty of reading, not every stories for every reader.
This book is an insult to the old King
Can you explain why. Because I am liking the book.
@@ayanpandeydpsn-std9005 i have being reading King since the '80s . This way of writing is completely different. Also he has never endorsed the Dem and their agenda like this one
@@nicenice-dr6ok A book is a product of its time. Atleast, "Holly" would be remembered by future generations on how divisive America became at one point of time.
@@ayanpandeydpsn-std9005 i agree with you on this one.but people that never agree to this narrative may find this unberable.i liked Holly in Mr.Mercedes.she had potential. Now King made her become a caricature of the fixated vaxx people. That is my opinion. But if you want to read a good recent King book. I would suggest you" the Institute". It gave me the old King vibe and remind me at some point the kids from IT or Stand by me
Good take Jimmy. I also thought that Cell was caca doody and I wouldn’t go near this one.
Hideous, got to page 21. Jesus Christ! This is getting returned tomorrow and swapped for Insomnia. Back when he could write!
I agree with everything you say in this review. I also especially hated the so-called "COVID dialogue" "I'm double vaxxed..." and naming the dose they had. From the look of the shelves behind you, you own everything SK has put to print (as do I), but this novel really missed the mark.
I agree with you for the most part. Unfortunately, I suspect King will run Holly into the ground with multiple releases with her as the driving character. She will be the female version of Harry Bosch. lol
Not sure if anyone knows this or not (I wouldn't have if the B&N employee never told me), but this particular cover also glows in the dark. I know it doesn't serve a big purpose but I found it kind of fascinating. Just a random fact
I love king but passed on a lot of the “detective” novels he did. I don't mind the political input as long as it’s affecting the plot. Like dead zone. If it’s just to take a cheap shot it could get a bit too heavy handed and childish
I don’t think I hated the book as much as you did, but I COMPLETELY agree with your points. The covid stuff was super annoying, but I still found the story interesting. Sure, a mystery that followed Holly as she went probably would’ve been a lot more interesting, but I’m not upset with how omniscient he let the reader be. It was different, and I thought it was interesting how we jumped back and forth in the timeline to gather more information. It felt like we were supposed to just be a cheerleader for Holly the whole time, which is a little strange, but again, I didn’t hate it. This should be the last Holly Gibney story though, the character is a bit tired to me at this point.
Great review. I completely agree with you, I was so mentally exhausted at the end of this book and not in a good way.
You know King likes to bring the real world into his stories. It is kinda like a time stamp thing with what is going on in the real world at the time he writing a particular story. He has always done this, not in every book but it's there in his writing, he is not going to change that even if he manages to live to be a hundred. We all have our opinions and views. I'd much rather have new books come so long as King lives and continues to write than not have new books at all. Anyhow it is oddly good to see how different we King readers are from one another.
Ive missed you
Honestly, I was captivated by the thematic richness of ‘Holly.’ It explores the intricacies of inner pride, showcasing characters like Holly’s mother and the Harrises. What’s intriguing is how the narrative delves into the diversity of perspectives, emphasizing confirmation biases while having a wealth of facts, individuals can arrive at distinct conclusions even if they are given all of the same facts. But, I can see how it can cause division in peoples opinions of the book.
I have stayed away from this novel due to the politics of it. I've lived through covid and everything that occurred in that era. I don't need to relive it in my free time that I use to read books. I don't agree with King on all of his politics but mostly I do and it's still too much. The man is obsessed with Trump. I unfollowed him on Twitter because he never stops. If King's next book is this politically charged I won't be reading it. I hope his publishers see the reception and tell him to back off of it.
I agree with what you have said, but I enjoyed the story more than you did, I gave it three stars. Thought it was ok, but the Covid stuff and politics were just too much and distracted from the story. It is a very divisive book, anyone with negative reviews of it have been attacked for their opinions. I am a big fan of Stephen King and have read all of his novels, but this one was a bit of a disappointment to me.
Thanks Rebecca!
Too much is said about the political stuff, but it's really only visible in the first part of the book. As it went on, there was a lot less of it. As for the criticism about there being 'no mystery', that's exactly the same as Mr Mercedes, where the villain is introduced in the first chapter.
Thank you! I’m not a overly political guy but it just hurt their feelings. Because they think king doesn’t like them. I wasn’t a fan of the book but this whining is getting old.
Can anyone please tell me where if I was reading the expanded read of TDT where I should read gwendy’s button box or should I just read it after I finish my read thru and figure it out myself
I agree on lot of your points in Holly , yes we know who the killers from page one but I like the Holly investigation through out it is well done. The covid stuff and Trump is necessarily because it was going in 2021, and Stephen King wanted to write a novel about. I like the dark humour and dialogue between
Yeah, there was nothing "necessary" about writing it into this book so completely and so invasively.
Could you possibly create a list of the order you would read all of stephen kings books? Ive recently just got into stephen king and I want the best possible reading experience for all his books (I know some books include chatacters in other books, and are beneficial to read inbetween then. For instance I heard From A Buick 8 includes someone from Wizard and Glass, or the 5th one, so would be better to read it between the 4th and 5th dark towers)
He has a multiverse video on the order to read them in.
Hi Jimmy, do you also read from self-published authors? I have wrote a survival horror that i would love to send you. I would be interested hear your feedback on it. Thank you
Kind regards, Karl.
I wasn't to crazy about it either. If someone can tell me why there was such a focus on Barbra and her writing. She does save Holly in the end but other than that I was just bored whenever the story would focus on Barbara. It just that The Outsider was such a thrilling book and this one was just kind of un-suspenseful.
8:52 i’m very unhappy with book, it’s confusing and i don’t care for any of the characters.
With little time to read and before I bought the book, I thought I would get your opinion first. I’m glad I did. I felt Holly was getting old to me in If it Bleeds too.
I feel Later is the last book by Stephen King that came kinda close to his old writing.
Couldn't agree more! I agree with those political views but we have enough with his twitter account, no in a book! The funny thing it's the 4.24 rating in Goodreads lol
I've never been a fan of the Bill Hodges books: Mr. Mercedes was alright, but they just went downhill from there. I had no intention of reading Holly, and after this review I think Holly may make even Koontz look good.
I have been a King fan since 1980. I dropped off after Cell. I came back a couple of years ago and have enjoyed more of the post Cell books than not (11/22/63 being a favorite). I did enjoy Holly but my criticisms are more with story based redundancy than Politics. It was more than a bit comparable to Silence Of The Lambs (and even a bit of the 80 film Cloak and Dagger [elderly villains]). Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hopefully we will have a lot more King books to read in the future.
Thank you. Reading this book was hard... I've been a King fan for over twenty years and this was the hardest book to get through
**spoilers ahead**
There was no raw fear in this book... no helplessness, no suspense, nothing. Aside from the rantings of a bitter old man, it felt like Holly went from frail and meek to a trained mercenary. The ending was absurd. She's trapped behind bars and somehow slits a throat with an earring, dodges bullets and breaks a neck. Pete, a retired detective, giving Barbara an automatic PISTOL (a .22 at that) for self-defense was the dumbest thing I've ever read. The cannibal aspect was neat, but it was wasted on this book. If you remove the covid and Trump stuff, this could have been a novella.
Her whole arc from her introduction 4 novels and 1 novella ago has been her overcoming her meekness. This was about her fully stepping into the spotlight.
And she was up against two injured frail elderly people who overestimated their own capabilities.
Mr. Mango, you are allowed to dislike whatever you want. When one makes a character like Holly the main voice, there is always the risk some readers simply get tired out. I always thought she was perfect when sharing the spotlight, but I'm with you on this one. Keep up the content!
Thanks Nick!
Good video. I find King unreadable now precisely because of his politics, which saturate all of his newer work. I'm not vaxed, but each to their own (just don't demand I fall in line), and I think Trump was a great president which is mainly why I dislike current day King. I don't need to hear his characters parrot his bullshit constantly. Salems Lot is still my favourite novel though.
I thought the novel was better than you portrayed (and I really liked Fairy Tale by the way), but I agree with all of your other points. I think you were dead on with everything. We just disagree on how we felt about the book overall. But I will say, it could have been a lot better. Thanks for your honesty.
I hope everything is ok with you. Miss your videos.
I only buy his new books just to keep up with the collection; The last novel I read with Holly as a character was The Outsider, and it was decent. Let’s all be honest, Holly is an obnoxious character created solely because of pressure King was receiving from outside groups labeling him sexiest, misogynist, etc.. King is brilliant, but he is so politically fervent for certain political issues that it stands in the way of him writing good books lately. Of course, he can do whatever he wants, but I agree with you totally that his political stances and Holly becoming a watered down character is getting old quickly.
Is this really true about why SK created Holly's character? I had never heard this before.
I hadn’t read a King book in quite a long time and I couldn’t even make it though this.
The man tweets at least daily about trump or other conservatives in the most basic-bitch type way imaginable and he vomited all that hatred Into this book - with zero substance and zero character development. I might have gotten a little past half way and threw it in the garbage.
I’ve never thrown a book out before in my life.
I loved it!
Im in the minority here .. but loves it! I do admit the politics got super annoying. He needed to tone that down. But the lack of mystery was fine for me... this wasnt a murder mystery/whodunnit, so as soon as I realized that I started to appreciate the plotlines. The Barbara/Olivia storyline was really beautiful & emotional... Holly dealing with the death of her mother and her dad's Alzheimer's on the side... learning the backstory of the victims... it really hit strong for me. And i liked how the whole Canibal thing ended up being just a Placebo effect and not some weird supernatural type power thing. Im not mad at it.
Nice review
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. Probably a book I never would have picked up before, but definitely not now. I just don't like highly political books, I don't like a lot of confrontation or conflict in books, it's actually quite triggering for me. I know that eliminates A LOT of books for me lol but I'm okay with that. :-) Thank you again!
Thanks Kimberley!
Great review man I couldn't agree more. It's unfortunate that people in the middle who don't really want any part of this discussion will be labeled as far right extremist lol. NO... I just dont want to hear about covid or your political opinions.
I watched this video wondering if you had the same thoughts as I did on this and you pretty much mirrored my thoughts exactly. I work in a hospital, so I had to get vaccinated and I’ve never had a conversation with somebody about who got it from and when I got it. It’s almost as if somebody put in an AI chat of how CNN would write a Stephen King novel and this is what came out. You talked about how cell was your least favorite book, in my opinion cell is like a national book award winner compared to Holly. Cell at least has some good stuff in it. This was really bad. the villains were cool though. Only thing about it worth reading
I'm with you and I haven't read it but I have Stephen King on twitter so I know how he has been through the pandemic and trump government.
Thank you Jimmy, I enjoy hearing your take on all this. I think indeed that this novel might be among the least favorites of mine of Stephen King. Trump, covid, yeah... He became a little big like a ranting old fart sitting at his porch all day yelling to all passerby's his opinions of which nobody gives a damn.
I do not necessarily dislike Holly, but the overt wokeness in his stories of late make me frown sometimes. I mean, I also have opinions and (often) strong ones, but does it have to make the world so black and white (not pun intended) as King makes it out to be? Every not nice person is anti-vax and republican, I mean get a life already!
This is not the King a grew up with, not the King I remembered. And even though the story had some interesting angles, it could have been so much more. When Holly finally killed Emily Harris I really had an empty feeling. "What? I spend so many hours reading just for this?" It was all in all disappointing.
Your getting irritated because the politics in this book. I like it like that. The book would atleast be remembered for showcasing a turbulent time period in American history in the future.
thank you!
my main problem was the lazy: "solving the crime but not telling anybody" thing
Not a great read- 3/5 stars- had some good suspense at times, particularly around Barbara maybe being gotten by them. The Barbara- Olivia thing had some possibilities but never really went anywhere unpredictable. Agree: Way too much US politics
thanks bro.
Stating that this book lacked “mystery” is not accurate bro. Yes, from the start it’s obvious who the antagonists are but that doesn’t dismiss the mystery in this book. It actually heightens the mystery behind the characters as to why they do what they do.
The book is predominantly written from holly’s, Barbara’s and the old couples perspective and gradually you’re exposed to everyone’s motive.
The tempo of the book might’ve been too slowed for you bc I’m assuming you’re a “I want it now kinda guy” but I personally think the gradual character building in the first half of the book, curated a unique anticipation towards the moment where everything comes together! The motif that’s packaged in the joke that Holly teases through out the book was fantastic.
It was a fun book for me!
Love ur vids ❤❤
Random: I'm assuming you have "Becoming the Boogeyman" on your tbr. It was excellent!
Yes I can’t wait to read it
I agree! It’s taken me two months to finish the last ten pages because what more can King throw at me that wasn’t already said in the first 1-3 chapters? Love him, but this wasn’t a favorite. The politics, the characters…and as a BW, I found Barbara and Jerome so…bland and blah in this. I’m planning my own review soon ✨✨
I really liked the book. The writing is terrific. The characters are great.
Hmm... i would love to hear more from you on why you really liked it in detail. Your opinion(s) are valid and, I am truly interested!
His idees amaze me❤
I liked it while reading it but few days after I thought yeah wasn’t that good he should get back to his supernatural monsters The coivid stuff will date this novel
I didn't like the book as much as I thought I would, though I didn't hate it either. It was fine. Structurally, having the killers revealed to the reader isn't that unusual. He did that in Mr. Mercedes, didn't he? And I'm sure there are other authors who did that. The tension he was trying to create was to see whether Holly would get to the couple before they found another victim. The tension was somewhat reduced in that it seemed like the couple was falling apart even if Holly never got to them.
Regarding the Covid stuff, I had mixed feelings about it. I agree it wasn't necessary. I guess one could argue that confirmation bias was at the center of so much divisiveness and anti-science thinking in America nowadays. We've seen news of people, nurses even, who thought vaccinations made people magnetic. More recently, like THIS WEEK, we've seen people who thought an emergency broadcast was designed to "activate nanoparticles such as graphene oxide that have been introduced into people’s bodies." Although I haven't opened a conversation with what vaccination I got, I've been in conversations with people who were anti-vax and no amount of reasoning could move them. Anti-vaccination has been causing a rise in preventable diseases even before Covid. Perhaps King had the idea of setting a story in Covid times first, then found the story to go with it. In a way, it's interesting because there are few events in recent history that everyone in the world had experienced in some way. The story was okay and I agree it was not his strongest. I also agree that it wasn't helpful to bring readers back to those times, especially when so many of us would like to stop thinking about it. I do like Holly as a character, though.
I think, when it comes to King, its all about his context. He really has distinctive eras of writing and we live in his more political and "what kind of world am I gonna live behind once i'm gone" sort of era which clearly influences his writing. He's getting older and what matters to him now is old people stuff. It's sad but its just what it is. To be honest, i'm just happy the man is still around and still writing. H'es my favorite author and he always was an up and down writer in terms of quality so i'm not worried. Although I do admit I hope the next Holly novel will be her last. Going out with a bang would be appropriate for that character.
I dunno about that I the reason he put the political views in this one is because it fit the character of holly and he put covid in there weather you wanted him to or not because it was written during lockdowm or started anyway i dunno if it was finished during lockdown. It's not because of age because he's always tried to stay tied to rather times in his books which is why he updated the stand from the 70s to the late 80s to early 90s for example. I liked holly bur it's not gonna be among my favorites of his. I do love holly but I agree not every book needs her in it.
Agree with your review. I only finished the book because it's the book of choice for my book club.
I am vaccinated and against Trump's politics and way of leading but like you, I don't need this drummed into me in my fiction.
I feel no superiority because I'm reading something I agree with. I never felt the need to go round introducing myself as vaccinated and felt the constancy of this throughout the book extremely tedious.
Outside of the concept of old, cannibal killers, there was nothing of interest in this book.
I didn't mind knowing who the killer's were the entire book as he did the same thing with Mr Mercedes which is a great book. But the book was just relentless with the Covid narrative, I think most of us read to relax not relive that gong show chapter of life.
Struggling to get through this “plan-demic” ridden tome. Sheesh King, settle down. All the blather about wearing N95s even outdoors😂. And EVERYTHING is racist 🙄
BEAUTIFUL COVER this book has and all the Stephen King books has nowadays (inc. the reprints)
Stephen King has said a number of times that he starts his day by watching CNN, before going to write. It might account for his cartoonish liberalism and Trump Derangement Syndrome.
LOL, I didn't know that but it makes more sense now. If you read that book without knowing who wrote it, I would describe it as the author has to be a pissed off CNN or MSNBC viewer.
Oh god you sound like snowflakes. Because he watches the news? Who cares. He like 70 years old. They all watch the news! Would it be better if he watched fox and thought hordes of caravans were coming or the White replacement theory?
If you dont know SK, you thought this book is written by some fresh graduate woke activist, the story and plots is really flat, and you dont feel anything memorable from this book after you finished it. And Holly from one of the best character in book, now became really dull, like a typical emotionless old lady.
Well, Cant expect a writer who think trans women are real women can have clear mind and logics sense to write anymore book that needs logics.
Its funny that JK Rowling books is getting better and better WITHOUT any politics (maybe there are, at least she shows dont tell), and Stephen King just keep going backward, he always follow his plot formula and its getting really really old, SK books always just based on intuition or luck to get the story progress, not really with solid logics and detective skills.
Your entire post is rubbish
Jk Rowling has plenty of beliefs that groups of people would categorize as woke. Not on trans issues, yes. But on others. I'm confused by a number of points here
@crispycrimps865 you don't understand my points which proves you yourself are in fact, a closeted woke.
closeted? I'm woke AF! Why aren't you? Being woke means giving a sh|t about other human beings. @@violau8550
@violau8550 I work with kids. Always a bit saddening to see discussions dissolve into name-calling. Conservatives can disagree. Have different views. Call each other out. Politely exchange ideas and differing opinions. If you have other points to make, other than grouping me into a category, avísame!
Idk I don’t think this Stephen King guy is gonna cut it as a writer
apparently he's written a ton of books, but still cant seem to break through lol
Stephen went woke
I got 50 pages in and dnfed it. It was just way too much of that for me and I haven’t read any of the other books with Holly in it so I was going into this fresh. I didn’t like her to say the least. I thought she was bitter and quite annoying. The kind of person that in real life if you disagreed with they would thoroughly judge you and probably never want to speak to you again. Just no good.
I think we are done with Holly
King has always been political and at times extremely political. Just recently we had Mr. Mercedes, that you enjoyed, which was a reflection on the financial crisis. We had Under the Dome and Revival which are extremely political and provide various caricatures. We have Billy Summers which has, as it's villain, alternate universe Rupert Murdoch. We have the Institute which is partially a reflection on various elements of American history from the internment of Japanese, to native children taken from their families or the situation of migrant children at the US southern border. Elevation is a clear and direct statement against homophobia. That is just the last 15 years or so. King has become and remains one of the most important political figures who writes fiction today in the US and for what it's worth, people on the right have commented on King directly, whether it's Elon Musk or Trump himself.
So in the end was this an opportunity to tell off some people while situating a book in a very unique historical moment? Sure. Is that his right? Sure. Is it problematic from the perspective of "literature should be a warm welcoming blanket and a big tent?" No, that's not what literature is, so you're wrong there. We're not owed comfort from reading books. We're not owed 'both sideism' from literature or even ignoring issues.
I can understand your complaints about the story giving us the villain outright (although how is that at all different than the Mr. Mercedes series or the Dark Tower books or many other books he has written?) and that the process of finding the villains was frustrating at times. I can understand that some covid stuff was over the top- i.e. elbow bumps and vaccine introductions- but King is ~80 years old and we give him a pass for writing 1960-1980s slang into modern children's dialogue, so we can file this away in the same category. I can understand that Holly isn't the most interesting character and now that she's rich it is less interesting than ever. The argument that people 'read to escape politics' when they read Stephen King is wild though.
Comments. Not novels please
@@ehosmanek1696 King always political, conservative politics always evil in king books, why use many words when few words do trick
But it goes beyond his political views being in his book. Yes, they have always been there, but more of a background to his story. Yes the Church is always the bad guys or something bad is coming out of Gov, but he rarely focus on it or talked ad nauseam. now it's right on the nose. Literally, every other page, it's Trump this or Trump that, or are double or triple Vax, Or some other left wing talking point. That completely takes you out of the story.
Conclusion - SK got lazy on metaphor and just spill it out violently and directly like those trans activists.
I loved the novel
Again, I would LOVE to hear why. I've seen this twice so far in these comments, but, neither have really said "why". I am truly interested...
I liked the ideea, (Spoiler) but i was not expecting that they would think human flesh can cure their pain, i mean it s a placebo effect and i like how king reconstructs the plot. I ve read a most of his books since i was a child and i like how from "nothing" he developes an entire ideea of a plot, it s just my opinion
Kings trump deragement syndrome ruins the book for me. The good guys are liberal and the bad guys are conservative. Fairy tale was much better.
Dude it’s alway like that! He’s a hippy of course he can’t stand trump and his followers. Plus it’s relative to the time we live in. America is pretty split. Conservatives think liberals rape kids kill babies or turn all kids trans. Why wouldn’t he consider them bad guys.
King is correct about that
Im with you absolutely. I read to escape reality not get dragged back into it
I see the kind channel this has become by the fans in the comments. Time for me to bow out!
*the kind OF channel
I hate the character. Too cringy for me to read. That’s why I’m watching this.
I liked the book, but I agree too much vaccine and trump bashing.
Good review my friend. John from UK
covid world? wounds uninspired tbh, but then again, I don't like the whole Mr. Mercedes world. so probably will not read Holly.
I got 3/4s done and returned it to the library. Yawn.