Is there any doubt this man is a wonderful storyteller? I’m on disk 10 of a 25 disk set, and I’m going to have to recheck it out because there’s no way I can listen to something this long in three weeks just driving in my car. I find myself itching to hurry and get into my car at the end of the day so I can listen. Same thing in the mornings. This is one time I’m glad it takes me about 25 minutes to get to work!
When I first heard about this book, I thought “Okay, he’s going to try to stop Kennedy from getting shot. Interesting, I guess.” But I should have known this book was about so much more. The main character actually does more than that. I don’t know if the attempt to save Kennedy will be at the very end or if it will be sooner. Of course, I don’t know yet if he’s successful. But this book is not just about that. It’s about PEOPLE, just like Stephen King’s books always are. No matter how much STUFF happens in King’s books, they are always character driven in my opinion. You always get down into the heart and soul of King’s main characters. In this particular book, the MC goes through things that change him, but he does things he has to do. He’s a stronger man than he thought he could be. I LOVE this character, Jake Epping. I want so much for him to succeed because he goes through so much to get there. I don’t want to do any spoilers, so I can’t say too much more. I can say there’s kind of a butterfly effect going on in the book. VERY interesting.
One thing that I find amusing is how King can get by with things that everyone always tells authors NOT to do. I think the biggest thing is this. We are always told not to write anything that doesn’t “further the plot”. And yet, King does it all the time. And he makes it INTERESTING. He can throw things in a story that doesn’t really have to be there, but he puts it in there because he wants to. He can write about what people are eating and how good it tastes, but I get my hands smacked for it. Personally, when I read a book, I like to hear little side things that don’t necessarily matter to the plot but are interesting. So when Stephen King does it, I love it. And he gets by with it and people love him anyway. Because no matter what rules he might break (and I think he’s earned the right to break them by now), he’s still a great storyteller. And that’s what it all boils down to. Can you tell a good story? Do people want to hurry up and finish what they’re doing so they can get back to your book? That’s what it’s all about. That’s what it means to be a writer.
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