Short Story Review by Dlsiluk:
Stephen King’s
“Harvey’s Dream”
From the book “Just after Sunset,” by Stephen King: “Harvey’s Dream” a ten page story, in a book over 350-pages, $28.000 (I got it on sale for $7.00; thank goodness), dated 2008. To my knowledge, Mr. King hasn’t written short stories for a while, this book was his first in a number of years. It says on the leaf inside the book “Stephen King…delivers an astonishing collection of short stories….” Harvey’s Dream, is far from being astonishing. I read a few of his books years ago, only one impressed me, but I never read his short stories, and this story is badly written, by anybody’s standards. I haven’t gotten to the full book yet, it make take a year or two after reading this ten-page story which is real stale, oversimplified, written in short sentences that don’t seem to connect properly.
He uses stupid phrases, idioms that don’t fit the character or mood or life of the story—and perhaps a bit confusing for the younger reader; it seems he’s simply grabbing at anything, knowing his name will carry the book over the silliness of it all, the sentences—in particular their endings awkward to say the least. He sounds like a reporter, and a 3rd person reporter, that shouldn’t be reporting. He uses four-letter words, cuss words, to maximize the potency, or let’s say, to emphases the mood, and by gosh, it just falls fat, like someone staring at you, dumbfounded. He uses click, catchphrases, tags like “Waterloo,” or “Alfalfa of the Little Rascals,” or “The Sopranos,” to make his point (dumb, dumb and dumber). I can’t imagine any one wanting to reread this story, and I’m afraid to move on and read the other several stories in the book, it’s embarrassing, I’m embarrassed for him—odd isn’t it. He’s evidently, not working for posterity of his works, most folks, writers nowadays aren’t, and it shows. But this story should never have been put into the book, it’s really beneath him. (8-11-2010)
Stephen King’s
“Harvey’s Dream”
From the book “Just after Sunset,” by Stephen King: “Harvey’s Dream” a ten page story, in a book over 350-pages, $28.000 (I got it on sale for $7.00; thank goodness), dated 2008. To my knowledge, Mr. King hasn’t written short stories for a while, this book was his first in a number of years. It says on the leaf inside the book “Stephen King…delivers an astonishing collection of short stories….” Harvey’s Dream, is far from being astonishing. I read a few of his books years ago, only one impressed me, but I never read his short stories, and this story is badly written, by anybody’s standards. I haven’t gotten to the full book yet, it make take a year or two after reading this ten-page story which is real stale, oversimplified, written in short sentences that don’t seem to connect properly.
He uses stupid phrases, idioms that don’t fit the character or mood or life of the story—and perhaps a bit confusing for the younger reader; it seems he’s simply grabbing at anything, knowing his name will carry the book over the silliness of it all, the sentences—in particular their endings awkward to say the least. He sounds like a reporter, and a 3rd person reporter, that shouldn’t be reporting. He uses four-letter words, cuss words, to maximize the potency, or let’s say, to emphases the mood, and by gosh, it just falls fat, like someone staring at you, dumbfounded. He uses click, catchphrases, tags like “Waterloo,” or “Alfalfa of the Little Rascals,” or “The Sopranos,” to make his point (dumb, dumb and dumber). I can’t imagine any one wanting to reread this story, and I’m afraid to move on and read the other several stories in the book, it’s embarrassing, I’m embarrassed for him—odd isn’t it. He’s evidently, not working for posterity of his works, most folks, writers nowadays aren’t, and it shows. But this story should never have been put into the book, it’s really beneath him. (8-11-2010)
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