Worth reading.
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I can't say I enjoyed this book: I was hooked by the strong narrative line and read it rapidly; I was fascinated by the dreadful logic of the chain of events; I was disturbed by the believability of the actions of the humans: But enjoyment - No.
Stephen King manages to mix the fantastical with the mundane - evil, personified in a grotesque, with the ordinary, petty trials and tribulations of small community life.
It is a critique of that small community which lies at the heart of this book - and it is the insight Mr. King has into the workings and motivations of the human decision making process which allow him to so believably destroy the fragile bonds which maintain such communities.
The book has its fair share of action and blood, explosion and bullet - but the real horror is the gullibility of the people, the ease with which deceit can be foisted on them and the tenacity with which they hold on to that deceit.
I can't say I enjoyed it, but I can say it was well worth reading - and that I took a lot from it. I certainly will read more of Mr. King's works, but I think I want to visit sunnier climes first - maybe a simple murder yarn?
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An Essential Horror Story...
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After reading The Shining I was very quick in wanting to explore more of Stephen King's mastery and see what his other stories had to offer. I managed to get a handful including Insomniac, The Tommyknockers, The Dark Half and 'Salems Lot. However the first one that really grabbed my attention was this story i'm reviewing right now.
Needful Things is set in the town of Castle Rock, Maine, and a new shop of the title's name has just opened, and folks are intrigued by what the store has to offer. Business is flowing for the owner Mr Leland Gaunt, but soon all these happy customers will find they are paying for more than just their possessions.
This story is fantastic in the way that mixes affection with the malice of the whole theme. Much like The Shining, there is almost an elemental of reality in here, and I find the concept of seeing how far people will go to have their needful thing just spectacular.
There's dozens and dozens of characters throughout each with their own identifying features including the three main characters - The Sheriff Alan Pangborn, the girlfriend Polly Chalmers and the charming yet mysterious Leland Gaunt - and with such a huge story its just manageable to remember them all.
Of course, since this is a Stephen King novel, the violence here is absolutely of the richter scale, old grudges come to heads, friendships fall apart and religious beliefs become more than war of words. The images are really good, spot on in fact, that it can paint an image of these scenarios in the reader's mind.
I think as I went through the book, I felt a mixture of happiness, terror, sadness and curiosity, but there was a moment where I didn't feel hooked and did not enjoy it.
Buy this now ! :-) after all 'EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE'
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One thing I have learnt about Stephen King...
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is to not base your opinion of his works on the film adaptations of TV movies. This is the third King book I have read so far and I plan to read many more. Having spent earlier years watching the usual TV and movie versions of his novels, I really wasn't that into him until I picked up IT for want of anything else to read. I was hooked.
Needful things is based in the town of Castlerock which I believe is the setting for a couple of his other novels to which he makes brief reference to in this story.
A new shop opens in Castlerock which seems to sell exactly what the buyer desires. But beware - your heart's desire always comes with a price...
This is a great book which reads at a good pace. There are an awful lot of calendars, buit King's style of writing and the relatively short chapters mean that you don't get bogged down by all the detail and you can enjoy the story that he expertly weaves. King builds up the suspense to an absolutely crazy mad climax which leaves you feeling quite exhausted but with the feeling you've just finished a really excellent book.
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Needful Things is right
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A new shop called "Needful Things" arrives in the small Maine town of Castle Rock (where King also set Cujo and the novella The Sun Dog). The owner is the mysteriouse and creepy Leland Gaunt. Eleven year old Brian Rusk was the first customer and he got exactly what he wanted - a very rare 1956 Sandy Kaufax baseball card signed, to Brian. Cyndi Rose Martin was next and she got exactly what she wanted too. In fact ALL of the residents of Castle Rock got exactly what they wanted most or had almost dreamed of and for a very reasonable price...the money price that was, but Leland Gaunt made them pay in other ways, too...
This is the last book Stephen King has written that is based in Castle Rock - and if you are going to go out you might as well go out with a bang which is exactly what he has done with this book - and done incredibly well at that! I cant say too much without spoiling the storyline but this is an absolutely amazing book, by far one of Kings' best and the ending is one of the cleaverest, most well thought out endings I have ever read! Please read this book, you will not regret it it is one of the best.
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One of his best
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This is a fab book, where Stephen King really captures the small-minded nastiness that we are all capable of. As in so many of his books, there are only a few characters we really like, but a lot we recognise. After reading Needful Things, I couldn't help wondering what my needful thing would be, and whether or not I would buy it!
I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you are new to Steven King and want a novel that won't disappoint.
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