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Everything's Eventual Volume 1
“Everything’s Eventual” is a collection of short stories written by Stephen King. Published in 2002, it was Kings first collection of short stories in nine years. The fourteen stories included in the anthology can be found on no less than 5 different audiobook products, including this one.
Audio CD
First published March 19, 2002
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About the author
Stephen King
2,649 books883k followersStephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,904 reviews
December 31, 2022
A collection most known for The Dark Tower short, The Little Sisters of Eluria (hypnotic) and original short stories of the movies, Room 1408 (over the top?) and Riding the Bullet (horror story with a heart).
GIF from the movie 1408
This collection is better recommended for having just 4 weak stories of the 14, and for 'Lunch At The Gotham Cafe' - a wonderfully unhinged festival of violence; 'LT's Theory of Pets' - a delight of stories within stories; and the show-stopping headline story 'Everything's Eventual' - that should haunt you for ever. All in all, a decent King collection with the bonus of each story's origin/genesis as a preface to each short! 7 out of 12, Three Star read overall.
GIF from the movie Riding the Bullet
2019 and 2003 read
GIF from the movie 1408
This collection is better recommended for having just 4 weak stories of the 14, and for 'Lunch At The Gotham Cafe' - a wonderfully unhinged festival of violence; 'LT's Theory of Pets' - a delight of stories within stories; and the show-stopping headline story 'Everything's Eventual' - that should haunt you for ever. All in all, a decent King collection with the bonus of each story's origin/genesis as a preface to each short! 7 out of 12, Three Star read overall.
GIF from the movie Riding the Bullet
2019 and 2003 read
February 17, 2020
This is a reread for me, I first read this collection sometime back in the mid-2000’s. I just read “Elevation” by SK, and it left me a little unsatisfied and wanting more of King’s magic. I wasn’t ready to take on a full novel, so I grabbed this thinking I would just read a short story or two. Well, the next thing you know, I’ve finished the whole thing. “Everything’s Eventual” is a collection of 14 stories, or as the title states, 14 dark tales that I believe King wrote mostly in the 1990’s. I always enjoy King’s explanatory notes included with his short stories that often reveal his inspiration or parts of his process.
This collection certainly filled the void that reading Elevation left. I think what really struck me about this group of stories is the honesty that King reveals. The stories hit on marriage, mother & son relationships, divorce, and other relationships that King has clearly torn pieces from his past and laid bare for us to examine. Of course, they are all encapsulated in supernatural or horror stories. In two of the stories, “1408” and “The Road Virus Heads North”, King uses main characters that are writers, which is not unusual for him. But, continuing the theme of honesty, I feel like he opens the kimono here concerning his insecurities as a writer. In both stories the writers are horror authors and King uses phrases like “bottom feeders” or “projectile vomiting” to describe their genre and style. I think King did experience some self-doubt back in the ‘90s and it bleeds through here in his stories.
I really enjoyed the title story, “Everything’s Eventual”. The main character, Dinky, reminds me a bit of Arnie from “Christine”, but the storyline harkens to “Hearts in Atlantis” and the Dark Tower series. I love the way King sets up some very unusual plot points and then slowly reveals the fantastic, weird backstory, like a strip tease.
You also get a Roland of Gilead (Dark Tower) story, that’s not crucial for the Dark Tower storyline, but is essential if you’re a big fan of the series. The winner of the O. Henry short story competition, “The Man in the Black Suit” is included and is an excellent creepy fireside story. And “Riding the Bullet” was an early ebook that sold a half million and helped establish that format.
All-in-all, a very strong assemblage of shadowy tales, some clever, some brilliantly horrific, but all engaging and authentically told.
This collection certainly filled the void that reading Elevation left. I think what really struck me about this group of stories is the honesty that King reveals. The stories hit on marriage, mother & son relationships, divorce, and other relationships that King has clearly torn pieces from his past and laid bare for us to examine. Of course, they are all encapsulated in supernatural or horror stories. In two of the stories, “1408” and “The Road Virus Heads North”, King uses main characters that are writers, which is not unusual for him. But, continuing the theme of honesty, I feel like he opens the kimono here concerning his insecurities as a writer. In both stories the writers are horror authors and King uses phrases like “bottom feeders” or “projectile vomiting” to describe their genre and style. I think King did experience some self-doubt back in the ‘90s and it bleeds through here in his stories.
I really enjoyed the title story, “Everything’s Eventual”. The main character, Dinky, reminds me a bit of Arnie from “Christine”, but the storyline harkens to “Hearts in Atlantis” and the Dark Tower series. I love the way King sets up some very unusual plot points and then slowly reveals the fantastic, weird backstory, like a strip tease.
You also get a Roland of Gilead (Dark Tower) story, that’s not crucial for the Dark Tower storyline, but is essential if you’re a big fan of the series. The winner of the O. Henry short story competition, “The Man in the Black Suit” is included and is an excellent creepy fireside story. And “Riding the Bullet” was an early ebook that sold a half million and helped establish that format.
All-in-all, a very strong assemblage of shadowy tales, some clever, some brilliantly horrific, but all engaging and authentically told.
June 6, 2017
Everything’s Eventual offers a mixed bag of short stories, fourteen tales that range from the horrifying to the mundane, each of which includes commentary from the author.
“Autopsy Room Four” explores the frightful prospect of premature burial. Comedic and tense, this is arguably the best story in the entire collection.
In “The Man in the Black Suit,” an old man recalls a chance encounter from his childhood that’s haunted him all his life. King plays to his strengths in this one, dabbling in the realm of shadowy figures and terrifying monsters.
“All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” is an inconclusive tale of a man with a penchant for collecting rest-area bathroom graffiti who suffers from a waning interest in being alive. King explains that he was encouraged by Bill Buford of The New Yorker to keep the ending ambiguous, and both Buford and King believe that decision strengthened the story. Whether or not that’s true is subjective.
Bullets fly in “The Death of Jack Hamilton,” a story of Depression-era outlaws going head to head with the cops that will likely appeal to fans of car chases, westerns, or John Dillinger.
“In the Deathroom” sees an American newspaper reporter interrogated in South America. The reporter must find a way to turn the tides if he wants to get out of the room alive. Labeled by King as “Kafka-esque,” this story investigates an unorthodox “what if” scenario to satisfying effect.
The Little Sisters of Eluria is a fantasy novella about Roland Deschain of Gilead (from the Dark Tower series) in which Deschain crosses paths with some cunning women who are more than the doting caretakers they appear to be at first glance. King rightly states that “you don’t need to have read the Dark Tower novels” to enjoy this novella.
The book’s namesake, “Everything’s Eventual,” reveals why nineteen-year-old Dink Earnshaw grinds paper in the garbage disposal and drops change down the storm-drain every week. Based on an image that randomly popped into King’s head, this story demonstrates his ability to take an idea and use it to craft an intriguing story that gives meaning to an imaginary character’s odd behavior.
“L.T.’s Theory of Pets” introduces a disgruntled couple who gift each other a pet that bonds with the person who bought them, rather than the person they were gifted to. Intended to soften their discord, the gifted pets instead exacerbate their owners’ troubled relationship. King toys with his readers’ emotions in this one, tugging on heartstrings before throwing in a shocking twist.
King once again romps through the realm of horror in “The Road Virus Heads North,” a gruesome tale about an unwitting man who acquires an eerie painting that seems to continually change in subtle yet grim ways.
Amidst an argument over divorce papers, lunch takes an unexpected, violent turn in “Lunch at Gotham Café.” Though this reads like classic King, the plot twist feels clunky and forced.
King conveys his idea of Hell in “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French” – an intentionally repetitive story of déjà vu.
“1408” takes a stab at being a supernatural tale of a haunted hotel room and succeeds marvelously. Coming in at a close second for best story in the collection, this shudder-inducing tale of a room on the thirteenth floor (whose room number totals thirteen) starts strong and continues to get better and better.
Riding the Bullet is a novella that was first published as an e-book in 2000 to great acclaim, but King questions if the novella did well because of its content or because of the “novelty of the electronic package.” It’s reminiscent of an R.L. Stine book (i.e. creepy in a kitschy way), but underneath the surface it’s about the author grappling with the harsh reality that death eventually finds our loved ones.
In “Luckey Quarter,” a hotel cleaning woman finds a lone quarter in her tip jar along with a note that reads, “This is a luckey quarter! It’s true! Luckey you!” If her premonition about the coin is correct, she may indeed by a fortunate woman.
Given its absence of a running theme and the way the book deviates from a particular genre, Everything’s Eventual is a meandering collection of stories. Some satiate while others feel out of place, making for a relatively engaging but ultimately inconsequential read.
“Autopsy Room Four” explores the frightful prospect of premature burial. Comedic and tense, this is arguably the best story in the entire collection.
In “The Man in the Black Suit,” an old man recalls a chance encounter from his childhood that’s haunted him all his life. King plays to his strengths in this one, dabbling in the realm of shadowy figures and terrifying monsters.
“All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” is an inconclusive tale of a man with a penchant for collecting rest-area bathroom graffiti who suffers from a waning interest in being alive. King explains that he was encouraged by Bill Buford of The New Yorker to keep the ending ambiguous, and both Buford and King believe that decision strengthened the story. Whether or not that’s true is subjective.
Bullets fly in “The Death of Jack Hamilton,” a story of Depression-era outlaws going head to head with the cops that will likely appeal to fans of car chases, westerns, or John Dillinger.
“In the Deathroom” sees an American newspaper reporter interrogated in South America. The reporter must find a way to turn the tides if he wants to get out of the room alive. Labeled by King as “Kafka-esque,” this story investigates an unorthodox “what if” scenario to satisfying effect.
The Little Sisters of Eluria is a fantasy novella about Roland Deschain of Gilead (from the Dark Tower series) in which Deschain crosses paths with some cunning women who are more than the doting caretakers they appear to be at first glance. King rightly states that “you don’t need to have read the Dark Tower novels” to enjoy this novella.
The book’s namesake, “Everything’s Eventual,” reveals why nineteen-year-old Dink Earnshaw grinds paper in the garbage disposal and drops change down the storm-drain every week. Based on an image that randomly popped into King’s head, this story demonstrates his ability to take an idea and use it to craft an intriguing story that gives meaning to an imaginary character’s odd behavior.
“L.T.’s Theory of Pets” introduces a disgruntled couple who gift each other a pet that bonds with the person who bought them, rather than the person they were gifted to. Intended to soften their discord, the gifted pets instead exacerbate their owners’ troubled relationship. King toys with his readers’ emotions in this one, tugging on heartstrings before throwing in a shocking twist.
King once again romps through the realm of horror in “The Road Virus Heads North,” a gruesome tale about an unwitting man who acquires an eerie painting that seems to continually change in subtle yet grim ways.
Amidst an argument over divorce papers, lunch takes an unexpected, violent turn in “Lunch at Gotham Café.” Though this reads like classic King, the plot twist feels clunky and forced.
King conveys his idea of Hell in “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French” – an intentionally repetitive story of déjà vu.
“1408” takes a stab at being a supernatural tale of a haunted hotel room and succeeds marvelously. Coming in at a close second for best story in the collection, this shudder-inducing tale of a room on the thirteenth floor (whose room number totals thirteen) starts strong and continues to get better and better.
Riding the Bullet is a novella that was first published as an e-book in 2000 to great acclaim, but King questions if the novella did well because of its content or because of the “novelty of the electronic package.” It’s reminiscent of an R.L. Stine book (i.e. creepy in a kitschy way), but underneath the surface it’s about the author grappling with the harsh reality that death eventually finds our loved ones.
In “Luckey Quarter,” a hotel cleaning woman finds a lone quarter in her tip jar along with a note that reads, “This is a luckey quarter! It’s true! Luckey you!” If her premonition about the coin is correct, she may indeed by a fortunate woman.
Given its absence of a running theme and the way the book deviates from a particular genre, Everything’s Eventual is a meandering collection of stories. Some satiate while others feel out of place, making for a relatively engaging but ultimately inconsequential read.
April 14, 2018
"I want to make you laugh or cry when you read a story... or do both at the same time. I want your heart, in other words. If you want to learn something, go to school."
14 dark tales from the Master of Horror. From a serious case of deja-vu 16,000 feet in the air to a moving picture that becomes deadly, King delivers stories brimming with imagination and terror.
Overall, this collection was a winner for me! However, it does not surpass Night Shift - that one is pretty hard to beat, in my opinion. I thought it would be easiest if I just gave a quick overview for my thoughts on each story as there was only 14 in this collection. Nearly all of the stories got 4 or 5 stars from me - only two failed to meet the mark!
Autopsy Room 4 - really great story that made me feel quite claustrophobic and panicked. Loved the ending in particular!! Trust King to come up with that (excuse the pun)! 4.5 stars
The Man in the Black Suit - a lot of people had said how scary this one was, but unfortunately I did not find it scary at all *sad face*, however I still enjoyed the story and execution! A memorable King short. 4 stars
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - a surprisingly emotional one that made me feel my feelings... one of those stories that really makes you think and will stay with you long after you put down the book. 4.5 stars
The Death of Jack Hamilton - when I started this one I really didn't think I'd like it, but ended up enjoying it a lot more than I anticipated. A nice surprise! 4 stars
In the Death Room - probably my least favourite in the collection, just fell a little flat for me. No doubt I'll forget about this one pretty quickly! 3.5 stars
The Little Sisters of Eluria - well... I was always going to love this one (I can be honest when it comes to me being a bit biased...). It was AMAZING to be back with Roland in Mid-World, the little references to characters like Cort and Susan had me fangirling, as did all the usual Mid-World dialogue. The story was very compelling as a standalone and I was left wanting more! 5 stars
Everything's Eventual - again, a heavily linked Dark Tower story with the inclusion of Dinky Earnshaw, and again, really really enjoyable. 5 stars
LT's Theory of Pets - this was one of my favourites in the collection! I don't really laugh out loud that often when I read, but King has a way of tickling my funny bone and this one had me chuckling along. Then towards the end he starts toying with my emotions out of nowhere!! 5 stars
The Road Virus Heads North - quite a creepy and unsettling story. Would put me off buying anything from a yard sale. Loved it!! 5 stars
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe - this one was pretty crazy and made me feel pretty nervous. Sometimes if I imagine these things happening in real life it just sets me on edge. Situations like this are my worst nightmare - to be trapped somewhere with a complete psycho! *shivers* 4 stars
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French - King is right, hell is some form of repetition. This story was terrifying in its own way! 4 stars
1408 - one of my most anticipated stories in this collection as the movie is quite popular (I haven't watched it yet, but now I can!). To be honest, I felt a little disappointed by it? It started out quite well and the premise was intriguing, but really didn't go down the route I expected and just wasn't scary like I hoped it would be. Still a good story, but I just wanted more. 4 stars
Riding the Bullet - another one of my favourites in the collection. It was surprisingly emotional for me - I don't know, it was just pushing a lot of my triggers. I guess King's introduction about how it was related to his mother's death just made me view it in a different way. Loved this one! 5 stars
Luckey Quarter - again, not the best story, pretty forgettable, but it wasn't terrible either! 3.5 stars
So that's my King for the month! I might actually end up reading two King's in May, since we have the release of The Outsider to look forward to at the end of the month. How exciting! Overall, I'd give Everything's Eventual 4.5 stars out of 5. A really solid collection, I was impressed!
14 dark tales from the Master of Horror. From a serious case of deja-vu 16,000 feet in the air to a moving picture that becomes deadly, King delivers stories brimming with imagination and terror.
Overall, this collection was a winner for me! However, it does not surpass Night Shift - that one is pretty hard to beat, in my opinion. I thought it would be easiest if I just gave a quick overview for my thoughts on each story as there was only 14 in this collection. Nearly all of the stories got 4 or 5 stars from me - only two failed to meet the mark!
Autopsy Room 4 - really great story that made me feel quite claustrophobic and panicked. Loved the ending in particular!! Trust King to come up with that (excuse the pun)! 4.5 stars
The Man in the Black Suit - a lot of people had said how scary this one was, but unfortunately I did not find it scary at all *sad face*, however I still enjoyed the story and execution! A memorable King short. 4 stars
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - a surprisingly emotional one that made me feel my feelings... one of those stories that really makes you think and will stay with you long after you put down the book. 4.5 stars
The Death of Jack Hamilton - when I started this one I really didn't think I'd like it, but ended up enjoying it a lot more than I anticipated. A nice surprise! 4 stars
In the Death Room - probably my least favourite in the collection, just fell a little flat for me. No doubt I'll forget about this one pretty quickly! 3.5 stars
The Little Sisters of Eluria - well... I was always going to love this one (I can be honest when it comes to me being a bit biased...). It was AMAZING to be back with Roland in Mid-World, the little references to characters like Cort and Susan had me fangirling, as did all the usual Mid-World dialogue. The story was very compelling as a standalone and I was left wanting more! 5 stars
Everything's Eventual - again, a heavily linked Dark Tower story with the inclusion of Dinky Earnshaw, and again, really really enjoyable. 5 stars
LT's Theory of Pets - this was one of my favourites in the collection! I don't really laugh out loud that often when I read, but King has a way of tickling my funny bone and this one had me chuckling along. Then towards the end he starts toying with my emotions out of nowhere!! 5 stars
The Road Virus Heads North - quite a creepy and unsettling story. Would put me off buying anything from a yard sale. Loved it!! 5 stars
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe - this one was pretty crazy and made me feel pretty nervous. Sometimes if I imagine these things happening in real life it just sets me on edge. Situations like this are my worst nightmare - to be trapped somewhere with a complete psycho! *shivers* 4 stars
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French - King is right, hell is some form of repetition. This story was terrifying in its own way! 4 stars
1408 - one of my most anticipated stories in this collection as the movie is quite popular (I haven't watched it yet, but now I can!). To be honest, I felt a little disappointed by it? It started out quite well and the premise was intriguing, but really didn't go down the route I expected and just wasn't scary like I hoped it would be. Still a good story, but I just wanted more. 4 stars
Riding the Bullet - another one of my favourites in the collection. It was surprisingly emotional for me - I don't know, it was just pushing a lot of my triggers. I guess King's introduction about how it was related to his mother's death just made me view it in a different way. Loved this one! 5 stars
Luckey Quarter - again, not the best story, pretty forgettable, but it wasn't terrible either! 3.5 stars
So that's my King for the month! I might actually end up reading two King's in May, since we have the release of The Outsider to look forward to at the end of the month. How exciting! Overall, I'd give Everything's Eventual 4.5 stars out of 5. A really solid collection, I was impressed!
July 2, 2022
“Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales” by Stephen King is truly an amazing collection of short stories written by the master himself. This was a fantastic read that touches on many subjects and has a bit of everything for those of you that love reading great horror stories.
Of course, when it comes to an anthology of short stories, you’ll find some great ones, decent ones, and some that probably aren’t to your liking. That’s all completely fine but when it comes to this one, I felt they all hit different kinds of horror well. There’s everything from ghosts, zombies, craziness, weirdness, gambling, dark fantasy, and everything else in between.
If I had to pick my favorites, they would be…
- Autopsy Room Four
- The Man in the Black Suit
- In the Deathroom
- The Little Sisters of Eluria
- Everything's Eventual
- The Road Virus Heads North
- Lunch at the Gotham Café
- 1408
- Riding the Bullet
As you can see, I genuinely enjoyed the majority of these short stories. I’ve yet to read anything of The Dark Tower series by King but “The Little Sisters of Eluria” got me hooked and well, I ended up purchasing the entire series to hopefully read one of these days. If I had to pick the best story out of this entire collection, that would easily be “Lunch at the Gotham Café” as it was absolutely INSANE! That one stood out the most for me and will be something I’ll never forget.
Overall, I give “Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales” by Stephen King a 5/5 as it’s over 600 pages of pure horror awesomeness. I’d highly recommend this to anyone that loves King’s work or is interested in reading some of the short stories that helped make him the phenomenal author he is today!
Of course, when it comes to an anthology of short stories, you’ll find some great ones, decent ones, and some that probably aren’t to your liking. That’s all completely fine but when it comes to this one, I felt they all hit different kinds of horror well. There’s everything from ghosts, zombies, craziness, weirdness, gambling, dark fantasy, and everything else in between.
If I had to pick my favorites, they would be…
- Autopsy Room Four
- The Man in the Black Suit
- In the Deathroom
- The Little Sisters of Eluria
- Everything's Eventual
- The Road Virus Heads North
- Lunch at the Gotham Café
- 1408
- Riding the Bullet
As you can see, I genuinely enjoyed the majority of these short stories. I’ve yet to read anything of The Dark Tower series by King but “The Little Sisters of Eluria” got me hooked and well, I ended up purchasing the entire series to hopefully read one of these days. If I had to pick the best story out of this entire collection, that would easily be “Lunch at the Gotham Café” as it was absolutely INSANE! That one stood out the most for me and will be something I’ll never forget.
Overall, I give “Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales” by Stephen King a 5/5 as it’s over 600 pages of pure horror awesomeness. I’d highly recommend this to anyone that loves King’s work or is interested in reading some of the short stories that helped make him the phenomenal author he is today!
August 17, 2017
The wife had me watch 1408 a while back. I remembered it was in this collection but the only stories I even vaguely remember are the titular one and Little Sisters of Eluria. I figured 2017 was as good a time as any for a reread.
Even though I've been a Constant Reader for twenty years now, I always forget just how good Stephen King is at what he does until I start reading. The man knows his way around a story, though he gets a little wordy at times.
Like all short story collections, the stories vary in quality. I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten since I originally read this in 2002. Little Sisters of Eluria was better than I remembered, though Roland's story is missing something without the rest of the ka-tet. Everything's Eventual was great but since I came to it with more experienced eyes, it somewhat reminded me of Time Out of Joint. Autopsy Room was another great one. I liked The Road Virus Heads North but I feel like I read something similar a long time ago.
Some of the stories seemed a little out of place. I wasn't enamored with LT's Theory of Pets, The Death Room, or The Death of Jack Hamilton. As for 1408, the story that prompted me to pick the book back up... I actually preferred the movie. It was an okay story about a hotel room haunted by something but the movie really fleshed things out. Also, the Mike Enslin in the book is couple notches higher on the douche scale than the one John Cusack plays in the movie.
As with all short story collections, this one is a little hard to rate. Do Everything's Eventual, Little Sisters of Eluria, and Autopsy Room overcome the drag factor of the stories I didn't care that much for? At the end of the day, I'm slapping the traditional safety rating on this one. Three out of five stars.
Even though I've been a Constant Reader for twenty years now, I always forget just how good Stephen King is at what he does until I start reading. The man knows his way around a story, though he gets a little wordy at times.
Like all short story collections, the stories vary in quality. I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten since I originally read this in 2002. Little Sisters of Eluria was better than I remembered, though Roland's story is missing something without the rest of the ka-tet. Everything's Eventual was great but since I came to it with more experienced eyes, it somewhat reminded me of Time Out of Joint. Autopsy Room was another great one. I liked The Road Virus Heads North but I feel like I read something similar a long time ago.
Some of the stories seemed a little out of place. I wasn't enamored with LT's Theory of Pets, The Death Room, or The Death of Jack Hamilton. As for 1408, the story that prompted me to pick the book back up... I actually preferred the movie. It was an okay story about a hotel room haunted by something but the movie really fleshed things out. Also, the Mike Enslin in the book is couple notches higher on the douche scale than the one John Cusack plays in the movie.
As with all short story collections, this one is a little hard to rate. Do Everything's Eventual, Little Sisters of Eluria, and Autopsy Room overcome the drag factor of the stories I didn't care that much for? At the end of the day, I'm slapping the traditional safety rating on this one. Three out of five stars.
January 13, 2016
"Yet for me, there are few pleasures so excellent as sitting in my favorite chair on a cold night with a hot cup of tea, listening to the wind outside and reading a good story which I can complete in a single sitting."
Stephen King, from his introduction
I genuinely looked forward to reading one of these tales each day, and that's the highest praise I can give a collection of short stories.
Stephen King, from his introduction
I genuinely looked forward to reading one of these tales each day, and that's the highest praise I can give a collection of short stories.
May 25, 2024
4.5⭐️s
One of the stronger entries in King’s short story catalogue, I really enjoyed all but two stories in this collection. Definitely his best work since Night Shift in my opinion. There are some real bangers here.
Best characters
Well, Roland of course. Anytime he shows up, I’m there. I’d read about him wandering aimlessly through a desert… oh wait.
Dinky from Everything’s Eventual, and his ability to silently murder using nothing but his intricate design drawing skills. What a weird talent
Thematic similarities
There a thread of darkness that runs through each of these stories. In some cases, it’s overt and in-your-face (right out of the gates with Autopsy Room Four), and other times it hits with greater subtlety and sort of inches its way into your brain (e.g. LT’s Theory of Pets). Interesting that these were all written pre-accident, as there is a lot of exploration about things ending, or things being precariously purgatorial
Stories ranked
1. The Man in the Black Suit
2. Autopsy Room 4
3. All that you Love Will be Carried Away
4. 1408
5. The Road Virus Heads North
6. That Feeling You Can Only Say When It’s In French
7. The Little Sisters of Euloria
8. Everything’s Eventual
9. Riding the Bullet
10. Lunch at the Gotham Cafe
11. LTs Theory of Pets
12. Luckey Quarter
13. In the Death Room
14. The Death of Jack Hamilton
One of the stronger entries in King’s short story catalogue, I really enjoyed all but two stories in this collection. Definitely his best work since Night Shift in my opinion. There are some real bangers here.
Best characters
Well, Roland of course. Anytime he shows up, I’m there. I’d read about him wandering aimlessly through a desert… oh wait.
Dinky from Everything’s Eventual, and his ability to silently murder using nothing but his intricate design drawing skills. What a weird talent
Thematic similarities
There a thread of darkness that runs through each of these stories. In some cases, it’s overt and in-your-face (right out of the gates with Autopsy Room Four), and other times it hits with greater subtlety and sort of inches its way into your brain (e.g. LT’s Theory of Pets). Interesting that these were all written pre-accident, as there is a lot of exploration about things ending, or things being precariously purgatorial
Stories ranked
1. The Man in the Black Suit
2. Autopsy Room 4
3. All that you Love Will be Carried Away
4. 1408
5. The Road Virus Heads North
6. That Feeling You Can Only Say When It’s In French
7. The Little Sisters of Euloria
8. Everything’s Eventual
9. Riding the Bullet
10. Lunch at the Gotham Cafe
11. LTs Theory of Pets
12. Luckey Quarter
13. In the Death Room
14. The Death of Jack Hamilton
January 10, 2023
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Anthologies + Horror + Fantasy +Science Fiction
"Everything's Eventual" is a collection of short stories by Stephen King. The book has 14 stories, including the novella "1408," which was adapted into a movie, and "Riding the Bullet," which was first published as an ebook and later adapted into a movie as well. The genres of the stories range from horror to science fiction, fantasy, and crime.
Here are the stories and my ratings of each one:
Autopsy Room Four: 3.0
Howard Cottrell collapses while golfing at a prestigious club. The hospital declares him dead. Just before the autopsy is about to begin, Howard wakes up on a stretcher with physicians and technicians poised to cut him open.
The Man in the Black Suit: 4.0
Gary is out fishing when he meets a weird man in a black suit. The guy tells Gary about a devil who is always ready for a deal to claim souls. Gary is scared by the story and the man, but he senses there's more.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: 2.0
Alfie Zimmer, a salesperson, stays at a Motel 6 in Nebraska. He decides to commit suicide. Alfie collects unusual bathroom graffiti from his trips. He is captivated by the wall scrawls he takes notes on. He sees these graffiti as voices and friends. They are valuable and significant to him, and they speak to him.
The Death of Jack Hamilton: 1.5
This is the most boring story in the collection. I can’t even recall anything about it. It is a western with crime elements. All I can say is that I didn’t like it at all.
In the Deathroom: 2.5
A reporter called Fletcher is brought to the Death Room, an interrogation room where inmates are routinely killed. Fletcher reflects on his life, family, and decisions while he awaits death. As he confronts death, Fletcher re-evaluates his beliefs, actions, and loved ones.
The Little Sisters of Eluria: 4.5
The story takes place in King's "Dark Tower" series and is a prequel that tells Roland Deschain's backstory. Roland is hurt and unconscious as the story begins. He's located and sent to Eluria, where a group of nuns with extraordinary powers cares for him. Roland begins to think that Eluria and the Little Sisters are not what they appear as he recovers. Before it's too late, he must get away. I loved this one.
Everything's Eventual: 3.0
Dinky is a 19-year-old who dropped out of high school and can influence people's minds by drawing complex designs or pictures. Dinky's previous employer, Skipper, humiliated him until Dinky used his abilities to kill him. Then, Dinky is asked to kill certain people by an organization that says these people are all criminals. But how true is this?
L.T.'s Theory of Pets: 3.5
This is the story of a husband and wife and the pets they gifted each other. Both the pets are not getting along with their new owners! The story is a dark comedy and has an open ending.
The Road Virus Heads North: 4.0
I enjoyed reading this one! A dark story about a creepy painting that an author buys at a yard sale. Buying that painting was obviously a very bad idea.
Lunch at the Gotham Café: 3.5
Steven and his wife are getting divorced. He meets with her and her lawyer at the Gotham Cafe. What happens inside the cafe is something that they did not anticipate and have never experienced before.
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French: 3.0
Have you ever had the sensation that you saw something or someone or expected something to happen before it did? This is the main idea behind this story. That is the feeling that Carol has on her second honeymoon ride.
1408: 3.5
This one was adapted into a movie. It is the story of a nonfiction writer who writes about haunted places. He heard the horrific stories about room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel but wants to experience the whole thing by himself.
Riding the Bullet: 5.0
My absolute favorite story in the collection. Alan is a university student. He receives a call that his mother has suffered a heart attack. Alan will hitchhike to his hometown to be with his mother in the hospital. This follows Alan’s journey on the road. This story made me cry!
Luckey Quarter: 3.0
A struggling single mother who is working as a maid. One day she receives a single quarter as a tip with a note that says luckey quarter. She decides to gamble and see if it is truly lucky for her.
Genre: Anthologies + Horror + Fantasy +Science Fiction
"Everything's Eventual" is a collection of short stories by Stephen King. The book has 14 stories, including the novella "1408," which was adapted into a movie, and "Riding the Bullet," which was first published as an ebook and later adapted into a movie as well. The genres of the stories range from horror to science fiction, fantasy, and crime.
Here are the stories and my ratings of each one:
Autopsy Room Four: 3.0
Howard Cottrell collapses while golfing at a prestigious club. The hospital declares him dead. Just before the autopsy is about to begin, Howard wakes up on a stretcher with physicians and technicians poised to cut him open.
The Man in the Black Suit: 4.0
Gary is out fishing when he meets a weird man in a black suit. The guy tells Gary about a devil who is always ready for a deal to claim souls. Gary is scared by the story and the man, but he senses there's more.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: 2.0
Alfie Zimmer, a salesperson, stays at a Motel 6 in Nebraska. He decides to commit suicide. Alfie collects unusual bathroom graffiti from his trips. He is captivated by the wall scrawls he takes notes on. He sees these graffiti as voices and friends. They are valuable and significant to him, and they speak to him.
The Death of Jack Hamilton: 1.5
This is the most boring story in the collection. I can’t even recall anything about it. It is a western with crime elements. All I can say is that I didn’t like it at all.
In the Deathroom: 2.5
A reporter called Fletcher is brought to the Death Room, an interrogation room where inmates are routinely killed. Fletcher reflects on his life, family, and decisions while he awaits death. As he confronts death, Fletcher re-evaluates his beliefs, actions, and loved ones.
The Little Sisters of Eluria: 4.5
The story takes place in King's "Dark Tower" series and is a prequel that tells Roland Deschain's backstory. Roland is hurt and unconscious as the story begins. He's located and sent to Eluria, where a group of nuns with extraordinary powers cares for him. Roland begins to think that Eluria and the Little Sisters are not what they appear as he recovers. Before it's too late, he must get away. I loved this one.
Everything's Eventual: 3.0
Dinky is a 19-year-old who dropped out of high school and can influence people's minds by drawing complex designs or pictures. Dinky's previous employer, Skipper, humiliated him until Dinky used his abilities to kill him. Then, Dinky is asked to kill certain people by an organization that says these people are all criminals. But how true is this?
L.T.'s Theory of Pets: 3.5
This is the story of a husband and wife and the pets they gifted each other. Both the pets are not getting along with their new owners! The story is a dark comedy and has an open ending.
The Road Virus Heads North: 4.0
I enjoyed reading this one! A dark story about a creepy painting that an author buys at a yard sale. Buying that painting was obviously a very bad idea.
Lunch at the Gotham Café: 3.5
Steven and his wife are getting divorced. He meets with her and her lawyer at the Gotham Cafe. What happens inside the cafe is something that they did not anticipate and have never experienced before.
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French: 3.0
Have you ever had the sensation that you saw something or someone or expected something to happen before it did? This is the main idea behind this story. That is the feeling that Carol has on her second honeymoon ride.
1408: 3.5
This one was adapted into a movie. It is the story of a nonfiction writer who writes about haunted places. He heard the horrific stories about room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel but wants to experience the whole thing by himself.
Riding the Bullet: 5.0
My absolute favorite story in the collection. Alan is a university student. He receives a call that his mother has suffered a heart attack. Alan will hitchhike to his hometown to be with his mother in the hospital. This follows Alan’s journey on the road. This story made me cry!
Luckey Quarter: 3.0
A struggling single mother who is working as a maid. One day she receives a single quarter as a tip with a note that says luckey quarter. She decides to gamble and see if it is truly lucky for her.
December 25, 2022
Un libro de relatos muy bueno.
La mejor nota de un relato es 9 y la peor un 6 (sobre 10). La media de los 14 relatos sería un 7'5.
Todos los relatos tienen el toque King que nos gusta tanto.
__Sala de autopsias número 4 (4⭐, releído)
Al protagonista están a punto de hacerle la autopsia; el problema es que está vivo.
Tiene unas descripciones que te angustian.
__El hombre del traje negro (3'5⭐, releído)
Un niño que va a pescar se encuentra con un hombre, en traje, que resulta ser el diablo.
Podemos sentir el terror que siente el niño, y como de mayor sigue sin poder olvidar esa experiencia.
__Todo lo que amas se te arrebatará (3⭐, releído)
Un vendedor, al que le encanta escribir en su cuaderno frases escritas en las puertas de los baños públicos, quiere suicidarse. Al final hace un trato consigo mismo.
__La muerte de Jack Hamilton (4⭐)
La versión de King de como murió 'Red' Hamilton, socio de Johnnie Dillinger.
Es toda una odisea, con un poco de gore y descripciones detalladas.
__En la habitación de la muerte (4⭐)
Un Ministerio de Información, un país desconocido (aunque todo apunta a que es México), una sala de interrogatorios, y una máquina de tortura. ¿Qué puede salir mal?
__Las hermanitas de Eluria (4⭐)
Un relato de la saga La Torre Oscura.
Se puede leer sin haber leído la saga; yo no la he leído y no he tenido problemas para disfrutarlo.
__Todo es eventual (5⭐)
Un protagonista con un poder psíquico, una organización que lo contrata, y personas a las que matar.
Si habéis leído 'El instituto' se os hará familiar, ya que parece una precuela, o parte del mismo universo.
__La teoría de L.T. sobre los animales de compañía (3⭐)
L.T. cuenta la historia de como su mujer desapareció. Todos sus compañeros piensan que el 'Asesino del hacha' ha podido matarla, pero L.T. es optimista.
Cuenta como odiaba al perro que ella le regalo, y como ella odiaba a la gata que él le regalo.
__El virus de la carretera viaja hacia el norte (4⭐)
Un escritor para en una venta de garaje y compra un cuadro horrible. Todo empieza a ir mal cuando se da cuenta de que el cuadro va cambiando.
__Almuerzo en el café Gotham (4⭐)
Un hombre queda con su mujer, que le ha pedido el divorcio, en un restaurante para hablar. El maitre se vuelve loco y... Sangre, violencia, persecución.
No esperéis a Batman, yo me he llevado una decepción.
__Esa sensación que solo puede expresarse en francés (3'5⭐)
Un bucle en el que la protagonista y su marido se ven envueltos. Todo empieza cuando ella tiene un déjà vu.
King cuenta al final que es una especie de infierno.
__1408 (3⭐)
La habitación 1408 del hotel Dolphin parece embrujada. El protagonista pasa algo más de una hora en ella, y no dura más. Casi muere quemado. La grabación -con su grabadora de voz- que hace es muy rara y siniestra.
__Montado en la bala (4⭐)
Una mala noticia, autostop, un anciano raro, un cementerio, un chico más raro aún. ¿La culpa?
__La moneda de la suerte (4⭐)
25 centavos, un casino, suerte.
La mejor nota de un relato es 9 y la peor un 6 (sobre 10). La media de los 14 relatos sería un 7'5.
Todos los relatos tienen el toque King que nos gusta tanto.
__Sala de autopsias número 4 (4⭐, releído)
Al protagonista están a punto de hacerle la autopsia; el problema es que está vivo.
Tiene unas descripciones que te angustian.
__El hombre del traje negro (3'5⭐, releído)
Un niño que va a pescar se encuentra con un hombre, en traje, que resulta ser el diablo.
Podemos sentir el terror que siente el niño, y como de mayor sigue sin poder olvidar esa experiencia.
__Todo lo que amas se te arrebatará (3⭐, releído)
Un vendedor, al que le encanta escribir en su cuaderno frases escritas en las puertas de los baños públicos, quiere suicidarse. Al final hace un trato consigo mismo.
__La muerte de Jack Hamilton (4⭐)
La versión de King de como murió 'Red' Hamilton, socio de Johnnie Dillinger.
Es toda una odisea, con un poco de gore y descripciones detalladas.
__En la habitación de la muerte (4⭐)
Un Ministerio de Información, un país desconocido (aunque todo apunta a que es México), una sala de interrogatorios, y una máquina de tortura. ¿Qué puede salir mal?
__Las hermanitas de Eluria (4⭐)
Un relato de la saga La Torre Oscura.
Se puede leer sin haber leído la saga; yo no la he leído y no he tenido problemas para disfrutarlo.
__Todo es eventual (5⭐)
Un protagonista con un poder psíquico, una organización que lo contrata, y personas a las que matar.
Si habéis leído 'El instituto' se os hará familiar, ya que parece una precuela, o parte del mismo universo.
__La teoría de L.T. sobre los animales de compañía (3⭐)
L.T. cuenta la historia de como su mujer desapareció. Todos sus compañeros piensan que el 'Asesino del hacha' ha podido matarla, pero L.T. es optimista.
Cuenta como odiaba al perro que ella le regalo, y como ella odiaba a la gata que él le regalo.
__El virus de la carretera viaja hacia el norte (4⭐)
Un escritor para en una venta de garaje y compra un cuadro horrible. Todo empieza a ir mal cuando se da cuenta de que el cuadro va cambiando.
__Almuerzo en el café Gotham (4⭐)
Un hombre queda con su mujer, que le ha pedido el divorcio, en un restaurante para hablar. El maitre se vuelve loco y... Sangre, violencia, persecución.
No esperéis a Batman, yo me he llevado una decepción.
__Esa sensación que solo puede expresarse en francés (3'5⭐)
Un bucle en el que la protagonista y su marido se ven envueltos. Todo empieza cuando ella tiene un déjà vu.
King cuenta al final que es una especie de infierno.
__1408 (3⭐)
La habitación 1408 del hotel Dolphin parece embrujada. El protagonista pasa algo más de una hora en ella, y no dura más. Casi muere quemado. La grabación -con su grabadora de voz- que hace es muy rara y siniestra.
__Montado en la bala (4⭐)
Una mala noticia, autostop, un anciano raro, un cementerio, un chico más raro aún. ¿La culpa?
__La moneda de la suerte (4⭐)
25 centavos, un casino, suerte.
August 6, 2018
The title of this story collection is deceiving, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales. Except I don't think all 14 tales were dark, in fact I think this collection had more "happy" endings then most Stephen King stories. As with all story collections there are winners and not winners with one loser(I'm looking at you The Little Sisters Of Eluria).
My favorites: 1)1408- is my undisputed favorite story in this collection. It lives up to all the hype its received.
2) The Autopsy Room- explores one of my biggest fears. The fear of being pronounced dead prematurely.
3) That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is In French- I truly believe that may be what hell is.
4) The Road Virus Heads North- sent chills down my spine.
Now the (Not) Favorites:1) The Man In Black- was exactly what you would think it would be. *Spoiler Alert* He's the Devil.(Yawn)
2) In The Deathroom-Yawn
3) L.T.'s Theory Of Pets- I reread it and I still missed the point
4) Lunch at the Gotham Cafe- Meh!
The Worst- The Little Sisters of Eluria- it made me never want to read The Dark Tower series and it was long for no reason and pointless.
The rest of the stories were great and probably some of them deserved to be on my favorites list. Overall I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend it to Stephen King lovers and newbies alike.
Around The Year In 52 Books: An award winning short story or short story collection
Hooked On Books Read-A-Thon
My favorites: 1)1408- is my undisputed favorite story in this collection. It lives up to all the hype its received.
2) The Autopsy Room- explores one of my biggest fears. The fear of being pronounced dead prematurely.
3) That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is In French- I truly believe that may be what hell is.
4) The Road Virus Heads North- sent chills down my spine.
Now the (Not) Favorites:1) The Man In Black- was exactly what you would think it would be. *Spoiler Alert* He's the Devil.(Yawn)
2) In The Deathroom-Yawn
3) L.T.'s Theory Of Pets- I reread it and I still missed the point
4) Lunch at the Gotham Cafe- Meh!
The Worst- The Little Sisters of Eluria- it made me never want to read The Dark Tower series and it was long for no reason and pointless.
The rest of the stories were great and probably some of them deserved to be on my favorites list. Overall I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend it to Stephen King lovers and newbies alike.
Around The Year In 52 Books: An award winning short story or short story collection
Hooked On Books Read-A-Thon
June 27, 2021
I'm always amazed at how varied his subjects can be. He is certainly not "just" a horror writer.
05/2015
Introduction 5 stars. I love King and when he is brutally honest (when is he not?) I love him all the more.
Autopsy Room 4 4 stars I've actually seen the AHP episode that inspired this and Cotton was amazing. I love that only King could mention Michael Bolton and then bring up the fact that Percy is probably rolling in his grave at Bolton's rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman." This story is scary because...well, who knows?! It could be us, any day, any way.
The Man in Black 5 stars I can't say what it is about this story that I love. I guess that's why it won awards. Who but King can say "he skun his knee" and we not only accept it but realize how true that is? People spoke that way. He uses words to paint a world and mood, and he is a master.
All that You Love will be Carried Away 5 stars I know King likes to drive, so I can only imagine he has actually seen all the graffiti described in the pages of this little tale. I really feel for Alfie by the end, but I think he is just the excuse King needs to get these little (weird) gems on the page.
The Death of Jack Hamilton 4 stars Dillinger has always been a fascinating guy. He had charisma, and that will get you so much farther in life than almost any other trait. Many say charisma was Kennedy's ace in the hole. This read to me like King testing the waters for the eventual 11/22/63. Rabbits was an endearing character, and King's ability to create so many characters we can connect to in such a limited number of pages is one of the things I love about him.
In the Deathroom 4 stars This is such a novel way to end this sort of story. It reads like a scene from Scarface and yet...he gets away. There's no way to be sure it's Fletcher buying smokes at the end, but I choose to believe it is him.
The Little Sisters of Eluria 5 stars Like many of King's fans, I love Roland and his world. This story was lovely. The phrases King uses when he is in Dark Tower mode have a certain magic to them. Like he is a different writer when he is telling DT tales. Two quotes from this that I highlighted are "Good liars were common. Honesty, on the other hand, was dear." and as Roland ran his hands through Jenna's hair he thinks "it felt like rain, rain with weight." Both beautiful, beautiful examples of the language the Dark Tower tales insist upon. It gives me a little thrill to read the different accents/versions of the High Speech as well. "Sai" and "thee." They make you feel a part of that world, not just an observer.
Everything's Eventual 5 stars More if I could! I am so glad this is the title tale of the collection. This story has always reminded me a bit of The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet. Dinky's shapes are a bit like "fornits." I am always thrilled when an author can just pull stuff out of their ass and make me not only accept, but genuinely believe in it! King does that here. I truly believe (as I read) that people can do what Dinky does, that other people can "see" the Dinkys of the world, and that there could be an organization (Shop, anyone?) that would finance and set it all up. Even setting Dinky up in this mild, almost cashless existence makes sense. I want another story about a Tranny from a privileged life to see how they would deal with that.
L.T.'s Theory of Pets 3 stars While I find King's musings about marriage and how it works incredibly true in this story, it always leaves me unsatisfied. There is no real ending. Usually, I can accept that, but for some reason, I just can't in this case. Why do we need to know about L.T. breaking down, but have no clue what happens to Lulu? Why do we need to know Holly took a shine to him, but not if it will lead anywhere? It does contain a great quote, though: “It might be that the biggest division in the world isn't men and women, but folks who like cats and folks who like dogs."
The Road Virus Heads North 3 stars I think it's fascinating that King really owns this picture, but that doesn't make the story any better for me. I think it's a bit silly.
Lunch at the Gotham Café 4 stars I don't think the story rates the stars, but the way in which it is told does. None of what happens makes any sense, and we are given no reasons, which I am ok with. I do really want to know what made Diane so unhappy, though. That's one question I really, really want an answer to.
That Feeling, The One You Can Only Say What it is in French 2 stars King says in his note that he believes Hell may be repetition. I could not agree more. I really dislike stories that show the same scene over and over, like this one. It's just so frustrating to read or watch on film. It feels like a colossal waste of time.
1408 5 stars This a great story and has a The Yellow Wallpaper feel to it. I like that King makes it very clear this is not a haunted hotel room, because haunting is done by something that was once alive, but is instead just...wrong. I also applaud his choice to allow Mike to live through the ordeal. To have him die would have felt almost cliché. I have yet to see the movie because I am afraid it won't be a fair adaptation, but I did imagine Cusak as Mike as I read this time. Perfect casting.
Riding the Bullet 5 stars I've always felt this one and The Woman in the Room were about King's mother's death, and he confirms that in his author's note. I love when a story is told in such a way that you can believe in the supernatural parts or not - as you choose. King gives us that choice with this little tale.
Lucky Quarter 5 stars King writes in the voice of women so well, and the voice of single mothers best of all. This poor woman is doing all she can and getting jack crap for it. Such is life, and this story rings so incredibly true because of it. I like to think it ends just the way her fantasy ended, and King lets me think that because he doesn't say. How sweet...
05/2015
Introduction 5 stars. I love King and when he is brutally honest (when is he not?) I love him all the more.
Autopsy Room 4 4 stars I've actually seen the AHP episode that inspired this and Cotton was amazing. I love that only King could mention Michael Bolton and then bring up the fact that Percy is probably rolling in his grave at Bolton's rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman." This story is scary because...well, who knows?! It could be us, any day, any way.
The Man in Black 5 stars I can't say what it is about this story that I love. I guess that's why it won awards. Who but King can say "he skun his knee" and we not only accept it but realize how true that is? People spoke that way. He uses words to paint a world and mood, and he is a master.
All that You Love will be Carried Away 5 stars I know King likes to drive, so I can only imagine he has actually seen all the graffiti described in the pages of this little tale. I really feel for Alfie by the end, but I think he is just the excuse King needs to get these little (weird) gems on the page.
The Death of Jack Hamilton 4 stars Dillinger has always been a fascinating guy. He had charisma, and that will get you so much farther in life than almost any other trait. Many say charisma was Kennedy's ace in the hole. This read to me like King testing the waters for the eventual 11/22/63. Rabbits was an endearing character, and King's ability to create so many characters we can connect to in such a limited number of pages is one of the things I love about him.
In the Deathroom 4 stars This is such a novel way to end this sort of story. It reads like a scene from Scarface and yet...he gets away. There's no way to be sure it's Fletcher buying smokes at the end, but I choose to believe it is him.
The Little Sisters of Eluria 5 stars Like many of King's fans, I love Roland and his world. This story was lovely. The phrases King uses when he is in Dark Tower mode have a certain magic to them. Like he is a different writer when he is telling DT tales. Two quotes from this that I highlighted are "Good liars were common. Honesty, on the other hand, was dear." and as Roland ran his hands through Jenna's hair he thinks "it felt like rain, rain with weight." Both beautiful, beautiful examples of the language the Dark Tower tales insist upon. It gives me a little thrill to read the different accents/versions of the High Speech as well. "Sai" and "thee." They make you feel a part of that world, not just an observer.
Everything's Eventual 5 stars More if I could! I am so glad this is the title tale of the collection. This story has always reminded me a bit of The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet. Dinky's shapes are a bit like "fornits." I am always thrilled when an author can just pull stuff out of their ass and make me not only accept, but genuinely believe in it! King does that here. I truly believe (as I read) that people can do what Dinky does, that other people can "see" the Dinkys of the world, and that there could be an organization (Shop, anyone?) that would finance and set it all up. Even setting Dinky up in this mild, almost cashless existence makes sense. I want another story about a Tranny from a privileged life to see how they would deal with that.
L.T.'s Theory of Pets 3 stars While I find King's musings about marriage and how it works incredibly true in this story, it always leaves me unsatisfied. There is no real ending. Usually, I can accept that, but for some reason, I just can't in this case. Why do we need to know about L.T. breaking down, but have no clue what happens to Lulu? Why do we need to know Holly took a shine to him, but not if it will lead anywhere? It does contain a great quote, though: “It might be that the biggest division in the world isn't men and women, but folks who like cats and folks who like dogs."
The Road Virus Heads North 3 stars I think it's fascinating that King really owns this picture, but that doesn't make the story any better for me. I think it's a bit silly.
Lunch at the Gotham Café 4 stars I don't think the story rates the stars, but the way in which it is told does. None of what happens makes any sense, and we are given no reasons, which I am ok with. I do really want to know what made Diane so unhappy, though. That's one question I really, really want an answer to.
That Feeling, The One You Can Only Say What it is in French 2 stars King says in his note that he believes Hell may be repetition. I could not agree more. I really dislike stories that show the same scene over and over, like this one. It's just so frustrating to read or watch on film. It feels like a colossal waste of time.
1408 5 stars This a great story and has a The Yellow Wallpaper feel to it. I like that King makes it very clear this is not a haunted hotel room, because haunting is done by something that was once alive, but is instead just...wrong. I also applaud his choice to allow Mike to live through the ordeal. To have him die would have felt almost cliché. I have yet to see the movie because I am afraid it won't be a fair adaptation, but I did imagine Cusak as Mike as I read this time. Perfect casting.
Riding the Bullet 5 stars I've always felt this one and The Woman in the Room were about King's mother's death, and he confirms that in his author's note. I love when a story is told in such a way that you can believe in the supernatural parts or not - as you choose. King gives us that choice with this little tale.
Lucky Quarter 5 stars King writes in the voice of women so well, and the voice of single mothers best of all. This poor woman is doing all she can and getting jack crap for it. Such is life, and this story rings so incredibly true because of it. I like to think it ends just the way her fantasy ended, and King lets me think that because he doesn't say. How sweet...
February 5, 2022
These 14 shorts stories don't do Stephen King justice in my opinion. 2 of 10 stars
October 19, 2017
Is this collection scares, nostalgia, and downright straight-up story telling underappreciated among King’s other works? Lesser known maybe? Well, I’m here to give this one a big, sloppy ghost hug of appreciation (technically, I don’t think that’s even possible, but I’m going with it).
This would be my second read through of Everything’s Eventual - sort of. I used to hunt and peck through Stephen King short story collections. Read some of the stories. Skip some. No real rhyme or reason to it, unless someone had suggested a favorite. That’s what I did the first time around. Now I’m being thorough, and that is a good thing, especially considering the quality here. I liked so many of them. Have you read them? Well, following is a little something about each story that I hope will entice you, or perhaps refresh your memory. Get ready for hugs:
Autopsy Room Four - Here’s a nightmare I most certainly blocked from memory the first time around. You know the scenario: state of catatonia, everyone thinks you’re dead. So off to autopsy we go – with eyes open. And here’s another thing I never thought about before: Post-mortem shears. Maybe I’ll just block it out until the next go around.
The Man in the Black Suit - From romp (in the previous story) to introspection as Gary tells us about a day that has remained with him forever. A single day 81 years in the past could be called scary as hell. The horror at the center of this one balanced by the tender memories of a young boy make this story more than worthy of the O. Henry Award received.
All that You Love Will Be Carried Away - Beautiful title for a short story. The subject here is actually serious. Very much so. You don’t realize that, until the matter comes up. Kind of hit me like a right cross.
The Death of Jack Hamilton - I know John Dillinger of course, but figured Jack Hamilton and narrator, Homer, to be characters of fiction. There I was wrong. King says in the afterward that his dying is also a fact. Everything around it is made up. Good without excitement. No need for it.
In the Death Room - The ending is the best part of this interrogation, because as said in the afterward, it is happier than the typical.
The Little Sisters of Eluria - A Dark Tower story, any fan will enjoy because it can be read as a stand-alone, or at any point in your personal Dark Tower quest. It feels almost as if our hero Roland and Mid-World have crossed paths with Night Shift here. There was a bonus for me in reading this after just completing Black House because at one point the two books are linked - by the tiniest of threads. Good thing for Jack Sawyer that the Little Sisters have moved on, but in this one Roland has his work cut out for him.
Everything’s Eventual - The namesake to this collection is one of the best. I had no idea of its direction because no point is given until necessary. Then, it’s a kind of a doosy. I don’t know how the whole idea came from picturing a man pouring change into a sewer, but that makes it even cooler.
L.T.’s Theory of Pets - SK considers this his favorite of the bunch, but I don’t think the ending fits with the whole. The fun of story, the often true quirkiness of pets and their owners suddenly goes dark. I just don’t know why.
The Road Virus Heads North - In Rose Madder, a painting also transforms on its own. That would be the only likeness to Road Virus where the pace is much quicker and more sinister to the eye that beholds it. Rose Madder meets Christine? Not really, but that’s what I thought of.
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe - I thought this would be about divorce, then I thought it was about quitting smoking (ala Quitters, Inc.). Turns out it’s attempted murder. The characters and story are great – provided you subtract the maître d’.
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French - “Déjà vu” is what that title is saying. Carol has that feeling again and again during the drive to her and Bill’s second honeymoon, certain she knows what’s coming around the next bend. None come true – until they begin to – along with flashbacks of a past regret.
1408 - Half the story has passed before you enter room 1408 with Mike. That time is spent not in building the tension, but a belief that something actually does reside in that haunted room. So when the reader finally gets there, he’s all in. It’s a different take on a ghost tale because there is no ghost to see. But something is there. Oh yeah.
Riding the Bullet - “Things have to be just right for you to see a ghost.” Tonight they were for Alan. Hitchhiking his way down state to see his mother in the hospital. Full moon. Dark roads. Just trying to get there. What makes this more than a ghost story is the nostalgia and real meaning behind it - which is about losing someone you love, and what you’d do for them in that moment. Would you ride the bullet?
Luckey Quarter - I would have liked this to end with Riding the Bullet, but in a way this smallest story of the bunch left me with a good feeling.
This would be my second read through of Everything’s Eventual - sort of. I used to hunt and peck through Stephen King short story collections. Read some of the stories. Skip some. No real rhyme or reason to it, unless someone had suggested a favorite. That’s what I did the first time around. Now I’m being thorough, and that is a good thing, especially considering the quality here. I liked so many of them. Have you read them? Well, following is a little something about each story that I hope will entice you, or perhaps refresh your memory. Get ready for hugs:
Autopsy Room Four - Here’s a nightmare I most certainly blocked from memory the first time around. You know the scenario: state of catatonia, everyone thinks you’re dead. So off to autopsy we go – with eyes open. And here’s another thing I never thought about before: Post-mortem shears. Maybe I’ll just block it out until the next go around.
The Man in the Black Suit - From romp (in the previous story) to introspection as Gary tells us about a day that has remained with him forever. A single day 81 years in the past could be called scary as hell. The horror at the center of this one balanced by the tender memories of a young boy make this story more than worthy of the O. Henry Award received.
All that You Love Will Be Carried Away - Beautiful title for a short story. The subject here is actually serious. Very much so. You don’t realize that, until the matter comes up. Kind of hit me like a right cross.
The Death of Jack Hamilton - I know John Dillinger of course, but figured Jack Hamilton and narrator, Homer, to be characters of fiction. There I was wrong. King says in the afterward that his dying is also a fact. Everything around it is made up. Good without excitement. No need for it.
In the Death Room - The ending is the best part of this interrogation, because as said in the afterward, it is happier than the typical.
The Little Sisters of Eluria - A Dark Tower story, any fan will enjoy because it can be read as a stand-alone, or at any point in your personal Dark Tower quest. It feels almost as if our hero Roland and Mid-World have crossed paths with Night Shift here. There was a bonus for me in reading this after just completing Black House because at one point the two books are linked - by the tiniest of threads. Good thing for Jack Sawyer that the Little Sisters have moved on, but in this one Roland has his work cut out for him.
Everything’s Eventual - The namesake to this collection is one of the best. I had no idea of its direction because no point is given until necessary. Then, it’s a kind of a doosy. I don’t know how the whole idea came from picturing a man pouring change into a sewer, but that makes it even cooler.
L.T.’s Theory of Pets - SK considers this his favorite of the bunch, but I don’t think the ending fits with the whole. The fun of story, the often true quirkiness of pets and their owners suddenly goes dark. I just don’t know why.
The Road Virus Heads North - In Rose Madder, a painting also transforms on its own. That would be the only likeness to Road Virus where the pace is much quicker and more sinister to the eye that beholds it. Rose Madder meets Christine? Not really, but that’s what I thought of.
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe - I thought this would be about divorce, then I thought it was about quitting smoking (ala Quitters, Inc.). Turns out it’s attempted murder. The characters and story are great – provided you subtract the maître d’.
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French - “Déjà vu” is what that title is saying. Carol has that feeling again and again during the drive to her and Bill’s second honeymoon, certain she knows what’s coming around the next bend. None come true – until they begin to – along with flashbacks of a past regret.
1408 - Half the story has passed before you enter room 1408 with Mike. That time is spent not in building the tension, but a belief that something actually does reside in that haunted room. So when the reader finally gets there, he’s all in. It’s a different take on a ghost tale because there is no ghost to see. But something is there. Oh yeah.
Riding the Bullet - “Things have to be just right for you to see a ghost.” Tonight they were for Alan. Hitchhiking his way down state to see his mother in the hospital. Full moon. Dark roads. Just trying to get there. What makes this more than a ghost story is the nostalgia and real meaning behind it - which is about losing someone you love, and what you’d do for them in that moment. Would you ride the bullet?
Luckey Quarter - I would have liked this to end with Riding the Bullet, but in a way this smallest story of the bunch left me with a good feeling.
September 5, 2020
Story 3.5 stars**
Audio 4 stars**
Narrator Justin Long
Rating for everything’s Eventual
I liked this story even if I felt a bit confused cuz the ending was abrupt but, I think this is just kinda of like a prologue. I definitely want to continue with this story. I was surprised to realize Justin was narrating this story I know him as an actor it was a good surprise though. He did a good job, it suited the personality of the MC of this story.
Audio 4 stars**
Narrator Justin Long
Rating for everything’s Eventual
I liked this story even if I felt a bit confused cuz the ending was abrupt but, I think this is just kinda of like a prologue. I definitely want to continue with this story. I was surprised to realize Justin was narrating this story I know him as an actor it was a good surprise though. He did a good job, it suited the personality of the MC of this story.
December 21, 2015
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times... and I'll say it again. Steve King is a fantastic storyteller, and very few of his stories have actually bored me. It is the same with this collection.
That said, very few of the stories here are actually frightening. Some give a mild sense of unease, that's all. However, almost all of them are readable and most are highly enjoyable.
My personal favourites were That Feeling, The One You Can Only Say What it is in French, In the Deathroom and Riding the Bullet - these were the ones which made me uneasy. The title story is fantastically original and a thumping good read. The Little Sisters of Eluria is a worthy addition to The Dark Tower canon.
I was disappointed by 1408, as I have seen the movie based on it and it was way more frightening than the story. The Man in Black and Lunch at the Gotham Cafe also didn't work for me.
Overall, an enjoyable collection.
That said, very few of the stories here are actually frightening. Some give a mild sense of unease, that's all. However, almost all of them are readable and most are highly enjoyable.
My personal favourites were That Feeling, The One You Can Only Say What it is in French, In the Deathroom and Riding the Bullet - these were the ones which made me uneasy. The title story is fantastically original and a thumping good read. The Little Sisters of Eluria is a worthy addition to The Dark Tower canon.
I was disappointed by 1408, as I have seen the movie based on it and it was way more frightening than the story. The Man in Black and Lunch at the Gotham Cafe also didn't work for me.
Overall, an enjoyable collection.
June 14, 2016
There’s no doubt that Stephen King is great at writing short stories. Not all of the ones that were in this book were appealing to me, but several were. A couple of them were creepy in my opinion, so it may not be a wise idea to read them at night. My favorite ones were: Autopsy Room Four, The Man in the Black Suit, Everything’s Eventual, L.T’s Theory of Pets, and The Road Virus Heads North. I only disliked a few, but not because they were bad, they just did not catch my attention. One of the things I enjoyed was how King added notes before and after for some of the stories. For some reason that had an impact on my reading experience since it made those specific ones seem more personal. I thought the short story “1408” was average. I had watched the movie several years ago without knowing who the author was. I seemed to have enjoyed the movie more since it seemed to have gone in much more detail, so i was more engaged with the main character. There are great stories presented in this novel, and I can assure you that you will like AT LEAST one…. unless if you are a picky or difficult person to entertain. This book does not lack variety. There is a story out there for everyone!
September 14, 2016
Let me be clear, Mr. King. You earned this one fair and square. You had to win a skeptic over and you did.
I've always thought of you as the Nicholas Cage of writing. Try enough random stuff regularly without hesitation and at least some of your stuff will be pretty good. But try enough random stuff and you're sure to come up with some very bad writing as well.
There is also another dark secret -- some of this variability occurs in the same book. They might start off well enough, get really good, then fall apart, then try to pick up the pieces, and then fall apart again.
Much of what you write sometimes seems like a first draft.
But for all my hesitancy to ever pick up a book by you again, I did. And it's clear --you're a great short story writer. You know how to craft compelling characters, dramatic tension, details that really sell the story and make you want to read them again.
Not everything you wrote in this book was great. I gave up at least two short stories before finishign them. You have also cemented for me the metaphor that you're the Nick Cage of writing. But you're Nick Cageishness works wonders in the short story medium. You just go for it! Without reservation or apology. And when your short stories fall apart, I can forgive you, because I know you're just a writer working at his craft -- just going for it whenever you can.
My experience reading this book was so good that I'm contemplating writing Nicholas Cage a letter asking him to stop acting in feature length movies and to just do two-hour features with eight to ten mini-movies. Thus, whenever he does a little mini-movie where he yells, "Aw the bees!" and flashes me strange demented grins for another ten minutes, I can forgive him and wonder, Aw yes, but what's next?
And so, I leave this review wondering, Aw what will Stephen King do next?
When I do pick up another book by you, I think it'll be a short story collection. Why not? It's like "Riding the Bullet" of fiction. Nick Cage knows what I'm talking about, "Aw the bees!"
I've always thought of you as the Nicholas Cage of writing. Try enough random stuff regularly without hesitation and at least some of your stuff will be pretty good. But try enough random stuff and you're sure to come up with some very bad writing as well.
There is also another dark secret -- some of this variability occurs in the same book. They might start off well enough, get really good, then fall apart, then try to pick up the pieces, and then fall apart again.
Much of what you write sometimes seems like a first draft.
But for all my hesitancy to ever pick up a book by you again, I did. And it's clear --you're a great short story writer. You know how to craft compelling characters, dramatic tension, details that really sell the story and make you want to read them again.
Not everything you wrote in this book was great. I gave up at least two short stories before finishign them. You have also cemented for me the metaphor that you're the Nick Cage of writing. But you're Nick Cageishness works wonders in the short story medium. You just go for it! Without reservation or apology. And when your short stories fall apart, I can forgive you, because I know you're just a writer working at his craft -- just going for it whenever you can.
My experience reading this book was so good that I'm contemplating writing Nicholas Cage a letter asking him to stop acting in feature length movies and to just do two-hour features with eight to ten mini-movies. Thus, whenever he does a little mini-movie where he yells, "Aw the bees!" and flashes me strange demented grins for another ten minutes, I can forgive him and wonder, Aw yes, but what's next?
And so, I leave this review wondering, Aw what will Stephen King do next?
When I do pick up another book by you, I think it'll be a short story collection. Why not? It's like "Riding the Bullet" of fiction. Nick Cage knows what I'm talking about, "Aw the bees!"
January 22, 2025
This wasn't my favourite short story collection by King, but it is still very good. I recently read The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which I felt had a certain cohesiveness as a group of stories that Everything's Eventual lacked.
That said, there were some great stories in this. I read this with a group, and interestingly, the stories that appealed to me the most - The Death of Jack Hamilton, Everything's Eventual, and Riding the Bullet - were not the ones favoured by the majority. What I like about King, what he demonstrates in the stories that affect me the most, is his ability to capture character and place them effectively with horror elements.
The thing about horror, though, is that it doesn't necessarily mean gore or jump scares. It can, of course, but true horror encompasses as larger and more subtle range of discomfortable feelings such as loss, vague fear, and creeping existential dread. For me, King succeeds most when he uses the range of our human discomfort in the telling of a story, and pairs that with what we know and love. It is that juxtaposition that provides suspense, investment, and the eventual emotional payoff in learning the fate of an individual character or outcome of a story. That is what I look for, and that is where my ratings for each story come from. Overall, there were some pretty good ones in here, and a few misses (for me) too.
Autopsy Room Four (4/5) - The conceit of being alive yet mistaken for dead is classic for a reason. It's something everyone can imagine for themselves and be equally horrified by.
This was a very good start to set the tone. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen. Things can go either way with King.
The Man in the Black Suit (4/5) - This O. Henry Prize winner uses another classic set up, with an elderly man finally relating the tale of a youthful encounter with the Devil. The protagonist has a wonderfully flowing and effecting voice in the telling of his story, bringing the incident fully to life.
It is interesting that King calls this one of those stories that he felt compelled to tell. That same sense of compulsion runs through the text. There is an urgency in the man to unburden himself of this secret held for scores of years, underlaid with his admitted fear that he may yet see the Devil again. Since innocence did not help him as a child, there is no reason to think living a good life as an adult will be enough to protect him from a final visit.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away (4/5) A snapshot type story where you get an intensely personal look at a travelling salesman, and slowly come to understand what is going on with him. I love the setting of the chain motel off the Interstate, with the surrounding field and wind intensifying the competing senses of closeness and isolation. The ambiguous ending fits the piece perfectly.
The Death of Jack Hamilton (4.5/5) In the audiobook version this story is perfectly narrated by Arliss Howard. He has an intelligent yet accessible lilt to his voice that sets the stage perfectly for this Depression era tale of the outlaw Dillinger gang trying to deal with the injury and slow death of a beloved member. By turns shocking, funny, sad, and sometimes grotesque, it is in all ways memorable.
In the Deathroom (2.5/5) I didn't much care for this one, only because I felt like it was a familiar premise (drug cartel interrogation) and there wasn't enough of a twist to make it stand out from similar stories, film, and TV scenes.
The Little Sisters of Eluria (3/5) This is a prequel story to The Dark Tower series (which I hadn’t yet read at the time I read this). The interesting genre-crossover feel of the piece gives a fresh twist to the vampiric monster tale. Appropriate levels of dread are also brought to bear by the use of insects which apparently operate under the direction of the Sisters.
Everything's Eventual (4.5/5) This story is one of my favourite kind of horror stories; where things start out seeming ok and ordinary and then start to reveal the darker side of what is happening. It reminds me of the kinds of stories from The Twilight Zone, or more recently, Black Mirror. Again, the slightly open end added to the chill.
L.T.'s Theory of Pets (4/5) Another story where I felt like I got to know the narrator well through his storytelling. It's a story that is at first about a marriage breaking up and then it becomes clear that the telling and retelling of the story is really more a form of denial.
The Road Virus Heads North (4/5) More of a classic feeling King-style horror. Right from the start you know where it's going, but you can't do anything to stop it.
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe (4/5)Another study in how normal life can shift suddenly, and violently. I liked the use of misdirection in terms of where that violence comes from, although the ending makes you wonder whether it was misdirection or simply foreshadowing?
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French (3/5) Loop stories are hit or miss for me. I didn't love this one, but it did have some interesting elements.
1408 (3/5) The obligatory haunting story, as King calls it. It was ok, and definitely creepy, but everything unfolded pretty much in the way I expected, so the emotional payoff was a bit lacking. That said, this seems to be the kind of straightforward horror lots of people say they read King for.
Riding the Bullet (4/5)
A suspenseful story about impossible choices and confronting mortality. The strong horror elements are an excellent setting for the characters, who seem very real and lifelike.
Luckey Quarter (4/5)
There is something really charming about this story. It captures perfectly that sense that so many mothers have of never being able to quite do enough, but just pushing through day to day as best you can. I hope the luck held.
Notes on the audiobook: I did a combination of audio and print when reading this. There is a different narrator for each story, and mostly they were pretty good. My favourite was definitely Arliss Howard reading The Death of Jack Hamilton. My only real complaint is that the audiobook contains neither the introduction nor the text by the author that introduces or ends each story. To me that is a pretty grave oversight as these things are part of what makes this a collection rather than a bunch of individual stories. If you do listen to the audiobook, I recommend checking the print copy for the extra text, which is always interesting and relevant to the story.
That said, there were some great stories in this. I read this with a group, and interestingly, the stories that appealed to me the most - The Death of Jack Hamilton, Everything's Eventual, and Riding the Bullet - were not the ones favoured by the majority. What I like about King, what he demonstrates in the stories that affect me the most, is his ability to capture character and place them effectively with horror elements.
The thing about horror, though, is that it doesn't necessarily mean gore or jump scares. It can, of course, but true horror encompasses as larger and more subtle range of discomfortable feelings such as loss, vague fear, and creeping existential dread. For me, King succeeds most when he uses the range of our human discomfort in the telling of a story, and pairs that with what we know and love. It is that juxtaposition that provides suspense, investment, and the eventual emotional payoff in learning the fate of an individual character or outcome of a story. That is what I look for, and that is where my ratings for each story come from. Overall, there were some pretty good ones in here, and a few misses (for me) too.
Autopsy Room Four (4/5) - The conceit of being alive yet mistaken for dead is classic for a reason. It's something everyone can imagine for themselves and be equally horrified by.
This was a very good start to set the tone. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen. Things can go either way with King.
The Man in the Black Suit (4/5) - This O. Henry Prize winner uses another classic set up, with an elderly man finally relating the tale of a youthful encounter with the Devil. The protagonist has a wonderfully flowing and effecting voice in the telling of his story, bringing the incident fully to life.
It is interesting that King calls this one of those stories that he felt compelled to tell. That same sense of compulsion runs through the text. There is an urgency in the man to unburden himself of this secret held for scores of years, underlaid with his admitted fear that he may yet see the Devil again. Since innocence did not help him as a child, there is no reason to think living a good life as an adult will be enough to protect him from a final visit.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away (4/5) A snapshot type story where you get an intensely personal look at a travelling salesman, and slowly come to understand what is going on with him. I love the setting of the chain motel off the Interstate, with the surrounding field and wind intensifying the competing senses of closeness and isolation. The ambiguous ending fits the piece perfectly.
The Death of Jack Hamilton (4.5/5) In the audiobook version this story is perfectly narrated by Arliss Howard. He has an intelligent yet accessible lilt to his voice that sets the stage perfectly for this Depression era tale of the outlaw Dillinger gang trying to deal with the injury and slow death of a beloved member. By turns shocking, funny, sad, and sometimes grotesque, it is in all ways memorable.
In the Deathroom (2.5/5) I didn't much care for this one, only because I felt like it was a familiar premise (drug cartel interrogation) and there wasn't enough of a twist to make it stand out from similar stories, film, and TV scenes.
The Little Sisters of Eluria (3/5) This is a prequel story to The Dark Tower series (which I hadn’t yet read at the time I read this). The interesting genre-crossover feel of the piece gives a fresh twist to the vampiric monster tale. Appropriate levels of dread are also brought to bear by the use of insects which apparently operate under the direction of the Sisters.
Everything's Eventual (4.5/5) This story is one of my favourite kind of horror stories; where things start out seeming ok and ordinary and then start to reveal the darker side of what is happening. It reminds me of the kinds of stories from The Twilight Zone, or more recently, Black Mirror. Again, the slightly open end added to the chill.
L.T.'s Theory of Pets (4/5) Another story where I felt like I got to know the narrator well through his storytelling. It's a story that is at first about a marriage breaking up and then it becomes clear that the telling and retelling of the story is really more a form of denial.
The Road Virus Heads North (4/5) More of a classic feeling King-style horror. Right from the start you know where it's going, but you can't do anything to stop it.
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe (4/5)Another study in how normal life can shift suddenly, and violently. I liked the use of misdirection in terms of where that violence comes from, although the ending makes you wonder whether it was misdirection or simply foreshadowing?
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French (3/5) Loop stories are hit or miss for me. I didn't love this one, but it did have some interesting elements.
1408 (3/5) The obligatory haunting story, as King calls it. It was ok, and definitely creepy, but everything unfolded pretty much in the way I expected, so the emotional payoff was a bit lacking. That said, this seems to be the kind of straightforward horror lots of people say they read King for.
Riding the Bullet (4/5)
A suspenseful story about impossible choices and confronting mortality. The strong horror elements are an excellent setting for the characters, who seem very real and lifelike.
Luckey Quarter (4/5)
There is something really charming about this story. It captures perfectly that sense that so many mothers have of never being able to quite do enough, but just pushing through day to day as best you can. I hope the luck held.
Notes on the audiobook: I did a combination of audio and print when reading this. There is a different narrator for each story, and mostly they were pretty good. My favourite was definitely Arliss Howard reading The Death of Jack Hamilton. My only real complaint is that the audiobook contains neither the introduction nor the text by the author that introduces or ends each story. To me that is a pretty grave oversight as these things are part of what makes this a collection rather than a bunch of individual stories. If you do listen to the audiobook, I recommend checking the print copy for the extra text, which is always interesting and relevant to the story.
October 11, 2019
Buen libro de relatos de King. Los que más me agradaron son Sala de Autopsias Número 4, que es el primer cuento y, para mí, el mejor. Otro que me gustó mucho es Las Hermanitas de Eluria. Montando en la Bala, historia que había leído antes, tambien es muy buena.
July 28, 2022
Čim sam dobila ovu knjigu kao poklon za rođendan, znala sam da će mi se svideti baš zato što se sastoji od 14 priča. Svaka predstavlja poseban svet u koji utonete ne razmišljajući o prethodnom.
Susrećete se sa pričama koje imaju elemente horora i fantastike, ali i one koje se dešavaju u stvarnom svetu.
Ova knjiga je savršena za osobe koje se do sada nisu susrele sa Kingovim delima, jer pomoću "Kabineta smrti" će otkriti sve osobine Kingovih knjiga. Neke će im se više svideti, dok neke manje.
Lično bih izdvojila par priča koje su na mene ostavile utisak: "Čovek u crnom odelu", "Kabinet smrti", "Sestrice iz Elurije" 👈🏻(ovo je zapravo priča koja se dešava pre serijala "Mračna kula"), "Sve je konačno".
Knjigu prepopručujem ne samo horor obožavateljima, već i ljudima koji se do sada (kao što rekoh i ranije) nisu susreli sa Kingovim delima, a planiraju da uđu u njegov svet. 🍓
Susrećete se sa pričama koje imaju elemente horora i fantastike, ali i one koje se dešavaju u stvarnom svetu.
Ova knjiga je savršena za osobe koje se do sada nisu susrele sa Kingovim delima, jer pomoću "Kabineta smrti" će otkriti sve osobine Kingovih knjiga. Neke će im se više svideti, dok neke manje.
Lično bih izdvojila par priča koje su na mene ostavile utisak: "Čovek u crnom odelu", "Kabinet smrti", "Sestrice iz Elurije" 👈🏻(ovo je zapravo priča koja se dešava pre serijala "Mračna kula"), "Sve je konačno".
Knjigu prepopručujem ne samo horor obožavateljima, već i ljudima koji se do sada (kao što rekoh i ranije) nisu susreli sa Kingovim delima, a planiraju da uđu u njegov svet. 🍓
October 17, 2022
Unos relatos que cumplen, pero nada sorprendente.
En el prólogo King cuenta anécdotas interesantes sobre proyectos personales y su opinión sobre la publicación de libros de forma electrónica. Pero también menciona algo muy trascendental que fue lo que percibí en la mayoría de los relatos:
"[...] sobre todo porque no permito que pase un solo año sin escribir al menos dos relatos breves. No por dinero, ni siquiera por amor, sino más bien por sentido del deber." Y eso sentí yo, que eran relatos realizados por cumplir un deber, y no porque serían una idea maravillosa que podría contarse brevemente.
Ya había leído anteriormente tres relatos de los 14 que componen este libro. Fueron: El hombre del traje de negro, Montado en la Bala, Las Hermanitas de Heluria. Y me parecieron relatos fáciles de leer, pero nada más, relatos para pasar el rato los llamo yo. Y la línea en los otros 11 se mantiene, sin embargo, debo destacar tres.
Todo es eventual:
Dinky Earnshaw relata que tiene un trabajo estupendo a sus 19 años. Pero a medida que va explicando en qué consiste se va tornando todo más extraño y desemboca en lo sobrenatural.
El virus de la carretera viaja hacia el norte:
Richard Kinnell conduce de Boston a su casa en Derry. En el trayecto se encuentra con una venta de garaje y compra un cuadro que pertenecía a un tipo que se suicidó. Cuando retoma carretera, Richard se da cuenta que nunca debió comprar ese cuadro.
Sala de autopsias número 4:
Howard despierta inmóvil en una sala de autopsias y escucha todo lo que los médicos hablar a su alrededor. Solo diré hasta ahí, lo demás lo descubrirán leyendo el relato. Una historia que me mantuvo pegado a cada página hasta terminarlo.
Los demás relatos cumplen, entretenidos, compactos, la pluma de King es amena, pero si esperaba más de ellos.
"Por lo general, hacemos lo que hacemos para prolongar el placer de un instante o para detener el dolor."
En el prólogo King cuenta anécdotas interesantes sobre proyectos personales y su opinión sobre la publicación de libros de forma electrónica. Pero también menciona algo muy trascendental que fue lo que percibí en la mayoría de los relatos:
"[...] sobre todo porque no permito que pase un solo año sin escribir al menos dos relatos breves. No por dinero, ni siquiera por amor, sino más bien por sentido del deber." Y eso sentí yo, que eran relatos realizados por cumplir un deber, y no porque serían una idea maravillosa que podría contarse brevemente.
Ya había leído anteriormente tres relatos de los 14 que componen este libro. Fueron: El hombre del traje de negro, Montado en la Bala, Las Hermanitas de Heluria. Y me parecieron relatos fáciles de leer, pero nada más, relatos para pasar el rato los llamo yo. Y la línea en los otros 11 se mantiene, sin embargo, debo destacar tres.
Todo es eventual:
Dinky Earnshaw relata que tiene un trabajo estupendo a sus 19 años. Pero a medida que va explicando en qué consiste se va tornando todo más extraño y desemboca en lo sobrenatural.
El virus de la carretera viaja hacia el norte:
Richard Kinnell conduce de Boston a su casa en Derry. En el trayecto se encuentra con una venta de garaje y compra un cuadro que pertenecía a un tipo que se suicidó. Cuando retoma carretera, Richard se da cuenta que nunca debió comprar ese cuadro.
Sala de autopsias número 4:
Howard despierta inmóvil en una sala de autopsias y escucha todo lo que los médicos hablar a su alrededor. Solo diré hasta ahí, lo demás lo descubrirán leyendo el relato. Una historia que me mantuvo pegado a cada página hasta terminarlo.
Los demás relatos cumplen, entretenidos, compactos, la pluma de King es amena, pero si esperaba más de ellos.
April 16, 2021
My rating: 4.29 - an aggregate scrore of all 14 stories in here.
I've finished this, eventually (sorry I couldn't resist the urge). It's a decent collection of short stories. Mostly, just like any other short story collection, really, BUT for one major difference. It's a Stephen King collection of short stories. Now, let me just say first that I'm fairly new to King's books. I've read some of his popular ones, of course, which true horror junkie would not have, especially The Shinning, right? But even so, my Stephen King reads are few and far between considering the sheer number of volumes he's authored, and I'm hoping to change that and this is one small step towards that goal. And I must say, it's truly a giant leap (I hold my hands up).
If you have not yet experienced King (and that really is what it's like - it's an experience), you might think of his work like any other successful horror/thriller author's work out there. Let me clear something up. King is called the Master of Horror not because he loves to give you the twists, the one-time scares, the cheap thrills that come and go easy, like most of the other horror/thriller authors out there. Nope. He is called the Master of Horror because he likes to fuck you up. Like genuinely fuck you up. His stories literally draw you in, chew you up, and spit you out like nobody's business. And by the time you put down the book you're feeling so spooked out you do not want to sleep, afraid that if you do then what would come lurking uninvited in your dreams, what would come out from the underneath, and what it would do to you, how it would affect you, figuratively and literally.
My ratings for the individual 14 short shorties:
Autopsy Room Four - 5 stars - Great premise and one which, if you read enough horror, you come to genuinely fear could come true.
The Man in the Black Suit 5 stars - F*ck me if I ever again try to read a book like this sitting out alone in the woods :D This is one of my favorites from the collection.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - 3 stars - I felt despair and depression oozing out of this one.
The Death of Jack Hamilton - 4 stars - Very nicely written story about the Dillinger Gang.
In the Deathroom - 4 stars - A survival story at its core, about a man being interrogated in a deathroom.
The Little Sisters of Eluria - 5 stars - One of two Dark Tower stories in the book, this one is a prequel to the series. In King's own words, "What I did want to do was to give newcomers to the tale of the Tower (and old readers who want to refresh their memories) a clearer start and a slightly easier entry into Roland's world. I also wanted them to have a volume that more effectively foreshadowed coming events". I absolutely loved it and can't wait to read more of The Gunslinger.
Everything's Eventual - 5 stars - The second of the two Dark Tower tales in the book. And it was "eventual"!
L.T.'s Theory of Pets - 3 stars - King says in the book that this is his favorite story to read aloud, and I can understand why. It is funny, sad, horrific, and awful all at the same time.
The Road Virus Heads North - 5 stars - This one effed my mind up. Bad. I think it was a combination of reading it while about to go to sleep, and being totally creeped out by it because I, like the protagonist here, like to pick things up from garage sales too. I had the worst nightmare when I did sleep after putting the book down, waking up sweating and not being able to go to sleep again. I hate this story so much, and I still get the chills when I think about it and then about my subsequent nightmares.
Lunch at the Gothan Cafe - 5 stars - Eeeeeee. Eeeeeee. Eeeeeee... That sound...
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French - 3 stars - Déjà vu... in hell!
1408 - 5 stars - My favorite of the bunch. What a story. If you want a quick "haunted" story that would leave you totally freaked out, read this one.
Riding the Bullet - 4 stars - Imagine having to choose between the people you love and yourself. We make similar choices, albeit on a smaller scale, every day. But nothing like this. Stephen King relates this story to how his own mother's approaching death at the time made him feel. We all like to think we'd make the nobler choice if/when given the situation, don't we?!
Luckey Quarter - 3 stars - I can see people liking this story. The premise is great. But I don't really know what's it getting at on a whole.
A friend of mine, one whose opinion I've come to love and respect, recently told me to keep things balanced while reading King moving forward, to also read something cheerful and light while delving inside the worlds created by him. Dear friend, you are right. Reading this, while also while reading The Shinning (but a lot more then, than while reading EE), I felt a very sudden very sharp change of mood in me and my surroundings. It could just be my personal experience and O reader-of-the-review you might not experience the same when you read King's work. But that is how I felt, how I always seem to feel when I read Stephen King. This even after being told that Everything's Eventual is not that spooky and dark enough when compared to some of King's older works. And that is natural because I believe he wasn't all plastered (or maybe less plastered) when writing this than when writing those earlier stories in his career. I still love it, and it still gives me the chills.
If you're a Stephen King fan, you should definitely read Everything's Eventual. If you haven't read anything by him before, then this also serves as a great starting point. This book has the beginning story to, and also a story from, one of King's most beloved series, The Dark Tower. You'd love reading these before heading into that series.
Give it a try. Maybe like me you'd also find it very... "eventual".
I've finished this, eventually (sorry I couldn't resist the urge). It's a decent collection of short stories. Mostly, just like any other short story collection, really, BUT for one major difference. It's a Stephen King collection of short stories. Now, let me just say first that I'm fairly new to King's books. I've read some of his popular ones, of course, which true horror junkie would not have, especially The Shinning, right? But even so, my Stephen King reads are few and far between considering the sheer number of volumes he's authored, and I'm hoping to change that and this is one small step towards that goal. And I must say, it's truly a giant leap (I hold my hands up).
If you have not yet experienced King (and that really is what it's like - it's an experience), you might think of his work like any other successful horror/thriller author's work out there. Let me clear something up. King is called the Master of Horror not because he loves to give you the twists, the one-time scares, the cheap thrills that come and go easy, like most of the other horror/thriller authors out there. Nope. He is called the Master of Horror because he likes to fuck you up. Like genuinely fuck you up. His stories literally draw you in, chew you up, and spit you out like nobody's business. And by the time you put down the book you're feeling so spooked out you do not want to sleep, afraid that if you do then what would come lurking uninvited in your dreams, what would come out from the underneath, and what it would do to you, how it would affect you, figuratively and literally.
My ratings for the individual 14 short shorties:
Autopsy Room Four - 5 stars - Great premise and one which, if you read enough horror, you come to genuinely fear could come true.
The Man in the Black Suit 5 stars - F*ck me if I ever again try to read a book like this sitting out alone in the woods :D This is one of my favorites from the collection.
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - 3 stars - I felt despair and depression oozing out of this one.
The Death of Jack Hamilton - 4 stars - Very nicely written story about the Dillinger Gang.
In the Deathroom - 4 stars - A survival story at its core, about a man being interrogated in a deathroom.
The Little Sisters of Eluria - 5 stars - One of two Dark Tower stories in the book, this one is a prequel to the series. In King's own words, "What I did want to do was to give newcomers to the tale of the Tower (and old readers who want to refresh their memories) a clearer start and a slightly easier entry into Roland's world. I also wanted them to have a volume that more effectively foreshadowed coming events". I absolutely loved it and can't wait to read more of The Gunslinger.
Everything's Eventual - 5 stars - The second of the two Dark Tower tales in the book. And it was "eventual"!
L.T.'s Theory of Pets - 3 stars - King says in the book that this is his favorite story to read aloud, and I can understand why. It is funny, sad, horrific, and awful all at the same time.
The Road Virus Heads North - 5 stars - This one effed my mind up. Bad. I think it was a combination of reading it while about to go to sleep, and being totally creeped out by it because I, like the protagonist here, like to pick things up from garage sales too. I had the worst nightmare when I did sleep after putting the book down, waking up sweating and not being able to go to sleep again. I hate this story so much, and I still get the chills when I think about it and then about my subsequent nightmares.
Lunch at the Gothan Cafe - 5 stars - Eeeeeee. Eeeeeee. Eeeeeee... That sound...
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French - 3 stars - Déjà vu... in hell!
1408 - 5 stars - My favorite of the bunch. What a story. If you want a quick "haunted" story that would leave you totally freaked out, read this one.
Riding the Bullet - 4 stars - Imagine having to choose between the people you love and yourself. We make similar choices, albeit on a smaller scale, every day. But nothing like this. Stephen King relates this story to how his own mother's approaching death at the time made him feel. We all like to think we'd make the nobler choice if/when given the situation, don't we?!
Luckey Quarter - 3 stars - I can see people liking this story. The premise is great. But I don't really know what's it getting at on a whole.
A friend of mine, one whose opinion I've come to love and respect, recently told me to keep things balanced while reading King moving forward, to also read something cheerful and light while delving inside the worlds created by him. Dear friend, you are right. Reading this, while also while reading The Shinning (but a lot more then, than while reading EE), I felt a very sudden very sharp change of mood in me and my surroundings. It could just be my personal experience and O reader-of-the-review you might not experience the same when you read King's work. But that is how I felt, how I always seem to feel when I read Stephen King. This even after being told that Everything's Eventual is not that spooky and dark enough when compared to some of King's older works. And that is natural because I believe he wasn't all plastered (or maybe less plastered) when writing this than when writing those earlier stories in his career. I still love it, and it still gives me the chills.
If you're a Stephen King fan, you should definitely read Everything's Eventual. If you haven't read anything by him before, then this also serves as a great starting point. This book has the beginning story to, and also a story from, one of King's most beloved series, The Dark Tower. You'd love reading these before heading into that series.
Give it a try. Maybe like me you'd also find it very... "eventual".
May 9, 2020
Lavorare di mestiere
"Mia madre aveva agito bene facendo quegli orari di lavoro interminabili e prendendosi cura di me, ma avevo scelto io la sua vita per lei? Le avevo chiesto di mettermi al mondo e poi avevo preteso che vivesse per me? Lei aveva quarantott'anni. Io ne avevo ventuno. Io avevo, come si dice, tutta la vita davanti a me. Ma era così che si giudicava?"
Chiariamoci, la raccolta non è certamente una delle punte di diamante della produzione kinghiana: alcuni racconti sono letteralmente fiacchi, se costretti al confronto con altri; una manciata di essi, per fortuna, si rivelano gioielli capaci di rimanere indelebili nella memoria per la potenza del soggetto "catturato"; e solo successivamente fatto sedimentare attraverso la prosa di un mestierante qual è King.
Le buone intenzioni dell'autore - si legga la prefazione Praticare un'arte (quasi) perduta - sono motivo sufficiente, almeno per me, nel premiare una raccolta oggettivamente altalenante.
Autopsia 4 5★
Un individuo si risveglia in un letto per autopsia, ma alla coscienza vigile non segue il corpo, immobile e inerme come quello di un morto. Racconto semplicemente asfissiante, con un colpo di coda indovinato.
L'uomo vestito di nero 2★
Ragazzino incontra un individuo dagli occhi di brace; di zolfo è permeata la sua figura: rivisitazione dell'incontro con il demonio filtrato dagli occhi di un bambino. Noioso e pure un po' trash nella resa scenica del mefistofelico individuo.
Tutto ciò che ami ti sarà portato via 2.5★
Un individuo raggiunge un anonimo hotel per suicidarsi; eppure sono tanti i motivi per procrastinare l'ultima ora. Ben scritto, anche se probabilmente non memorabile.
La morte di Jack Hamilton 3.5★
Rilettura - non si sa quanto romanzata - di una rapina condotta da Dilinger e colleghi. Piacevole, seppur l'alone di romanticismo centri come i cavoli a merenda.
La camera della morte 3.5★
Giornalista viene catturato dal governo sudamericano per indagare su fantomatici rapporti con le sommosse comuniste del luogo. Bel racconto trashone con schizzi di sangue dappertutto, budella, imprecazioni e pallottole nella calotta cranica di qualche fortunello.
Le piccole sorelle di Eluria 3★
Simpatica disavventura per Roland, ultimo pistolero del Mezzo-Mondo: soggetto poco originale, ma dignitosamente condotto fino al termine.
Tutto è fatidico 4.5★
Il pensiero corre immediatamente a Scanners di Cronenberg e le scuole di supereroi alla X-men; forse c'è anche qualcosa dei precog di Ubik.
Dinky Earnshaw, ragazzo vessato da una vita monocorde (a voler essere gentili), poi scopertosi detentore di un potere telepatico, funziona nel classico meccanismo narrativo che vede lo sconfitto ingabbiarsi da solo nella confortante abitudinarietà: il prezzo dei benefits, si sa, è irrisorio. Bella prova di King, stavolta.
La teoria degli animali di L.T. 3★
Eccetto il finale, degno rappresentante del campionario di svogliatezze kinghiane (cazzi duri dei cowboys e assassino con mannaia, roba da cacare nel libro), il racconto è simpatico nel tratteggiare gli alterchi di coppia con gli animali domestici a perturbare l'equilibrio.
Il Virus della Strada va a nord 4★
Scrittore horror viene perseguitato da un quadro - raffigurante uno strano individuo in macchina - che muta con il passare dei giorni. Giochi di prospettive e un senso di inesorabilità sono gli ingredienti per questa simpatica storia.
Pranzo al "Gotham Café" 3.5★
Ritratto impietoso - a dir poco - di una coppia in procinto di divorziare; lo spunto granguignolesco della vicenda è la classica ciliegina sulla torta.
Quella sensazione che puoi dire soltanto in francese 2.5★
Virtuosismo sulla percezione esistenziale alterata. Piuttosto trascurabile.
1408 4★
Giornalista-scrittore visita i luoghi più infestati del pianeta per intrattenere i suoi lettori e foraggiare quella componente esoterica/sovrannaturale a scopo di lucro. All'inizio il racconto si configura come compendio di tutti gli stilemi del sottogenere "case infestate" (il racconto era destinato a On writing, per sua stessa ammissione). Per fortuna la storia gioca sull'ambiguità di certe persone con il sovrannaturale, sino a denudare alcuni meccanismi del genere e, al contempo, rilanciare lo stesso con un paio di passaggi indubbiamente riusciti (il telefono, l'entità che permea la stanza).
Riding the bullet - Passaggio per il nulla 5★
Ragazzo scopre dell'ictus della madre e cerca di tornare a casa tramite autostop. Ma il gentile guidatore che si presterà al favore, un misterioso George Staub, si rivelerà essere altro. Racconto confezionato come horror per erigere un omaggio alla figura materna: un vero e proprio tuffo nel passato per fare ammenda dell'ingratitudine intrinseca in ogni figlio.
La moneta portafortuna 4★
Racconto quasi dickensiano sulla ricerca della fortuna. Tenero nella prosa e adatto per smorzare l'atmosfera in vista della chiusura.
"Mia madre aveva agito bene facendo quegli orari di lavoro interminabili e prendendosi cura di me, ma avevo scelto io la sua vita per lei? Le avevo chiesto di mettermi al mondo e poi avevo preteso che vivesse per me? Lei aveva quarantott'anni. Io ne avevo ventuno. Io avevo, come si dice, tutta la vita davanti a me. Ma era così che si giudicava?"
Chiariamoci, la raccolta non è certamente una delle punte di diamante della produzione kinghiana: alcuni racconti sono letteralmente fiacchi, se costretti al confronto con altri; una manciata di essi, per fortuna, si rivelano gioielli capaci di rimanere indelebili nella memoria per la potenza del soggetto "catturato"; e solo successivamente fatto sedimentare attraverso la prosa di un mestierante qual è King.
Le buone intenzioni dell'autore - si legga la prefazione Praticare un'arte (quasi) perduta - sono motivo sufficiente, almeno per me, nel premiare una raccolta oggettivamente altalenante.
Autopsia 4 5★
Un individuo si risveglia in un letto per autopsia, ma alla coscienza vigile non segue il corpo, immobile e inerme come quello di un morto. Racconto semplicemente asfissiante, con un colpo di coda indovinato.
L'uomo vestito di nero 2★
Ragazzino incontra un individuo dagli occhi di brace; di zolfo è permeata la sua figura: rivisitazione dell'incontro con il demonio filtrato dagli occhi di un bambino. Noioso e pure un po' trash nella resa scenica del mefistofelico individuo.
Tutto ciò che ami ti sarà portato via 2.5★
Un individuo raggiunge un anonimo hotel per suicidarsi; eppure sono tanti i motivi per procrastinare l'ultima ora. Ben scritto, anche se probabilmente non memorabile.
La morte di Jack Hamilton 3.5★
Rilettura - non si sa quanto romanzata - di una rapina condotta da Dilinger e colleghi. Piacevole, seppur l'alone di romanticismo centri come i cavoli a merenda.
La camera della morte 3.5★
Giornalista viene catturato dal governo sudamericano per indagare su fantomatici rapporti con le sommosse comuniste del luogo. Bel racconto trashone con schizzi di sangue dappertutto, budella, imprecazioni e pallottole nella calotta cranica di qualche fortunello.
Le piccole sorelle di Eluria 3★
Simpatica disavventura per Roland, ultimo pistolero del Mezzo-Mondo: soggetto poco originale, ma dignitosamente condotto fino al termine.
Tutto è fatidico 4.5★
Il pensiero corre immediatamente a Scanners di Cronenberg e le scuole di supereroi alla X-men; forse c'è anche qualcosa dei precog di Ubik.
Dinky Earnshaw, ragazzo vessato da una vita monocorde (a voler essere gentili), poi scopertosi detentore di un potere telepatico, funziona nel classico meccanismo narrativo che vede lo sconfitto ingabbiarsi da solo nella confortante abitudinarietà: il prezzo dei benefits, si sa, è irrisorio. Bella prova di King, stavolta.
La teoria degli animali di L.T. 3★
Eccetto il finale, degno rappresentante del campionario di svogliatezze kinghiane (cazzi duri dei cowboys e assassino con mannaia, roba da cacare nel libro), il racconto è simpatico nel tratteggiare gli alterchi di coppia con gli animali domestici a perturbare l'equilibrio.
Il Virus della Strada va a nord 4★
Scrittore horror viene perseguitato da un quadro - raffigurante uno strano individuo in macchina - che muta con il passare dei giorni. Giochi di prospettive e un senso di inesorabilità sono gli ingredienti per questa simpatica storia.
Pranzo al "Gotham Café" 3.5★
Ritratto impietoso - a dir poco - di una coppia in procinto di divorziare; lo spunto granguignolesco della vicenda è la classica ciliegina sulla torta.
Quella sensazione che puoi dire soltanto in francese 2.5★
Virtuosismo sulla percezione esistenziale alterata. Piuttosto trascurabile.
1408 4★
Giornalista-scrittore visita i luoghi più infestati del pianeta per intrattenere i suoi lettori e foraggiare quella componente esoterica/sovrannaturale a scopo di lucro. All'inizio il racconto si configura come compendio di tutti gli stilemi del sottogenere "case infestate" (il racconto era destinato a On writing, per sua stessa ammissione). Per fortuna la storia gioca sull'ambiguità di certe persone con il sovrannaturale, sino a denudare alcuni meccanismi del genere e, al contempo, rilanciare lo stesso con un paio di passaggi indubbiamente riusciti (il telefono, l'entità che permea la stanza).
Riding the bullet - Passaggio per il nulla 5★
Ragazzo scopre dell'ictus della madre e cerca di tornare a casa tramite autostop. Ma il gentile guidatore che si presterà al favore, un misterioso George Staub, si rivelerà essere altro. Racconto confezionato come horror per erigere un omaggio alla figura materna: un vero e proprio tuffo nel passato per fare ammenda dell'ingratitudine intrinseca in ogni figlio.
La moneta portafortuna 4★
Racconto quasi dickensiano sulla ricerca della fortuna. Tenero nella prosa e adatto per smorzare l'atmosfera in vista della chiusura.
June 21, 2024
Stephen King is the reigning master of horror short stories. He long ago surpassed the earlier scribblers he’s often compared to — Edgar Alan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft — both in quality and output. But that’s not the primary reason that I read his collections. Because what King actually does is write human interest stories — character sketches that capture our shared humanity.
Take this book; only half of its tales deal with the paranormal. A couple more effectively play with completely natural terror and suspense. But all of them look closely at the emotions and relationships that define our humanity. Whether it’s a man telling a clever story of his pets role in his split from his wife to mask his pain, or a poignant tale of the last days of the Dillinger Gang focused on their friendships, all of these tales contain King’s acquired wisdom of what makes us human. That’s why, when King does bring the terror, he scares us so much — he gets us, he knows what makes us tick.
Autopsy Room Four: A terrifying and suspenseful tale of a man experiencing full body paralysis but mistaken for dead about to undergo an autopsy.
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Man in the Black Suit: ”And yet the devil came.” Old man tells tale of terrifying encounter when he was a young boy.
3 ⭐️
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: Salesman in lonely motel room contemplating suicide and collection of restroom graffiti
4 ⭐️
The Death of Jack Hamilton: Poignant tale of the twilight of the Dillinger Gang
4 ⭐️
In the Death Room: An American trapped in the final interrogation room of a brutal Central American regime calculates his vanishingly small chance of exiting with his life.
3 ⭐️
The Little Sisters of Eluria : A Dark Tower story, this genre-blending (Western/Dark Fantasy/Horror) tale has Roland of Gilead encountering Ghouls and Vamps and Bugs, oh my! in a desert ghost town.
4 ⭐️
Everything’s Eventual: An awkward 19 year old, his inexplicable and deadly talent, and TransCorp, the mysterious organization that exploits the naive kid’s talent. “It’s not the pay, it’s the benefits.”
3 1/2 ⭐️
LT’s Theory of Pets: A clever, funny story about marriage, and pets, and divorce…and ax murder.
4 ⭐️
The Road Virus Heads North: A horror writer finds a profoundly disturbing painting at a yard sale. This one is scary.
4 ⭐️
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe: An acrimonious separation + quitting smoking + divorce lawyer + mad maître d’ = bloody chaos
3 ⭐️
That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is In French: Hell is what you make it. And repetitive. Very repetitive.
3 1/2 ⭐️
1408: A writer spends time in a haunted — no, a profoundly wrong hotel room. Turn up the terror.
4 1/2 ⭐️
Riding the Bullet: ”Fun is fun, and done is done.” An inversion of the Vanishing Hitchhiker trope. Alan has a strange and scary trip as he hitchhiked to see his mom in the hospital. He gets a lesson on the circle of life. A tad too long.
3 ⭐️
Luckey Quarter: Jackpot!
3 ⭐️
Take this book; only half of its tales deal with the paranormal. A couple more effectively play with completely natural terror and suspense. But all of them look closely at the emotions and relationships that define our humanity. Whether it’s a man telling a clever story of his pets role in his split from his wife to mask his pain, or a poignant tale of the last days of the Dillinger Gang focused on their friendships, all of these tales contain King’s acquired wisdom of what makes us human. That’s why, when King does bring the terror, he scares us so much — he gets us, he knows what makes us tick.
Autopsy Room Four: A terrifying and suspenseful tale of a man experiencing full body paralysis but mistaken for dead about to undergo an autopsy.
4 1/2 ⭐️
The Man in the Black Suit: ”And yet the devil came.” Old man tells tale of terrifying encounter when he was a young boy.
3 ⭐️
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: Salesman in lonely motel room contemplating suicide and collection of restroom graffiti
4 ⭐️
The Death of Jack Hamilton: Poignant tale of the twilight of the Dillinger Gang
4 ⭐️
In the Death Room: An American trapped in the final interrogation room of a brutal Central American regime calculates his vanishingly small chance of exiting with his life.
3 ⭐️
The Little Sisters of Eluria : A Dark Tower story, this genre-blending (Western/Dark Fantasy/Horror) tale has Roland of Gilead encountering Ghouls and Vamps and Bugs, oh my! in a desert ghost town.
4 ⭐️
Everything’s Eventual: An awkward 19 year old, his inexplicable and deadly talent, and TransCorp, the mysterious organization that exploits the naive kid’s talent. “It’s not the pay, it’s the benefits.”
3 1/2 ⭐️
LT’s Theory of Pets: A clever, funny story about marriage, and pets, and divorce…and ax murder.
4 ⭐️
The Road Virus Heads North: A horror writer finds a profoundly disturbing painting at a yard sale. This one is scary.
4 ⭐️
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe: An acrimonious separation + quitting smoking + divorce lawyer + mad maître d’ = bloody chaos
3 ⭐️
That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is In French: Hell is what you make it. And repetitive. Very repetitive.
3 1/2 ⭐️
1408: A writer spends time in a haunted — no, a profoundly wrong hotel room. Turn up the terror.
4 1/2 ⭐️
Riding the Bullet: ”Fun is fun, and done is done.” An inversion of the Vanishing Hitchhiker trope. Alan has a strange and scary trip as he hitchhiked to see his mom in the hospital. He gets a lesson on the circle of life. A tad too long.
3 ⭐️
Luckey Quarter: Jackpot!
3 ⭐️
November 29, 2008
SK can't help being SK. That includes profanity and poor taste. Often, it seems like it's trying fine cuisine at Denney's. Every once in a while, you'll find something that tastes excellent. Mostly it'll be when you are famished.
Month after month and year after year, he churns it out, and he has for decades and decades now. I read this collection of horror stories after the members of my reading group--mostly women--caved in to the only other male in the group besides me. Many of the women had never read King, and said it was time to give him a try. Many swore him off after reading the collection, claiming there is just too much good to read without having to touch his stuff.
I beg to differ. SK is probably the greatest commercial writer of my generation. He speaks to the masses, to our crassnesses and to the mysterious in us as human beings, wich we love to morph into ever-increaing weirdness.
Hence, SK, for example, conceives a snake-bitten cadaver "resurrected" during an autopsy when, well, when a doctor, a woman, about to slice into him, discovers---no, I'll yet you read about its swelling fervor. Or what about the guy who has spent a career as a traveling salesman who has collected the detritus scrawled on the walls of toilet walls and stalls across the countryside in a note book, planning to publish who now wants to shoot---what, you thought I'd tell you?
No, no . . . I recommend that you read it yourself, and see what you think. Why has this American icon found so much success writing about the dark and fearful in American history and culture.
If you don't appreciate horror, read his On Writing and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
Month after month and year after year, he churns it out, and he has for decades and decades now. I read this collection of horror stories after the members of my reading group--mostly women--caved in to the only other male in the group besides me. Many of the women had never read King, and said it was time to give him a try. Many swore him off after reading the collection, claiming there is just too much good to read without having to touch his stuff.
I beg to differ. SK is probably the greatest commercial writer of my generation. He speaks to the masses, to our crassnesses and to the mysterious in us as human beings, wich we love to morph into ever-increaing weirdness.
Hence, SK, for example, conceives a snake-bitten cadaver "resurrected" during an autopsy when, well, when a doctor, a woman, about to slice into him, discovers---no, I'll yet you read about its swelling fervor. Or what about the guy who has spent a career as a traveling salesman who has collected the detritus scrawled on the walls of toilet walls and stalls across the countryside in a note book, planning to publish who now wants to shoot---what, you thought I'd tell you?
No, no . . . I recommend that you read it yourself, and see what you think. Why has this American icon found so much success writing about the dark and fearful in American history and culture.
If you don't appreciate horror, read his On Writing and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 22, 2013
*This review was originally published on my blog (http://jonathanjanz.com) and focuses on the story "The Road Virus Heads North" (though I've read the whole collection and certainly believe it's worthy of five stars). Here's the link: http://jonathanjanz.com/2011/10/08/th...
Stephen King's Everything's Eventual is loaded with great stories. In addition to the one I'm about to discuss, the collection contains "1408," "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe," and a cool entry into the Dark Tower canon called "The Little Sisters of Eluria."
So in a collection packed with great stories, why'd I choose to blog about "Virus"?
Let me try to explain...
First of all, like Stephen King---and I'll shamelessly seize any opportunity to be like my favorite writer ever---I love stories about pictures. Specifically, I love stories about pictures that change. King has worked in this shadowy corner before, notably in "The Sun Dog," and it's a territory into which other great authors (T.E.D. Klein's unforgettable novella "Petey" comes to mind) have ventured as well. So is this tale King's most original?
I don't give a crap. Sure, sometimes it's dazzling to find an author blazing a completely new trail, but for me it's just as exciting to see a master take a tattered old idea and breathe new life into it.
Like "The Road Virus Heads North."
It's about a horror author who finds a rather...arresting painting at a garage sale. The painting has a macabre backstory that I don't want to ruin here, but as we'd expect from a horror author (a bizarre species prone to excessive curiosity), he purchases the piece and continues, well, north.
The name Richard Kinnell reminds me of both Richard Bachman (King's pseudonym) and Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive fame; whether or not either of these connections are intentional, they both add texture to the character for me. I don't want to give away what happens in this story, but if you've been reading, you'll already know that the painting changes. How it changes and where it changes and how Richard reacts to these changes and what these changes mean for Richard and those with whom he comes into contact...all of these are what make the tale so elegant and ghastly.
As has been pointed out by people far smarter than I, horror is the only genre named after an emotion (although I felt a bit "men's adventury" today when I attempted to parallel park in a space two inches longer than my car). That's because horror can affect the reader in a very unique way. And man, did this tale affect me. I felt dread when the first layers of the mystery peeled away to reveal just how sinister the painting might be. I felt terror when Richard Kinnell realized that the picture could defy physics and reason. And I felt horror during those last few pages when...
Read the story. It's a darn good one.
Stephen King's Everything's Eventual is loaded with great stories. In addition to the one I'm about to discuss, the collection contains "1408," "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe," and a cool entry into the Dark Tower canon called "The Little Sisters of Eluria."
So in a collection packed with great stories, why'd I choose to blog about "Virus"?
Let me try to explain...
First of all, like Stephen King---and I'll shamelessly seize any opportunity to be like my favorite writer ever---I love stories about pictures. Specifically, I love stories about pictures that change. King has worked in this shadowy corner before, notably in "The Sun Dog," and it's a territory into which other great authors (T.E.D. Klein's unforgettable novella "Petey" comes to mind) have ventured as well. So is this tale King's most original?
I don't give a crap. Sure, sometimes it's dazzling to find an author blazing a completely new trail, but for me it's just as exciting to see a master take a tattered old idea and breathe new life into it.
Like "The Road Virus Heads North."
It's about a horror author who finds a rather...arresting painting at a garage sale. The painting has a macabre backstory that I don't want to ruin here, but as we'd expect from a horror author (a bizarre species prone to excessive curiosity), he purchases the piece and continues, well, north.
The name Richard Kinnell reminds me of both Richard Bachman (King's pseudonym) and Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive fame; whether or not either of these connections are intentional, they both add texture to the character for me. I don't want to give away what happens in this story, but if you've been reading, you'll already know that the painting changes. How it changes and where it changes and how Richard reacts to these changes and what these changes mean for Richard and those with whom he comes into contact...all of these are what make the tale so elegant and ghastly.
As has been pointed out by people far smarter than I, horror is the only genre named after an emotion (although I felt a bit "men's adventury" today when I attempted to parallel park in a space two inches longer than my car). That's because horror can affect the reader in a very unique way. And man, did this tale affect me. I felt dread when the first layers of the mystery peeled away to reveal just how sinister the painting might be. I felt terror when Richard Kinnell realized that the picture could defy physics and reason. And I felt horror during those last few pages when...
Read the story. It's a darn good one.
July 23, 2022
I'm not really a the big short story fan, though being a constant reader of King there's a couple of his collections I need to read to have completed all of his works.
Also I guess it's bonus content from one of my favourite authors!
Out of these tales I was only familiar with 1408 due to the movie adaptation, though it was nice to see a Dark Tower story also included.
Seeing Roland The Gunslinger feature highlighted where these stories were written during King's life.
Most were originally published around the time of King's car accident and this volume being released before the epic final three volumes of King's magnus opas.
I liked the way these tales were presented, King explains in the introduction that the order was chosen by a pack of cards. They pretty much fit perfectly as the longer novellas are spread through, the final story did feel a little rushed and like a coda but overall a very entertaining set with the one that got the movie adaptation being my favourite.
Also I guess it's bonus content from one of my favourite authors!
Out of these tales I was only familiar with 1408 due to the movie adaptation, though it was nice to see a Dark Tower story also included.
Seeing Roland The Gunslinger feature highlighted where these stories were written during King's life.
Most were originally published around the time of King's car accident and this volume being released before the epic final three volumes of King's magnus opas.
I liked the way these tales were presented, King explains in the introduction that the order was chosen by a pack of cards. They pretty much fit perfectly as the longer novellas are spread through, the final story did feel a little rushed and like a coda but overall a very entertaining set with the one that got the movie adaptation being my favourite.
May 6, 2023
I loved reading Everything's Eventual by Stephen King! It's a collection of 14 stories that range from horror to sci-fi to fantasy. King is a master storyteller who can create suspense, humour, and emotion in every tale. Some of my favourites were "1408", "The Road Virus Heads North", and "Riding the Bullet".
Yet again a collection of top-quality short stories.
Note: re-reading and reviewing this soon.
Yet again a collection of top-quality short stories.
Note: re-reading and reviewing this soon.
March 18, 2013
A decent collection of Stephen King stories. In my mind, I wouldn't say that anything stands out as spectacular, but I don't really feel like there were any duds. Some nice quick escapes for those who occasionally like to get a whole story in during one sitting.
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