Under The Weather

by Stephen King

Under the Weather is a short story by Stephen King, originally published in the paperback edition of Full Dark, No Stars.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Thriller, Novella, Contemporary, Swedish Literature

17 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2011

About the author

Stephen 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.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was a bit sub standard for Stephen King. The wife of an advertising man wasn't seen outside their flat for some time. Next door neighbors complain about a bad smell, like rats, like something dead. You read about medical conditions the wife had. He's talking about his day at the agency he works for. Can you guess where the story is leading? Even if it was short a bit tedious and obvious. Didn't like the characters involved too much either. You can find it in the anthology Full Dark, No Stars. It was okay but nothing extraordinary. There are better King stories!

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the intro by King, I understand that the reader is supposed to know what happens from the beginning. We are waiting for the conclusion. It’s so; very quickly, the reader understands what is going on. The clues are good and as the story goes on, more clues are given so anyone should be able to pick up on what is coming.

We meet a husband and wife and we spend the day with the husband at his work. I was entertained by this story. It’s one of the rare stories King knew the ending first, which isn’t how he normally writes.

I was very entertained by this story from Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I find it's a story showing the power of denial in life. I am constantly amazed by how powerful our denial can be and how easy we can lie to ourselves.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under The Weather is a bonus story at the end of Full Dark, No Stars and as with all the stories in that book this one is Dark!

Under The Weather is about a day in the life of an Adman whose wife has been feeling "Under The Weather" for about a week. I think we can all guess
how this story ends, and despite having a pretty good idea how this end I still enjoyed it. Under The Weather is a very short story, its under 30 pages but I read 29 of those pages with an enormous sense of dread. Stories like this one are much scarier than stories like "It" or "Needful Things" because "Under The Weather" isn't supernatural in anyway. This story can and does happen in real life.

If you get a chance to read this story I think you'll really enjoy it.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story, with a predictable ending. Although that was not what mattered. The protagonist here, works in advertising. And the story shows how imagination and excessive psychological optimism in a person who creates punch-lines in advertising, can lead to its morbid effects in real life!!

I had earlier read this story in King's previous novella collection Full Dark, No Stars, seven years ago. It was enjoyable reading it again. :)

[Ines Jlaiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im not a big fan of short stories because somehow they are never well developed or they lack depth, BUT, when it comes to Stephen King, he has this skill to write precise and to the point short stories, it makes you wonder how he have done it in only a few pages like this one.

Despite how short it is, it has a dark theme of denial..
When you find out that someone that you love deeply is suffering and you can’t just accept it as a fact. So you keep pretending and living your life like nothing had ever happened, this is the life of our main character who tends to do some fucked up creepy shit which will definitely make you shiver.
Our main character is delusional and quite insane

I CANT GIVE MORE DETAILS BECAUSE I will spoil the story but if you ever want to read stories with dark themes and you still feel intimidated or afraid, just start reading these kind of short stories

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Чверть склянки горрору розведені смутком і самотністю. Прикрасити скибкою осіннього Нью Йорка
3.5 ⭐️

[Bibliotekstanten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novellix nyaste box innehåller skräckisar! Wohoo! Jag köpte den mest eftersom den makalösa Karin Tidbeck har med en novell, men den jag läste först var Stephen Kings Lite krasslig bara.

Huvudpersonens högt älskade hustru har mått lite dåligt, varit lite krasslig de senaste dagarna. Så kan det vara, men han lämnar små gulliga lappar vid kaffebryggaren och går ut med hunden som vanligt. Hyresvärden frågar snällt efter henne, men har inte så mycket tid för konversation eftersom något i huset luktar. Sopor? Eller kanske en död råtta?

King älskar ju att skriva förord och det har han gjort även till denna lilla novell. Där skriver han att vi som läsare ska fatta, och det tror jag att alla gör. Lite krasslig bara är ändå bra och som all god skräck är det stråken av sorg som gör berättelsen intressant. Skulle vara spännande att sätta den i händerna på tonåringar och höra snacket!

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few books from the grandmaster Stephen King that the reader understands the end well before the narrator does. This is an awesome short story! My only complaint is that he ended the story a little too soon. I would have loved to see someone catch him there. Twisted and delightfully morbid.

[John Hatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen King is one of those authors who is so good at writing horror stories, that he is also good when translated into another language. This story is no exception: spine-chilling in just a little more than 30 short pages. It has already made me start looking for the collection of short stories it was taken from (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams).

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love most of the stories Stephen King has produced. Most of them have a great surprise that makes them unique. This story is a horrible terror. It is about a man who murders his wife and is "haunted" by his conscience and the psychopathy he creates. The man destroys himself far more completely than the wife that he murdered.

[Jasmin Vakufac · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reader knows the ending mile away from the ending, but I enjoyed it. Really short story, but with enough morbid elements. On the other hand, I think the story ended a little too soon, but that's a not big deal.

[Sanna G. Ståhl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this short story! It was creepy and the ending wasn’t quite like I’d expected it to be, which is always interesting. 🎃

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detta var riktigt mörkt. Men man förstår efter ett tag vart det är på väg. Jag gillar svärtan.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

När 2019 gick mot sitt slut så fick jag för mig att jag inte ville ha någon oavslutad bok över årsskiftet, alltså gick jag över till noveller. Jag hävdar bestämt att Stephen King är, förutom att vara skräckens mästare, novellernas mästare. Det korta formatet hindrar honom från att brodera ut historierna och bara essensen blir kvar. Av en händelse så hittade jag Lite krasslig, bara av honom oläst i hyllan. Läs mer på min blogg

[Josh Olds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a dead wife and husband who can’t accept that reality, Under the Weather is a simple macabre story that looks at loss and the inability to let go. King’s characterization is impeccable and it’s not until the mid-point of the story that there begins to be a dawning horror of what’s happened. It’s not quite Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho ¬level of horror, but plays along that vein in a way that’s both disturbing and saddening.

[Jesús M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story to be read while you have a nice hot coffee and when you have just little free time. Forgetting the dark and creepy atmosphere of this story, I dare to say the story is indeed quite heartbreaking and sad. The issue of not being able to 'let go' is dealt here by the hand of King in the most magnificent way. I really enjoyed it!

[Linda Larsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very predictable novel. But to be fair, King wrote in the short preface that he had written it with the ending already done, and that it's okay if the reader is ahead of the author in the story.
A good read still. Torn about rating it, might come back and change the rating later.

[Fabricio Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty morbid and sad. A good story, the first-person narrator was an excellent choice.

[Alexandra Dumitrescu · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Under the weather'. The story was pretty boring, but the ending... the exact creeps I like to feel when I read a horror story.

[Rick West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice story with NO surprise ending. You can see it coming a mile away but the fun is the trip getting there.

[Noe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It broke my heart, just a little bit, as realization dawned on me.

[Cheryle Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

You get the idea of what is behind the story after a few pages but the story is still excellent.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intresting story about the minds consciousness - and subconsciousness...

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.

A man's cares for his wife, who is under the weather. Creepy and disturbing.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jāsāk arvien vairāk iepazīties ar šī autora daiļradi.

[EHR · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was something eerie right from the beginning of this. Slowly more and more was hinted and revealed. Really loved this!

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable and a bit heavy-handed, but an enjoyable (and heartbreaking) read nonetheless.

[Kirsikka71 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sent shivers down my spine.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one starts slow but it is very creepy and unsettling, mainly so because you can sympathize with the narrator and it seems like something that could happen in real life.

[Kandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

You begin this little story thinking this guy is so sweet. He cares for his wife so much. "Thinking" is the operative word in that sentence.

This ends in a place you certainly didn't expect.