Dustin ’s Comments (group member since Oct 05, 2011)

Dustin ’s comments from the The Sleepy Conscience Club group.

Do you know that his next novel is going to be a sequel to the shining? Danny is grown up and is an orderly who "helps" elderly patients die...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sleep

Dude, that book was siiiiiiiiiiiiick! I finished the last 300 pages yesterday, couldn't put it down. I actually could have read another 200 pages expanding on the green/yellow/orange/black card men and the alternate post-JFK time tangent. However, that's a slippery slope and could have gotten messy so a part of me is happy that he kept the present day stuff at the end very simple.

I feel completely different about the Derry part thought. Seems to me like George was super judgmental in Derry, and I was enthralled with the first 300 pages or so of the book. The part that never really come to life for me was Jodie. I liked the characters, but, aside from Sadie they all seemed like caricatures. I love his descriptions of the Book Depository. When I visited it, I went alone around midnight and sat on the grassy knoll and took it all in. There is definitely still an odd energy around Dealy Plaza. Perhaps not outright evil as King described it being in 63, but there is still something off key about that location, and the building in general.

11/22/63 is going up on my shelf as a keeper, I think I'll be back for a re-read in a year or so...

I ordered wind through the keyhole last night, should be coming in on Friday.

Nice, I'll pick it up next. I'm on page 525 of 11/22/63. Really great book. The Derry scenes were paced really well, but I thought it lost a bit of steam with the Jodie portion. Now it's picking back up again as the events surrounding Kennedy's assassination start to unfold.

Jack wrote: "Did you see how 11/22/63 was called one of the ten best books of 2011, and there was a huge uproar because Stephen King isn't literary enough to be on the list? I've never gotten this criticism of him, or why it seems to be a fixation of people. To my knowledge, King doesn't consider himself a literary writer, he doesn't want to be a literary writer, and he has never TRIED to be a literary writer. I really hate the whole bias that something has to be literary to be good."

It seems that some folks are just aversive to approachable authors like King. You're right, King has never tried to be a literary writer, he's a storyteller, and a good one. He certainly has put out some less than perfect novels, some downright awful (i.e. blockade billy, Tommyknockers), and he himself will admit this on a regular basis. However, when he hits, its always a grand slam. I guess some folks can't wrap their heads around the concept that a writer doesn't have to be perfect all the time to be great. I also agree with you about the Long Walk, and the Dark Tower (specifically the Wizard and the Glass). I will also throw the Stand in the mix, just because to me, that book defines the word epic. The journey that he takes us on is incredible.

Many authors have stinkbombs though, so I imagine that over time King's best works will become staples in the literary community, but only after King is long gone.

Well, then you were spot on, because I was completely lost reading him as well!

Sorry dude, you have lost me. Either I need more sleep, better drugs, or both...

My opinion is that she is strong, but selfish. However, she is also good-natured so the selfishness is not apparent because she knows that she also needs to take care of the family, at least for a time. Now, there is no reason for her not to pursue her singing career when the father is still alive but when he dies and David's mother goes batshit crazy, that's when Aunt Mae really had a tough choice to make. Yet, it becomes apparent that she chose to live her own life, especially in the scene where Clyde and she have sex in the truck following David's graduation while making David wait at the foot of the path because she "didn't want to walk up the path alone." (this might be chapter 7, if so, sorry!) That kind of pissed me off. However, at the same time she did go to David's graduation, unlike David's mother, so WTF???

In retrospect it reminds me a lot of the characters in Confederacy of Dunces. I've always said that one of the great strengths of that novel is that there are no good guys or bad guys. Everyone is written in color, so to speak. Right when you think you have an opinion of someone, Toole writes a chapter that makes you re-think everything. While the Neon Bible tends to portray characters in black and white, or good vs. bad, Aunt Mae is definitely the most colorful character in this book. I guess we are seeing a vision of things to come with her!

I'll pose one question to the group for speculation. Does Aunt Mae ever contact the valley to send for David and his mother? If so, how does she react to the news of what has occurred?

Yes, I am the comma king. I usually edit before I submit, but I'm not in an editing mood today. Perhaps I am just staying true to the nature of what we are reading!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neon...

By the way, this exists!

So I ended up burning through the last chapters of the book this morning. I really felt that the story caught fire toward the end, after he got out of school and got the job at the drugstore. The Jo Lynne episode was a well-written, and very accurate portrayal of a first experience with the awkwardness of dating.

What was up with the lady in the house robe? This was the one part that I really thought needed some expansion. David did not enter the house the second time he went there to deliver the items she ordered, but he never gives an explanation as to why he decided not to. I would have liked to see something in there because this seemed to be an important part in the development of a system of values for himself. Sure, his Aunt Mae tells him not to go back there, but it seems like he himself knew that something was wrong with that situation.

To draw a comparison with the coming of age novel I compared this to in previous posts, in Bless me Ultima, Antonio is always aware of the sexual nature of adults, and his struggles are with understanding why things are the way they are, why sex is not equal to love etc... This is never fleshed out in the Neon Bible, although it is hinted at throughout the book. Perhaps this is where Toole's age impacted the strength of the novel the most. He knew he wanted to say something regarding sex/love/morality etc...but it never comes through in the story, not with Aunt Mae, Jo Lynne, or the lady in the robe scenes.

The fact that David's teacher and his partner could live in the valley without being thrown out of town as so many others were sent some mixed signals. It seems that folks were intimidated by the teacher's intelligence, so they kept away from him. As we all know though, intelligence is almost never a buffer for hatred, in fact in intolerant settings such as this it is usually more of a threat that is dealt with harshly.

ENDING SPOILERS

Obviously, the final chapters of the book were extremely surprising. I didn't see the ending coming, what a train-wreck! I was expecting a couple of chapters on him burying his mother, and then we would once again convene with him on the train as he was on his way to Nashville to meet up with Aunt Mae. However, the killing of the preacher was a complete shock.

I felt bad for the kid. It became apparent by the end of the story that he never really had a chance at a normal life in the valley, especially after Jo Lynne left. Although he was tolerated in town, I don't think his family was ever truly accepted, mostly because of the baseless biases of the preacher and his flock.

Hmm, I wonder. I chalked up the lack of details to be just a fragment of his inexperience as a writer, but the alternative viewpoint that this was done on purpose to be more accurate to the perspective of a child is interesting.

Your comment about Snape is funny. Snape was by far my favorite character of the HP series. Without Snape to knock HP down a few notches here and there, I don't think I would have enjoyed the series nearly as much as I ended up liking it. Harry Potter was a little over the top at times, so whenever Snape tormented him I always got a kick out of it.

I get your point on the self-less/selfish qualities of Aunt Mae. To me, Aunt Mae is a very accurate portrayal of a single aunt or uncle to which I think many of us can relate. I have an uncle who I became good friends with when I was in high school and into college. We used to go to concerts together all the time, and he usually bought the tickets (and airfare, hotels, etc...) Funny thing though, before I was 15 I don't remember much about him. He didn't relate well to kids, and only later in life have I learned that that is completely normal. It just took me years to figure out that some people really don't have the family/child rearing personality. I only became visible to my Uncle after I was old enough to want to go to a Motley Crue concert, signalling that I had something in common with him. Now, Aunt Mae is kind of just a reversal of that situation. She related to David very well when he was super young, but started to drift away as he grew up and their problems became more serious. I think in her heart she was always looking out for herself first, so she jumped at the first job she could get singing, even though it hindered David's social life. She is selfish, but I don't consider it to be a character flaw necessarily. I think she was put into a situation of being the head of the family, and she just wasn't programmed for that role, it wasn't in her nature. She didn't ask for it and wasn't prepared when it suddenly happened, so while she dealt with it at first, now that she realizes that it is permanent, I think her old life goals are pushing back and winning the battle over the new, responsible Aunt Mae that we saw for a couple of chapters.

On second thought, I might put the wind through the keyhole on hold in order to read 11/22/63. Since I am going to be staying a block away from where Kennedy was assassinated this weekend, I thought it might be timely to read King's novel about the events. Have either of you tackled this one yet?

I'm glad you are liking it so far Jack! I'm going to pick it up so I can read it on my flights this week.

Rob, it took me a few readings before I really appreciated Dark Tower 1. You have to remember, King wrote this as a series of entries in a periodical, so basically you have a young writer, getting paid to publish short entries of a series in what I can imagine was a really short time frame. However, after reading the whole series I went back and re-read the first one and it really became clear to me how amazing it really was. As Jack says, the first book draws you into this hard, crude world that is dying from rot. It's supposed to make you feel shitty. Sure, some sentences are awkward, but you have to take the context in which the book was written in order to fully appreciate the story, with its flaws and all.

The Neon Bible is starting to remind me a bit of Bless Me Ultima. They both have very similar plots and take place in very similar settings. You are right with the editing remark. This could have become a coming of age story very similar to Bless Me Ultima. Perhaps a little expansion on some of the topics could have helped. Although the main points are well read, I feel like the main detraction of the book is that the stories are oversimplified a bit. I guess this works given that he is writing this from the perspective of someone looking back upon his childhood, but I feel that he is not getting the full story across as well as he probably could with a rewrite.

So in this chapter we see David losing two role models, his father, and Aunt Mae. Although Aunt Mae is still around, she is less of the day to day figurehead...However, his school life seems to be getting better, so is this sort of a draw?

I don't think the segregation was forced on the family, but I guess that all depends on how the father lost his job at the factory. Unless I am missing something, I don't ever think we learn why he lost his job, do we? It seems that the family's lack of money was the only segregation that occurred, but I could be way off.

One more short note. The house on the hill sounds awesome to me, minus the terrible clay. To be able to see the sky at night, and to be able to look down upon the town and watch the townsfolk as they go about their business...sounds like a great location to me!

So once again, it seems that this chapter is signalling an awakening of sorts. In the second chapter, David makes the point that looking away from the neon bible and into the sky helps him to concentrate on his prayers. Now in this chapter, we have the fall and subsequent humbling of Mrs. Watkins, the wife of the deacon of the church (of the neon bible???).

Mrs. Watkins hates Aunt Mae and through that connection, hates David as well. David then shows that he understands that Mrs. Watkins is feared more than she is liked, as David points out when he is watching her conversation with the other teacher in the playground. Then with the fall, I think we are witnessing another awakening, with David starting to understand the limitation that the religious folks in town can have by ruling with fear. He is also becoming closer with Aunt Mae, who seems to be cast as the troubled person with a good spiritual side...