Status Updates From Rose Madder

King apparently thought "welfare lesbians" was funnier than it is. Otherwise, a very consumable story. Husband is still pretty flat.

“I suppose,” Rosie said, knowing she wouldn’t. Her quarters were gone, and if a bus driver gave her a hard time about breaking a dollar bill, she would burst into tears. (The thought that the man she was talking to would have happily given her change for a buck never crossed her tired, confused mind.)

What makes this irresistible is the balance between repulsive violence and the immediate assurance that she finally decides it's over. It would be unpalatable and/or uninteresting otherwise.

Shades of Lord of the Flies: "But you have to do it right now. Before… Before what? That one was easy. Before she fell asleep again."

Undeniably powerful opening. Not sure how it'll go long term, but for now, this description of the man looking "at her out of his...face" is a cool way of saying he's a monster in human form:

His shadow swells and bobs on the wall and then he’s standing in the archway, looking at her out of his flushed and handsome face. The eyes in that face are as expressionless as shards of glass twinkling beside a country road.