LT's Theory of Pets

Rating:
Summary: Humorous tale
Review: Stephen King is fond of experimentation with media, indeed. He was about the first major author who released his works only in an audiobook form back in 1999.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best yet.
Review: Stephen King is the man. This book had me rolling on the floor. Absolutely hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: delicious, but short...
Review: Stephen King is, of course, one of today's most prolific novelists. With over 30 books to his name, he has also published stories electronically, in serial installments, written for telivision and with "L.T.'s Theory of Pets", published this audio-only short story.

King himself reads the story, and for those who are familiar with his reading his own material like "Needful Things" or "Hearts in Atlantis", his Maine accent is as comfortable as a down comforter. At the beginning of the CD he reminds us, in his dry, Maine wit, that we are, after all, "all going to die someday," and then cautions the audience by asking them to remember if they left the shower curtain open or closed. Nervous laughter is heard from the live audience.

The story, read live at London's Royal Festival Hall, concerns a man named L.T. who is fond of telling the strange story of how his wife left him, concluding with his theory of pets. It seems that L.T. and his now estranged wife have bought each other pets that turned out to be totally incompatable with the intended owner.

In a kind of macabre variation on "Gift of the Maji", L.T. buys his wife a cat as a present, but the animal despises it's new owner with a passion, instead lavishing attention on L.T. In a similar fit of pique, his wife buys L.T. a jack russell terrier that takes an immediate dislike to L.T., even though it's supposed to be his dog. Though L.T., telling his story to his work buddies during lunch break, injects lots of humor into his story, the reader (technically, LISTENER in this case) begins to see that the animals represent the humans and all the flaws in their relationship.

As an author, sometimes King's short stories and novellas draw a reader in deeper than any of his 1,000+ page opuses. Though the story lacks the in-your-face, monsters-leaping-out-to-eat-your-face-off horror elements often associated with King, the story draws the reader in because of it's easy, conversational tone--you can just see L.T. sitting there, casually spooling out his tale-- and the way it keeps you psychologically tense for it's ending.

King is a masterful reader, never stumbling over any of his words or becoming even momentarily tongue-tied, and countrified-Mainer character, L.T., simply comes to life in the imagination of the listener, King-style: ""When a person gets up in the morning he doesn't have the slightest idea how much may have changed in his life by the time he lays his head down again that night. 'Ye know not the hour or the day,' the Bible says. I believe that particular verse is about dying, but it fits everything else, boys, everything else in the world. You just never know when you're gonna bust a fiddle string."

For the Constant Reader (King's term for his die-hard fans), "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" is a definite must-read. My only complaint with the CD comes not from any lack on the part of Mr. King, but on behalf of the publishers. At the beginning of the CD King makes reference to a question & answer period to follow after the reading of the story. This is completely left off the CD, which is sin of the highest degree. Despite numerous websites dedicated to his writing, books published about the man and his work (anyone read "The Stephen King Universe"??) Mr. King is a very private man. Rarely does he grant interviews or talk openly about his writing or his writing process. For a publisher, then, to NOT publish one of the very rare, informal Q&A sessions that he DOES grant is a terrible oversight, IMHO. I award Simon & Schuster several brownie points for recording/publishing this story that we would have otherwise missed, but I have to take several points AWAY for not including the entire evening.

Nonetheless, Q&A session or not, the story comes highly recommended from this Constant Reader.

Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars, but an important caveat
Review: Stephen King's LT's Theory of Pets is a good, somewhat funny, slighty touching story of the demise of a marriage. It has some faint hints of horror at the end, but nothing to write home about. It's more in the spirit of the first three tales in Four Seasons -- a straight drama. This particular reading of it is enjoyable as King has a good reading style and the book is funnier heard than read.

However, I can only recommend this to big King fans who have a yen to hear him read the story. LT, along with the e-book Riding the Bullet and Audio Book Blood+Smoke, is in the short story collection Everything's Eventual (see my review there). So if you're just interested in the story -- and could care less for the medium -- buy that.

Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars, but an important caveat
Review: Stephen King's LT's Theory of Pets is a good, somewhat funny, slighty touching story of the demise of a marriage. It has some faint hints of horror at the end, but nothing to write home about. It's more in the spirit of the first three tales in Four Seasons -- a straight drama. This particular reading of it is enjoyable as King has a good reading style and the book is funnier heard than read.

However, I can only recommend this to big King fans who have a yen to hear him read the story. LT, along with the e-book Riding the Bullet and Audio Book Blood+Smoke, is in the short story collection Everything's Eventual (see my review there). So if you're just interested in the story -- and could care less for the medium -- buy that.

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's Theory of Marriage
Review: Stephen King's new story, "LT's Theory of Pets," is really less about pets than about the fragility of marriage. It's a theme that King seems to be fond of (especially in more recent years). Unfortunately, at least in this instance, King doesn't have anything to say on the topic that particularly revelatory. He goes to some trouble to evoke the emotions associated with a breakup, but there's nothing really substantial here about the internal dynamics of the relationship. In a way, this story puts me in mind of another one by King about the marriage state, "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" (1995). While "Cafe" suffers from some of the same problems as "Pets," at least "Cafe" was more entertaining, if only in a typically King-like gruesome manner. ("Cafe" won the 1995 Stoker award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, and was nominated for the 1996 Locus for Best Novelette.)

Rating:
Summary: Gather Around The Campfire
Review: Stephen Kings is a master storyteller in print and in voice. He delivers a short story here with plenty of punch. All that is lacking is the campfire and marshmallows. The setting, in front of a live audience, adds to the pleasure. As is often the case with King stories, the tale starts off on a humorous note and then delivers the horror toward the end. It is obvious King has spent some time observing cats and dogs. He paints a very real picture of animal behavior in this story. There is some rough language which may be offensive to some listeners. It is a short story and I plan to listen to it again and again to see if I missed anything the first time around. Knowing SK as I do, I'm sure there are hidden meanings lurking everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Fun listening from Steve...
Review: Stevey K. reads this aloud to an audience in England. There's something I love when he reads his own material. This particular body of work is not his greatest, but it's certainly entertaining, as well as extremely funny. You will find yourself laughing along with the audience, as he lets the expletives fly! A bizarre ending that leaves you wondering, but hey, this "is" Stephen King.

Rating:
Summary: More proof that King does more than horror
Review: The introduction to this made me expect a scary story, but the tale King gives us is a sometimes touching, sometimes funny story about how two pets come between a couple and slowly drive them apart. I got this the same day Everything's Eventual came out and, although the story is included in the book, I'm glad I purchased this. King's narration adds a perfect finishing touch to what is easily the best story in the collection.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting, but disappointing little story.
Review: The most disappointing thing about this little story, which I listened to on CD, is it's length. Much too short! Stephen King wins my approval for his excellent voice as well as his familiar talent of story-telling, but this CD was only about an hour long!! The story was good, not one of his best, but good, and I enjoyed it. The ending was severely abrupt, but many of Stephen King's stories end this way on purpose, and I suspect this was one of them. It makes you think, which is what, after all, the Master of Macabre is all about. LT is a man whose wife has left him. They had two pets, one that LT bought for Lulu, his wife, and one Lulu bought for him. It starts out amusing and light and winds it's way into an unsolved mystery. It is clever and intriguing. Stephen King is definitely someone I would love to have read me a bedtime story, and this is just what he does with this audio CD. He reads like he writes, a pro. I recommend this for a short car drive or airplane ride, but the trip really has to be short. For content, it is aces as usual for the King. For style and voice, fabulous. For length, your money is much better spent on longer stories by Stephen King. You will enjoy the very beginning, which is Stephen King's own voice and way of introducing his story, but I don't think you will care too much for the ending.