Rating: Summary: A Few Stinkers, But The Rest Make Up For Them Review: This is a must-read for all horror buffs. "1408" is the best, I read it at 2 am, and let me just say, IT FREAKED ME OUT. It is about a writer who visits different "haunted places" and spends the night in them, and then writes about it. 1408 (add the digits and you get, 13)refers to the hotel room number of a seriously haunted room. The way he describes...well, just trust me, it is like the Stephen King of old (before he got paid per word). Some other great ones include, "The Road Virus Heads North", "That saying that you can only say in French", "lunch at Gotham cafe", "Autopsy room 4" and "Everythings Eventual."Also, the introduction he gives is interesting as he goes into the art of writing a short story and his opinion of the current state of short stories in general. Also it is noteworthy to know that there is a Dark Tower tie-in (the sisters of euluria). There are a couple of duds (Lucky Quarter and Riding The Bullet), but it does not matter, as the ones I mentioned earlier totally make up for the stinkers.
Rating: Summary: Everyone needs an editor Review: Compared to Big Steve's other anthologies, the tales in "Everything's Eventual" lack a lot of the punch of King's other tales, especially those that were published in magazines. The Gunslinger tale works, as it seems to have been worked up for publication as part of a book. Even though the stories are shorter than the ones in "Four Past Midnight," they all tend to wander a lot more.
Rating: Summary: Oh, well..... Review: The last King book I read before this, was 'Bag of Bones', which I absolutely loved. But this...the opening story, 'Autopsy Room Four', was quite funny; the next one, 'The Man in the Black Suit', could have been so much more, but still delivered a few chills. The title story was somewhat interesting, and 'That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French' had an interesting idea...but none of them quite delivered *the punch*. I didn't read 'The Little Sisters of Eluria', since I never gave a hoot about King's Dark Tower-series, and I read 'Riding the Bullet' a couple of yeas ago, and couldn't bear going through it again...it's utter crap! Mr King has written a good deal of great books, but if you wanna read his short stories, go for 'Night Shift' or 'Skeleton Crew'. This one doesn't do him - or the readers - any justice.
Rating: Summary: Review on Stephen King (Everything Eventual) Review: This book was really good, i especially like that there were 14 different stories so it kept me interested. When i got done with one story i was always curious to find out what the next one would be about. My favorite one out of all of them was The Man in the Black Suit because that one to me was the scariest and i can realate because i LOVE scary books, i think horror is the most interesting topic to read about. But anyways The Man in the Black Suit was the best because of how detailed he described the "Devil" i've always loved how detailed Stephen King is in his books, but this one was the best he described him all the way down to his crimson colored eyes and his firey, burnt match smelling breath it was really good. It was sad too which made the book even better because it changed so many moods it went from soo joyful to life-threateningly scary then down to completely sad but all and all i would review this book as a must read.
Rating: Summary: Everything Eventual by Stephen King Review: This is a really good book, the way Stephen King describes how he used a deck of playing cards to select the order in which these 14 tales would appear was a very good idea. They were all really good storys, there was some scary ones and then there was some none scary ones. My favorite story was All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, it was very good it wasn't scary at all. I found it very interesting to read, It was about a guy who went around the world writing down some sort of quotes in a little notebook, which he loved doing. He had a wife and kids at home, he didn't know what to do. It was his life to go around writing down little quotes in his notebook. At one point he wanted to kill his self, and he couldn't make a decision. So he decide if the lights went on in the farm house that he would write a story about what he discover, but if they didn't then he would throw away his notebook and kill his self. But it never told us at the end what happen. But it was a great story and I loved it.
Rating: Summary: Meh Review: The only good stories are "Everything's Eventual" and "The Little Sisters of Eluria". Everything else ranges from mediocre to poor. The first story, for example, really is quite bad. The book is worth it though if you were looking for something Dark Tower related (like me) because the title story and Eluria are quite long compared to the other short stories (and both deal or will deal with the Dark Tower in some way). I think SK's problem is that he likes to make everything nice and happy in the end, and that's not really a good strategy when writing a short story in my opinion. So, if you aren't interested in Dark Tower, stay away. By the way, that whole deal with the Tarot Cards is a cheap gimmick to make himself look more "creepy". He should have just chosen the order himself based on what would fit.
Rating: Summary: More Hits Than Misses Review: Some of the stories in this collection are a bit weak, "Autopsy Room Four" and "In the Deathroom" for instance, but King's writing is strong throughout. The title tale features one of King's most original characters, and takes the reader inexorably to its mid-air conclusion. "The Death of Jack Hamilton" concerns John Dillinger and his gang, and is a masterful story devoid of anything supernatural, attesting to the universality of King's talents as a writer. "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" is a story with great dialogue, but the ending fizzles out, just like "Luckey Quarter." "1408," though, is truly disturbing and "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French" is a suffocating Satre-like account of a woman who slowly realizes what kind of fate has befallen her. Worth a read, even the lesser stories are OK.
Rating: Summary: Ditch the devils Review: I've always felt Stephen King was a much better short story writer than he was a novelist. He's never come close to being nominated for The National Book Award, but he has won the O'Henry Award for his short story "The Man in the Black Suit," which is included in this anthology. Obviously the judges who distribute that award have never read any of King's longer works; he's only done the devil thing a couple of hundred times. But there's a far better story in this collection, "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away." It's about a traveling salesman who decides to end it all in a seedy motel with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson, but before he pulls the trigger he sifts through his most prized possession, a notebook full of graffito he has collected during his travels. Some of them are on the offensive side and he doesn't want them found with his body. He has a family after all. He decides to bury the notebook in a farmer's field outside the motel. Alfie Zimmer clings to one small thread of a lifeline, however. Could he edit the notebook and perhaps interest a publisher? Before entering the motel, he had noticed lights glowing from a nearby farmhouse. Now the house is dark. He decides to count to sixty; if the lights come back on he will try to publish his book of graffito; if they don't he will go back inside and blow his brains out. Another good one is "Riding the Bullet," a rather famous story in that it was published on the Internet. In his prefatory remarks King talks about how the story was inspired by the death of his mother. In it a college student is called home because his mother has had a stroke. I think you need to know a little about King's background in order to appreciate this story. His father left early on and his mother raised him. Although she made barely enough money to support herself, she sent him a small allowance every week for spending money while he was attending college at the University of Maine. "The Bullet" in the title is an amusement park ride. King can't help himself; he practically ruins the story by including one of his devil characters. In another one of his prefatory notes, King says he writes two short stories or so a year. I think he should do it full time and ditch the tedious devils.
Rating: Summary: This is good none the less Review: Everything's Eventual is good, but not great. There are a couple of good short stories in this novel that would grab your attention. One of them being 'Lunch At The Gotham Cafe', which I found really gruesome, and '1408'. One I didnt really care for was 'Everything's Eventual' because there was nothing the story could offer to me. I read the story nonetheless, and I got it just to read 'Riding The Bullet' which I found out was ok, not great, just ok. There were some other stories that were bland 'Autospy Room 4' and some others but I cannot call them off the top of my head. But I have to say that 'In the Deathroom' is one of the top three best. Good, but not great like Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
Rating: Summary: 14 surely dark tales Review: This is the first time I've read one of Stephen King's collections of short stories, since till now I concentrated in his novels and novellas. I must say SK is able to control all kinds (and lenghts) of stories he wants to write, but after reading "Everything's eventual" I realized that, since character and plot development are SK's strong points, his short stories could be just the starting point to complete books. At least the ones in this book. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed most of them as much as I have enjoyed other SK books that have become my "enjoyable reading" milestones, like "The stand" and the "Dark Tower" series, among others. It's just that, spoiled constant reader that I am, I wanted more. About the short stories in "Everything's eventual". The cover defines them as "14 dark tales". Couldn't be more right. Most of them deal with death, but in a subtle way, nothing explicit like "Salem's lot". These stories are told mostly in first person, and there are some recurrent subjects, like broken marriages and family relationships, cigarrets and automobiles (or rides, for that matter). But they are not repetitive. I can remember each one of them distinctively, the rythm of narrative, the characters, the unusual situations. Among my favourites are: IN THE DEATHTROOM - a thrilling tale about an interrogation with a fantastic ending. THE DEATH OF JACK HAMILTON - unusual SK tale, about John Dillinger and his gang in the 30s. THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA - prequel to the Dark Tower series, this was the main reason I bought this book. No regrets. LUNCH AT THE GOTHAM CAFE - amazing story, about a divorce that is settled in a different location and in a strange situation. THAT FEELING, YOU CAN ONLY SAY WHAT IT IS IN FRENCH - read it. read it. read it. read it.read it. RIDING THE BULLET - a young man hitchhikes in a ghost car to visit his sivk mother in a hospital; introspective, makes you think. All other stories were good also, with two exceptions: "All that you love will be carried away" is purposeless and very boring. And "1408" is not good, it's excellent, easily the best story in the book, about a haunting (not haunted) room in a NY hotel. Surely going to buy earlier SK's collections of short stories. Grade 8.8/10
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