Rating: Summary: "The Dark Half" Review: Have you ever read any books that had to do with murder?The part of the story that stuck out the most was when homers pick-up truck is found when the bloody fingerprints of the perpetrator are all over it . Also when he suddenly thrust into a dream so bizarre that neither criminal sciece nor his own sharp mind can make sense of it. One character that stood out the most was Homer because he is the Murder and know one knows. It was scary not knowing who he is going to kill next. I recommend this book to everyone because its intrigueing."The Dark half" also pulls you in like your'e apart of the story.
Rating: Summary: Another good one Review: I only ended up reading this one because I have a habit of wondering almost-aimlessly in a small local library, where I tend to end up by the fantasy/horror -shelf because I used to look for Lovecraft's books there; now I have already read all I could find, and often end up taking something else from there. In any case, that I happened to read The Dark Half was certainly not an unfortunate coincidence. It is hardly epic, and certainly not scary (then again, I am never scared by books), and is admittedly a bit long (not meaning it has got too many pages, more like having more pages than it would be interesting enough to have), but then again it *is* reasonably interesting, and (at least nearly) every page has something in it that justifies its presence. The Dark Half is like a combination of crime and supernatural tale, with the addition of strange medical facts that are, as far as I know and I think I know well enough, realistic enough except where they have a combination with the supernatural. If there was not for those silly birds it would work perfectly, and they do not ruin it either. It's not brilliant, but, well, good enough for four stars.
Rating: Summary: The Dark Half Review: This book gives readers what they want. Not many other authors have that ability like Stephan King. This book is a chiller filled with lots of detailed parts. This story moves forward and never lets up on the suspense. A young boy named Thad born in 1960 had two things happen to him. The first had shaped his life; the other had almost ended it. To find out how read this horrorfying story by Stephen King.
Rating: Summary: Simplicity can be bliss Review: Sometimes, Stephen King can be complicated. Desperation, for example, is quite possibly the best examination of Christian morality that you'll find in popular fiction (or anywhere, for that matter), and Misery manages to construct a fairly accurate, if obvious, allegory of the writer's relationship with his fans. The problem that these novels have, of course, is the fact that the message can, at times, interfere with the story, which (let's admit it, folks) is what a lot of people read Stephen King for. We don't have that problem with this particular book. For once in his long career, Stephen King managed to maintain the authoritarian discipline over his more verbose reflexes to write a story that was JUST a story. He doesn't let himself get sidetracked with backstory, theorization, or philosophy--his first and only focus is to tell the story from beginning to end, and that is just what he does, in masterful fashion. For those of his readers, like myself, who enjoy these literary sidetracks, this can come as a bit of a disappointment (though not much of one), but for people who like to simply dig into their books and forget all that coffee shop, art undergraduate bull [...], this is right up their alley. This presents a bit of a delimma to me, then, since I generally enjoy reflecting on the deeper message and understanding that King is trying to convey in these reviews. There is one here, sort of--while I don't quite agree with George Stade's view (I think that he might just be weaving some of this from some pretty thin thread), there are some statements to be read about the author's relationship with himself, if you're of the mind. The great thing about The Dark Half, however, is that you don't HAVE to go looking for these things. In that sense, I really have to say that this is one of Stephen King's best books, at least in terms of the discipline and focus that he brought to the writing. You can see elements of Richard Bachman in this novel (the style is fairly reminiscent of Thinner, a much poorer effort) alongside King's usual voice and presentation, and the combination works out well in the end. Don't get me wrong--there are knocks to be made against this book. Most of these are of the usual variety for King--the ending is weak, brand names seem to pop up with every odd sentence, etc. Fortunately, the good of this novel far outweighs the bad, in the end. All things considered, I'd say that this is a book that would be good for ANYBODY, dedicated King fan or not, to pick up to simply take an afternoon or two off or pass a long plane ride. While you may not remember it for the rest of your life, it should certainly keep you entertained, and maybe even give you something to think about in the process.
Rating: Summary: What happened to Stephen King? Review: What happened to Stephen King? I think he is only in it for the money now and could care less about the story. This book was one of the first in a long series of sub-par work for King. This story is, in a word, lame. The character development is NOT up to King's standards and the whole premise of the book is weak and rather pointless. King has always had a knack for making the reader believe in the unbelievable. Without even realizing it, you are convinced that there could be a regenerating car with a life of its own, or a town filled with vampires, or a cemetary that breathes life back into the deceased. This story on the other hand is contrived and sloppy compared to his other work. Character development which has ALWAYS been King's strong point has been reduced to mindless drivel which develops characters that are interesting as watching grass grow. If this is your first experience with Stephen King, pick up one of his older novels like Cujo, Salem's Lot, Christine, etc... and steer clear of this bomb.
Rating: Summary: One of King's most thoughtful novels Review: Thad Beaumont, writer, uses a pen name, George Stark. He's horrified when, having discarded his nom de plume, he discovers that George has come to life, as the alter-ego of himself. Worse still, his alter ego is a murderer, signing his name to his atrocities and leaving Thad Beaumont to pick up the blame. Beaumont needs to trap his 'twin' but, in order to do so, must first evade police observation. At last, they are alone together. Or are they? The sparrows are flying again. The Dark Half is one of King's most powerful, but under-rated, books. As usual, the narrative is filled with authoritative detail and personal reflection. This is a scary book - a book with real depth. King, as usual, writes in criminal ease and keeps his reader hooked to the end. I highly recommend it as one of King's most thought-provoking novels.
Rating: Summary: Chilling and confusing Review: The title of the novel tells it all: The Dark Half. Although I don't fully understand the plot, I enjoyed it very much. I think this book was darker-sided than other Stephen King novels. I would've given this book rating five stars if it made better sense. Or maybe I need to read more books. But besides that, it's an excellent first King novel to read, to see how brilliant novels he can write.
Rating: Summary: Sparrows are powerful Review: This book is essential in Stephen King' world. It deals with fundamental problems. First it deals with the problem of writers who use pen-names. The pen-name becomes somewhat of a real character, a real person. Never use a pen-name, except if you have something to hide, because sooner or later you'll have to kill him, to bury him and he may come back for a vengeance on you for his annihilation. And that's what happens. Then King uses an important twist in his vision of man : man is always double in a way or another. Here he carried, when a child, his own twin in his brain and this twin had to be surgically taken out and destroyed. This is some kind of medical twist that has a certain amount of believibility. But when the killed his pen-name, and character of thrillers, he comes back for a kill. So he follows the author and kills in the most ruthless way all the people who are close to him. But he carries his finger prints and he signs all his crimes as being those of the author. This one has to evade the police surveillance he is under to manage to trap his double and to bring him to the house where he is going to kill him a second time. And there comes the magic. The life of the one means the death of the other and vice versa. So when the double starts writing, the writer starts dissolving. But nature, the nature of the indians and the nature of all mythologies, has a solution to such a situation : sparrows. And a myriad of sparrows come from hell to take the double back to hell where he belongs. This is a re-write of the famous scene by Hitchcock but with the mythical dimension it does not have in Hitchcock's films. The book is very powerful because of the enormous quantity of details and personal reflexions that were dropped in the film. The author gets a real depth in all that, and what a depth. Please read the book. It is a hundred times better than the film. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
Rating: Summary: Not bad.......... Review: Don't get me wrong, I thought this was a pretty good book, but it just didn't get as good as I had hoped. I thought the plot was original and I thought it moved at a swift pace, but there were flaws. The main Character, Thad, wasn't very likeable or even very developed. The villain, George Stark, was. He was my favorite character, and was one of those people who had a distinct personality. After reading this book, you'd know you were speaking to George Stark if he called you on the telephone. THE DARK HALF, by Stephen King isn't a scary novel, but its strength will force itself under your skin and intrude your most pleasant dreams. THE DARK HALF is wild and fun, but is disappointingly far- fetched; something only Stephen King could write. Read it today!
Rating: Summary: my first king book.... Review: i love this book. it's truly, truly creepy and it tackles the subject that is most uncomfortable...death and your inner demon. what if death somehow unleash this monster? what will you do if there's someone who is *so* like you that basically nothing can differentiate the both of you? it's really scary and i wasn't able to sleep at all the time i started to read this, which was years back. king is an excellent executor in both details and style that he manages to keep readers rooted until they finish the whole thing. the question is, how different are you from your own self albeit it being your dark half?
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