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Summary: Classic King is back...finally!
Review: While this is not King's best novel by a long shot it is still a fast-paced and entertaining read that will keep you turning pages late into the night. After a couple of stinkers like "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and "Storm of the Century" it is good to see King return to the long novel format we've all come to know and love. Yes, Dreamcatcher is "wordy" as ever, but King finally brings it back to the familiar apocalyptic territory that he explored in "The Tommyknockers", and "The Stand" with a tale of alien body snatching out in the snowy, remote woods of Maine. While most of this story has been done before (either in his own novels, or in films like "Alien" or "The Thing") King still manages to grow and cultivate his influences rather than merely ripping them off. The story happens in multiple layers, ranging from the present nightmare situation of his characters, to childhood flashbacks, and even an entire world inside the head of his possessed character Jonsey. First time King readers will be put off by these abstract settings, but longtime fans will recall classics like "Insomnia" and "The Talisman." Other elements like the telepathic relationship between the four characters, and the growing alien threat are equally frightnening. Overall, Dreamcatcher proves that King is still the master when it comes to creepy tales, and it makes for a great winter read!
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Summary: Stephen King's BEST BOOK
Review: King spins an amazing tale that involves four childhood friends- Henry, Pete, Beaver, and Jonsey, who came together to save a boy with down syndome named Duddits, from getting beat up by local bullies. Ever since that time in their lives, they have been connected by the uncanny psychic powers that they gained in return, which they all refer to as "seeing the line". As the years pass, they are slowly split apart by their own problems, but always manage to come together once a year for their annual hunting trip in the Maine woods. At first, the trip seemed like any other that they had taken for years. Unfortunately, things in their lives would change forver, when they are snowed in by an unexpected blizzard, and an injured man named Richard McCarthy stumbles into their camp rambling about lights in the sky and being scared out of his mind... "Dreamcatcher" is better than any other Stephen King book that I have ever read. It reads at an incredibly fast pace. The book is almost 900 pages long, and I read it in two days. I literally could not put it down. King combines a wonderful coming of age story, with a terrifying alien invasion. If I had to describe this book in one line, it would be "IT" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The story unfolds brilliantly. The focus of the story keeps switching back and forth between the four friends' childhood with Duddits, and the current situation that they are in. This involves the alien invasion, and an insane Army Colonel named Abraham Kurtz whose only mission is to destroy the aliens, and take everyone down with him. King uses amazing character development and outstanding dialogue. As the story unfolds, you come to like to each character equally. But the reason the book really succeeds, is that they are not immune from danger. You see the characters you have come to love actually going through pain, torment, and mental anguish. This provides for unbelieveable suspense, because no one is safe. The book can also be quite funny at times as well, which makes the story enjoyable overall. If you are a fan of King's work, or love horror books in general, "Dreamcatcher" is for you. The characters, suspense, humor, and overall terror that this book brings will amaze you. This remains one of the only books that I wanted to start reading again immediately after I finished. Final Grade : A+
Rating:
Summary: a very good read
Review: a very good read ideal to be read in one or two sittings. however, a few points to be cautioned about - 1) not a horror novel 2) for the first few pages (about 150 or so) it`s hard to figure out what the hell is happening or where it`s heading. with that behind, this book is a hell of a good read. this book can be enjoyed the most if you dont hear anything about it`s plot and read it with an absolute open mind.
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Summary: A treat for an old fan of Stephen King
Review: I grew up on "The Stand", "Cujo" and "Salem's Lot", but it's probably been well over a decade since I read a book by Stephen King. How great it was to reconnect with this old friend! King is so prolific and so populist that his work is easily dismissed by serious critics, and that's a shame. "Dreamcatcher" is a perfect example of his brilliance at work. The central concept - bodysnatching aliens - is an old one, but King gives it new life. As always, his plot is imaginative, compelling, and just the right amount of horrifying. His core characters are similar to the "everyman" lead in most of his novels, but more layered and finely nuanced. There are characters within characters, literally and figuratively. The story is beautifully paced, and King masterfully weaves the different plotlines together - much like a dreamcatcher. Even things that would normally turn me off a book are surprisingly well done. While I generally consider scatological stories juvenille and a [poor] attempt to shock, it actually makes reasonable scientific sense in the context of this plot, unpleasant as it is. An interesting little side note - the action in this book takes place in the November after the 2000 election, i.e. November 2001. At the time King wrote the book, the presidency was still undecided. As part of the story, the new president must speak to the nation and soothe everyone's fears about the threat presented by the alien invaders. The speech leans heavily on the patriotic and is considered to be the new president's finest hour and erases the scandal of the election. Eerie.
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Summary: Stephen King's therapeutic alien invasion story
Review: Because "Dreamcatcher" is the novel Stephen King wrote (in longhand) while recuperating from his near-fatal accident, it easily lends itself to all sorts of psychological interpretations. After all, one of the characters is hit by a car and breaks a hip. To me, the first part of the book comes across as a melting pot of familiar elements from King books: once upon a time there was a group of four boys who were best friends ("The Body"), who become involved in stopping a great evil as adults ("It"), because of a spaceship that has landed in the woods ("The Tommyknockers") and a horrible infection is spreading around ("The Stand"). Fortunately they have some psychic ability ("The Dead Zone") that will help them not only with the aliens but also with the psycho running the government operation ("Firestarter"). For good measure, throw in literary homages to the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Alien" with a generous twist of "The X-Files," while keeping in mind that not everybody gets out alive in a Stephen King novel, and you have the general picture of what "Dreamcatcher" is about. The four friends--Joe "Beaver" Clarendon, Pete Moore, Henry Devlin and Gary Jones--are bound together in a way that they do not even suspect. Beaver is an inventive curser who owns a cabin in the Maine woods where the group gathers for the last time, Pete can find lost car keys or anything else when he puts his mind to it, Henry is a suicidal shrink who has a tendency to lash out at patients from time to time, and Jonsey is a college professor who just "knows" when students cheat on exams. The common link in their lives is Duddits (but I am not letting that particular cat out of the bag--read the book). When Richard McCarthy stumbles out of the woods, dazed and confused, not to mention the worst case of flatulence in the history of civilization, the group has no idea that they are on the edge of the end of the world as we know it. "Dreamcatcher" is not a great Stephen King book and even while it rehashes some familiar elements once all the pieces are in place the guy knows how to tell a story. The idea that the right people are in the right place at the right time can come across as either heavy-handed coincidence or another instantiation of King's faith in the hand of the divine. Certainly, it does not work as seamlessly as it does in "The Stand." Be warned: this book contains some of the grossest scenes King has ever created (i.e., do not read parts of this book while eating). This is not a book for King neophytes, but for his fans. In the final analysis, the important thing is the man is up and writing again.
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Summary: Oh brother...
Review: The setup for "Dreamcatcher" is sooooooo perfect. Four old friends from Derry (yeah, THAT place again) get together for their annual hunting trip. They're all going through several mid-life crises but looking forward to bagging a couple of bucks. And then they meet this crazy old man who's supposedly been lost in the woods. They take him in, make him feel comfy, get him a bite to eat. And then he leans over and... PPBBT! Let's out a HUGE fart. A real stinker. I couldn't STOP LAUGHING from this point on. And the FARTS OF DOOM are a recurring occurence throughout the story. I never knew King was so adept at toilet humor. Then I went back and read "The Shining" and it still scared the crap out of me. Oh Stephen, you've lost your touch.
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Summary: Not his best work.
Review: I am a very big fan of Stephen king's novels and can honestly say that this book just isn't hapenning. The book starts very interesting but as you keep reading it gets more and more boring. If you are thinking of buying this book, you will be better off buying one of his other novels.
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Summary: Coming of Age ¿ Gone Nuts
Review: Dreamcatcher is the story of a group of 4 friends that come of age "twice" with the help of a special boy. The special friend they make gives them each an insight that gives them abilities to read minds, find lines for lost trails or items and a connection that holds them together through adulthood. This group of friends takes a hunting trip each fall and this year is no different, until everything that could go wrong goes very wrong in an inter-galactic sort of way. Their special friend Duddits has been waiting for this day his whole life, and the insight he has given them is their power to try and make the world right again.
This is a journey that you will love to take and friends that you will love to meet! A must read.
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Summary: Laughter, horror, gross and vivid descriptions.
Review: A huge talent called Stephen King delivers one more wonderful tales, entertaining me for two days. While the plot is not original, it is Stephen-king type original: It could be only the insane and quite humorous mind of Stephen King to think that the Alien-type creature would say hello to the world through our a""""ses rather than our chests as in Alien. Ha ha ha! Congratulations to King for bringing anything that comes to his mind in a pot (several references to several horror and sc-fi movies) but still creating an overall original book that somehow entertains, frightens, makes me laugh and makes me transport to his own world once more after all these 20-some years. In another one's hands with no real talent(la la la Dean Koontz stand up please), this would be another boring, shabby, moral story that pro's for Christianity and pan-Americanism once more. King, you are the man!
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Summary: Dreamcatcher
Review: Dreamcatcher. Stephen King. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 2001, 879 pages. In reading "Dreamcatcher", I was somewhat mesmerized. Stephen King did an excellent job of capturing you at the very beginning. I was literally doing nothing but reading for hours at a time. There are many things within this book that just capture my attention and wouldn't let go. The contents include the lifelong friendship of four men, the overcoming of all too well known bullies (aliens), and the ever popular but never tiring feared invasion of an unprepared world by that unknown life force. Also while reading I didn't really see any real purpose but to entertain an audience of people who enjoy reading about terrifying alien stories. I may not be into to whole alien invasion thing, but this book really got be hooked.
This book was significant to Stephen King for many different reasons. The references made to pain that one of the main characters Gary Jones (Jonesy) feels is a symbolism of the pain being felt by Stephen King. For Stephen King makes a reference to this in his afterward. He wrote the book during his six and a half months of recovery. So as you can see this book as some sort of outside preference beside that of the author's pure imagination.
This story focuses on four men, who 25 years after rescuing a mentally disabled boy from a bunch of bullies, encounter some bullies of they're own. They must face death and hardship, but in the end it will be more than worth what was sacrificed. They are thrust into a situation with creature from another world. Their only hope is locked deep within their past and their dreamcatcher. The boy they save will help them in more ways than one. He will be the one that keeps them together even when they begin to drift apart. "He's holding on for us, Jonesy, I told you. Holding us together"(pg. 830). They will remember one thing over the years, "That was our finest hour."(Pg.187).
Now it's time for me to really tell you all what I personally thought of the book. First I will start off with how well the book went about achieving its goal of entertaining the reader. I personally think it did an excellent job. It captured my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested the whole way through. Next is the possibilities suggested by this book. The whole invasion thing makes you wonder what would really happen if that occurred. The book gets you thinking about the planet we live on and the creatures lurking in the darkness of space. I haven't really read many other books on the subject of alien invasion, but of the ones I have read I would have to say that this is the best one by far. Stephen King puts a lot of description in his writing. You uses quite a bit of foreshadowing so you kind of get an idea of what's going to happen next, but you are still left surprised when something happens that you didn't expect.
For my final take I would rate this book with an about an A. It did flow extremely well and gave you a vivid picture of what's happening, but some of the parts you read kind of make you think they were almost put in there for no particular reason at all. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good alien invasion mixed with a bit of struggle between lifelong friends. If you've seen the movie and liked it you will most definitely like the book. It's a bit long and drawn out, but a great read overall.
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