Decent story but WAY too gross for me...

I have read many, many Stephen King books over the years and like them for various reasons. I often choose one of them over something more literary or nonfiction because they are so easy to get immersed in- whatever else you might say about King, he is a very engaging story teller. My work is stressful, and sometimes I just want to head into a completely different reality. This book is interesting enough to finish, but I had some issues with it that I have not had with others. In many of King's books, he spends more time on bodily functions and gross-out details than I would like. I'm not prudish and don't find it offensive, but I get gross-out pretty easily. I have usually set this down to the importance of such functions to boys and men compared with girls and women (forgive the stereotype), and have managed to get past it despite wanting to skip past a few scenes.



This book, however, has so many gross-out scenes that skipping past them would leave you with not enough novel to get what's going on. It's not that the disgusting things aren't necessary to the story- they are. It was, for me, an unpleasant experience to wince my way through it all to keep following the story.



My understanding is that this was the first book King wrote after his terrible injuries when he was hit by a car, and that he wrote it long-hand because he couldn't yet sit up and type. I imagine that he must have been in great pain, and focused heavily on his body, while he wrote this. Knowing this made it possible for me to see some of the more disturbing scenes as being symbolic of what the writer was going through, and that helped.



As with all King novels, I came to like and identify with most of the characters in the novel. The book was interesting because there were two antagonists with interests opposed to each other and to the protagonists. There was a lot going on in the story. Most of it worked pretty well, but there was definitely a feeling that the various threads of story didn't totally match up in tone. Also, various components felt borrowed from other King novels. The flashbacks with the children, the close-knit group of friends, and the magical qualities of Duddits felt like an abbreviated version of the kids in It. The crazy and out-of-control military character was very much like the similar character in Firestarter. (Another loose canon going rogue out of sheer insanity and malevolence- not nearly as three-dimensional as other characters.) The most original element is Mr. Gray, and while I am typically not interested in books about aliens, I thought King did a pretty good job of capturing a completely non-human point of view.



I can't say I exactly liked this novel and I would never read it again because of the gross-out factor, but I didn't hate it. For fans of King, it is worth reading. I would say if you are NOT a fan of either King or the horror genre, this is not the book to pick up.