Friday, October 31, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) Conclusion

The connection of the Vampire Myth to contemporary religious beliefs is usually limited to the holding of a crucifix to “ward off” a vampire.  You might occasionally run into the use of “holy water” as well, but beyond that, perhaps the less said the better.  In this book, religion, especially Catholicism, plays a major role, and Mr. King does not shy away from the ramifications.  Father Callahan, the local priest, is brought into the picture and becomes a central figure in the story.

Callahan insists, as any priest probably should, on acting as a representative of the church in his part against the vampires, and requires everyone in his confidence to give him their confessions before he will participate.  Ben, though not a Catholic, complies, experiencing ‘the dull embarrassment that went along with telling a stranger the mean secrets of his life . . . There was something medieval about it, something accursed – a ritual act of regurgitation . . . The confessional might have been a direct pipeline to the days when werewolves and incubi and witches were an accepted part of the outer darkness and the church the only beacon of light.’ Is this the author or the character giving us his take on confessions?
The first indication of the religious connection to the supernaturalism that actually occurs in the story is when Father Callahan approaches the front door of the Marsten house and says, ‘ “In the name of God the Father . . . I command the evil to be gone from this house!  Spirits, depart!”   And without being aware he was going to do it, he smote the door with the crucifix in his hand.  There was a flash of light – afterward they all agreed there had been – a pungent whiff of ozone, and a crackling sound, as if the boards themselves had screamed.  The curved fanlight above the door suddenly exploded outward, and the large bay window to the left that overlooked the lawn coughed its glass onto the grass at the same instant.’  Who needs Thor’s hammer when a little silver cross can do all that?  Is this the point where all good Catholics toss the book into the trash and write Mr. King a scathing letter rebuking him for his blasphemies?
The suspense has been building for the entire book regarding the mysterious Mr. Barlow, and what he might look like or how he might act.  We finally meet him (on page 535 of this edition!) and the first image we are given is; ‘. . . a white, grinning face like something out of a Frazetta painting. . .’  To those of us who are familiar with the works of Frank Frazetta, there is a lot of aesthetic impact in this phrase.  Otherwise, it could come off as somewhat of a copout.  Fortunately, the continuation is: ‘. . . which split to reveal long sharp fangs – and red, lurid eyes like furnace doors to hell.’  Subsequent descriptive passages fill in the character a little better (including an intriguing passage where Mark spits in Barlow’s face and ‘Barlow’s breath stopped.’  Uh . . . do vampires breathe?) but for those of us who love this kind of thing, King doesn’t give us near enough.  True, shedding too much light (pun alert) on the chief vampire might result in overexposure, and it’s always better to “leave them wanting more” as the old entertainment maxim goes.  But some of us were looking for a more developed character in the main antagonist, even if he was “dead” before the story began!
Of course there can be no happy ending to this story.  Ben and Mark return a year later to a village virtually deserted (except at night, it’s understood) and Ben contrives a way to recreate the Great Fire of ’51 which played a prominent role in the town’s history, finding the conditions to be right.  Burning down all the hiding places of the vampires which still haunt the town would flush them out where they can be dealt with by the light of day.  As tidy an ending as one might expect for this amazing and impressive legend of a book!
 


November’s book of the month; “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” by Carrie Ryan!

"A bleak but gripping story...Poignant and powerful."- Publishers Weekly:  Starred

"A postapocalyptic romance of the first order, elegantly written from title to last line."-Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies series and
Leviathan


"Intelligent, dark, and bewitching,
The Forest of Hands and Teeth transitions effortlessly between horror and beauty. Mary's world is one that readers will not soon forget."-Cassandra Clare, bestselling author of
City of Bones


"Opening The Forest of Hands and Teeth is like cracking Pandora's box: a blur of darkness and a precious bit of hope pour out. This is a beautifully crafted, page-turning, powerful novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it."-Melissa Marr, bestselling author of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange

Dark and sexy and scary.”  Justine Larbalestier, author of How to Ditch Your Fairy

 
 
Week 1:  Chapters 1-8 
(First post, 11-7-14)

Week 2:  Chapters 9-17
Week 3:  Chapters 18-25
Week 4:  Chapters 26-36 

Friday, October 24, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) Chapters 10-13

This section deals with the collapse of the social structure in this small town.  People are noticing that there are a lot of deaths and disappearances, and they are starting to feel a little nervous about it, but no one wants admit to themselves that something catastrophic is unfolding.  We follow Ben and Susan and Matt as they piece things together and try to convince one another that this is really happening.  They include others in the hunt, and Jimmy is almost killed in the process. 

He does, however, seem convinced after having seen the corpse of Mrs. Glick rise and then take a bite out of him.  In this scene we get a nice theoretical exploration of what would happen if a vampire bites, but gets interrupted in the process.  Jimmy’s ‘eyes rolled madly in their sockets’ and he wants his medical bag.  ‘ “Don’t touch me.  I’m unclean.”  “Jimmy-”  “Give me my bag.  Jesus, Ben, I can feel it in there.  I can feel it working in me.  For Christ’s sake, give me my bag!” ’ He starts with a bottle of disinfectant, followed by a tetanus shot, both administered in a panic.  Well, what would you do?  Then he asks Ben to put the cross on him, the little crucifix that Ben had been wearing.

The county sheriff questions them and doesn’t believe their cover story.  For one thing, he can see how scared they are.  ‘ “You’re lyin’ to me,” McCaslin said patiently. . . You and this writer, both of you.  You look the way some of the guys in Korea looked when they brought’em back from the front lines.” ‘ And looking at Ben, the writer, ‘ “You ought to write books with better sense.  Like the guy who writes those Travis McGee stories.  A man can sink his teeth into one of those.” ’ (Pun probably intended.)  This reference to the outstanding mystery stories of John D. MacDonald pays homage to a writer that strongly influenced most of the storytellers of King’s generation.
The sequence of Mark and Susan approaching, breaking into, and get caught in the Marsten mansion is also riveting, even if Mark’s escape seems a little contrived.  He almost gets caught again while lingering to see if he can get Susan out as well, but just manages to get out of harm’s way himself.  Her visitation at Mark’s window later that night is a chilling reminder that none of the characters are safe from this hideous danger.  ‘ “One of us will get you sooner or later,” she said.  “Let it be me, Mark.  I’m . . . I’m hungry.”  She tried to smile, but it turned into a nightshade grimace that made his bones cold.  He held up his cross and pressed it against the window.  She hissed, as if scalded . . .’
Appearing at the victim’s window in the night, this standard mode of approach by the recently changed vampires is another detail borrowed from Bram Stoker.  Even Dracula had to be asked into the room through the victim’s window, though he could crawl up a wall like a spider and didn’t have to float.  The magical hypnotic charisma of these creatures almost guaranteed admittance anyway, in both stories.  Sookie Stackhouse is immune to this in the TrueBlood books/episodes, which is one of the things that make her so fascinating to the vampire community.  The reader gets the sense that this story is about to suddenly lurch into a whole new gear.  Nothing could signal that better than the fact that the story’s central female character – the love-interest of the story’s central male character – has been irretrievably lost to the villain.  More typically, the heroine survives, or at least stays viable until the last 30 pages or so.  Of course, another clue that there is a major change coming in the plot is the huge block letters saying PART THREE on page 471…



Next Week: Conclusion

 





November’s book of the month; “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” by Carrie Ryan!

"A bleak but gripping story...Poignant and powerful."- Publishers Weekly:  Starred

"A postapocalyptic romance of the first order, elegantly written from title to last line."-Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies series and
Leviathan


"Intelligent, dark, and bewitching,
The Forest of Hands and Teeth transitions effortlessly between horror and beauty. Mary's world is one that readers will not soon forget."-Cassandra Clare, bestselling author of
City of Bones


"Opening The Forest of Hands and Teeth is like cracking Pandora's box: a blur of darkness and a precious bit of hope pour out. This is a beautifully crafted, page-turning, powerful novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it."-Melissa Marr, bestselling author of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange

Dark and sexy and scary.”  Justine Larbalestier, author of How to Ditch Your Fairy
 
 
 

Week 1:  Chapters 1-8 

(First post, 11-7-14)

Week 2:  Chapters 9-17
Week 3:  Chapters 18-25
Week 4:  Chapters 26-36 







 

Friday, October 17, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) Chapters 5-9

Those of us who have read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King have gotten to know Father Donald Callahan rather well, having been introduced to him as a figure from a previous King book . . . ‘salem’s Lot.  Here, on page 203, we meet him in his first incarnation at the graveside of poor little Danny Glick.  This is a priest haunted by alcoholism, (‘. . . that always widening club, Associated Catholic Priests of the Bottle and Knights of the Cutty Sark.’) and frustrated by a desire to do something meaningful with his life.  ‘He wanted to slug it out toe to toe with EVIL . . . He wanted this struggle to be pure, unhindered by the politics that rode the back of every social issue like a deformed Siamese twin.’

Now this is definitely Stephen King!  (In the notes to the first quarter of the book, I mentioned a passage that I thought sounded more like Koontz than King.  I remember thinking that both authors might be a little put off by that.)  And there’s this; ‘At moments like this he suspected that Hitler had been nothing but a harried bureaucrat and Satan himself a mental defective with a rudimentary sense of humor . . .’ For me, it’s passages like these that set King apart from everyone else.  Even his earliest work, Rage, is full of them.
King may have set out to write “The Ultimate Vampire Story.”  If so, he wouldn’t want to stray too widely from the standards previously established.  Sure enough, there are the telltale puncture marks on the necks of the victims, the hypnotic powers that increase the victim’s vulnerability, the power of the crucifix in warding off the monster, the lying with open eyes in a casket until the time (and the victim) is ripe; but wait, there’s more.  It would have been easy to slip into triteness, but that is a trap King has always been able to sidestep with great agility.  (In Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels, she turns the triteness on its head with equal nimbleness, using a liberal dose of humor and a beguiling first person narrator – what, you haven’t read any of those yet??  Get thee to a used book store NOW!)
I have pointed out before when an author oh-so-casually mentions a resemblance of one of his characters to a famous actor.  ‘Callahan . . . looking at himself in a mirror . . . thought that when he reached sixty he would throw over the priesthood, go to Hollywood, and get a job playing Spencer Tracy.’  Thanks for the hint, Steve; we’ll see if we can find him when we make the movie!  Besides Spencer Tracy (does anyone under 40 remember him?) there are other references to the arcana of King’s generation.  One of the young boys has almost the entire collection of “Aurora” horror monster models; the very same ones I put together as a kid.  He even describes one in enough detail that I’m pretty sure it was the same one I had.  I had forgotten that the brand name was “Aurora”!
Perhaps no other author (well, maybe Tolkien) gets re-read more than Stephen King.  I belonged once to a Stephen King Facebook fan club (until one of the moderators kicked me out for correcting the use of apostrophes in one of the cute little memes he liked to post) and there were dozens of fans bragging about how many times they had read their favorite King books.  Apparently King felt (before he had more than one measly best-seller!) the same way I do about this: ‘His mother would be holding a novel by Jane Austen on her lap, or perhaps Henry James.  She read them over and over again, and Mark was darned if he could see the sense in reading a book more than once.  You knew how it was going to end.’  Ha!  I love this author!







Next Week:  Chapters 10-13

Week 4:  Chapters 14-Epilogue 

Friday, October 10, 2014

‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) Chapters 1-4

As I understand it, Stephen King’s first “hit,” the breakthrough book that put him on the popular literary map was Carrie and this book is his follow-up.  In that kind of a situation, just like a rock band with a hit debut album, a lot hinges on the follow-up work; will it live up to the first one, initiating a wave of popularity that will last a long time, or will there be a letdown?  Carrie, of course, is still huge, with a recent re-make of the movie and continued huge sales.  But King couldn’t have given us a better follow-up book; ‘Salem’s Lot is legendary.

A lot of people have probably been thrown off like I was by the title, thinking it must have something to do with the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts.  No, the fictitious town in which this story takes place is actually named “Jerusalem’s Lot” and the name got shortened by the locals.  There was originally a pig farm there with a particularly mean hog named Jerusalem, and people were warned to “stay away from his lot.”  If this sounds too strange to be fiction (following the adage that truth is stranger than fiction) well, it is Stephen King, who is widely known to be a master at making the unbelievable seem plausible!
Is Stephen King my favorite author?  Almost.  I do believe that he will be one of the handful of authors remembered from this era two hundred years from now.  Is he the favorite author of more readers than any other author?  Quite possibly.  Does he sometimes over-write, resulting in books that are much, much longer than they need to be, or reasonably should have been?  In my opinion, yes, sometimes he does.  (I think I’m in the minority on that.)  The book It is the example that comes immediately to mind; I struggled to finish It and couldn’t wait for It to be over.  Salem’s Lot is long; the paperback I’m reading weighs in at 653 pages.  But so far, the reading is a breeze and I finished the first four chapters (170 pages) without feeling like the author wasted any words.  King is known for “lots of back-story” even skipping around in time to fill in a character’s history.  This book has more “side-story,” giving us a somewhat panoramic view of life in this small town as seen through the eyes of a variety of its inhabitants.  As long as King keeps it interesting – at which he is usually adept – we don’t lose patience.  With most longwinded authors, I begin to sigh and squirm, eager to get on with the main story.
In describing the physical town, King gives us a nice mental map, foregoing the need for an actual map at the front of the book.  “The Lot” is essentially divided into convenient quadrants divided by the two main streets “like the crosshairs in a rifle scope.”  Each quadrant is unique, with the Marsten House sitting up on a ridge to the northwest, visible from almost every part of the town.  This house is the centerpiece of the story, with its horrible past, described in King’s trademark gruesomeness.
But there is one passage in particular that struck me as being more Koontz-like in style: ‘The town has a sense, not of history, but of time, and the telephone poles seem to know this.  If you lay your hand against one, you can feel the vibration from the wires deep in the wood, as if souls had been imprisoned in there and were struggling to get out.’  This even harks back to Ray Bradbury, whose prose was even more colorful and poetic.  All three authors are master wordsmiths, perhaps even further predated by Thomas Hardy, of whom it was said, ‘. . . at any given point in the narrative, some brilliant passage of description or metaphor may burst out like a firework.’  To someone like me, whose first love is music, this is an important feature of any great writer; and Stephen King is absolutely brilliant at it!




Next Week:  Chapters 5-9

Week 3:  Chapters 10-13
Week 4:  Chapters 14-Epilogue