1000+ pages of filler or what? Is it worth the time?

So what if it's 1000 pages. You could still read it in one sit

>stephen king
>"is it worth my time?"

No. Absolutely not

It's not filler; all the vignettes contribute time building the mythos of Derry.

It's really great.

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>>9361998
Honestly, It is the closet King ever got to touching something of literary merit. I'm saying this cautiously, of course. It's still genre-tier in terms of execution and plot. Characters and theme, however, it actually manages to achieve something, despite the /lit/ opinion. I gree mostly agree with Harold Bloom's indignation over King, yet I can't deny what It holds over me. Being the massive book it is, the story and plot interest me very little. The characters actually have a depth I seldom ever find in genre fiction. They're real.

I also find that, from what I've read from King, It has the prose and atmosphere against the rest of his novels.

Watch the movie its better.

>>9361998
Considering the utter emptyness of modern horror re:literary merit, this and The Shining is the best you are gonna get.

>>9361998
What >>9362037 said. It's 1000 pages of intriguing world building and decently written characters whose relationships actually evoke some kind of feeling in the reader. It's actually a pretty sad work and I would agree it's his best.

>>9362037
>>9362378
This.
I thought It was fun to read, interesting.

>>9362090
How can it be considered better if it doesn't contain the child porn that the book has in it?

>>9362002
shut up

>>9362367
What about Thomas Ligotti?

As others have said, the characters are well written. The prose is bad though, and the story drags on a lot.

Read it though, you should read a little bit of everything.

>>9362367
What about The Stand?

>>9361998

In fairness it's only got about 200 pages of filler.

>>9362367
>The Shining
How is the book any good?

Despite what /lit/ fags say, IT was the first book i ever read, and actually enjoyed it a helluva lot. I'd still read it and enjoy it to be honest.

>>9362701
Ligotti is interesting but I see at least Teatro Grottesco as modern nihilist writings, they lack the pacing and spookiness of horror.

>>9362995
Hedge animals and exposition. I love the movie too.

>>9362975
Stand is tough. The first quarter of the book is fucking solid, and the last chapter is surreally great. The in between is pretty questionable.

>>9361998
it's a stephen king book like yeah if you're a ~sewious litawature onwy~ boring piece of shit then you're not gonna like it but it's pretty fun and entertaining

>>9362378
I agree on the sad part. Despite the new movie's caption, "From Stephen King's TERRIFYING novel," it seldom has anything remotely frightening, but it's definitely sad. Heartbreaking even.

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>>9362529
Fuckin lost it.

Do you think the new one will have the kiddy orgy scene?

>>9363293
When I saw the Clown moving like a japanese schoolgirl ghost, I wrote it off. I bought the 80s one for my kids on dvd, its a halloween tradition.

My 4 year old in a scratchy voice: DOOOO YOUU WANNT A BALLLLOON

>be precocious reader
>run out of kids books that interest me in third grade
>mom panics and gives me IT

who else here grew up on king

>>9363282
Have you read Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe?

>>9363333
No I only read Conspiracy and the aforementioned Grottesco, which I found very uneven. I will say that Our Temporary Supervisor and The Clown Puppet were solid, but I was bored mostly.

I have heard Grimscribe was good, but I am not certain if I am ready to devote myself to Ligotti's unrelentingly pessimistic world view any time soon.

>>9363328
Literally me

IT is fucking great. essential funcore. read it bro

>>9363348
I get where you are coming from, the bleakness of his work can feel overbearing at times. If you ever are of a mind to give them a try I do recommend both, IMO they are his best.

Stephen King novels worth dumping your time into:

It
Needful Things
The Tommyknockers

Runners up:
Bag of Bones
Cell

And also some short stories from Night Shift scattered here and there.

>>9363328
I spent summer days reading it at the beach, seated in my beach chair with the umbrella hanging over my head.

>>9363528
Cell was just a retarded 'The Stand'

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If I want the television equivalent of mindless reading, is King the way to go? I want to read some semi-decent shit for shameless fun.

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>>9363797
I enjoyed 11/22/63 by King. IMO a pretty good time travel story.

>>9363797
Reading King is like watching the Syfy channel, there are moments where you like where it's going for a bit and then you see how cheap and predictable the plot is and it becomes a game of "do I really care enough to finish this?"

I'd recommend Chuck Palahniuk for some pulpy fun reading.

>Everyone talking shit about one of the most prolific authors of all time.

>Not even mentioning Dark Tower.

Bet you guys don't even like Harlan Ellison or Isaac Asimov.

What a waste you all are!

>>9363528
would vouch for the Bachman novels, particularly The Long Walk
and i dont even like King

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>>9363309
>Do you think the new one will have the kiddy orgy scene?
Unfortunately not.

>>9364611
>>Not even mentioning Dark Tower.
Gunslinger 1 was a really good book, but the rest was mediocre

>>9361998
>1000+ pages of filler or what?

Look who wrote it. That'll tell you. Pro-tip: It is filler.

>>9364637
Running Man was comfy. Read it while in jail.

This >>9362019

IT is great. One of King's better novels.

>>9363528
IT, Misery, and The Stand are the best, imo.

The Long Walk, Different Seasons, and Pet Sematary are good.

The Shining is alright.

That' all I've read so far.

>>9361998
not gunna read the other replies becauae i bet theres some spoiler... Im currently reading the book and halfway done. its a good book, just read it :^)

>>9364637
The long walk was dogshit famm.

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>>9361998
Never really cared for his longer novels. Stick with his 400 page and under books/short stories.

>>9365307
what didn't you like about it?

its been said before but King isnt even good trash. I've just read The Shining and its definitely the worst book I've ever even looked at. He keeps telling you what to think about EVERYTHING. In the first chapter there's a character decribed as 'occious' - then every times he speaks its 'he said officiously' or 'prissily'. There are father/son scenes ('say slugger! You wanna go play ball with ya Pops?!' 'Sure thing Dad! Lets go outside and be wholesome! Itd be awful if anything happened to a coupla swell fellas like us!') that induce full body cringes - you have to look away. Every page is just cliche after cliche. 50 page pointless digressions. There is lots of readable genre fiction (even horror - William Peter Blatty or Ramsay Campbell), but Kings success is just unfathomable to me.

>>9365442
*officious*

>>9363528
HEARTS IN ATLANTIS
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>>9363797
It's like one of those show where the plot is a stretch but the characters and cinematography are interesting enough that you keep watching it despite some hammy moments and questionable dialogue.

>>9364611
Am I supposed to be impressed that he's prolific? If anything, that's part of the reason why a lot of his work is shit. That's not an argument for literary merit, Jouce wrote only three novels and one short story book.

>>9365316
I'm going to punch you in the cock.

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>>9365131
The Stand is good until they all reach Boulder. Good, good, good, I'm enjoying this, good, RUSH TO BOULDER and now things have to get all spooky supernatural with Randall Flagg and the end of the world.

If he'd have just let this be a post-apocalyptic fantasy-land it would have been pretty palatable. Tasty even.

>>9364671
The original Gunslinger was actually pretty neat. And then he released that horrendous revision that opened it up and took a giant wet shit right in the fucking book and rubbed it in deep. And now it tastes like shit, and smells like shit, and reads like shit because it IS now shit.

>>9362701
Memeas Memeotti

>>9362009
underrated