Just After Sunset *possible spoilers*

[Jean]

You know Jayson... maybe the order of the reading played prominent part in your impression... I mean, I started with N., and now am slowly trying to make it through the rest of the stories, starting with the first of them... I have to say that on their background N. really does stand out, and if I had read after those preceding it, I might think of it a little better - but it would be a deceptive feeling anyway.

(for example, Gingerbread Girl nearly killed me with its utter pointlessness... others were at least shorter... So far I - marginally - liked only Rest Stop)

[jayson]

Perhaps that plays a role. I did read them in the printed order and "N" was the first one that I cared for at all so it stood out to me.

"Rest Stop" struck me as a bit of "the writer as tough guy" fantasy. I suppose many of us have thought about something like that at some point or another. I'm just not sure it made for something I wanted to read about. On the plus side, it was set in a part of Florida I know and I was thus able to picture the whole thing a little better than places I have never been in Maine. He got it a little more correct than he did parts of Tampa which were in Duma Key which he got quite wrong.

[Darkthoughts]

Jean, I loved The Gingerbread Girl! Why did you find it pointless?

[Jean]

It read to me like Reader's Digest version of Gerald's Game; if not for that similarity, it would be like what you can read in a women's magazine about someone's another "liberating experience". I've spent a lot of time at the dentist's the summer before the last, and got acquainted with the genre... only GB was so much longer...

[alinda]

Ah well thanks to our bear, I now am reading Willa, I too will go in order this time, oh and thanks Jean.

[Jean]

[ManOfWesternesse]

Hmmm... I see what you're saying Jean, but I still enjoyed both N and Gingerbread Girl (those 2 + Stationery Bike would be my 3 picks from this collection).
.. not compared to anything else, King or otherwise, I just read them and enjoyed them. (Yes, I can be quite shallow betimes! )

Isn't it great really that, after all the years and all the stories, we constant readers can still like and dislike King's work so differently!

[Jean]

I read Stationery Bike yesterday, and have to say it would be more or less ok if it was much shorter. The message just doesn't fit the number of words it took him to get it across; the same with Lisey's Story or Bag of Bones; I would suspect it was a characteristic feature of recent King if not for Duma Key where this ratio was absolutely perfect, to my ursine taste.

[jayson]

I read Stationery Bike yesterday, and have to say it would be more or less ok if it was much shorter. The message just doesn't fit the number of words it took him to get it across...

I agree, and enjoy the apparent irony of using too many words when the message (as I read it) is "use moderation".

[Jean]

[ManOfWesternesse]

[theyspunaweb]

Why do you think King mentioned Alice in Wonderland references throughout the collection of stories? (at least 4 that I caught...) or maybe that is why he put these together for the book? I almost didn't like that he kept mentioning the story.

[Matt]

Your av is so cute theyspun

I'm right in the middle of this book and the stories are mostly okay for me. I listened to Stationary Bike on audio months ago and I enjoyed The Gingerbread Girl because no matter how often I hear it, I love those kinds of stories.

[Jon]

I thought "N" was the best in a weak line up of stories.

[AcidBumbler]

Hmm. I liked it but... I don't know. It was really good but I found that it wasn't one of King's best. I loved the one about the cat, but that's the only one I can remember fully enjoying and being unable to put down.
The rest were good stories but I found that it took me a long time to read and I also found myself checking what page I was on.

[jsn]

what a great read.

king keeps doing it right.

i think i read the whole thing in less than a day.

[Odetta]

I just finished this book a couple of weeks ago.
For me, I am a huge fan of SK's short stories... these were OK at best. It was almost too easy a read for me.

[Savvy]

I'm not a great fan of short stories and since I've read Just after sunset, I can only remember N and Stationary bike clearly. So I'm taking it that these were my favourites lol

[herbertwest]

An error in "N." ???

The second letter written by Sheila is from the 8th of june 2008, while the article about her suicide is from the 1st of june 2008.

How can it be?

[Brainslinger]

I just picked up the hardback edition of this book for £1.99 in a book shop's closing down sale! Excellent value considering this would proably be around a tenner RRP.

[WeDealInLead]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Overall I like it better than Night Shift. I like the simplicity of Night Shift and the best stories from that collection are better than the best stories from JAS, but JAS is more solid throughout. There are no stories like The Mangler you know? Or the one with the trucks.

[beam*seeker]

I liked JAS almost as much as Everything's Eventual. The cat from Hell story was f**king awesome. Almost as good as LT's THeory of PEts--possbily my fave short story of his

[LadyHitchhiker]

I'm halfway through it... just read one that really was too much for me, but I stuck through it anyways... must keep reading!

[Jean]

which one was it?

[LadyHitchhiker]

The one about the wife being beaten. For obvious personal reasons, too much for my heart right now, so I skimmed it.