Just After Sunset, Stephen King’s new short-story collection, came out earlier this month, and I (no surprise there) got it immediately and read it even more immediately. King hadn’t been writing too many short stories during the last few years, but then his job as guest editor of the Best American Short Stories 2007 sparkled his desire to write this type of fiction again, and the man got to work. And the results are (again, no surprise there) amazing.Just After Sunset collects thirteen tales (one fewer than Everything’s Eventual, his previous short story collection), and most of these were written during the last couple of years. I liked them all, and loved most of them, my favorite stories being The Gingerbread Girl, Harvey’s Dream, Rest Stop, Stationary Bike, Graduation Afternoon, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates, and A Very Tight Place. That is not to say I didn’t like the other six (except for Ayana, which didn’t really do anything for me), but I guess I have to at least try to keep some semblance of objectivity here. Out of the ones above, The Gingerbread Girl and Harvey’s Dream might be the most adrenaline-burst inducing, and A Very Tight Place the most disgusting one (“I even grossed myself out,” King confesses in the notes at the end of the book), but they were all very enjoyable. I could also talk about the various thematic concerns, several of which we have already seen in many of King’s books, but I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.
At any rate, many people seem to think Stephen King is at his best when he writes short stories, and while I don’t necessarily agree with the notion, these tales sure make a powerful argument for this statement, so go ahead and read this book!
2 comments:
Yo es que alucino con la prolificacid... (bueno, eso de que escriba mucho) del amigo King. De hecho, ya presentaba síntomas de incredulidad cuando aún no había leído nada suyo. Claro que entonces lo achacaba a que el hecho de que publique tantos libros debía ser inversamente proporcional a la calidad de estos.
Ahora que conozco más o menos lo que hace y cómo lo hace, me quito el metafórico sombrero.
Y lo que sin duda más me alucina es que no se le acaban las buenas ideas. Se las va sacando de la manga a ritmo de canción ska.
Pues sí. Hay algún que otro libro suyo que me ha parecido flojillo (o más que otros suyos), pero, en general, siempre me suele gustar lo que escribe. Y menos mal que lo hace con tanta prolificic... Vamos, que escribe mucho ;)
Post a Comment