Just After Sunset. What do you guys think of it

[Jojo87]

Just After Sunset was a great book. Cat from hell and A very tight place was my favorit.

[nate_watkins]

I thought it was another great short story collection by Mr. King. A few stories make you think... and N. was certainly very interesting.

[ArthurKidd]

I just finished reading JAS last week - it's the first one of SK's short story books that I've read, so I can't really compare it to the other ss's that he's done. I read it and prefer the longer stories. I thought the stories were good and well written, but I can't help feeling that most of them ended quite abruptly.

[Jack Roman]

I thought Just After Sunset was horrible, except for Rest Stop, and N.

[Lina]

I finished reading Just After Sunset today. I think it's a great book, really! I enjoyed almost every story, except maybe Rest Stop. I don't know why it is do, but I simply failed to understand it. But I liked all the other stories. Most of all I liked The Gingerbread Girl, Harvey's dream, N. and The Cat from Hell.

[deroche]

I couldn't get into most of the stories because nothing really made me go oooooo.... this is exciting. They just all seemed to be ho hum O.K. some were just downright dreadfully boring.
The only ones that got my attention were N. The Cat from Hell, and Willa.

[Hamiltev]

I was totally in love with this collection. It really knocked me out. After I read the paperback, I bought the audio-book version which has an
amazing production value to it. My favorite pieces from the collection where the ones most recently written by King. I love King's work from every era of his career. That being said however, I have a bleeding soft spot for the style of writing he's produced in the 2000's. It's just my perspective, but his most
recent work has to me such a holistic, unmarred, life-affirming quality to it. I've never been able to find those qualities of the right balance in any other
writer. In terms of full-length novels, I think the 2006 Cell is just about as a perfect as a novel can be.

But back to Just After Sunset: my faves were Willa and The Things They Left Behind. I know that Willa is a controversial choice, some thinking it overly simplistic. But I loved the simplicity of it. I think a lot of writers rely on clever plot twists and devices to propel their work. But at the end of the day if a story doesn't have the underpinning of character development, I don't think it is worth much. And it may be a sentimental choice for me because Willa's character reminded me a bit of myself, and I was so impressed with King being able to write a female so well. In the end I think it was a beautiful, sad piece.

I think that The Things They Left Behind might be equally controversial in terms of subject matter. I've never been a fan of writers who attempt to capture the essence of 9/11 in fiction. I'm not sure the event will ever be captured successfully through art, it is too multi-faceted and enormous a tragedy. But if anything came close, I think this story did. I really can't say anything more than that, other than it moved me tremendously. I loved all the stories in this book and I could go on an on about them but I'll just wrap it up with that.

[Ericw]

I have read Stephen King since I was a ninth grader in 1979. Stephen King's short story collections, as he has said, are the perfect thing to get you over the boring study hour, lazy afternoon, etc. When you read one of Stephen's stories, like Willa, one of my favorites, you see that he does, indeed, have a penchant for creating fiction that draws you in quickly and lets you visualize the scene unfolding before you. Read Chattery Teeth, Word Processor of the Gods or even Gray Matter, one of Steve's early stories. You won't be disappointed. I try to write in my spare time, and Stephen King inspired me to this goal. But you also have to read horror every day. And Steve's stories are an excellent place to start!

[chestertherocker]

Willa is my favourite story and N is creepy. I haven't the nerve to re-read the cat from hell