Desperation - What a Dark Book

[michal]

Though not being one of my all time King favorites, Desperation is, I believe one of the darkest books Mr. King has ever written. This is not a situation of happy situation going wrong, it's wrong taking a turn for the worst and the things the characters need to endure, the things they find and that city and what caused it (it seems in the heart of destruction laid human nature more than the external evilness), its all so...

well, so depressing!

Whenever I reread the book I get into a gray mood (yes, I know it's being blue for English speakers, but really gray seems to be way more appropriate) and have to go watch E channel or something to calm down.

Does anyone share the sentiment?

[Charms7]

I couldn't finish reading Desperation because at the time I was reading it, a friend of mine was stabbed to death and then a week later I witnessed a man getting hit by a car as the man was crossing a busy street in Houston, Texas. The splinters from his cane as it was breaking pelted me and the impact from the car hitting him was like a jackhammer drilling my chest. Gray mood? You bet. Yes, I share your sentiment.

[Bluey Lunger]

the story has such a nice clean hard narrative that i think it is one of his best, a tear-jerker, truth be known. i like the magical realism. excused early. oh sh!t the mummy's following us let's all walk a little faster! i like the use of the animals, the stone figurines, the stories within the story. i like how that unlikely group of people is drawn together and they win. depressing? life is full of hard choices. the characters made hard choices and they endured. good over evil. never depressing.

[robotman]

It is a pretty depressing book, but IMO its worse when everything is going fine at the begginning and gets quickly torn to pieces, like in Cujo, The Tommyknockers, or The Regulators.

Thinner, i thought was extremely dark as well. It bummed me out to no end anyway. :oo:

[The Outsider]

the story has such a nice clean hard narrative that i think it is one of his best, a tear-jerker, truth be known. i like the magical realism. excused early. oh sh!t the mummy's following us let's all walk a little faster! i like the use of the animals, the stone figurines, the stories within the story. i like how that unlikely group of people is drawn together and they win. depressing? life is full of hard choices. the characters made hard choices and they endured. good over evil. never depressing.

I definitely agree Bluey. It was a great "good vs. evil" novel, and it had some great (albeit unlikely) characters, some tough choices, some depressing moments, but in the end, hope. And isn't that life, in the end?

[chris.wildridge.monaghan]

I first read Desperation in the waiting room while my grandson was being born!
I love it and am terrified by it every time I read it. However it does hold good memories for me aswell. My grandson is now 13 years old. He'll be reading it himself soon1

[michal]

I definitely agree Bluey. It was a great "good vs. evil" novel, and it had some great (albeit unlikely) characters, some tough choices, some depressing moments, but in the end, hope. And isn't that life, in the end?

I think you're right. Maybe that's why that book was so hard for me -emotionally that is. It all seems so pointless - all that death and unhappiness, and unfairness, but of course -that is often how life are. And the book does end with an optimist note.

I guess to me it was a bit like reading Ernest Hemingway - he tells the truth, but I want to go throw myself off a bridge when he's done...:oops:

[AnnekoMartian]

To me it was the exact opposite-- no matter how dark and terrible things got, when it came to the end and good and light triumphed, I felt so... so *un*depressed, so exultant and beautiful and in touch with the great wonder of the universe. As though all the sacrifice and pain in life couldn't extinguish what is good.

Constantly Reading,
Anneko Martian

[Manxkitti]

I liked this book.

[JRM]

I JUST started reading it last night. I'm about 30 pgs in and loving it! (So far not depressing . . . but VERY eerie). If I were to pickout the most depressing SK book I've read . . . I'd have to go with Pet Sematary. :sad: -- But I absolutely loved that book. Maybe I just love dark books or something. :eek2:

[michal]

Maybe I just love dark books or something. :eek2:

Seems like you're in the right place than... :biggrin2:

[Sony02]

I love it! I read it four times already! :)

[JRM]

Seems like you're in the right place than... :biggrin2:

Lol. I finished Desperation yesterday, and yeah, it was dark. :eek2: Fortunately, I STILL don't think it's as dark as Pet Sematary. That was was almost too difficult to read because of how worn out I felt while reading it, lol.

[TexasChick76543]

This was by far the darkest of Mr. King's books. I hated it at first but loved it all the same. The gore that was involved was horrible, I kept thinking who would murder a family like this...who's mind could vision something this gruesome and santanic? Then I looked at the cover, as I have done many times while reading his books and SMH I said, "oh, yeah Stephen KIng"! I read this book over a period of months, because the detail was so vivid, that I could put myself in the story watching everything as it unfolded. That was something that I did not want to do. I was 24 then and sleep is something you treasure, and I ran up many an electric bill because of the maniac mind of Stephen King. This by far is number 1 on my list, followed by Rose Madder and Insomnia. If you want to rate on darkness..IMO..

[Nutty Bavarian]

I really liked this one. It was one of the first ones I read by SK and really got me hooked.

[rosetat49]

As with all of SK books, I couldn't put it down! I have read a lot of his books 2 or 3 times, but not that one. And the movie--PALEASE! know what I mean?? could have done it a lot better!

[steve-w]

I must admit that I found it quite dark, but extremely hard to put down.
It's certainly on my list of re-reads :biggrin2:

[aliciasimon]

The book was too gory for my taste. Too much bone splintering and blood spurting. I found the twist of swapping names with characters between this book and Regulators kind of cool though. The first part of the book was awesome with the cop that snagged them and started on the Miranda rights and added "you have the right to be executed" (or something like) and then "Tak!". Classic SK!!!! But I was disappointed at the animal hurting references (though minor). I hate that stuff and wish so much authors would NOT GO THERE.

[smathes1]

Yes! I read this book 2 years ago and still remember how crazy it was...but I def. add it to my favorites by stephen king. It was dark and gruesome...even after two years I can remember the tak tak tak haha..good read!

[Benita]

To me it was the exact opposite-- no matter how dark and terrible things got, when it came to the end and good and light triumphed, I felt so... so *un*depressed, so exultant and beautiful and in touch with the great wonder of the universe. As though all the sacrifice and pain in life couldn't extinguish what is good.

Constantly Reading,
Anneko Martian

Thank you Anneko I agree with you. I love this book. I think it is in no way depressing. I think it's one of my fav's! :laugh:

[Girl87]

For me this book wasn't dark. But maybe little bit weird. I liked the story in the book and didn't have any problems to finished it. I think I read it again sometimes.

[jackson992]

This is to date one of my favorite King books, The only one I like better is The Regulators just because that one seems to move faster

[blunthead]

This is to date one of my favorite King books, The only one I like better is The Regulators just because that one seems to move faster

Whenever I'm asked or I just ponder which sK is my personal favorite I always think of Desperation first. Sure, I remember Bag of Bones and Misery, and then this short story and that.

I identify with those who've found it too much, due to life experiences they were facing at the time, because, in my case, I love it because of my own life experiences.

Any book so powerful to a (constant) reader demands at least a second chance.

[PatInTheHat]

Ya know, this was one I that didn't do much for me when I first read it, in a just in my spare time kind of way.
I mean I didn't dislike it, it just didn't do much for me..it was just a decent enough read, and maybe a little disappointing.

I had a paperback of it packed away in a travel bag a few years ago when I went on a trip to Louisiana.
One thing led to another and I ended coming back home the long way on a Greyhound...Ahhh the smell of mostly digested burritos in the morning..afternoon...midnight, with a faint whiff of...Oh My God What In The :zip: Is That??!!.

Anyway, I found Desperation in my bag and read it on The Hound.
Holy Smoke what a difference ones unfortunate situation and stifling discomfort can make!
I don't know if my deep south mass transit road trip just tuned me up, or what my problem could have been the first time I read it, but it was the most polar opposite re-read reaction I've ever had with any book.
I really got into it (you know, in that breathless I forgot to breath kind of way), the miles just flew by un seen, and every now and again I'd get a question or comment about the book..or another or Mr King's work during stops.
I met maybe a half dozen admitted fans, including one bus driver...lot of readers on da bus is what I'm sayin'!
I was done by Bowling Green Ky., and ended up giving that copy to a little Latin horse jockey dude in Louisville Ky., who started up a conversation and said Stephen King & Clive barker movies & books (and Oprah & Jerry Springer:oo:..yeah, I know, some scary huh:oh:?) helped him learn English better...if you ever meet a jockey, take note, they's twisted..and take heed, great poker players too:wink2:.
Of course, I hope he shared it with a horse of course, Mr. Ed.

I read it again maybe two years ago, and it was still just as good as the second time...like a good 'n hot giant garlic gherkin:biggrin2:

[Snaggletooth]

I don't know that Deperation is any darker than SK's other works; it is horror fiction after all. Perhaps because it's set in the desert?

It's certainly one of his more well-witten novels, IMO. The Regulators, which was published simultaneously, had a lot of the same characters in it. Now that was a strange tale......

[kitten32]

hi there, well i haven't read the book desperation but hearing all this i don't know if i will read it. i want to figure it out myself
and see why it is so dark. i bought the regulators and i just started reading it.