Isn't N a very very nasty story?

[OhmyGod!]

I’ve read it for the second time this weekend. And I kept thinking: This is the second time...I’ve read it twice. An even number.

I actually don't care I’ve read it even or uneven. But now I know. I just know and I know if I read it again...it will be the third time. And that's an uneven number. And I don't care...but I do know? Know what I mean?

Haha. Same with my cds. Last month I thought: 'Man, I’ve got a lot of cds'. So I counted them (213). Just for fun and so I could tell friends. But after this weekend I kept thinking: I’ve got an uneven number cds. One more and it's even. That’s 214. But 214 divided with 2 makes 107. Bad number. And all for fun. But the thing is...I DID think about it. And I know for sure that, yeah with a smile in the back of my head, I will think about it when I buy another cd. Maybe if I find two cds I will buy them. And say to myself: 'that's just funny, so I won't have the very bad number, good excuse to buy two cds'.

Haha. I love love Stephen King

[mstay]

:eek2: You're kind of scaring me.:biggrin2:

The story does make you think like that doesn't it!?

[OhmyGod!]

Yes, it does. And now this thread does. Because this will be the third answer...not so good. I hope someone makes it even...

In real live I work in a psychiatric setting (social worker). Some people have OCD. And when I first read the story, it made me look different to this behaviour. I know people don't have OCD for fun...but the story makes it like REALLY scary. Maybe it is also that scary for people with OCD. Why else would they wash their hands till they bleed? They have a different reason (well I hope...I hope there's no worse-than-hell-dimension coming thru), but just as serious. Weird eh?!

[Bryan James]

We all pick up a psychosis or 42 and 1/3rd on the way through.

BJS

[Drawn to Ka-tet]

Dear OMG,
Methinks KA brought you to the story N. for a reason, given your line of work..

I loved the concept of a Thin place where nasty beasties can come through unless the place is protected.
Just remember, you can count on us for support. We are Ka-tet.

Long days and pleasant nights.

[MyLife4YouSK]

OMG, I made it even for ya! ;)

King Rules!

[doowopgirl]

Very true, hopefully we can live with them though

[Doc Wilson]

Instead of reading it for a third time, do yourself a favor and watch the Flash version, its most excellent. Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXwZYc3fyLk

[cheefotain]

N. is seriously terrifying.
This has never happened to me before, but as N. was describing his encounters with AF, an unholy, unnerving terror stole over me. I couldn't look up from the pages, because I was sure reality was dissolving around me, sure that merely the knowledge of 'the thinness' was enough to bring it on onesself... it was terrifying, being compelled to read because not reading meant looking up and seeing horrible things... but eventually i looked up and everything was fine and the spell was broken.
Or maybe i just read the correct number of words (even) and pushed the encroaching darkness away temporarily...
sigh. stephen king rocks. i'm not reading his stuff late at night anymore, though...

[plgordon]

I loved the story, it was probably my favorite of the Sunset stories, but right now I'm thinking You might have a problem, Do you arrange things too?

[The Outsider]

When I read that story, I fell in love. Greatest psychological story I've ever read. I have quite a large fascination for all things psychology (you could say an "obsession"), and I am especially intrigued by disorders. This story blew my mind. No, it bottled it.

Today when I was bored in class, I started counting. I counted the words of notes I had taken. 35. No good. Added one more. Good number. 36. 36 is a square, which is really good. The square of 6, which is even better. And 6 divides down to 2, which is good. 36 also divides to 12, which is a good even number as well. So, all was well with my notes. No more of those. I also counted the words on the screen. Luckily, they came out to an even number, since I couldn't change those.

Then, I started arranging and placing. I centered my paper in the middle of my desk. Good. Then I placed my pen on its side, but that wasn't even. So I got out another pen and put it opposite the previous pen, and now the world was safe.

I did a few other things when I was bored, but don't worry, I'm not being serious. It was just something fun to think about. I actually talked to my Psych teacher about it, and he thought it was fascinating as well.

[OhmyGod!]

Yeah haha! I know I know (I like repeating the SAME words TWICE). No, not because of N...just because I like it. (sure)

Anyway. It did remind me, the whole psychological thing, about my work. Everyone got a letter in Holland about the Mexican Flu...also the OCD-people.
Well one can image what happened. I had to make a lot of visits to the doctor with clients who washed their hands till bleeding. And the flu-letter (with washing hands instructions) are some kind of N-story. (by the government!). It's pretty funny somehow.

This message contains one hundred and six words. Twelve lines. And even signs and spaces.

[Ted Brautigan]

Is AF a thinny like from the Dark Tower series?

[michal]

I have an OCD - had it worse as a child but as the story says: It is amazing how many OCD people live liek normal ones and go on with their daily routine. But it's funny though. To me it was always even numbers which were the bad ones (Accept whole ones like 10, 20, etc.), even as a child. Uneven was safe. Touch the door knob exactly 11 times before you go to sleep. Touched it once too many? Get up of bed. The world isn't safe. Touch it another 9 times and you're good to go. :smile2:

Well... This is exactly how it is in my world, and I think Mr. King's story was for me anyway very close to mark.

[heather_eaves]

I love SK short stories. This story just left me feeling really weird. I live in a small town in Georgia with lots of fields that run by rivers and after reading this when I would ride by one it made me think of this story. I also love to take landscape pictures. This story has made me think twice about looking through a camera and what I see. I have never had a SK story effect me like that execpt the story The Man in the Black Suit when I was deep in the woods alone once. I have never had a problem with OCD but after reading this story I have started to notice numbers more and think about what they mean. Besides this story I didn't like this as much as I have some of his other collections, but this one story was enough.

[doowopgirl]

Yes N is a very creepy little story. But that's what SK does best. Make you think about things you never put much thought into before. For ages after Liseys story I wouldn't look into the surface of things that would reflect. Just in case you understand. All those worlds, just beyond our ken, all these things going on under the surface the red pill or the blue pill? Makes you think just how far under the surface are any of our little eccentricities? Hmmmmm.....

[AnnekoMartian]

I adored it, in a rather masochistic way, considering my lifelong struggle with OCD*.

And while I'm pretty sure I'm not keeping a Lovecraftian horror at bay with my behaviours, I do get that awful itchy feeling when I don't follow through with them, like some undefinable Bad Thing will happen if I fail.

But N., of course, is just a silly little story, isn't it, children? Because, you see, four is a TERRIBLE number**, not a good one. If it was realistic-- erm, right. Perhaps I've said too much... (I actually had to explain today that I couldn't eat four of anything because fours were bad, that I wasn't Superstitious, I was just very, very obsessive-compulsive, and that even though of course I KNEW it was silly, I FELT that eating four of something would make me ill)

Okay, wow, this is probably enough of my crazy. The point is, it was a brilliant story, and it felt like a very real depiction of the difficulties of living with an obsessive-compulsive disorder***, but with the addition of a universe-rending horror.

Constantly Reading,
Anneko Martian

*I was finally diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (having strong obsessive-compulsive elements). If anyone on the board has a similar diagnosis, or a loved one with said similar diagnosis, or is for some reason interested in learning more without any personal connection, feel free to send me a private message. Okay, Public Service Announcement over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

**Eight is still good. That was absolutely on the money. That was a little TOO on the money, but the four thing keeps it from being too close to my personal number thing, which is why I'm not rocking in a corner mumbling to myself, I guess.

***It is SO tiring. So unimaginably tiring. I cannot conceive of what life is like for people who do not have some form of OCD (seeing the world through the obsessive-compulsive lens, I imagine it is a disgusting world of filth and disorder, but people seem to be happy with it...). For the reverse, imagining life with OCD when you are without, try depriving yourself of much-needed sleep and worrying constantly. Do things that don't make sense. They don't even make sense to YOU. You KNOW they are nonsensical. Know that if you DO NOT DO THEM ANYWAY, something terrible will happen. Maybe it's happening right now. Did you just accidentally touch something? Better wash your hands. Did you turn off the faucet (is it really off?)? Do you know who touched it before you? It might be dirty. Better wash them again.

... heck, you don't even need the thinness between worlds (and that terrible THING oh no please no) to make a story like this horrifying.

[mrblonde]

this post makes it eleven in the thread, an odd number...bad. but if you add the digits in eleven it equals two, an even number good.

Loved this story. wish it was longer.

forty four words in this reply, and even number, good.

[NeuralDefekt]

Haha, I can relate to this. I have always had a touch of OCD - my bed sheets can't be wrinkled or I won't sleep, I can't settle if my drawers aren't shut properly - but I must say that after reading 'N.' this was magnified for a few days at least. But then I have always been a little bit like that, after I saw '23' for instance I kept counting things to see what they added up to.

I did the same after reading this story. I read it in single stint when I couldn't sleep one night and I found it quite haunting - the very idea that the world could be thrown out of place as a result of object misplacement or a 'flawed' number seemed to stick in my mind and I became mildly obsessive. The first thing I did after finishing 'N.' was count the number of pencils on my bedside table, haha! Very influencial on the mind, I love that story.

- ND

[oxymoron]

the dark side of me hopes this one makes it unlucky 13;)
there is a line, small or big, that should be recognized when dealing with "reality" and "fantasy" in literary works
you can "live" in a fictional world while immersed in a book(i do every day)
but you have to leave that world and come "back to reality" when you live life, if for no other reason to LIVE YOUR LIFE, and be free of OCD and the "craziness" that goes with it
I have it, but it was stronger when i was a kid(michal, thanx 4 saying that, i never really noticed it),and OCD can be like living in a prison in your head
not flaming, not trying to berate anyone with a condition that they can't help, maybe just trying to alleviate some pressure that may be felt by authors when they write works that may not positivley influence, but may hamper a person's life, like the recent Dark Tower "inspired" tragedy(gimmie a break, and Judas Priest told me on their album, backwards, no less, to kill myself in 1982, lol)
i thought N. was a great short story, from beginning to end, and would recommend it for people struggling with OCD, if for no other reason, to laugh or smile at onesself at similarities in it and in living with OCD

oh, and btw, 8 is a great #:biggrin2:

[Sigmund]

I enjoyed N. very much and it's funny how insidious mental health issues can be. I had the same experience when I read "Ballad of the Flexible Bullet". I loved the story and how quietly, slowly, methodically people can be drawn into another's delusion. In Duma Key there was a line that read something like, "God doesn't like people who "can't imagine'." And/or "God punishes people who 'can't imagine.". In other words, when people are discussing something tragic, someone will say, " I can't imagine fill in the blank. " For awhile I would catch myself just about to say, "I can't imagine...." and come to a complete stop.
We have a term in psychology,
Folie a deux:
Shared psychotic disorder, or folie à deux, is a rare delusional disorder shared by 2 or, occasionally, more people with close emotional ties. An extensive review of the literature reveals cases of folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie à famille (all family members), and even a case involving a dog.1 (javascript:showcontent('active','references');) (Wiki)

Happy Counting

[MissTallica]

Thanks for the link! :wink2:

[Aericanwizard]

I don't think anyone was willing to brave the 23rd post, but I have to say that I just finished this story the other day, and I absolutely loved it. I loved the association between OCD and saving the world, and reminded me much of the saying: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!".

Long days and pleasant nights (hopefully with plenty of sleep).