Thoughts on The Library Policeman

[Violet]

Hi. I'm kinda new here. I noticed that there were no threads on
the novella The Library policeman from the Four Past Midnight
collection. I have read everything that SK wrote and this is
actually one of my favorites of all his works. I've read like 10 times.
I was wondering if anyone else enjoyed this novella and had opinions on it (good or bad).
I would love to discuss this novella.

[jchanic]

I think one of the reasons not too many people comment on it was that it makes a lot of people uncomfortable due to the child molestation part .

John

[zombierolton]

One of my favorites for sure. I need to reread this one again asap.

[zombierolton]

After browsing the wikipedia entry for this story I noticed the cool latin quote that appears in one of the dreams.

"Fuimus, non sumus".

Does anyone know any more info on the source of this besides the explanation given in the wikipedia?

[wally wonder]

hi violet. yeah, great story. surprising number of connections to duma key, no? the storm. ardelia. she waits. she sleeps. licorice. i like how dirty dave duncan's posters (paintings) kinda come alive, make things happen. i've read t.l.p. now several times and until this re-read, didn't see the connections to duma, a different take on the same subject.

wonder if there really is a pell's in des moines? spent some time there, reason i ask. guess i could google that, hey? take another trip.

thought that latin was at the st. louis library? ...oh, okay, yeah, sam is dreaming on the airplane, revisiting his past i guess. little white walking sam.

can't make sense out of that diversion into the phone booth by sam, when he and naomi are on their way to the library. other than picking up the wrapper. where'd that come from? kinda like the pass in desperation, or that wrapper, some kind of candy bar was it, same work? anyway, they stop at the store and sam ducks into that telephone booth on his way into the store. dunno.

there's a phrase early on in the story, 'get shirty on him'. don't believe i've heard that before. it happens when sam is preparing the note he intends to give to ardelia, or drop off at the library, along with a 20-jackson.

kinda bugs me. novella. i dunno about anyone else, but seems like all four stories can stand alone as "novels". but i guess with sk, "short" gets twisted around somehow and when they're tucked onto the shelf next to It and Tommyknockers...but still. who decides these things? the library committee?

[michal]

I liked the story a lot but yes, perhaps I've not been quick to reread it because it also makes me extremely uncomfortable. Not necessarily because of the heroes terrible experience as a child (saved you a spoiler button there Ms. Mod), but because the whole story has a dreamlike feeling that makes me... Prickly. Like wanting to scratch myself under my skin.

[mindfungus]

I am new to reading stephen King Maybe seven books under my belt and I loved this story one of my favorites for sure.

[mindfungus]

I am kinda new to the Stephen King world, Maybe seven books under my belt. This story is one of the best I have read so far.

[Mr. Palmer]

I thought this was an interesting read. My favorite part is the airplane "child molestation" ride. I think that was the kick the story really needed. And who can walk away from this one without the smell of red licorice wafting in the air?

Btw: Does anyone think that Ardelia is related to Pennywise?

[M-O-O-N SPELLS MY NAME]

I liked the story, probably my favorite from the book. As for the "incident" that Sam is a part of as a child, while an integral part of the story, I felt it didn't need to be so GRAPHICALLY described....mental images I won't ever be able to scrub from my brain