Great writing as usual but...

[hapijoyo]

Mr. King dwelled a little too often & too long on health & physical lifestyles for me. Many of the stories made me feel like I was subtly being lectured on how he thinks people should be taking care of themselves. I certainly don't live a perfectly healthy lifestyle but get enough attempts at guilt-trips from doctors, drug companies & the media. I never thought one of his books would disappoint me, but sadly, in a way, this one did.

[doowopgirl]

I can see your point. The man on the stationary bike is agood example. I saw them as stories about obsessions. Try again in a little while, you may see them differently.

[Jay P Lang]

As much as I agree about a there being a lot about health in the recent short stories he wrote I did find the stationary bike story, amongst other, to be a very vivid piece that held my attention from start to finish. I had not read much of Stephen King's books prior to Just After Sunset but they brought my inner writer back out to play. I have not had this much fun writing in years, not to mention that I have not been as obsessed with the constant pain in my chest ever. The stories have brought me as much joy as they have pain, be it physical or make-believe.

[michal]

Can't say I agree with you. I thought it was one of his best story collections ever and really enjoyed most of them. And to be frank, other than The Stationary Bike that really maybe has something to do with treating your body better, I really don't see your point in any of the other stories. I mean... Willa, The Gingerbread Girl, Harvey's Dream, Rest Stop, The Things They Left Behind, Graduation Afternoon, N., The Cat from Hell, Ayana,
A Very Tight Place - none of them deals with physical lifestyle.... Sorry my friend, really don't know what you're talking about.

[~Ally~]

The Gingerbread Girl does deal with physical lifestyle.
If Emily hadn't been a runner and extremely fit and agile she would never have survived the ordeal for as long as she did.
Her obsession with training began from running to try and escape her painful past.
Yet subconciously it was as if she had always known one day she would need to run the biggest race of her life.
Yup, I really like that story.

[M2H]

I have tried on more than one occasion to read Just After Sunset, and I really can't get into it. I am a huge SK fan, but for some reason I can't read it.

[pike747]

I am a far more active human being at almost 46 years of age than I was at 16 or 26. I would recommend activity for everyone but I would not want to push activity on anyone. The rewards are substantial. The story about the stationary bike was extremely helpful for me personally as a reproach for sometimes doing too much.

[NeuralDefekt]

I think I understand some of what you are saying, but the entire collection is not intended to set you on a 'guilt trip' of sorts - and many of the stories have little or no relation to the conduction of lifestyles in regards to health etc. Those that do, Stationary Bike and The Gingerbread Girl for example, focus more on obsession and in the latter, most definitely, on the positives that the change in lifestyle brought. Her obsession with running stemmed from heartbreak, but it helped save her life when she escaped the house of a deranged man.

I was not disappointed by this collection, quite the contrary in fact. The only one I could say that surpasses it in my estimations would be Different Seasons, but I think that is probably because of my love for Apt Pupil. There were one or two in Just After Sunset that were not my favourites, but I certainly think there are some gems among them and I enjoy reading them again and again regardless.

- ND