Salem's Lot, a Tragedy

[SusanNorton]

I would say "sad" is a few words down on my list of one-word descriptions of this book.

I would also say that I wouldn't feel qualified to critique a book at all on the basis of "re-browsing" it, much less say that it contained "indulgent pretentious blather."

By the way, if you look up "indulgent pretentious blather" in the dictionary, an example of such might read: "potential font for seriocomic inspiration."

[kellykid]

Salem's Lot scared me! It might have something to do with the fact that I would read all alone on the second floor after midnight lol

[krs72]

I've read just about every SK. novel and short stories coll. and I've discovered not many of them have happy endings .

[aeroplane]

I recently re-read (or re browsed through) Salem's Lot and I had the same reaction I always do, sadness not fear. The book contains some of the most beautiful contemporary prose and turns of phrase, as well as some self-indulgent pretentious blather. It's hard not to sympathize with the people of the Lot, most of whom are good people, whose lives and souls are destroyed by Barlow and Straker, and are left to suffer eternal darkness by the author, who selectively applies orthodox vampire lore, but omits one key component, which is that -- since the days of Bram Stoker -- once the master vampire is successfully staked, his victims return to their human state.

King, for some reason, rejects that, although it would have made a far better ending, since almost everyone in the Lot would have vague trace memories of doing really bad things, which would be in itself a potential font for seriocomic inspiration.

I don't think the story itself is particularly sad, but some of the particulars are.

What point is there in creating dozens of senior citizen vampires? That is the sad part.

Mabel Werts, for example, is in her 70's, overweight and in poor health. Why make her spend the rest of her days as a vampire?

It isn't common to see a lot of senior citizen vampires in literature. Usually they are children, young adults or middle aged adults.

[aeroplane]

Another thing, it was never implied that Barlow was a head vampire outside of what he was doing in Salem's Lot. Heck, one line of the story suggests how the leftover vampires may have meetings in which they pay tribute to "the maker of their maker."

One thing I appreciated about Salem's Lot, compared to current vampire books and movies, is that people were actually bitten and turned into vampires.

So what?

Well, I have lost count of all of the books and movies that have come out over the past 10-15 years in which vampires just plain kill humans instead of changing them to vampires. One chief offender being the Twilight series but I've seen a bunch of other vampire movies and books doing the same thing.

I'm also thankful that King didn't mix werewolves, mutants and other creatures into the story like we have been getting with Twilight, Underworld and I believe the Blade movies. All a person wants sometimes is a classic Dracula-style vampire story and King wrote the finest such story since Dracula itself.

[marleyboy4945]

This was also the novel that got me started reading King's works. I was familiar with his stuff but a buddy of mine handed me a book one day and told me to read the prologue and see what I thought. It was "On Being Nineteen" from the DT series. Loved it, it got to me. I was only 20 at the time as well so there was a relation there. I told him I had to get a copy so he tossed me a paperback of Salem's Lot and said get started with this first. I read the whole novel in a night and a day. It entranced me. I loved how he eluded the happy ending and when Mear's Girlfriend got picked off I knew I was in for a shock. I've recommended the book to several people who all have praised it. Any time I hear a mention of twilight I'm quick to bring up the Lot if they want a real vampire story.