#Fairy Tale by Stephen King

[chaotic-darkacademic]

Wishes are like beauty — vain things.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

[pluppleseverywhere]

I finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King yesterday. I was delighted about similarities I noticed between this book and The Talisman that he wrote with Peter Straub. But, overall, I loved this entire book. I don't have any major complaints, only silly gripes that don't actually detract from the story or characters in any way. I love the entire adventure from start to finish. I will say, though, that this is one of King's thicker books. And I know a lot of people, even some King fans, don't like how long some of his books are. They think they could often benefit from an editor who cuts out a lot of "unnecessary" stuff. I'm not here to say they're wrong or they're right, but I am going to say that people who feel that way about some of his other thicker books will likely feel that way about this book.

However, that's a big reason that I love King's writing and I love his chunkier books. I love the way he digs into the characters, even the ones we don't see much of, the ones that are just there to die, the ones that we don't even get to meet but whom the main character is reminded of for some reason. I eat that stuff up. I think, for me, it makes the book more immersive and the characters more real and so the things a lot of people complain about regarding King's writing are things I adore and major reasons he is my favorite author. So when you see me gushing about one of his books please keep that in mind.

Under the cut I'm going to go into what I noticed as far as similarities between The Talisman and the things I wish we had gotten in Fairy Tale but didn't. Spoilers for both books will be below so if you haven't read either of them and major spoilers will ruin things for you, don't go any further. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So, I'm going with The Talisman first. I want to preface this by saying that I have never finished that book. I loved, absolutely adored, what I did read of it but I had gotten an ebook file from my library for it and I didn't get too far before I was confronted with the fact that part of the file was corrupted and I couldn't read any further. So, if you have read both of these books and noticed things I didn't that are similar this could be a reason for that. I kind of forgot about the book after that but reading Fairy Tale made me think of it and I now have a physical copy I'm going to read next.

So, the first thing is that both of these books are portal books where the main character, a young man in Fairy Tale and a young boy in The Talisman, must go through on a quest to save someone they love and get entangled in far more than they bargained for.

In Fairy Tale 17 year old high school senior Charlie wants to save his dog from dying of old age. In The Talisman 12 year old Jack wants to save his mother from dying.

Another thing the characters have in common is an older adult character who tells them about this portal to another world and sets them on their quest.

The books diverge wildly, in that the world that Jack visits seems to be grittier and there's more violence right away. Charlie's other world is full of mostly good people who aren't interested in cruelty and violence. Most people Charlie meets are nice, and those that aren't are kind of neutral or just bitter.

Something that didn't get explored too much in Fairy Tale but was a major point in The Talisman is the idea that the people of these worlds are counterparts of each other. Charlie notes this concept a couple of times, most notably with Christopher Polley from our world and Peterkin from Empis. He states multiple times that he thinks they're Rumpelstiltskin characters and that, while he can't prove it, he is convinced himself that when Peterkin died in Empis it was the moment that Christopher Polley was killed in our world.

So, not only is the idea of counterparts existing for people in our world to people in Empis present, but so is the idea of intertwined fates.

In The Talisman Jack is told that people in this world all have a version of themselves in the other world and whatever happens to them happens to us and that to save his mother in our world he must save her counterpart in the otherworld.

In Fairy Tale it's mostly just alluded to.

I really enjoyed these similarities and parallels and I'm so glad that I had some knowledge of The Talisman in order to pick up on them.

Now, onto the things about Fairy Tale I wished were different.

It's widely known that King puts references in his books to the books he wrote before the current publication and this book is no different even if you take away all of the similarities with The Talisman.

There was a reference to Cujo that I was a little bummed about, irrationally, for an example. In this book Cujo isn't an event that actually happened bit rather a movie instead. I suppose it could be a movie based on true events but if so it wasn't so much as hinted at. This is a me thing, though. I just prefer the idea that all of these books take place within the same universe, in the sense that it is acknowledged that these things really happened and aren't just fictional books and movies within the books themselves. Most people probably don't care.

I wish that Mr. Bowditch could have watched Charlie play at least one game. I don't care which sport. I thought it was very touching that he wanted to and I thought he seemed disappointed that he wouldn't get to. I wish he could have gone to just one. I understand why Charlie didn't want that but I sure wanted it.

I wish Hamey had lived. I really got attached to his character and as someone who had bowel problems myself I identified with him in that way. I also just really felt sorry for the character and it was so sad to see him start out caring for Charlie in that dungeon and asking if Charlie would protect him only to watch his mental and emotional resignation to his fate and tell Charlie he didn't have to protect him after all. I wish he had lived and been able to he treated properly for his ailment. Maybe the doctor or Claudia could have helped him out a bit.

Barring that, I wish that Hamey would have been one of the ghosts that came to visit Charlie on his sick bed after the defeat of the big bad. It was left up to the reader to decide if these were real ghosts or figment of Charlie's imagination while he was trying to fight off poison, but either way I wish Hamey had made a visit.

I would have liked to get some more stories from Mr. Bowditch about his adventures in Empis that he didn't talk about in those tapes because they weren't pertinent and he knew he didn't have a lot of time left to tell Charlie what he needed to know. He said there were many more and I'm very curious. I wonder if King will write a short story or two about one at some point and put it in a short story collection, line he did with 'Salem's Lot. I would love that.

It was suggested by Mr. Bowditch that other people in our world might have visited Empis and mentioned a couple of authors whose books he thought may have had basis in things found in Empis. Could there be other portals to Empis outside of the one in Sentry, IL? I would love to know.

I knew Charlie would make it impossible for anyone to get to Empis through the portal in Mr. Bowditch's shed, but I still wish he hadn't. Mostly because it means Radar won't get another turn on the sundial and will die and I prefer to think of Radar living forever either with Charlie who decides to eventually take a turn himself or with Charlie's descendants. Who doesn't want dogs to live forever, right?

Anyway, I think that's it for now. There was an excerpt from his next book at the back of Fairy Tale and I'm looking forward to that one!

[chowtrolls]

theres a little gremlin beast in my brain that’s been so mad at me for reading 20 minutes a day. so mad in fact that i just read ~200 pages to finish this book. second book today i have finished…….

sometimes i forget that people don’t normally read multiple books at the same time but if i only read one book then my brain gets all weird. i need multiple stories

[fairytale-poll]

BEST MODERN FAIRYTALE ADAPTATION! ROUND 2C, MATCH 2 OUT OF 2!

Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is based off Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer; Carrie (1976) is based off Cinderella.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones:

One of my favorite books. "As she clears out her old bedroom, Polly discovers that below her memories, in which she led an entirely normal and unremarkable life, there is a second set of memories, which are rather unusual." It's about memory and taking control of your life. Also books. It's one of those books that get better the more you re-read it.

Carrie (1976):

Ohhh Carrie is so special to me. Cinderella who takes revenge by arson, we love to see it. A fairy godmother who used to bully Cinderella and uses her good deeds as a way to apologize, we love to see it! The movie is pretty rad because it really leans into the religious/gothic aesthetic you might expect from a Grimm fairy tale and ramps it up all the way, it's such a gorgeous movie!

[spookyreader23]

Showing off my Stephen King bookshelf and collectibles for King's birthday today. I currently own 21 of his books so far. It's a growing collection, and this doesn't even show the movies and TV shows I own that are based on King's books. What's your favorite book from Stephen King? Mine are "Pet Sematary", "Later", "Carrie", "The Shining", and "Doctor Sleep".

[cjbolan]

Mr. Bowditch’s reaction in that scene made me instantly think of this .

[booksposts]

There's a dark well in everyone, I think, and it never goes dry. But you drink from it at your peril. That water is poison.

- Stephen King, Fairy Tale

[bekah-reading]

34/50

4/5

As always I love Stephen King’s writings. I loved this story and while it didn’t help this weird funk I’m in; it was a good immersive, atmospheric read.

The plot was good; if not fantasy-esque. I really enjoyed the plot and the characters. This one started out slow but it picked up around the first third mark.

This is a nice coming of age story of a young boy who ends up working for his grumpy, loner, elderly neighbour. Our MC ends up saving his neighbour’s life; and as a result he ends up volunteering to watch the neighbour’s elderly dog, Radar. Radar was a good girl and I loved the MASH reference. Some parts were slow and a bit lacklustre; but overall this book is a wild ride and a really good book that’s very solid.

Definitely recommend this book whether you’re an old Stephen King fan or a new one or haven’t read from him yet.

[thechaoticreader]

Go Book Shopping With Me💕📚

(Indie bookstore edition)

[k9-suffrage-now]

Actually, Stephen King refusing update how he writes dialogue is a brilliant choice. I don’t think he’s making a point of it, but he’s for sure embracing a sort of anti-*fellow kids* energy. Plus, I honestly think it’s a neat style of prose I enjoy reading.

Also, it’s canon that Stephen misremembering a neighborhood in New York changed his multiverse so maybe we’re just reading about the alternate universes created because he genuinely thinks that’s how people talk

[caribeandthebooks]

Caribe's Fantasy TBR - Part 5

[chaotic-darkacademic]

“Bad idea,” I said.

[..], he said, “The universe is full of them”

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

[pluppleseverywhere]

I'm almost done with Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I've enjoyed this book so much that I'm putting off reading the last few chapters just so that I can drag things out and it won't end yet. I know that's silly but I'm doing it anyway. I have a few things that I wish we would have gotten to see but which we didn't, but I don't have any major complaints about the book at all. This is a great book, very entertaining, and I found it to be a page turner. This is an amazing adventure and I'm so glad I decided to go on this quest along with Charlie and his faithful dog, Radar.

[mofun2read]

Ok change of plans! My hold was ready for pickup so I grabbed this from the library today.

I’m not going to lie Fairy Tale by Stephen King had a slow start anyway. I have been reading fantasy for so many years so I just wasn’t vibing with a book about regular people. I will finish it next.

I am putting Fairy Tale down for now and starting on my E Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

[fairytale-poll]

BEST MODERN FAIRYTALE ADAPTATION! ROUND 1C, MATCH 4 OUT OF 4!

Carrie (1976) and Carrie the Musical (1988) are both based off Cinderella.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Carrie (1976):

Ohhh Carrie is so special to me. Cinderella who takes revenge by arson, we love to see it. A fairy godmother who used to bully Cinderella and uses her good deeds as a way to apologize, we love to see it! The movie is pretty rad because it really leans into the religious/gothic aesthetic you might expect from a Grimm fairy tale and ramps it up all the way, it's such a gorgeous movie!

Carrie the Musical (1988):

NOT the 2012 rewrite of the show, it's not nearly as fun. Anyway Cinderella taking revenge at the ball via arson, but it's the 80s so it's set to rock music, lasers, and bright teen fashion? Fun. Fun fun fun. I love this musical to no end

[psifitopia]

wish list

I want them to make a full length, true to the novel, animated movie of Stephen King's Fairy Tale. :D