Stephen King and Bob Dylan

For me, a good Stephen King book is like a Bob Dylan concert. Sometimes it's a Subterranean Homesick Blues night, other times it's Blowing in the Wind. Doctor Sleep was far from Blowing in the Wind. It is fast paced scare-the-bejesus out of you horror that is my kind of book. A great many things worked it in this book from plot, tone, minimal imagery allowing the reader to fill in the gaps, to characterization.

The story was told by Danny from King's first book, The Shining; however, Danny is Dan and all grown-up and ready to deal with the monsters of the past and present. Problem is Dan is a recovering alcoholic who has some of his own demons to battle first. He's not hero material and gosh I love a well-flawed character to meet a super villian. King knows how to create those. I'm thinking of Pennywise and the Master Vampire from Salem's Lot. Doctor Sleep has Rose the Hat, a seductive beauty when she's not killing and drinking the steam of the young. She has a single tooth then and a wicked appetite.

I understand The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe's White Witch is playing Rose in an upcoming movie. I can't think of a better person for the role.

I'd love to see this movie!
I highly recommend the book!

BUT.. save the movie for after. I still haven't read The Shining by King, but have watched the movie. I regret that. Always read the book first.

War painted in Fauvist Reds and Grays - 5 Stars for The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Fauvism is style of painting that used pure, brilliant color aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. This is what the imagery in The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara looked like when I read it. Of course, it is a book rooted in war and there seems to be nothing more explosive - other than the grief and silence of death. The explosion of color paralleled Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, but it also favored Crane’s book with blooming characterization from seed to wintery death.

“It was like the gray floor of hell.” Gettysburg as described by Joshua Chamberlain, Union commander.

“War, the red animal, war, the blood-swollen god, would have bloated fill.” Red Badge of Courage

Gray or red each color describes the aftermath of war like ash and fire. Both Crane and Shaara leave the reader with infinite fauvist portraits of war.

The characterization of Lee, Chamberlain and Longstreet, unlike Henry in Red Badge of courage, began in full bloom rather than innocence, men already full of age and wisdom with stubborness as a crutch to choose poorly or not. In Shaara’s retrospective study, Lee’s stubbornness caused the turning point in the war at Gettysburg; whereas, Longstreet saw a better path, one not filled with human pride. The dynamic presented between Longstreet and Lee did not define one man as right or wrong. Shaara did an amazing job of showing the beauty in both of their choices.

My favorite character was Chamberlain. His character examined the reasons for the war exploring not just slavery, but the essence of the human condition which is Shakespeare - and also where the title of the book seem to come from:

“Once Chamberlain had a speech memorized from Shakespeare and gave it proudly, the old man listening but not looking, and Chamberlain remembered it still: “What a piece of work is man...in action how like an angel!” And the old man, grinning, had scratched his head and then said stiffly, “Well, boy, if he’s and angel, he’s sure a murden’ angel.”

This line is from Hamlet where Hamlet glorifies man and then finds man and the world around him as mere dust. It reminds me again of the men that fought and then the imagery presented, gray and red; man comes in like a fiery angel only to turn to dust leaving a gray floor of hell. At its heart, Killer Angels begs the question of why any man may fight and kill another sacrificing his own life. It is worth the read and maybe a second one.