Whew... There's a lot that I want to say about this book, and I'm not really sure where to start. I first read this book back in... oh, 2002 or 2003, maybe, and I can absolutely say that I did NOT get much out of it. Sure, it's still a thrill ride, still entertaining, but it was definitely not his best, in my, somewhat oblivious opinion. But see... I was something of a King Re-reader back then. I had my favorites - 'The Stand', 'The Shining', 'The Talisman', 'Needful Things' - to name a few, and I read, and re-read, and re-read those favorites, so, I wasn't as well versed on my King Universe back then as I am now. Now, having read many more of King's "inter-related" books, I see the threads that bind them all together. Reading this again now was like... well, kind of like meeting a cool person at a bar, having a really interesting conversation with them, and then 7 years later finding out they are a long lost relative. That feeling of recognition is the same, although probably toned down a little since this is a book and NOT a long lost relative. Many, many times though, my eyes popped open and I'm like "OH! That's a reference to...!" or "WOW! I see where he's going!" etc.
For instance, the number 19 crops up many times, as does the color red (or crimson, if you like that better), as does the theme of children bonding for life and for better or for worse, no matter where their adulthood may take them, King's own accident, etc. But in addition to the many references to King's other works and life (which I've barely even touched on), there are references here to many external things that I never recognized before. Things like twice calling Duddits a "tribble", which is a reference to Star Trek, or like the red growth that is very reminiscent of the mossy red flora from 'The War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells (and speaking of, Dean Koontz borrowed the idea for his semi-recentish book 'The Taking'), or the "Turn the dial up to 11" line from the movie "This is Spinal Tap".
Aside from all of these references, the story itself was a "pisser", as Beaver would say. Three parts sci-fi, one part fantasy and a tablespoon-full of tongue-in-cheek prophecy, it's definitely a rollercoaster. I mentioned to friends when I started this book (or maybe I just wrote it down, I dunno) that it reads like a movie. Lots of King's books do, which is possibly why so many have been adapted, but this one especially felt that way to me. I would set the book down for a minute, to freshen my drink, or move a cat-paw that was creeping oh-so-subtly onto the page because everyone knows that cats can't sleep next to a reading human unless they are obstructing the view in some way, and it would be just like I pressed the pause button. When I pick the story back up, I'm right back where I was, like the interruption never occurred.
We start out meeting Pete, Beaver, Jonesy and Henry as adults, and then throughout the story we find out about their childhood and what (and who) bonded them together. Beaver is my favorite character. Dubbed such an appealing and cool nickname due to his habit of always chewing on a toothpick, he has a foul mouth and a heart of gold. I love the way King describes Beaver, and shows us his general character in three sentences: "His glasses started to unfog then, and he saw the stranger on the couch. He lowered his hands, slowly, then smiled. That was one of the reasons Jonesy had loved him ever since grade school, although the Beav could be tiresome and wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, by any means: his first reaction to the unplanned and unexpected wasn't a frown but a smile." This passage makes me love him too. He's got a bit of innocence about him... and a kind of raunchy purity.
I'm not going to go into the rest of the guys, that would take a long time... but I would like to talk about the characters. Suffice it to say that each of the friends are perfect and flawed in their own ways, but none of them are as dear to me as Beaver. I love Duddits too, who is really innocent perfection epitomized. He's got Down Syndrome, and with that a kind of extrasensory ability that makes him special- probably more special than anyone else.
Roberta Cavell, Duddits's mom, is another of my favorite characters. She's got very small parts in this story, but each and every one of them touch my heart. The woman is almost saintly! When Duddit's leaves with Henry, and Roberta crumples, it just breaks my heart. King spent barely two pages on this, but I felt it as if it was happening to me.
Abe Kurtz, the main military madman, is plain old crazy like a fox and as unpredictable as a tornado. Owen Underhill is Kurtz's right hand man, but one who happens to still have a spark of humanity in him. And speaking of humanity, this brings me to Mr. Gray...
Mr. Gray is an alien life form whose sole purpose is to survive by any means necessary. Not just himself, but his race. These aliens are alien in every sense of the word. They are inhuman, don't understand humans, don't understand our emotions or thoughts or anything. They just seek to continue to exist and emotionlessly do what it takes to ensure that. They are smart, but in a wily, calculating way. Mr. Gray finds and infiltrates Jonesy's body, in a kind of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" way. (This happens quite early in the story, so I'm not giving anything away, don't worry.) What happens then though, to Mr. Gray specifically, is very interesting to me.
King is really a master at showing us what humanity looks like. All parts of it. His stories are all people stories in which horror or gore or whatever is used to bring out the best and worst in us. If King ever had a theme, that's it. But here we have an inhuman, emotionless, calculating being who has none of that - only a relentless will to propagate. And then King shows us how this being starts to become human. And this I find fascinating, because it's one thing to plumb the depths of someone's soul and find out who they really are, but it's something else entirely to watch someone becoming that person.
"Becoming" is usually depicted as that which we know turning into something we don't know, something that terrifies or horrifies us. People turning into monsters, vampires, or werewolves are the most common supernatural cases. But slowly slipping into madness is another case, and 'The Shining' comes instantly to mind as Jack becomes more and more unstable and dangerous. But here we have an alien becoming human - craving food, thrilling in the human emotions that it's never before experienced, enjoying curiosity for the first time, feeling the rush of adrenaline and wanting more and more - and I thought it was fascinating to see humanity being the unknown and feared trait... to see things from the other perspective.
Anyway, I really did enjoy this story this time around. I enjoyed it the first time, but this time I feel like I got so much more out of it. This book is entertaining in its own right, but much much more so for the Constant Reader who can spot all the references embedded within it. :)