"Quantity -vs- Quality" (Dreamcatcher - Stephen King)

Member Name: Trevor15

Product:	Dreamcatcher - Stephen King
Date:	14/05/01 (243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good idea., Interesting story.

Disadvantages: Too long., Too complex.

Pick up a Stephen King novel and you're guaranteed a mind-bending jaunt into a wonderful parallel universe.

Until Dreamcatcher, I would have agreed with that. One just needs to read Dolores Claiborne or the like in order to observe his pure talent. So what happened this time? Was it the effects of alcoholism on the author, or perhaps blame should be levied at his tendency to become over familiar with his special. . Hahumm. . ciggies, or maybe he is still recovering from his own near-death experience?. . . But talk about dragging it out.
200 of the whopping 599 pages could have been lopped off this novel. Then, and only then, would the usual King tingle and nerve-ending anticipation have stood a chance of really coming through.

Now, don't get me wrong, the story idea is wonderful, even if titbits have been somewhat 'borrowed' from elsewhere, but did it really have to be so complicated and drawn out? The notion of a group of male kids protecting a Downs Syndrome child from the bullies is wonderful, even extending their friendship over 3 decades is fine; binding them with a thread of ESP works for me too, but intergalactic invading fungus, complete with Dracula-style teeth, lights in the sky and 'set' in the woods. Tut, tut. Shame on Mr King. If I wanted to see 'Aliens' again I would turn the video on; I don't expect to read it in a King novel, especially when Ridley Scott did it far, far better.

The plot of Dreamcatcher is just too complicated and the characters too numerous. I want a story to entertain me, to stretch my imagination, not give me the symptoms of a dry headache akin to the morning after. The story is self-indulgent, rampant and sprawling, and in places out of control, especially when one has to remember the details of:

the (main) protagonists
man in the woods
entity in residence in one's own brain
a masochistic military leader & his deputy

body-snatching fungus
the woman in the road
the man at the shop
ESP astral-connections
the woman who committed suicide in the reservoir
the impregnated dog
and let's not forget bacon butties and the President - or even the conduit, Duddits (Douglas), his mother, her husband and the Scooby-Doo lunch-box. Confused? I was! It's just a great pity that the complexity of the novel failed to reach climax.

For simplification, here's the synopsis. . .five friends share a spiritual and communicative connection from boyhood. Twenty-five years later and while four of them are 'a-hunting-in-the-woods-don't-ya-know' an alien fungus arrives which needs a living host. But it's cold and they start to die. One fungus mutates when it comes across a 'special' (of course it's one of the protagonists) host. It devises a plan to procreate and then the chase is on. ..add the military, area-wide ESP, exploding heads and orifices for twists and turns, a virtual ticking clock for build-up and you've got the plot of Dreamcatcher.

Now, you're probably thinking to yourself 'Surely it's not all bad'. Well, it is and it isn't. It is as far as dragging it out goes, but it isn't in terms of the ideas. Now when I refer to 'ideas' in the plot, what I really mean are King's original thoughts, such as the wannabe ET holding Jonesy hostage in part of his own brain while it takes up residence in the remainder. This is terrific, is King, is storytelling. But scary woods, glowing orbs in the sky, "They're here" in Poltergeist-blond-haired-child style? No! No! No! and No! We'll have no plagiarising here.

I really must blame Tabitha for this, Tabitha King, that is. She reads all his novels prior to submission. I don't know how this one got through in its present state. It needed to be dramatically edited back to get rid of the chaff in order to s
imply leave the wheat. The story is there, complete and ready, and yes, is as good as King can be but to get it takes too much work. He may be the most prolific and talented of contemporary horror writers but on this occasion I would mark his report card 'Can do better'.

Save the eighteen quid hardback price and even the ten quid paperback price, as unless you are a die-hard King fan and need it for your collection, wait and borrow it from the library and only then - if you really must have it - spend your hard-earned cash. It may be 599 pages long but you are being sold the King reputation rather than his usual undiluted talent.

The choice, as is said by someone, somewhere, is yours!


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NB I have risked permanent damage to my person by writing this. User (sic) Nikkisly has pre-warned me that yes, I should write a review, but if I write anything untoward about the 'Master' punishment will be swift and absolute ;-)
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This review relates to the paperback picked up outside the UK which is not on general release here as yet.

Prices:

Amazon:
P/B £8.79 (+ P&P)
H/B £17.50 (+P&P)

Alphabetstreet
P/B £10.00 (free delivery)

Bol.com
P/B £9.00 (free delivery)

Summary: