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'Salem's Lot (2024)


South Austin

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22 hours ago, futureman said:

so how does ‘salem’s lot stack up as a book compared to some of king’s best like the stand or it?  those are the only long novels I’ve read, and then probably a dozen of his short stories.  but both of them were some of the most fun I’ve ever had reading anything. 

Top 5 for me among his novels. Just a great page turning story. 
 

And for those who don’t know, the short story “One for the Road” in the Night Shift collection is a terrific epilogue/coda to the novel. 

Edited by Duane Moore
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14 hours ago, South Austin said:

You're an idiot. 

I guess in your world, the casting call for Mark Petrie should have included something along the lines of "If you're anything but a white actor, don't bother showing up."  Or, maybe, when all of the child actors showed up for the audition, casting should have called out, "Good morning, everyone, thanks for being here.  All of you who are black, hispanic, asian, or otherwise nonwhite, you can leave."

Or maybe, just maybe, the casting call didn't specify anything about Mark Petrie's race, and maybe, just maybe, that after all of the child actors auditioned, they chose the one who they thought was the most talented and best portrayed their vision of this character, and he just happened to have been black.

Simply crying out "DEI!" is lazy at best, racist at worst. 

Point of order, Hispanic people are white. Just of Hispanic origin. Which is obviously not the best kind of white. Or something like that?

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5 hours ago, Duane Moore said:

And for those who don’t know, the short story “One for the Road” in the Night Shift collection is a terrific epilogue/coda to the novel. 

looks like there's also a prequel in night shift.  "jerusalem's lot" ...  anyone read that? 

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1 hour ago, futureman said:

looks like there's also a prequel in night shift.  "jerusalem's lot" ...  anyone read that? 

i did but it's been a long time...i think maybe a prequel only in the sense of location/setting, puritan americana. i recall...a literal giant demon worm bursting from the underworld?? 🤔 not vampire lore anyway.

Edited by mchookem
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2 hours ago, mchookem said:

i did but it's been a long time...i think maybe a prequel only in the sense of location/setting, puritan americana. i recall...a literal giant demon worm bursting from the underworld?? 🤔 not vampire lore anyway.

Right. I don’t recall a specific connection to vampires or the ‘Salem’s Lot story line. 

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On 9/15/2024 at 8:05 PM, futureman said:

so how does ‘salem’s lot stack up as a book compared to some of king’s best like the stand or it?  those are the only long novels I’ve read, and then probably a dozen of his short stories.  but both of them were some of the most fun I’ve ever had reading anything. 

Salem's Lot is definitely "early King" and possibly the last of early King.  That is to say that it has all of the elements of a great story, i.e. Dracula set in 20th Century Maine, and the world-building you expect from having read The Stand and IT.  But it's definitely a much smaller scale of world building compared to those two novels, which are among his best.  And because it is shorter, the characters, although interesting enough, are less developed.  I'm not usually one to gripe about endings, but the ending of Salem's lot . . . 

 

(the Straker-killing part at least) felt rushed and anticlimactic.  The ultimate end of the novel was good though.

. . . .   With regard to its being the last of "early King," I think The Shining is a far better novel, and the one where King really hit his stride.  Salem's Lot simply is a very good read by comparison.

Edited by dcbc
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10 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Salem's Lot is definitely "early King" and possibly the last of early King.  That is to say that it has all of the elements of a great story, i.e. Dracula set in 20th Century Maine, and the world-building you expect from having read The Stand and IT.  But it's definitely a much smaller scale of world building compared to those two novels, which are among his best.  And because it is shorter, the characters are less developed.  I'm not usually one to gripe about endings, but the ending of Salem's lot . . . 

  Reveal hidden contents

(the Straker-killing part at least) felt rushed and anticlimactic.  The ultimate end of the novel was good though.

. . . .   With regard to its being the last of "early King," I think The Shining is a far better novel, and the one where King really hit his stride.  Salem's Lot simply is a very good read by comparison.

I'm re-reading the Lot for the third or fourth time.  I think you're right.  But one thing I notice that I hadn't before is that he has a lot of lengthy description of the landscape ala the natural realism of Thomas Hardy or some such.  Possibly some literary pretension there that he later dispensed with.

I have often wondered if 'Salem's Lot is something of a play on Salem, as in witchcraft trials, and lot, as in one's lot in life, so that the place (Salem) is cursed with an unfortunate "lot."

 

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5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I'm re-reading the Lot for the third or fourth time.  I think you're right.  But one thing I notice that I hadn't before is that he has a lot of lengthy description of the landscape ala the natural realism of Thomas Hardy or some such.  Possibly some literary pretension there that he later dispensed with.

 

I've read SL twice at this point, both times as an adult.  I enjoyed it more the second time.  I reread Bram Stoker's Dracula last year and it might be that his landscape descriptions are a nod to the inspiration-novel.  There's a lot of that in the early chapters/letters/diary-entries in Stoker's novel.  Also, how it has taken this long to put Stoker and Straker together in my mind, I cannot explain.

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23 hours ago, Nole-4-Life said:

Whatever you say.

I'm  not worked up. I made an observation and the whole board lost it's mind about it. Y'all are the ones worked up.

No one cares about your observations regarding the race of characters. It’s rooted in racism. If you can’t see that, then I don’t know what to tell you. You’re also free to go to one of your shitty FSU sites. 
 

Regarding the book, it’s one of my favorites. I can’t wait for this movie even if the kid is Black now, the horror!

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1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

No one cares about your observations regarding the race of characters. It’s rooted in racism. If you can’t see that, then I don’t know what to tell you. You’re also free to go to one of your shitty FSU sites. 
 

Regarding the book, it’s one of my favorites. I can’t wait for this movie even if the kid is Black now, the horror!

You're free to go fuck yourself.

We agree on the book.

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1 hour ago, Ten Bears said:

What's a little overt racism when your team has shit all over itself the first 3 games of the season.

Must be rough.  We should give him a break.

What fucking overt racism?? I point out a difference between the book and the upcoming movie and because it's a black guy I'm suddenly David Duke.

Typical internet bullshit.

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On 9/16/2024 at 9:00 AM, South Austin said:

That's what I recall.  I read the book somewhere in my late teens after I had seen the 1979 movie as a younger kid.  It's nowhere near as long as books like The Stand or IT.  And like a lot of books adapted to film, there's a fair amount that the original film left out, likely due to just available film time.  I highly recommend.

I haven't read Salem's Lot since I was 13/14. I previously read IT and The Stand but never found IT or The Stand screen adaptations as good as Salem's Lot. With that said, I've reread IT and The Stand as an adult but never cared to reread Salem's Lot..

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On 9/17/2024 at 12:13 AM, futureman said:

looks like there's also a prequel in night shift.  "jerusalem's lot" ...  anyone read that? 

 

Read One For The Road  in Night Shift. Sequel to Salem's Lot. It's very short but fucking awesome.

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