He's obviously not typing in his first language, no need to be a jerk about it, the intent is clear, and I agree with him. King's modern American dialogue is awful, which is why his fantasy prose surprised me.

That’s true, for me reading Nora’s thoughts in the midnight library specifically I felt depressed and it brought up some anxiety but the tone in the end was more positive

Ain’t Stephen King old as fuck?? He’s 75. It’s been so long since he was a child that he probably can’t occupy that headspace anymore. He’s probably not around a lot of kids and, if he is, he’s a grandfather, granduncle and such. He wouldn’t understand how modern children would interact with each other because he was a kid 65 years ago.

Amen girl. I only read November 9 and was SICKENED by it. So many people rave about her that I tried another book. Not a fan. Glad you said it. Hope potential readers listen! ♥️

Despite the fact that all three of those books utilize suicide as a major character point, I didn't feel like the tone of any of those books was particularly dark. In fact, there were more moments in those books that felt downright saccharine to me. I think that an author's writing style and ability to convey the realities of human emotion are key when it comes to my own emotional experience with a book. I've read other books with less overtly "dark" subject matter that left me feeling far more morose.

Sorry, I didn't realize it was "reductive" to have a personal opinion.

Better cancel me now. RIP.

Where did I say people shouldn't enjoy what they enjoy? I'm all for people enjoying bad books.

Hell, I unironically LOVE Neil Breen's films.

Yup.

I feel the same, though more so with his newer books. I couldn’t get behind Fairy Tale, for example, because the character was so close to my own age. No one born in 1996 did or said those types of things- it was just extremely disconnected from the time and reality in which it was set. I do feel his earlier books are better, but the way kids speak and bond is still unnatural.

He’s a good writer, and I see why he is popular. Personally his books are quite hit and miss for me, and although he is a great writer not all of his writing is great. He does handle youth dialogue in an unrealistic way. Valid criticism.

I'm a massive Stephen King fan, but The Institute was awful. Stephen openly admitted literally at the start of the book I believe, that he was experimenting with being topical. All the dialog was extremely rough and he was really angry with politics at the time. Just a bad book period. I think he's seen the feedback. That said he's in the sunset of his career, there's a million examples of great dialog throughout his works. It's sort of like pooping on the 50 or 60th book in a world class authors library.

This take is really reductive. King is prolific, but he doesn't always try and write literary masterpieces.

You absolutely cannot read The Body, Hearts in Atlantis, or the Green Mile and not consider him a modern literary great.

Sure, stuff like UR and other schlocky works aren't masterpieces. He didn't write them to be.

insert meme of people getting yelled at for enjoying bad books

Big King fan here and obviously biased but, I find he writes kids the way he 'remembers' feeling as a 15yo/25yo/etc. That comes with all the cloudiness and rose tinted thinking of the past. I've actually found that helps me identify with the character because I'd have a tendency to do the same, but to a person of that actual age it may seem outlandish or odd. Another reason could be due to the translations you're reading possibly? I say this because you noted that English isn't your first language so maybe the way the writing flows in its native format doesn't translate across exactly right? I recently read the Metro series in English, it was translated from Russian as far as I know and I felt like I was missing something important in the way dialogue and abstract concepts flowed. Probably a great book in its native form, but I was glad to finish it and put it down.

I know! It's always subjective. Arrrgh!!! *shakes fist at sky*

I read this a couple weeks ago and didn't really like it. The characters just felt so wooden and lifeless, and the reveal at the end just ended up being a massive two-chapter-long exposition dump.

chucklefuck - i love this word.

You disagree?

"Literary genius"?

Ok.

Another author I just can't stand.

I agree I liked the second 2 more!

That good book thing must be subjective, unless a lot of people are reading bad books for fun. Wait, it is subjective! Son of a bitch!

I think it could be triggering if someone had struggled with that before reading them, which is why I said it felt dark to me

Oh yeah. There was a relatively recent short story of his with a kid in it that was just a bit over the top with the adult thinking. It's definitely one of King's tendencies.

Bro...

> Makes post criticizing writing quality of an author.

> Doesn't even write at a high school level of competency.

Bait harder.