Review from a Transgressive Fiction Fan
I think this was my second or third King book. It collects all but Thinner of the original five Bachman novellas.
“The Running Man” I already reviewed. Better than (and WAY different from) than the movie
“The Long Walk” I also already reviewed. it’s one of my favorite stories of all time. Love it.
“Roadwork” I don’t remember all that well, but I know I liked it.
“Rage” was the controversial one. It’s about a student who took his high school class hostage, killing the teacher in the process. The rest of the story is just him talking to the class and figuring how it came to this point. It’s an amazing story about what it’s like to be a teenager from someone who wasn’t too far from that age himself. It’s always being blamed for high school hostage situations, but I think that’s because people don’t understand it. It’s not judgmental really on either side. It’s saying that being a teenager is fucking painful. And all it takes is an ear to stop things like this from happening.
“Insightful” Review from a Mainstream Reader
After finishing half of this collection OI understand why the publishers originally rejected all of these stories. It’s because they’re awful. Maybe I’m just suffering from Stephen King fatigue after more than a year of his material, but I can’t take any more of this.