The Running ManOl' Stevie ain't subtle. The points aren't left up to you to figure out, they're all but written in neon: the mass of people will accept anything as long as they are entertained and comfortable, and the most one man can hope to accomplish is near-meaningless gestures at the expense of everything he holds dear.
But, again, I don't read King for the message, I read him for the stories. This is a fun one, too, if your idea of fun is a possible future of deadly tv shows, rising crime, miserable poverty, souring pollution, and fascist governments. Which, yeah, I enjoy all those things as long as they stay on the page.
And yes, our pop culture is getting sicker and bloodier. And yes, our freedoms are being stripped away. And yes, we're getting poorer by the day. And yes, health problems get worse all the time due to our ongoing efforts to pollute the galaxy. And yes, corporations do seem to be pretty much in power. And so yes, sometimes it does feel like all I want to do is raise a middle finger to the whole damn mess and give it a hearty FUCK YOU.
final thought: I want to hear a punk concept album built around this book.
4 comments:
Well, babe, I think you have a new career brewing- book review.
Damn. You're good.
Love...Your mama
Books. Best things on Earth. Can't help but love writing about them, too.
And I so agree. Haven't read one lately I'd want to write about, though. Maybe I should be looking for better books.
"the mass of people will accept anything as long as they are entertained and comfortable" - this is one of my main problems with King. He's hugely successful, and people keep buying and reading him, even though he's not much good. I enjoyed 'Misery' and some of the stuff in the collection with 'The Mist' in it, but everything else of his I've tried seemed pretty rubbish. 'Cell' finally convinced me of his shit-ness.
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