[AQW]⋙ [PDF] Salem Lot Stephen King 9780450031069 Books

Salem Lot Stephen King 9780450031069 Books

Download As PDF : Salem Lot Stephen King 9780450031069 Books

Salem Lot Stephen King 9780450031069 Books

I read this book as a kid and it scared the beejesus out of me. I read it again recently as an adult and it was a different experience alltogether. If you arent a King fan or are, if horror is your thing or its not, here are 3 reasons why this is still a great bookk:

1. Its not what you might expect. Yes, its about vampires visiting a small town and good vs Evil (capital "E"), but Salems lot is a soap opra, with vivid characters only King can create and vignettes of life in a small town that will make you feel nostalgic and disgusted at the same time. They beat their children, cheat on their husbands, drink and bully. Yet its hard to pin them on a good vs bad board, there are shades of grey with everyone you meet. This town is Anytown USA, more a charcter than a setting and you realize the evil man can do is more destructive to society than a thousand year old vampire.

2. It is King at his finest - the writing, the transitions and use of the third person narrative makes the story come alive - its a slow build I admit but by the time the bodies start dropping King makes you care in a way most horror novels dont bother to. You feel for the Glicks, you root for the alcoholic priest trying to reclaim enough faith to battle the dark one and you are happy for Dud in his new life. King will do this again in the Stand and in It, but once you read SL you realize hes sampling from his earlier works and no other book will make you laugh cry and turn on the lights like this one will. The genuis of starting the book with the tall man and boy in Mexico is you kind of know whats going to happen (much like a Columbo episode where you see the murder up front), but it raises so many questions you simply have to hang on.

3. Its the best kind of horror story - it follows the rules and tells classic tale. Straker and Barlow may be the villans but they arent blood thirsty monsters either - they are true to their nature. A vampire kils and a watchdog protects. In one seen where Straker does something awful, King takes the time to tell us about the look on his face which enlightens the reader about his motivation. They follow all the vampire rules - sunlight and crosses and of course the need for an invitation (in fact they were invited to the town by Marsten). They arent invincible foes but they are formidable ones. And its the townspeople that drive the action and turn SL into an apocalypse.

This is a rich story full of great themes about society, the power of faith, men vs boys (my favorite chapter is the inner monologue Mark Petrie has after a close call where he muses about how adult fears are nothing compared to what a child dels with under the bed at night) and even love and salvation. Read it and decide for yourself if this is a horror novel or a novel about the horrorz of man.


Tags : Salem's Lot [Stephen King] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Thousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy,Stephen King,Salem's Lot,Hodder & Stoughton,0450031063,Classic fiction,Horror & ghost stories,Horror

Salem Lot Stephen King 9780450031069 Books Reviews

Having read the original the day it came out (I literally could not put it down), I was just a bit disappointed when my version arrived with all kinds of amendments, editor's notes, and addendum. I was looking forward to reliving a horrific experience (in the best possible way), but instead had to wade through changes, explanations and a lot of other things that made it less of an experience for me.

Stephen King is not the only guilty party when it comes to altering released versions of his art - many recording artists from the Sixties apparently arrived at a point in their career where they felt they could improve upon the originally-released version of their work. What they fail to consider in doing so is the fact that those original releases have become a part of their audience's subconscious to which changes are most unwelcome, especially if the 'new and improved' version becomes all that is available.

One of my favorite books of all time is Stephen King's The Stand, and while I would have found his unedited version interesting from a writer's perspective, I vastly prefer the original edited version as a reader. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available any longer. Same goes for Salem's Lot in form. If it's the original horror you seek, hit the used book stores, and I wish you luck!
I originally got this book when it first came out in 1975. And, for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it. So, after all these years, I thought I'd try again.

It's still not my favorite Stephen King book - and I've read them all. But it is much better than I remembered. It's a hefty tome like most of King's offerings and I did feel that it was repetitive and too wordy in spots.

But as far as vampire books go, it's truly top of the line. You aren't going to find blood, guts and gore like modern day vampire tales. There are a few stomach-roiling moments but King mainly depends on his superior storytelling abilities to let the reader imagine the terrifying happenings in 'salem's Lot.

The book is suspenseful and scary yet filled with ordinary people trying to overcome extraordinary circumstances.

I enjoyed most of the characters, especially Ben and Mark. They were vividly drawn and I felt I would know them if I ever met them - and even call them friends.

A couple of negatives based on this illustrated edition

There were very few pictures in the book, especially for a book of this length. And the pictures are very small in the edition.

There was a formatting issue about halfway through the book that garbled up about 50 pages of the book. It was barely readable - and annoying.

I did enjoy the two short stories that were part of this edition - ONE FOR THE ROAD and JERUSALEM'S LOT. And I especially enjoyed the deleted scenes at the end of the book.

So, all in all, I'm glad I re-read this book. Will I read it again someday in the future like I do many of Stephen King's books? Probably not.
I enjoyed Salem's Lot. Prior to this novel, I read Carrie which was my first by King. I liked this story, a writer staying in a boarding house to write a book about a haunted house from his childhood that continued to bother him even in his adulthood. A group coming together to kill these creatures infesting the town. The witty English teacher/ Dr. Van Helsing character. Parts if it made me laugh in bed while reading, others creeped me out... especially the image of these child vampires overcoming the town's crotchety bus driver after baiting him onto the bus in the middle of the night. It definitely kept me engaged and I'm looking forward to reading a few more of King's books. In the afterword, King refers to Salem's Lot as an American vampire tale... it was then I remembered thumbing through the pages one of my brother's comic books with the same title and how King contributed to the writing of it. Good read.
I read this book as a kid and it scared the beejesus out of me. I read it again recently as an adult and it was a different experience alltogether. If you arent a King fan or are, if horror is your thing or its not, here are 3 reasons why this is still a great bookk

1. Its not what you might expect. Yes, its about vampires visiting a small town and good vs Evil (capital "E"), but Salems lot is a soap opra, with vivid characters only King can create and vignettes of life in a small town that will make you feel nostalgic and disgusted at the same time. They beat their children, cheat on their husbands, drink and bully. Yet its hard to pin them on a good vs bad board, there are shades of grey with everyone you meet. This town is Anytown USA, more a charcter than a setting and you realize the evil man can do is more destructive to society than a thousand year old vampire.

2. It is King at his finest - the writing, the transitions and use of the third person narrative makes the story come alive - its a slow build I admit but by the time the bodies start dropping King makes you care in a way most horror novels dont bother to. You feel for the Glicks, you root for the alcoholic priest trying to reclaim enough faith to battle the dark one and you are happy for Dud in his new life. King will do this again in the Stand and in It, but once you read SL you realize hes sampling from his earlier works and no other book will make you laugh cry and turn on the lights like this one will. The genuis of starting the book with the tall man and boy in Mexico is you kind of know whats going to happen (much like a Columbo episode where you see the murder up front), but it raises so many questions you simply have to hang on.

3. Its the best kind of horror story - it follows the rules and tells classic tale. Straker and Barlow may be the villans but they arent blood thirsty monsters either - they are true to their nature. A vampire kils and a watchdog protects. In one seen where Straker does something awful, King takes the time to tell us about the look on his face which enlightens the reader about his motivation. They follow all the vampire rules - sunlight and crosses and of course the need for an invitation (in fact they were invited to the town by Marsten). They arent invincible foes but they are formidable ones. And its the townspeople that drive the action and turn SL into an apocalypse.

This is a rich story full of great themes about society, the power of faith, men vs boys (my favorite chapter is the inner monologue Mark Petrie has after a close call where he muses about how adult fears are nothing compared to what a child dels with under the bed at night) and even love and salvation. Read it and decide for yourself if this is a horror novel or a novel about the horrorz of man.