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Oct. 9th, 2005
Books: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Oct. 9th, 2005 09:43 pm-One aphorism I have picked up about writing is this: If the characters start complaining about the plot, you've got a real problem. This book suffers from that problem. In a couple ways, it resembles King's From a Buick Eight, in that it consists of a few older characters telling a story to a younger character, and, along the way, commenting on how the story isn't really a story. How it lacks resolution, how there are unresolved mysteries, etc.
-To show the problem, I'm going to synopsize Colorado Kid. I'll write it white-on-white; triple-click here to read it. A man is found dead on a beach in Maine. He appears to have choked to death on a piece of steak. No wallet. A pack of cigarettes in his pocket has a Colorado tax stamp. His picture is circulated in Colorado, and he is identified as an advertising artist, with no reason whatsoever for being in Maine. By comparing the last time he was seen in Colorado, and the first time he was seen in Maine (a few hours later), he must have made the trip on a private jet flying direct, but no records are found. He's a non-smoker; one of the protagonists guesses that he deliberately bought the pack of cigs so his body would be identified eventually.
-That's it. The whole damn story.
-To his credit, King talks about this problem in the afterword. He says that he wrote this story to be about the mystery, not the solution, and how life is full of mysteries. Frankly, I don't think that's it. I'm going to file this as another example of "King almost died in a random car accident a few years back." Which is to say, in this world Shit Happens, and it's not always part of a story. Not everything has an answer. And, while that is a truth, and an important one for people to know, I read fiction because it does have answers, and resolutions. Most of the time.
-Anyway, short book (a tad over 180 pages); I read it in a day. It's part of a new "pulp nostalgia" imprint called Hard Case, and the 60s-style cover art is the best thing about it. Not recommended.
-To show the problem, I'm going to synopsize Colorado Kid. I'll write it white-on-white; triple-click here to read it. A man is found dead on a beach in Maine. He appears to have choked to death on a piece of steak. No wallet. A pack of cigarettes in his pocket has a Colorado tax stamp. His picture is circulated in Colorado, and he is identified as an advertising artist, with no reason whatsoever for being in Maine. By comparing the last time he was seen in Colorado, and the first time he was seen in Maine (a few hours later), he must have made the trip on a private jet flying direct, but no records are found. He's a non-smoker; one of the protagonists guesses that he deliberately bought the pack of cigs so his body would be identified eventually.
-That's it. The whole damn story.
-To his credit, King talks about this problem in the afterword. He says that he wrote this story to be about the mystery, not the solution, and how life is full of mysteries. Frankly, I don't think that's it. I'm going to file this as another example of "King almost died in a random car accident a few years back." Which is to say, in this world Shit Happens, and it's not always part of a story. Not everything has an answer. And, while that is a truth, and an important one for people to know, I read fiction because it does have answers, and resolutions. Most of the time.
-Anyway, short book (a tad over 180 pages); I read it in a day. It's part of a new "pulp nostalgia" imprint called Hard Case, and the 60s-style cover art is the best thing about it. Not recommended.