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A review by a_mae13
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King
3.0
"Books are real objects. Books are friends."
This was a fun collection, even though I didn't finish all of the stories. I'll probably give some another try at a later date but the last few just weren't vibing with me. I love King's short stories because they're such a nice way to break up full length novels. And, I just love his writing. Even stories that weren't my favorite, still stuck with me. I'll summarize some of my favorites and rate them by story.
Favorites:
● Mile 81: this was a fun read. There's a suspicious car that eats people, and no one believes it until they actually see it happen. And that's really it! It just attacks everyone.
● The Dune: this was probably my favorite one because it's spooky and ominous. A mysterious, secluded island covered in sandy dunes has names written in the beaches. Every time the main character, Harvey, heads out there, there are new names. Some days there are 100s, some days just one.
● Bad Little Kid: this one had a funny scary vibe. We have a man on death row who is willing to talk about his crimes, the murder of a young boy. He calls in his attorney to tell his side of the story. He's been tormented by this young boy for all of his life, the boy has orange hair, green eyes, and wears a propeller hat. He caused his best friend in elementary school to be hit by a car. And later, he sees the boy again, but he hasn't aged at all. He made his girlfriend commit suicide, blew up the mine his father worked in, and caused his wife to have a miscarriage. So George (mc) sets a trap to kill him and that's why he's on death row. When the attorney leaves, there's a propeller hat in his locked car with a note that says "see you soon".
● Afterlife: I really loved the concept of this one. After dying, William Andrews wakes up in purgatory. He's met by a spiritual caseworker who tells him that he has a choice to make, he can go through one of two doors or stay in purgatory. One door takes him back to his life where he remembers next to nothing and the other door is eternal rest. If he goes through the first door, it may not change any of the bad things that happened in his life. We also learn that his caseworker is the owner of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and is stuck in purgatory until he owns up to his bad deeds.
● Ur: this one cracked me up with the introduction of technology to an "older" person. Wesley is a college professor who desperately wants to fit into modern times. He loves books and reading, so he decides to get an Amazon Kindle. The Kindle he received is bright pink. Why? Because this Kindle was supposed to go to a Wesley Smith in an alternate universe. This Kindle has a search function that lets you search multiple timelines for data, and Wesley ends up saving his girlfriend's basketball team from a fatal bus accident.
● Under the Weather: this reminded me of A Rose for Emily, need I say more.
● Obits: another scary funny vibe story where the main character Michael writes a comedic obituary for an actor who overdosed. His humor lands him a job at a webzine writing obituaries. He asks his supervisor for a raise, which is denied, and he writes a fake obituary for him to blow off steam. And then his boss drops dead.
Okay:
● Premium Harmony: this one was just sad! who kills off a dog! i mean the woman dies too but the dog!
● Batman and Robin have an Altercation: this one was kinda funny because I can see the truck driver so vividly as someone who lives in Indiana.
● A Death: I feel like this one just needed to be fleshed out more because it's not totally clear that we're supposed to discover that he was actually guilty...I definitely needed more details.
Morality: this one frustrated me for reasons I can't really describe. I don't understand the "sinful" aspect of this? Obviously punching a kid in the face, bad. But I kept expecting it to get worse. I mean there's a clergyman asking his in-home nurse to record "sinful acts" for him regarding children...but that was it?
● Herman Wouk is Still Alive: this one was just sad too!
● Blockade Billy: this could have been shorter honestly... because I really liked the premise of it but there was so much baseball that I kept getting distracted. That's a me problem though.
DNF:
● The Bone Church
● Mister Yummy
● Tommy
● The Little Green God of Agony
● That Bus is Another World
● Drunken Fireworks
● Summer Thunder
This was a fun collection, even though I didn't finish all of the stories. I'll probably give some another try at a later date but the last few just weren't vibing with me. I love King's short stories because they're such a nice way to break up full length novels. And, I just love his writing. Even stories that weren't my favorite, still stuck with me. I'll summarize some of my favorites and rate them by story.
Favorites:
● Mile 81: this was a fun read. There's a suspicious car that eats people, and no one believes it until they actually see it happen. And that's really it! It just attacks everyone.
● The Dune: this was probably my favorite one because it's spooky and ominous. A mysterious, secluded island covered in sandy dunes has names written in the beaches. Every time the main character, Harvey, heads out there, there are new names. Some days there are 100s, some days just one.
● Bad Little Kid: this one had a funny scary vibe. We have a man on death row who is willing to talk about his crimes, the murder of a young boy. He calls in his attorney to tell his side of the story. He's been tormented by this young boy for all of his life, the boy has orange hair, green eyes, and wears a propeller hat. He caused his best friend in elementary school to be hit by a car. And later, he sees the boy again, but he hasn't aged at all. He made his girlfriend commit suicide, blew up the mine his father worked in, and caused his wife to have a miscarriage. So George (mc) sets a trap to kill him and that's why he's on death row. When the attorney leaves, there's a propeller hat in his locked car with a note that says "see you soon".
● Afterlife: I really loved the concept of this one. After dying, William Andrews wakes up in purgatory. He's met by a spiritual caseworker who tells him that he has a choice to make, he can go through one of two doors or stay in purgatory. One door takes him back to his life where he remembers next to nothing and the other door is eternal rest. If he goes through the first door, it may not change any of the bad things that happened in his life. We also learn that his caseworker is the owner of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and is stuck in purgatory until he owns up to his bad deeds.
● Ur: this one cracked me up with the introduction of technology to an "older" person. Wesley is a college professor who desperately wants to fit into modern times. He loves books and reading, so he decides to get an Amazon Kindle. The Kindle he received is bright pink. Why? Because this Kindle was supposed to go to a Wesley Smith in an alternate universe. This Kindle has a search function that lets you search multiple timelines for data, and Wesley ends up saving his girlfriend's basketball team from a fatal bus accident.
● Under the Weather: this reminded me of A Rose for Emily, need I say more.
● Obits: another scary funny vibe story where the main character Michael writes a comedic obituary for an actor who overdosed. His humor lands him a job at a webzine writing obituaries. He asks his supervisor for a raise, which is denied, and he writes a fake obituary for him to blow off steam. And then his boss drops dead.
Okay:
● Premium Harmony: this one was just sad! who kills off a dog! i mean the woman dies too but the dog!
● Batman and Robin have an Altercation: this one was kinda funny because I can see the truck driver so vividly as someone who lives in Indiana.
● A Death: I feel like this one just needed to be fleshed out more because it's not totally clear that we're supposed to discover that he was actually guilty...I definitely needed more details.
Morality: this one frustrated me for reasons I can't really describe. I don't understand the "sinful" aspect of this? Obviously punching a kid in the face, bad. But I kept expecting it to get worse. I mean there's a clergyman asking his in-home nurse to record "sinful acts" for him regarding children...but that was it?
● Herman Wouk is Still Alive: this one was just sad too!
● Blockade Billy: this could have been shorter honestly... because I really liked the premise of it but there was so much baseball that I kept getting distracted. That's a me problem though.
DNF:
● The Bone Church
● Mister Yummy
● Tommy
● The Little Green God of Agony
● That Bus is Another World
● Drunken Fireworks
● Summer Thunder