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A review by anniep95
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
3.0
Interesting enough, the dialogue felt interchangeable though… Like the characters didn’t have a lot of voice, any given dialogue could have been changed out to any other character and it wouldn’t have changed anything. There are worse books, this just did not do it for me (not sure I’m a hard boiled detective novel fan though so maybe my problem is the genre?). I also have been a fan of King’s older horror and so maybe I’m holding this to a higher standard because I know what his writing can be. Anyways.
So I found a few things problematic which resulted in the low rating despite it being a somewhat interesting read (again taking into account I’m not a fan of the genre):
Jerome’s little racist trope alter-ego????? Like Jerome as a whole didn’t need to happen. The reader is constantly reminded that he’s black, but also that he’s smart. But in the same breath he’s reminding you that Jerome is smart (bc it’s always telling you rather than showing you in Mr. Mercedes) he goes into some racist slave caricature voice—he calls him “Tyrone Feelgood Delight”. WHAT??? I am baffled as to how this was written in this century.
Sexist tropes were also rampant. King did not manage to write a single strong female character in this book. We start with the mom at the job fair—she’s only ever framed as incompetent. Incompetent for not having a partner, a job, or a babysitter. Janey is unable to do ANYTHING without Hodges help. She barely knows him, but she needs him to hold her hand and make funeral arrangements, deal with her family that he’s never even met, etc. It was considered outlandish that anything other than Olivia’s incompetence could have resulted in her car being used for the massacre. And then there’s Holly. It was bashed into the readers skull at any moment possible that Holly was mentally ill. In fact, you also see intricate to the point of excessive depictions of how mentally ill Olivia was, so Holly’s just doomed bc it runs in the family. It just seemed performative to have it fall to her to disarm Brady, bc like “Oh it’s the mentally unstable woman, will she be able to do it??”
I’m sure this has been mentioned about this book before but the fatphobia was pervasive. Hodges is 30lbs overweight but you’d think he weighs 300 based on how he’s discussed. Constant references to his weight, his diet, and why his romantic partner is even giving him the time of day.
The pop culture references were… not current. There’s a list of “pop groups” that will be playing at the major concert venue over the summer and I can’t remember the list but it was Bruce Springsteen and his contemporaries which like contextually made no sense because he was talking about how the venue made all their revenue on pop acts during the summer and the only one that wasn’t dated wasn’t a real band.
I don’t know if this is a pop culture thing but Hodges is watching Jerry Springer and he calls an ankle tattoo a “tramp stamp” and like it’s these little weird misfired references in King’s more recent work that’s making him sound out of touch. I’m accounting for the fact that one of the main characters is a 63-year-old man, but he’s also supposed to be a street-smart 63-year-old man and even the stuff younger characters were saying seemed anachronistic.
So I found a few things problematic which resulted in the low rating despite it being a somewhat interesting read (again taking into account I’m not a fan of the genre):
Jerome’s little racist trope alter-ego????? Like Jerome as a whole didn’t need to happen. The reader is constantly reminded that he’s black, but also that he’s smart. But in the same breath he’s reminding you that Jerome is smart (bc it’s always telling you rather than showing you in Mr. Mercedes) he goes into some racist slave caricature voice—he calls him “Tyrone Feelgood Delight”. WHAT??? I am baffled as to how this was written in this century.
Sexist tropes were also rampant. King did not manage to write a single strong female character in this book. We start with the mom at the job fair—she’s only ever framed as incompetent. Incompetent for not having a partner, a job, or a babysitter. Janey is unable to do ANYTHING without Hodges help. She barely knows him, but she needs him to hold her hand and make funeral arrangements, deal with her family that he’s never even met, etc. It was considered outlandish that anything other than Olivia’s incompetence could have resulted in her car being used for the massacre. And then there’s Holly. It was bashed into the readers skull at any moment possible that Holly was mentally ill. In fact, you also see intricate to the point of excessive depictions of how mentally ill Olivia was, so Holly’s just doomed bc it runs in the family. It just seemed performative to have it fall to her to disarm Brady, bc like “Oh it’s the mentally unstable woman, will she be able to do it??”
I’m sure this has been mentioned about this book before but the fatphobia was pervasive. Hodges is 30lbs overweight but you’d think he weighs 300 based on how he’s discussed. Constant references to his weight, his diet, and why his romantic partner is even giving him the time of day.
The pop culture references were… not current. There’s a list of “pop groups” that will be playing at the major concert venue over the summer and I can’t remember the list but it was Bruce Springsteen and his contemporaries which like contextually made no sense because he was talking about how the venue made all their revenue on pop acts during the summer and the only one that wasn’t dated wasn’t a real band.
I don’t know if this is a pop culture thing but Hodges is watching Jerry Springer and he calls an ankle tattoo a “tramp stamp” and like it’s these little weird misfired references in King’s more recent work that’s making him sound out of touch. I’m accounting for the fact that one of the main characters is a 63-year-old man, but he’s also supposed to be a street-smart 63-year-old man and even the stuff younger characters were saying seemed anachronistic.