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After his accident, Stephen was involved in a lot of of publicity, and if I remember correctly, he did a television interview stating that if he continued to write, he would be doing a great disservice to the public. According to King, he's delivered his message, and any further attempts would be nothing but repetition. In other words, his well of creativity has run dry. Of course, this is contradicted by his latest release, Cell, and the upcoming Lisey's Story. We can only assume that King was in a temporary mindset when he made these comments. Whether or not I agree with them is irrelevant, but I'm sure we can expect much more from the man before he hangs his hat.
At this point , I would advise King to work on non-fiction, or even short stories, as he seems to have lost his knack for creating complex, memorable novels. On first reading, I viewed Cell as an indisputable masterpiece, but I have to set aside my bias and express my true opinion. The story, and even the writing style itself is hardly reminiscent of classic Stephen King. A lot of the technical details are incorrect, and in some cases, plain ridiculous. He obviously lazed on the research, something I've not noticed in his earlier novels. The characterization was decent, a lot better than I could do, but once again, not worthy of "The Master of Horror."
When you're buying this book on Amazon, or any other retailer with a review system, you don't have to look far to find the main source of disappointment among fans. King tried something different with the ending, and I respect him for that, but somehow, he couldn't pull it off. The story is never "summed up", per se, but ended abruptly, like several Alfred Hitchcock films I know of. I haven't a problem with ambiguity, as I enjoy The Birds and other films with a similar conclusion style, but some aspect of this just doesn't feel right. It's as if he ended the book on a cliffhanger, and intended a sequel. However, even if that were the case, I wouldn't bother reading it.
Maybe I'm being too harsh; after all, more than fifty percent of my reading material is from new and upcoming authors, and most of that stuff is no better than Cell. So what's the problem? Maybe it's just a failure to meet expectations, a perpetual hope that the man who I've looked up to for so long will finally return to his former glory. As far as I know, it's been this way since the release of Dreamcatcher, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. I'll still buy his books in hardcover, I can't deny that, and I'll probably give a biased opinion every once in a while. But deep inside my heart, I'll know the truth.
i found the ending bit stupid for reasons i will state below in a spoiler box
warning: this spoiler will ruin a large part of the lead up to the end
he deicided to reinfect his son to make him better, how would that work????
my computer has a virus so i will just put a degenerate version in my of it in my computer and it will fix it??
WTF?? i found that bit was too unbeleivable, it didnt make much sense to me anyway....
oh and the large lead up was about whether or not his son was infected...
i thought it was good, exept for the ending which was crappy and seemed to be rushed
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Rose (possesed by Cassandra) : oh chavtastic again
McSteamy:if it isnt my faviourite Dirty Mistress
Meradith (high on morphine) : havn't you heard? now i'm an Adulterous Whore!
If homosexuality is a disease, lets all call in queer to work: Hello Can't work today, still queer
I thought Cell was very well done, but for some reason at the end, King seemed tired with the premise and the entire plot itself. It seemed strained. It was boring at some parts, like, in my opinion, the Gaiten Academy chapter (alot of it anyway). I loved the twists, and thought it was great he tapped upon the genre made famous by George Romero, who he also dedicated it the book too, and Richard Matheson as well.
You look at the ending, it seemed like he was trying to push it along, almost like he was in a hurry to finish. I was glued through the first half of the novel. It was intense and a geniune page turner. But I have to wonder how bored King got with it as he went on.
Maybe he should go to movies again. Its a shame Eli Roth is going to be running his greasy fingers through this book for a movie...
I was highly disappointed by this book. I expected something not as drawn out and tedious as this was. I still believe King's best work was all written as Richard Bachman.
