Category: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Why The Stand Ruined My Life (or an adventure in a long ass book)

Manda Kay

I did it.

After months, almost half a year, I finished The Stand by Stephen King.

I wanna start out by saying that I enjoyed it for the most part. I know a lot of people consider it to be his best work. I still have a hard on for the final installment of The Dark Tower series that shares the same name, but I do think this one is in my top five for sure.

Manda Kay (@___mandakay) • Instagram photos and videos

That being said, though…

Spoilers ahead:::

My favorite character in the entire book was Nick. Favorite is a bit of an understatement, I think. I was in love with Nick. Like, I am ready to dive headfirst into some fanfiction and read some sweet, sweet Nick scenes over and over again. If Nick was real, my fiancé would have some real hard competition. Do you get what I’m saying here? I have feels for Nick in the worst of ways, and it is probably not healthy. NICK was the BACKBONE of the whole shebang, and what does King decide to do after he birthed this magnificent human being into existence?

He fucking explodes him into a gazillion pieces.

LITERALLY — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Stephen King took my heart and crushed it like a stale cigarette.

If I ever have the chance to meet him again and actually talk to him, I’m going to have some strong words.

I recently wrote a post in a Stephen King group about this very same topic, to which I got a multitude of responses. Most people agreed with me, so in that aspect, I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt real attraction to a fictional character. I’m also worried about what that says about us as a whole. I don’t think this is a normal thing. Like, I embrace it, but cautiously.

Some people told me basically to get over it, since it is a Stephen King book, and the man has a knack for killing off the most beloved characters. To that, I lovingly say ‘fuck off,’ because it’s not the same. Stephen King has a knack for killing off beloved characters in a satisfying way that gives the reader some closure. I would provide examples, but I don’t want to spoil any more stories than this one. Just take my word for it. I have loved other characters of his, and at the time of their death, while yes, I was devastated, I was also accepting of the fact. My favorite character is dead, but their friends are grieving with me, so it’s going to be okay.

A large handful of people agreed with me, that yes, Nick’s death comes out of nowhere, and yes, the characters did not grieve in the way I wanted. However, the part I was missing was the fact that these people had already experienced so much loss before Nick’s passing. How could I blame them for being numb to it all? And to that, I say…you’re right. Everyone lost their families, their friends, the people who were closest to them. Who had I lost? Who had the readers as a whole lost? Their best friend, Nick.

That speaks to me.

While I felt for (and maybe you did, too!) everyone who lost someone during the pandemic, I couldn’t take part in their pain. I only had a few pages of knowledge about the relationship between them and their loved ones, while they had a whole lifetime with them. I could only share in their pain when I lost someone, too. That someone just so happened to be Nick.

In the end of it all, I suppose I need to be grateful that King created a character so real I could almost touch him. He was made from nothing, and when he returned to nothing, I felt a hole where he once stood. That’s some powerful stuff. That’s why he’s one of my all-time favorite authors.

And, when it comes right down to it, I guess I hope that one day I can do the same thing. I hope that in my own writing, I can create someone that feels real, not just to me, but to another living person. I hope that I can illicit this outpouring of emotion, whether it be good or bad, like he has done for me and countless other people.

I think a lot of authors getting a feel for the ropes want to be famous. As for me, that’s not what I strive for. Don’t get me wrong, selling books to get by sounds amazing. However, in the end, I want to give what authors like King have given to me: an escape.

All that stuff aside, the book was solid. It had several likeable antagonists (Flagg, Lloyd, Trashcan Man), a couple of likeable protagonists (Nick, Tom, Gene, Larry), and some damn fine storytelling throughout. He did a fantastic job of showing the “bad guys” not as monsters who were all out for blood, but real-life people who were just as good as you or me.

As for a rating, I’ll give it an 8/10. You probably think I docked it because of what happened to Nick. You’d be wrong. This baby doesn’t get a solid 10 from me because I didn’t like Stu or Fran, and they got the most screen time out of anyone. They were the main mains, and I wasn’t here for it.

And Nick exploding didn’t help.

Before I end this off, I shared a couple songs when I finished The Dark Tower, and that was kind of fun. So here’s a couple songs that feel like The Stand to me.

This first one reminds me of Nick. It feels sad and a little hopeless, which is something I imagine Nick felt a lot of throughout his journey:::

And this one reminds me of the overall fight between good and evil in the story. It’s less sad, more angry. It’s something I associate especially with those in the Free Zone. Listen to the lyrics:::

Have you read The Stand? God, I hope so, otherwise you just got something big ruined for you. Who was your favorite character, and why was it Nick? I’m just kidding. But really, tell me who your favorite was. If it was Stu or Fran, please tell me what it is about either of them that tickled your fancy. My cousin loves both of them, and I just don’t get it. Tell me your thoughts down below!!

Book Reviews

Not All Who Wander…

Manda Kay

Let’s be real with each other. How many of us have screamed at the homeless? “Get a job!” “Get off my property!” “I’m calling the police!” I’d say there’s probably a good chunk of us who have. To an extent, it’s your right to. It’s your right to protect what is yours, and if someone pushes, no one would blame you for pushing back. How many of us have ignored the homeless? They sit out there day after day with their signs and you just look right through them. There’s most likely an even bigger chunk of us in that category. I’m part of the latter, myself. It’s easy for me to look through people in general. I’m intimidated by almost every person I meet, so that’s a normal occurrence for me. I won’t use that as an excuse, though. I won’t lie and say that the emotions that go through me when I walk by a nicely dressed stranger are the same as when I walk past someone begging for money. The homeless seem more threatening to me. Their willingness to ask for assistance strikes me as odd, outside the normal realm of human interaction. They will talk to anyone with little regard for how that person will react or what they will think of them.

And, honestly, I think that says more about me as a person than about them.  I think it says more about all of us.

Does society shun the homeless because they are an eyesore to the better off?  Or do they shun them because they are living better off than the rest of us?

Hear me out.

There’s a freedom associated with living on the streets. Who here hasn’t thought a time or two about running away from our job or family or responsibilities to just go do what we want when we want? You tell me no, and I’ll call you a liar. Think about it for a minute. True honest to god freedom. What does that look like for you? For me, it would be a lot of traveling to places I’ve never been, reading anything and everything I could get my hands on, and writing, simply for the joy of writing. It sounds appealing, and it’d be so simple to do. Just drive.

Just gimme something to read and some food and I’ll be golden

So then, if it’s all good and well, what stops us from taking the leap?

I think the things that stop me are the same things that stop a lot of us.  I hate having a mortgage, but I love having a roof over my head with heating and air available to me whenever I want it (in exchange for a higher electric bill, naturally).  I hate having a 9-5, but I love the steady income every two weeks.  Knowing when my next meal will be and having the luxury to be picky is something I can’t imagine life without.  I have dogs that need spoiled, a wedding to plan, and, while I normally don’t think of myself as high maintenance or materialistic, there are things out there that I look forward to buying or viewing or consuming.  

Letting go of responsibility and throwing caution to the wind sounds lovely, but I’m just too damn comfortable.

I never really thought about homelessness and what all is involved with it until I read the book Those Who Wander: America’s Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho. In it, Ho takes a critical look at the homeless, street kids in particular, and seeks to offer insight as to why some choose to live on the streets, and why others can’t get off them no matter how hard they try. She interviews street kids of all ages and creeds and walks of life, from the wanted to the unwanted, the sane to the mentally ill, the criminals, the innocents, and everyone in between. Ho takes her work to the next level by interacting with them in their own environment, whether it be taking a walk with one street kid in the park, or attending a convention of sorts with dozens upon dozens of homeless people on the beaches of California. The one thing they all have in common is a sense of community. Street kids, for the most part, look out for their own. It is truly a fascinating read that I would recommend to anyone interested in sociology or curious about the people who hold up signs.

Such a great cover, too – https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhfMXVg5O0/

I’m honestly not doing this book justice.  I think the biggest takeaway from Those Who Wander is this: Don’t be so quick to judge.  You never know the other person’s story.

That, and, maybe be a little nicer to your fellow man.  It costs absolutely nothing to be kind.

If I had to rate this, I’d give it a 10/10.  Vivian Ho writes in such a way that gives an unbiased look at the homeless youth’s way of life, and I am here for it.  After reading every chapter, I’d put the book down for a moment to absorb what I just read.  She tells their stories so carefully, no details spared, and she includes her own previous biases and how the people she met morphed her to understand where they were coming from.  This book is absolutely incredible.

Alright, void I scream into, you know the drill.  Your turn.  Tell me about a time you helped someone less fortunate than yourself.  Gimme some feel-goods.

Book Reviews

Higher and Higher

Manda Kay

Fiction, I feel, is a lifesaver in this day and age.  So many crazy and horrible things are happening out there that it’s nice to get away into something that may very well be equally crazy and horrible, but it’s fake, so no one is getting hurt.

Normally, horror is my go-to. The profane soothes my soul. This time, I opted for something a little bit different.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYf-FeFoQq/

Elevation, by Stephen King, is a baby novel that is just about as feel-good and bittersweet as you can get.  It’s about a man, Scott Carey, who is losing weight at a rapid pace for no definable reason.  He doesn’t look like he’s losing weight.  He looks the same as he always has.  But if he steps on the scale, he weighs 180.  If he steps on the scale naked, he weighs 180.  If he steps on the scale with fifty pound weights, you guessed it, a whopping 180.  It doesn’t matter how much or how little he has on him, he always weighs the same.  And the weight is only climbing down.

Along the way, he confides in his old family doctor the phenomena, moreso to have someone to confide in than to get answers as to why.  Truth is, he doesn’t want to know why, and he knows if word gets out, he’ll just be another marvel of medical science that will guarantee his last moments will be spent hooked up to wires inside some facility and studied like a lab rat. 

He also slowly builds a relationship with his neighbors, Deidre and Missy, the only married lesbian couple in town.  Basically, Castle Rock is super conservative (something I know and have experienced all too well), and the rest of the town looks down on them.  They don’t trust his intentions at first after he brings pictures of their dogs shitting in his yard to their doorstep, but eventually everyone comes around, if things are a little strained at the word go.

The more weight he loses, the less attached to gravity he becomes.  In fact, he’s worried he’s about to lose touch altogether and just start floating.

Leaving gravity on read? Ghosting gravity? Ghosting gravity.

This book was a curious mix of Thinner, also by Stephen King, and Pop Art, written by his son, Joe Hill.  I think it was good, but not his best work.  I got more emotional over Pop Art, I think.  I was more at the edge of my seat over Thinner (but I don’t think he was going for a thriller story, so I don’t judge too harsh on that).  The only part that made me feel anything was when Scott had to give away his cat.  Other than that, it was just a nice little story, and a nice little break from the real world terrors that are happening out there.

One part that got me that I still think about doesn’t even have to do much with the content of the book itself and more to do with someone else’s review on a Stephen King group on Facebook.  They said essentially they didn’t like it because they thought it was too political.  And I just don’t see that?  There is a drop of Trump at the beginning to set the scene and the main character’s stance, and that’s it.  Unless they meant Deidre and Missy being married?  I hope that’s not what they meant, because I think that says more about them than about the book, but there’s that.  I dunno, man.  People be cray.

Rating wise?  I’ll give it like a 5/10.  It wasn’t terrible.  But it wasn’t great, either.  I feel like the shorter the story, the bigger the punch in the heart, and this one left me wanting.

And because I like to scream questions out to the void that often go unanswered: Do you like your stories longer or shorter?  I think for me, it varies, but I’d rather read a good story that spans hundreds upon hundreds of pages.  I like getting lost and staying lost, because goodbyes suck.

Book Reviews

Light and Dark, Good and Evil, Yin and Yang

Manda Kay

Have you ever lived in a haunted house?  Would you know if you did?  Do you believe in ghosts?  It doesn’t matter.  They don’t really care.

This time around, it was a true story about a true haunting you’ve probably heard of even if you aren’t into the stuff.  It happens to be the inspiration behind the A-lister horror movie, The Conjuring.  That’s right.  The clap-clap ghost. 

At least that’s how I remember the movie.

Since then, it’s been the subject for paranormal investigators, including Ghost Adventures doing a special on the house and the haunting within its four walls. I’m talking about the book House of Darkness, House of Light, written through the eyes of Andrea Perron, one of the sisters who lived through the haunting and saw firsthand its effect on her friends and family members. It’s the first of three in the series, and if the other two are anything like the first, I’ll likely read them in the future.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBjwvVcALVw/

So a quick little spoiler-free rundown of what to expect if you decide to take this on (which I hope you do):  There is a family with so many girls that I honestly had trouble keeping track of which one was which (but names confuse me anyway and I have a hard time of keeping track of characters when there’s more than one or two so that’s my own shortcomings).  They have some issues where they live, so they move, if a little bit unwillingly at first by all parties.  A nice old man holds the house of their dreams for them, and things seem too good to be true.

And then, out of nowhere, flies.  So.  Many.  Flies.  Things move, sometimes when no one is there to witness, other times in front of an audience.  Whispers in the room when the house is empty.  Figures standing in the shadows.  You know, your general haunted house rigmarole. 

What sets this book apart from the rest is the way it’s written.  I have a soft spot for prose written like poetry, and that’s what this is.  There is so much description that it makes me feel like I’m there with the family experience every movement and every sound for better or worse.  Also, I feel like personal experience hauntings are a dime a dozen, but there are a very small handful that have had such a huge impact on not only paranormal investigations, but on the entertainment industry of today.  There’s ghost stories.  And then there’s hauntings.  You feel me?

Spooky scary spooky scary – Photo by Ryan Miguel Capili on Pexels.com

My only complaint about the book is there was no ghost clap-clap ghost, and my spooky little heart wants to believe that the clap-clap ghost exists and isn’t just a cheap (albeit good) scare for the silver screen.  Granted, there’s more to the story that I haven’t touched yet.  The clap-clap ghost could be real still.  Or I could just be remembering the movie wrong.  If I am, hey, Hollywood, wanna make a movie about spooky clapping?  😉

If I had to rate it, I’d give this baby a straight up 9/10. So much more good than bad in this one.

And now, I turn to you, void.  This time, I have an unrelated question.  Do you prefer these book reviews to be short and sweet like this one?  Or would you rather me go more indepth like past reviews?  I’m genuinely curious.  I’ve been doing this for a year, and I still don’t really know what I’m doing.  Thoughts?  Questions?  Complaints?  Want me to shut up?  Get in the comments below, or send me an email.  Let’s be friends!  Or enemies.  Or frienemies! 

Book Reviews

You’re as Cold as Ice (These are my Confessions)

Manda Kay

Sleazy deals.  Vicious murders.  Sharp clothing.  Crime bosses and the high life.  Who doesn’t love a good mafia story?

Philip Carlo had the privilege of interviewing the notorious Richard Kuklinski—The Ice Man—before his death in early 2006.  He compiled the man’s story into a book that has since been made into a movie by the name of The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. 

And hot damn, is it a good read.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAfqD-ogso5/

Richard goes into detail of not only the atrocious murders he committed both for the mafia and for his own kicks, but also delves deep into the life he led before he was a house name in the underground.  The reader gets a good look at the man behind the killings and a glimpse into the disturbing way the mind of a sociopath works.

The book talks about his home life growing up and the hardships he faced between an almost absent mother and a mean drunk of a father, pointing out where in the mess of childhood trauma his life took a turn and led him down the path of cool hatred and hot tantrums.  He recalls his first kill as a young boy and the satisfaction he received from getting away with it, and his fondness for bloodshed by any means necessary only grew.

Richard was enthralled with crime and indeed almost all the reading he willingly did was books and magazines about just that.  He was interested in the different ways people committed heinous acts and what they did wrong that ultimately got them caught.

Does that sound familiar, void? 😉

That’s right, I see you, you serial-killer-in-the-making – Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

As he grew older, he met his wife, Barbara, and started a family with her with the intention of turning his life around.  But every time he tried, he’d get an itch that an honest day of work couldn’t scratch.  He couldn’t keep up with bills and Barbara’s expensive tastes on his daytime salary, not to mention his excessive gambling tended to get him into trouble.

What better place to turn than to the people who pay you the big bucks to do what you love?

And, fuck, he was damn good at what he did.  He experimented and perfected all sorts of different ways to kill people, whether the method be knives or guns, rats or his own fists.  But poison, oh, poison was something on a whole other level.  Chemicals were one of his favorite toys, and his love for them would eventually lead to his demise.

I’m not going to spoil it for you.  There is a TON of information in these 400 pages to digest, and it’s worth every minute.  Some chapters are rougher than others just for the sheer brutality, but it’s a fascinating read, and definitely something every true crime buff should pick up. 

If I had to rate it, I’d give it a 9/10.  The only reason for this is some points about Richard’s life they repeat over the course of several chapters.  Certain ideas that the author wanted to really drive home, like the fact his family never had any idea about what he was doing, could have gotten away with being mentioned once or twice instead of repeating basically the same paragraph again and again and again.  However, if I were just casually reading it here and there (you know, instead of shoving my face in it all at once), I would have appreciated the reminders, so I don’t judge it too harshly on that point.  All in all, it was a damn good read and if the mafia piques your interest like it does mine, you’re going to love it.

Alright, void I scream endlessly into: Who is your favorite true crime villain?  I gotta say, before all this it was John Wayne Gacy.  But after reading this book, I don’t know.  I think Richard Kuklinski is a close second.  His mind is horrifying and I am here for it.

Book Reviews

Keep You Safe in a Tower

Manda Kay

The Dark Tower.  The final installment of the series that shares the same name.  I heard from a large handful of people that I wouldn’t like the end because it was a “major letdown.”  While it definitely wasn’t the ending I wanted, I can say with complete sincerity that it was the ending that was needed. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3azGgAb9a/

Let’s take a hot minute here and talk about some of the characters.  I’ll go from least favorite to bae (good god I feel like I’m too old to say that word).  Ready?

Susanna.  It wasn’t that I hated her by any stretch of the imagination.  I liked her.  In a vast sea of interesting people, though, she just wasn’t as interesting to me.  Her other two personalities you meet when you first come across her in The Drawing of the Three, however, were amazing.  Total polar opposites.  Detta will forever be my hero; she was a blast, if crude and rude and all around nasty to everyone most always.  But Susanna was just a steady middle ground between the prissy high-class Odetta and the take-no-shit Detta.  I fell out of love with her when she got her mind under control.

Jake.  I didn’t have anything against him.  There just wasn’t very much about him that was memorable, aside from him telling Roland at the very beginning, “Go then.  There are other worlds than these.”  (Awesome tattoo idea, by the way.) 

Roland.  What a dick.  Just kidding, but seriously, though.  He’s so single minded and selfish that it’s infuriating.  He’ll do anything so long as it gets him closer to the tower.  And you know what?  That’s what I love about him.  He’s got this anti-hero dynamic about him that the reader (or me, at very least) loves to hate.  He’s not above saving people and telling them to fuck off immediately afterward.  Cold, calculating, and better than you in almost every way, but with certain touches that border adorable, like his mispronunciations and literal attitude.  He’s not a monster; he can feel love and loss, but he pushes it to the back of his mind so he can accomplish his quest.  Misunderstood, I suppose, is a good word to describe him.

Oy.  Oh, god, how my heart bleeds for Jake’s best friend.  I have a soft spot for animals anyway, but make them talk, and I’m head over heels in love.  But Oy is more than a cute mimicking pet.  He’s hands down the most fiercely loyal of the ka’tet.  Everyone is willing to die for the cause, and that’s all good and grand, but Oy is willing to stay even after he has literally no reason to.  The same can’t be said for the others, in my humble opinion. 

Alright, that brings me to the man of the hour, Eddy.  This sarcastic, wise-cracking street-smart druggie was destined to be my favorite the moment Roland entered his mind in the second book.  The reader is with him through his transformation of body and mind, with Roland teaching him the ways of a gunslinger and him dealing with withdrawal and learning to let go of his past.  He might not be the smartest of the ka’tet, but he has a way with words and can talk his way into and out of most anything.  He’s not above making jokes even at the most inappropriate of times, but he has a heart of gold that makes up for it.  I’m unashamed to admit that he was my book crush for the series, but I really don’t think I’m alone in that respect.

Some quick thoughts about The Dark Tower itself:  The first half of the book made me want to vomit, what with the pus and snot and people eating of the people (and not-so-people) in the city where they break the beam.  The last half of the book made me want to cry, what with all the dying, some definitely more unexpected than others.  Mordred was terrifyingly evil and every time he was mentioned my skin would crawl.  The final battle was a bit of a letdown for me.  I wanted more than anything for Roland to have this epic showdown with the Crimson King with lots of one-liners and action sequences and instead I got…

SPOILER ALERT

…erased from existence MS Paint style.  For how much the Crimson King was talked up throughout the series I thought it would be more drawn out (lol), or at very least he would be dealt with by Roland exclusively. 

But such is life.  What can ya do?

Now, this ending, the real ending, the moment I was waiting for from the first time I picked up The Gunslinger years (and years and years goodness gracious this series took me a long time to get through and there were a lot of breaks between books for me) ago.  I’ll keep it short, because I’ve been rambling for longer than what I intended to make this.  Was this the ending I wanted?  Of course not.  I wanted him to find what he was looking for with his ka’tet at his side and finally be at peace.  He had been working so hard for so long, he just needs some damn rest!  Instead, he walks up and up, reliving every painful memory and mistake room by room, floor by floor, until he reaches the top and is pulled back into the loop, destined to repeat his journey to the Dark Tower once more.  Roland is stuck in purgatory, and who knows how many times he’s been through the journey before now?  This wasn’t the ending I wanted for Roland, but I believe deep down that it was the ending that Roland deserved.  He’s sacrificed everything for the tower: strangers, friends, even family, without even knowing what was inside, without ever questioning.  He was obsessed and greedy and just couldn’t leave well enough alone with saving the beams.  I hope his next journey that he plays his cards right and is able to get the ending we all want for him and he can finally stop fighting.

Before I end this, here’s a couple links that are my headcannon theme songs for Roland and the tower.

Roland and his quest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKh2Hb7mcU0

The Dark Tower to Roland:

Have you read The Dark Tower?  What did you think?