1922

It's been a while since my last post, and my reading in general has been down. If there's a way to break out of the funk, it's a new Stephen King book! I have finished the first of the four novellas, "1922," and thought it was excellent.

At first, the way it started as a first person confession reminded me strongly of Dolores Claiborne, and I wasn't sure I cared to read a similar story...but that didn't last. As the novella progressed, the tragedy of the situation made it more heart-wrenching. This is interesting, because there is no way to excuse or even sympathize with Wilf. Of all possible solutions to a given problem, murder cannot be one. Wilf's statements about an internal "Conniving Man" are hollow. Is there really a dark place inside him, or is he the darkness? It's not with Wilf that the reader feels the tragedy, it's with his son, Hank, and Hank's childish love for both his parents and the neighbor girl, Shannon.

"1922" is one of those stories where it's hard to tell if the haunting is real or in Wilf's mind. It hardly matters, but for me the haunting is appropriate, and his death inevitable. Not even worth a tear. It's interesting the way a rough farmer will be depicted reading George Eliot...Wilf is certainly erudite in a way, but it does mean he is good. In fact, his intelligence and imagination may be the source of his downfall. How else could he conceive not only murder, but of getting away with it and continuing his life without skipping a beat? If I had to take a shot at interpreting King, I'd say his imagination not only allowed Wilf to commit the crime, but was also the source of the haunting. Catch-22. The end. Brilliant.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the book!