Doctor Sleep

Stephen King’s latest novel has been flying off shelves here in Doha and around the world, so I knew I had to read it and write about it for you. And with more than 5000 reviews on Amazon in less than six months, you are bound to find those who love it and those who hate it. Some have even said that “Doctor Sleep will put you to sleep”. I am not one of those. And I can safely say that Stephen King has managed to keep me up reading his books. Again.

This is not to say the book has no flaws. God knows I have my qualms about it. But with more than 50 published books, including The Shining, one of the flagships of the modern horror genre and the prequel to Doctor Sleep, it was inevitable that this review would not only be about the book but also about its author.

Stephen King is considered by many to be the master of modern horror fiction. He’s been rolling out dozens of books since the seventies, and unless you were living under a rock you will have either read his stories or watched them on TV. He’s the one who wrote Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Mist, and...Yes, you heard me, Shawshank Redemption!

He is known to write big books. Most of his works go well beyond 400 or 500 pages. The epics like IT and The Stand are easily over 800 pages. But he’s easy to read. And Doctor Sleep is no exception. Some times when you’re hungry you like to treat yourself to a gourmet meal at a fancy restaurant. But at other times you just want to order that 500 gram (17 ounce) steak so you can sink your teeth in it and devour bite after bite without fear of running out too soon. That’s how Stephen King novels feel like! And the worst steak dinner is still a great meal.

Doctor Sleep is supposed to be the sequel to The Shining and this, in my opinion, is the source of most of its bad reviews, because The Shining is just too good and Doctor Sleep will never match up to it. However, if regarded as a standalone novel, Doctor Sleep has its merits.

Before I get into further details about Doctor Sleep, let me tell you this, if you have read The Shining, read it again. If you haven’t, then go read it whether you want to read Doctor Sleep or not. And if you only saw the movie, do yourself a favour, and read the book.

The main common factor between both books is the main character Dan Torrance and his supernatural gift that is called the shining. We left Dan at the end of the first book as a five year old boy who had gone through hell at the world famous Overlook hotel. Now we pick up with him again as a middle-aged recovering alcoholic. The author fills us in on a lot of what happened to Dan in the time between then and now, but he also takes off with another story altogether after that, one that involves more shining, more people with the shining, and more and more people who want to kill those who have the shining.

The major difference I felt between the two books is that while both have supernatural phenomena at the centre of them, The Shining felt creepy while Doctor Sleep felt more real. At first this was upsetting, because I went into it expecting to read a story continuing along the same lines as its predecessor, but after embracing the new story I got used to it. In the first book, for a big part, it seemed that King only alluded to the supernatural in a subtle way. It’s their and it’s not their at the same time and he left it to your imagination to fill in the gaps which is probably why the book was scary on so many levels. Then all of a sudden he would shock you with a scene that was so graphic and detailed, it would stick with you for a very long time afterwards. In Doctor Sleep, on the other hand, he treats the supernatural phenomena in his book as if it is an everyday thing. He mentions it more frequently and rather casually. Almost all of the characters in this story have something otherworldly about them to some degree or another and there is nothing subtle about it. This gave him room to concentrate on more real, gritty stuff, like substance abuse, anger, violence, torture and death. Not to mention friendship, family and redemption.

Some of the characters here are very well developed like the young Abra Stone who has an even stronger shine than Dan, but many other characters, specially the villains seem too shallow and rushed. King attempts to create an epic battle between good and evil, however, the ending is very predictable and somewhat anticlimactic. The story is about middle-aged Dan, living peacefully in a small town using his gifts to help dying people pass over. But then he meets Abra, a young girl whose abilities are even stronger than his and who is hunted by a group of semi-immortal beings, called the True Knot, who hunt kids with the shining and feed on the steam they release when they are tortured. It seems pretty obvious where King is going with this and how it will end. But if you decide to read this book, then do it for the journey not the ending.

In my opinion, those who read Doctor Sleep before reading its prequel will enjoy it more because they won’t have any preconceived notions and they won’t have created any emotional bonds with fiver-year old Danny.

I’ve read a few of Stephen King’s books, some I’ve liked and some not very much but all were easy to read and kept me entertained. His new book Mr.Mercedes comes out in June of this year, so let’s hope he doesn’t make the same mistakes again. Until then if you feel like having a literary steak that you can easily chew, pick up Doctor Sleep, you’ll enjoy it!

Unplugged

     "My cell phone is dead. What a relief!"

    
     I know much has been said about technology; some things for and some things against. I've also read before how we should unplug every once in a while and take a break from the world. But my job in sales has never really given me that chance and I know that this is the case with most people out there; we know we need to take a break, sometimes we might even force ourselves to take it, but the damn phone never stops ringing and it seems that the evil forces of the universe always conspire so that all the undesired phone calls, e-mails and messages converge on you when you are most in need of a break.

     Many of us just can't afford to turn off our phones. And that's not all, what I also noticed about myself is that even on weekends when it appears safe to go to the dark side of the moon, it just feels wrong, against my instincts. This might be a by-product of my work, or maybe I just lack the will-power to do it, either way, when my cell phone died on me today for the first time in months (I keep a charger everywhere) I realized two things:

One, I have been exposing myself to this things radio waves non-stop for more than I care to admit (I sleep with it on the night stand and I can't turn it off because, too early in the morning, I might get that all-important message from someone in an office in a different time zone).

And two, it felt like a huge weight just lifted off my shoulders and that I prayed secretly not to find a charger near by. The world suddenly became just a tiny bit quieter. Not that my phone was ringing off the hook, but because finally I could relax knowing that no matter what happens I could be blissfully ignorant about the world for a while. You might ask why I don't just turn off my phone at will? To that I say, maybe I will start doing that now more often. I don't like to lie when my boss asks why my phone was off, so when it dies on me by chance, I don't feel guilty about it.

     The reason I am telling you all this is that if you are wise to the enslaving effect technology has on us, then good for you, but if you are like me, then break away now, run for your life, or at least forget to keep a charger in your car. I know that's what I'm going to do!
   
        

Feeding The Habit

     I recently had to travel four times, on business, all in the space of six weeks. All four trips were to four different destinations. For any normal person, that could mean a chance to enjoy different cities, see new things, and enjoy the change of pace in one's life. For someone else it might mean the trouble of going  
through queue after queue of customs clearance, passport checks and security checks, not to mention the hassle of baggage claim and hotel check-ins and check-outs. But for a book addict, it was an opportunity to feed the habit.

     Each trip came with a preparation period of first finding out the best book-selling dens (or as regular people call them, bookshops) and then mapping out the best routes that would allow me to visit the maximum number of shops with a minimum waste of time (I was after all travelling for business and spare time was scarce).

     Since I didn't have the luxury of mobile internet, I had to print out the maps after setting the routes using Google Maps, and I also printed out my Amazon shopping cart (several pages long, and by several I mean eight) so I wouldn't forget any book I already wanted (the ones I would buy on the go are another story).

     Four trips also meant four times I get to check the duty free shop on my out of the city for any new additions, and four different duty free shops on my way back from each trip. All in all, I visited eleven book-selling outlets, bought a little over twenty books and I try hard not to think of how much money all this binge buying has cost me. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I regret it or anything, just that I don't want to have to lie when my wife asks me. Saying "I don't know, honey, I didn't keep track" is much easier than stating a number and having to live with the consequences. Although, for the record, I must state, my wife is very understanding. And I'm trying to get her hooked on books too!

     You might think all this is no problem. Many people who get the chance to travel do check out all the joints that sell whatever substance they are hooked on; clothes, electronics and in this case books. But the revealing thing is that in between these excursions, and although I told myself over and over that it was ok to do this when travelling because it was a one time opportunity, I still picked up another ten books from two bookstores and two yard sales. But don't fear for me, because the books at the yard sales were what are called a-dime-a-dozen, and they were in pretty good shape too so I couldn't just pass them by. They were calling out to me!

     Why am I telling you this? Because that's what addicts do, they share. Am I ashamed by any of this? Absolutely not. Money spent on books is always money well spent. Even if I buy books faster than I can read them (as any book addict or book hoarder would tell you), I will at least make sure that one day someone will and that means the books, and the money, were not wasted. Am I going to feed the habit again any time soon? Probably I will. Am I tired of all these rhetorical questions? YES I AM and I bet you are too, so I'll just stop.

     If you are a book addict, brother/sister, know you are not alone. And if you are not, leave your comments and tell us what you think. Also, please leave your donations (Likes) in the donations box so I can buy more books!

Oh, I forgot to say this at the beginning, My name is Mohammed, and I'm a book addict.