MovieChat Forums > The Outsider (2020) Discussion > Steven King's career?

Steven King's career?

posted 4 years ago by esbad (19)
10 replies | jump to latest

After the first two episodes I was so intrigued.....what happened? I realize that this was taken from a novel, but so much more could have been done expanding on the initial investigation as opposed to the direction it took.

I didn't read the book, but I have no desire to do so now. That's coming from a SK fan that read his first 20 novels. The Stand is simply a masterpiece. All of his early writings were page turners. SK lost me somewhere in the middle of his career. This series in particular, will be quickly forgotten.

If Steven King's second half of his career had been the first half of his career he might have gone broke, given up on writing and become an auto mechanic. At least let's be glad that didn't happen.

[–] HillbillyIdol (20) 4 years ago

I havent read anything by Steven King, but Stephen King is a great author.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Never read a SK novel and perhaps part of that reason is all the really bad adaptions of his work. Also doesn't help that growing up a lot of his readers were housewife types.

[–] Goliard (1413) 4 years ago

Do yourself a favor. The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot. . .there are others, but that's just off the top of my head. The guy's good.

[–] John0325 (43) 4 years ago

Well, he was on drugs the first half of his career and barely remembers writing any of it, lol. It's taken him a while to find his sober groove. I hear some of his newer stuff is actually really good, though I haven't read it. 11/22/63, in particular, gets some pretty high praise. I did read Doctor Sleep and enjoyed it, though not as good as The Shining.

[–] Burk48917 (10979) 4 years ago

If all he had was his Dark Tower series, it's still a monumental addition to the literary world. He's had many amazing novels unrelated to the Dark Tower, but he's also had a lot that aren't great.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

You've clearly not read any actual literature. King may be successful, but he isn't an artist.

[–] Burk48917 (10979) 4 years ago

[–] cv1cv (374) 3 years ago

Those of you complaining about Stephen King's career without actually reading the book are depriving yourselves of some good reading. As with many films based on King books, this miniseries doesn't do justice to the book. That's why I always read the book before watching an adaptation. The book was about average for King, which means it's far better than most horror/suspense novels. This isn't the best King novel, but no one can't hit a home run every time they bat. I've enjoyed many of King's recent novels. I think the reason the attitudes here are so negative is that King has spoiled us with incredible writing. Don't judge King by his novels alone. Compare them to other writers. King always comes out a winner.

[–] Cranmer (139) 3 years ago

Most of Stephen King's stuff is good. It's not 'great literature' but it's good popular fiction.

Unfortunately in some of his novels he relies on a successful formula and once you're familiar with it you know pretty much how things will turn out. 'The Outsider' is one of those formulaic ones. An 'original' would be The Shining or Misery.

The King formula is basically disparate group of people finds monster lurking on the edge of town = death and chaos in town, finally put to rights by a group of people banding together to defeat the monster.

[–] cv1cv (374) 3 years ago

Well OF COURSE there's a "monster" in much of his writing; the genre is horror. You'll find a monster in one form or another in most horror novels. You'll also find people struggling with death and chaos in most horror novels. King uses these plot points in unique ways that far surpass most other horror writers. Beyond that you haven't described a formula that is seen a lot in King's work. He also has been successful in writing without a literal monster (e.g., Misery, as well as many of his short stories). That's not to mention his works outside the horror genre, such as 11/22/63 and Shawshank Redemption.