Full Dark, No Stars
Ratings142
Average rating3.8
King proves that he is still the master of tension and terror in the lives of ordinary people meeting the stranger that lives in all of us.
One of the most disturbing collections of stories I have ever read. A good read but a bit confronting.
4.8/5
Bueno, generalizando las 4 historias. Han sido muy buenas, cada una tiene su diferencia pero creo que engloba todo en lo moral.
Creo que a todos nos daría qué pensar y las decisiones que tomaríamos en esas situaciones, estoy más que seguro en que la mayoría coincidiríamos
1922 - 5/5 - One of the best novellas he's written, also a great movie.
Big Driver - 3.5/5 - At first I was afraid where this one would go but the last third was interesting.
Fair Extension - 4.5/5 - I haven't read Needful Things yet but this feels like a little spin on the same subject.
A Good Marriage - 4/5 - I didn't buy husband's behavior when wife found out. Nevertheless it was thrilling.
Overall this book has a very accurate title. It's been a while since I read King but I think these all are among his darkest stories reminding me of his early work where he nailed the darkness in people and the gradual loss of sanity. It's all here too.
11/22/63 was released after this book and it's considered his return to form. I think Full Dark already showed that his talent hasn't gone anywhere, this book just went under the radar because it's not a novel.
Under the Weather - 1/5 - The twist is absolute garbage, it's 18 pages long and 17 are fluff about nothing. Not really counting it into the overall rating, though, as this is a short story exclusively added to paperback version I read.
So ends the longest soft DNF of my life; I read the first two stories when this collection came out over a decade ago. Put the book down to read something else and woops, never finished it. Decided to remedy that.
It feels weird rating this five stars when it's been so long since I read the first half, but what I can tell you is I vividly remember loving the first two stories - I can remember them pretty well even still. And the two I just read, A Fair Extension and A Good Marriage, were completely fantastic. This collection is a mixture of the style that King has transitioned to in his later years, with some of the creepy horror of his early years. Definitely recommend.
Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of 4-5 short stories depending on what edition you have. In each story King explores how people would react when faced with some difficult situations. Short stories tend to be hit or miss for me because it's hard for me to feel like I have the full story when I am reading short stories. Most of the time when I read short stories I feel like I am left needing/wanting more and not in a good way. For the most part each of these stories gave me just enough to feel like I didn't need/want more. I have written my thoughts on each story below and given them an individual rating. You will see my overall rating for the whole book above. All I did was take the average between my ratings below. Anyways here are my thoughts on each of the short stories in this book.
1922 - This was a great opener and it pulled me in immediately. Normally I say that King is overly detailed in his stories but for this story it worked for me. All of the details were gross and kind of gave me the creeps and had me cringing because I could just picture it in my head ugh!! I do have to point out that I am over how King always uses racism and sexism in his books. There was one particular line in this book that me and the group I read this book with felt was just added so he could mark off his racism included box. It wasn't needed at all. We already knew this guy was a vile person from the very beginning. Despite that I was fully sucked into this story and absolutely loved everything else about it. 5 stars
Big Driver - This story is about a woman getting raped and it is pretty detailed so I would say if you're easily triggered you might want to skip this one. Again I was sucked in immediately with this story. It was definitely hard to read the rape scene but I for the most part loved how she handled the aftermath. Do I agree with her actions no because I firmly believe 2 wrongs don't make a right but it sure did make for a good story. 4 stars
Fair Extension - This story was my least favorite out of all of them but this is more because of a personal reason. I watched my dad lose his battle with cancer and my granny has fought it twice now and my mother in law is currently fighting it as well so when it's made light of in a story I'm not impressed. I get that it's just a story and it was an ok story overall but I couldn't get over that fact. 3
A Good Marriage - The only complaint I had about this one had to do with the narrator of the audiobook and not the actual book itself. The narrator made the wife come off really whiny which really got on my nerves. I loved how this story played out and how in the end the wife got her revenge. 4.5
Under the Weather - This is one where I needed more. I was so into the story and then all of a sudden it ended. I was so into the story that I didn't see that twist coming and honestly I should have because it was pretty obvious. 4
Overall I definitely think this collection is worth reading if you can handle reading stories about things that can realistically happen. Every story except for one deals with real life scenarios and how people would react if put in those situations. They aren't easy reads but I would say give it a go if you think you can handle it.
These four Novellas are connected by a loose theme of retribution or comeuppance. The idea was good but the stories were flat and lacking tension. With the exception of maybe Fair Exchange all the recipients of the revenge pretty clearly deserve it; there's no ambiguity or food for thought here. I love King novellas, but I wasn't feeling this collection.
In the two stories about male predators (Big Driver, A Good Marriage), the women get their revenge or justice pretty easily. So I wasn't really hanging on the edge of my seat as I usually am with a King book. Everything just happens and I felt no sense of satisfaction or relief on behalf of the characters.
Fair Extension is more about the person getting his revenge than the one receiving it. It would be kind of dark humor but it doesn't quite go far enough in showing how petty the main character really is to be very funny.
The novella 1922 did have some scary moments and visceral thrills. But overall this collection let me down.
Full Dark, No Stars Review
1922- I loved this book. No doubt in my mind that I wouldn't read it again in the future. Learned more than I would have thought. 5/5
Big Driver- This one was the hardest to read. As a female you have to carefully watch your back in this world. The main character in this book had gotten raped and when it happened it was like a whole other person when she left. After that it took a TURN! Overall a strong 5/5!
Fair Extension- This book showed me to be grateful for what I have because I don't know when it could be taken away. The main character makes a deal with the devil then it all goes downhill from there. Don't really have much to say about this book considering it was short but I saw it as a little realistic..? 4.5/5
Lastly A good marriage- This one was also hard to read. Considering the lessons I learned this book made me a little weary because that one person you love and thought different of could be a whole other person and you wouldn't even expect it but it's a strong 5/5 !
This book is really really amazing and some stories sacred the wits out of me.
Stephen King has such a way with words.
Each story consistently became darker and darker. Even the initial dark was a lot darker than I'm comfortable with, not the type of story I would normally pick to read. On the other side, each and every story had me hooked from the start, and I hated for it to end. My favorites were 1922 and Fair Extention, but other stories were also close.
Recommendation for readers that want to leave their comfort zone for a while.
DNF
It is not often that a story is genuinely too dark for my taste. This one did it almosy immediately. I never made it beyond the first story. In a way, it's a kind of compliment to King for being so adept. I'm sure he hit his mark. It was simply not for me.
Mixed bag in my opinion. I'll break it down.
1922: this is story is nothing special. Nothing really new. I did not enjoy it, 2 stars.
Big driver: this is fun, well written and with a good ending, 4 stars.
Fair extension: this is also fun, but I found it half written with a disappointing ending, 2.5 stars.
A good marriage. Another good one, 4 stars.
The average is about 3. This collection is not a masterpiece, but still an enjoyable read.
A primeira historia é ok; a segunda é boa, a terceira e a quarta excelentemente chocantes.
Loved all stories, but the last one was a real page turner, I finished it in around an hour!
This book wasn't excellent, but I wouldn't call it King's worst either. It consisted of four novellas that focused on revenge/retribution as the theme. You have to enjoy the detailed way he writes; the man can be - is - flat out disturbing with the details. The story titled “A Good Marriage” was just flat out chilling, IMO. It showed that sometimes you just never can really know someone the way you think you do.