'Salem's Lot
Ratings669
Average rating3.9
Good book, great atmosphere, just hasn't aged welll...can seem like a generic vampire story.
“Storytelling is as natural as breathing; plotting is the literary version of artificial respiration”
- introduction to ‘Salem's Lot by Stephen King
This edition is just wonderful, as it includes two short stories (from the Night Shift collection) One for the road and Jerusalem's Lot.
This was a fun re-read for me. I love it now as much as I did when I read it as a teen. I remember reading this and then watching the movie. I also remember watching The Lost Boys. I was into scary vampires back then
Good story with fascinating characters.
It seems every Stephen King novel suffers a bit from a strange obsession with genitals and what's happening to them. I enjoyed this book, but did not enjoy reading about Ben's testicles and Ruthie's breasts.
Has a wider lens than Dracula, focusing on the vampire invasion's effect on the entire town.
As I've mentioned every time I have reviewed a King book I read this as part of the Stephen King Readalongs I participate in pretty much every month.
This is one of my favorite books I have read by him so far. I love the suspense of this story and I guess the “horror” aspect of it as well although it didn't scare me. I know that wasn't the case for most of the people who I was reading it with. Things don't tend to scare me but that doesn't mean it was bad.
This book had a slow start. What got me through it though was the passages with Susan and Ben. I loved their passages together. I thought they were cute. Things did eventually pick up and I was completely sucked in to the point I didn't want to stop reading.
While I did end up enjoying this book in the end there are some things that happened in the beginning that I didn't care for at all and I have to mention them. First up 52 pages in and I'm reading about a mother throwing a bottle at her 10 month old baby and punching him. It was only a small part but I was not ok with that. I seriously almost DNFed it for that. I asked someone if it was something that was going to happen again a she told me it didn't so I decided to continue on because up until that point I was already enjoying the story. There was also some animal cruelty but luckily it was just a small part as well and didn't continue to happen.
I have said this before but I don't like how he casually tells you something is going to happen before it actually happens. It takes away the potential shock value and makes it a completely different experience. I would prefer to be shocked about what happens.
I never thought I would say this about a King book but there was an instance where I actually got teary eyed.
There are so many characters that I pretty much struggled all the way through to keep up with who was who.
I know it seems like I didn't enjoy this but I really did. When I read a King book I usually listen to the audiobook while following along because it's easier that way for me with his books but I didn't have the audiobook for this one and I was still sucked in immediately. Like I already mentioned this is definitely one of my favorites by him.
Wow! This was my first Stephen King book, and it was REALLY good! Really tense all the way through, really effective use of its premise (I know its 45 years old and its spoiled in the synopsis probably but I don't even want to give away what the central conceit of the book is, because I had no idea what it was going into it and got spoiled from a stray internet headline and I regret knowing and not being surprised), and a really great pace throughout the entire thing. I'm really excited to read more Stephen King now! Next up (after a brief jaunt into Hill House because GOD does this man love this book).... It!!!
Clasicazo de Stephen King que me ha encantado. No me motivaba mucho la temática pero como de costumbre consigue transmitir el terror y la angustia perfectamente.
I have nothing to say that I'm sure hasn't been said a thousand times before. This is a wonderfully scary book that I couldn't put down and gave me nightmares about little floating vampire boys. :)
Second read:
Pretty much the same. This is far from King's best novels. This is far from best novels, period. It's ok. Not terrible but at this day and age it doesn't stand out either.
Mark was ridiculous character, especially in the first few scenes.
The book is not scary nor thrilling. I guess in the same way The Exorcist (movie) is not scary today. Maybe people shat bricks 40 years ago but I certainly didn't now despite even going out of my way and reading most of it after dark. The Shining or Pet Sematary are orders of magnitude better and more thrilling.
—
Original review:
The most over-hyped book I've ever read. It was pure boredom. The two short stories at the end are waaaay better. But they were originally part of short stories collections so I'm not including them in the rating.
It's a small miracle King was able to improve so much in the next book - The Shining.
This is one of those books which make you fear those hideous bloodsucking creatures called ‘Vampires' rather than loving them. The Vampires in this book have got balls to scare the shit out of you, unlike those other vampires in modern fiction or television. Beautifully written by King. The story and plot are immensely gripping. The character development is amazing. They blend in with the Lot quite perfectly. I've always enjoyed the way Stephen King describes the death of his characters in his novels. The imagery is so enticing that you actually feel empathetic towards them, like you're the member of the town itself and witnessing this horrific saga unfold before your eyes! I felt bad for the plot twist regarding Susan and Ben. It was literally heart wrenching! Overall, the novel is undoubtedly among the best works of King. I had read Lovecraft and Poe but haven't started reading King until this year. And I must say, he's on par with those horror fiction legends! Stephen King is slowly rising the ranks of the list of authors I love! I've left craving for more of his works, just like those blood hungry creatures in this book!
I read it out of stubborness. Halfway through I was tired and thinking it was much more of the same and no editing had been done. This time he didn't win me.
I found myself deeply invested in the overall feel of the town and the well thought out characters. Putting the horror elements aside i find that the central idea of this book is loneliness and fear. King wraps a monster novel around these emotions and it is ever so endearing and hard to put down.
Le notti di Salem è un romanzo horror scritto da Stephen King, pubblicato nel 1975. È la seconda opera pubblicata da King, dopo il precedente Carrie. Come in altre occasioni, King arrivò a scrivere il romanzo sviluppando dei propri racconti, in questo caso Jerusalem's Lot e Il bicchiere della staffa, entrambi pubblicati nella raccolta “A volte ritornano”. Come succede spesso con i libri di King, vengono anche tratte delle miniserie per la tv.
Le notti di Salem è una combinazione di thriller psicologico e del classico genere horror, facendo riferimento al Dracula di Stoker in vari punti e, a volte, replicandone la storia. Anticipo subito che il libro non mi ha proprio entusiasmato e come mi succede spesso con i libri del Re o mi attirano nella storia sin dalle prime pagine riuscendo a fatica a staccarmene, oppure procedo con la lettura più o meno stancamente con la voglia di finirlo alla svelta. Come in questo caso.
La trama: Ben Mears, uno scrittore di successo cresciuto nell'immaginaria città di Jerusalem's Lot, Maine (chiamata “il Lot” dagli abitanti), torna nella città natale. Ben ora ha intenzione di scrivere un libro su ‘Casa Marsten', una casa abbandonata che nasconde al suo interno molti segreti e che gli causò molti incubi dopo una brutta avventura vissuta da ragazzo. L'arrivo di due strani personaggi che torneranno ad abitarla coincide con una serie di spiacevoli avvenimenti. Nel corso del libro, si scopre che molti abitanti sono stati trasformati in vampiri dai due nuovi venuti, i protagonisti e pochi altri residenti del Lot tentano invano di evitarlo.
Essendo un libro di fantasia, non si dovrebbe stare a guardare propriamente le incongruenze o le forzature dei singoli passaggi, soprattutto quando si parla di conficcare paletti nel cuore dei vampiri, ma il ragazzino che si trasforma in Houdini o la ragazza che come in ogni stramaledetto libro o film dell'orrore si reca da sola nella tana del mostro, sono sempre troppi per l'occhio del lettore smaliziato e alla fine annoiano un poco. Probabilmente meno nel 1975. La scrittura del “Re”, anche se acerba, comincia a prendere le forme che lo caratterizzeranno successivamente come un grande narratore, orrori a parte.
Le notti di Salem è stato il primo dei libri di King ad avere un gran numero di protagonisti, una cosa che verrà ripetuta in successivi libri come “L'ombra dello scorpione”. La città di Jerusalem's Lot servirà anche prototipo per le successive città immaginarie descritte da King, tipo Castle Rock e Derry nel Maine e se avete letto prima gli altri libri dell'autore, vi sentirete suonare le orecchie più volte.
Se poi siete lettori della serie della “Torre Nera” sarete contenti di ri/vedere il personaggio di Padre Callahan, che appare ne “I lupi del Calla”, “La canzone di Susannah” e “La torre nera”.
Per concludere consiglierei la lettura ai veri appassionati di King, o se come molti non sopportate più di vedere vampiri che volano per i boschi, si accoppiano ad ogni alito di vento e che sembrano scivolare fuori da riviste di mode, qui potrete respirare l'aria di vero terrore che un vampiro dovrebbe generare, e di questi tempi, è già molto.
Really scary when reading at night, in a tent, by myself. Less scary in the morning, in my parents house.
It's Stephen King, you know the drill.
Probably my favorite of King's novels. I actually “read” this the first time listening to it on CD while I was driving back from South Dakota. Ron McLarty was the performer on that audiobook and he was fantastic. Great story. Good characters.