Gray Matter: and other stories from Night Shift
4 journalers for this copy...
Got this at a library used book sale.
3 cassettes, 210 minutes
Complete and unabridged text of the original works
Read by John Glover
An enjoyable, light-ish collection of six Stephen King short stories. This version I listened to "contains the complete and unabridged text of the original works" but apparently doesn't include every story that's in the book; it's just the stories it does include are complete. The narrator did a good job at the voices and showed emotions well (crucial when reading about people who are crazy or terrified or possessed).
The Boogeyman- I liked this one. In it, a man talks to a therapist (named Dr. Harper- already a WIN in my Torchwood-loving book!) about the deaths of his three children... at the hands of the Boogeyman. He is a little bit regretful, a little bit terrified, and a lot crazy. The ending is predictable but still good.
I Know What You Need- possibly my favorite of the lot. A young college woman finds a young man who knows her very well- too well. But she's in love and he's perfect and who is she to complain? This one ended in a bit of a letdown for me. I expected one of two more powerful endings... and didn't get either of those. Instead, it was tame and done before. I'd love to take this one and rewrite the ending to fit my imagination better.
Strawberry Spring- extremely predictable but still chilling because of the POV. In it, a young college man notices that a strange spring fog coincides with grisly murders on campus.
Gray Matter- ew. This one creeped me out. Stephen King is too good at description. Ew! In it, some old "codgers" discover that one of their own has been drinking some beyond skunky beer. It slowly turned him into something very unhuman and VERY terrifying. Images from this one kept popping into my head while I was trying to fall asleep, but have not yet resulted in nightmares, thank goodness!
The Woman in the Room- no supernatural/horror elements at all; very unlike King. Probably also why it's my least favorite of the collection. In this one, a son travels to the hospital to visit his mother who is slowly dying. He thinks about how easy it would be to just help her die and he makes his calculated move one day when he's drunk.
Battleground- I remember this story vividly from the TV miniseries Nightmares & Dreamscapes so I wasn't expecting this story (I thought it would be in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, not Night Shift). In it, a man is attacked by a quite formidable army-- of toy soldiers & toy weapons. A good one to end with (ended with a smile on my face).
In all, a nice little collection that I enjoyed listening to. At times, the character voices were a little weird, but at least the narrator tried to make each story and each character distinct, and that's something I've found I need when listening to story collections. So Bravo on that count. I enjoyed the variety, though one wasn't very interesting to me and one was too creepy that I could happily done without it. Once again proves how much I enjoy Stephen King's creativity and storytelling, though. :-)
3 cassettes, 210 minutes
Complete and unabridged text of the original works
Read by John Glover
An enjoyable, light-ish collection of six Stephen King short stories. This version I listened to "contains the complete and unabridged text of the original works" but apparently doesn't include every story that's in the book; it's just the stories it does include are complete. The narrator did a good job at the voices and showed emotions well (crucial when reading about people who are crazy or terrified or possessed).
The Boogeyman- I liked this one. In it, a man talks to a therapist (named Dr. Harper- already a WIN in my Torchwood-loving book!) about the deaths of his three children... at the hands of the Boogeyman. He is a little bit regretful, a little bit terrified, and a lot crazy. The ending is predictable but still good.
I Know What You Need- possibly my favorite of the lot. A young college woman finds a young man who knows her very well- too well. But she's in love and he's perfect and who is she to complain? This one ended in a bit of a letdown for me. I expected one of two more powerful endings... and didn't get either of those. Instead, it was tame and done before. I'd love to take this one and rewrite the ending to fit my imagination better.
Strawberry Spring- extremely predictable but still chilling because of the POV. In it, a young college man notices that a strange spring fog coincides with grisly murders on campus.
Gray Matter- ew. This one creeped me out. Stephen King is too good at description. Ew! In it, some old "codgers" discover that one of their own has been drinking some beyond skunky beer. It slowly turned him into something very unhuman and VERY terrifying. Images from this one kept popping into my head while I was trying to fall asleep, but have not yet resulted in nightmares, thank goodness!
The Woman in the Room- no supernatural/horror elements at all; very unlike King. Probably also why it's my least favorite of the collection. In this one, a son travels to the hospital to visit his mother who is slowly dying. He thinks about how easy it would be to just help her die and he makes his calculated move one day when he's drunk.
Battleground- I remember this story vividly from the TV miniseries Nightmares & Dreamscapes so I wasn't expecting this story (I thought it would be in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, not Night Shift). In it, a man is attacked by a quite formidable army-- of toy soldiers & toy weapons. A good one to end with (ended with a smile on my face).
In all, a nice little collection that I enjoyed listening to. At times, the character voices were a little weird, but at least the narrator tried to make each story and each character distinct, and that's something I've found I need when listening to story collections. So Bravo on that count. I enjoyed the variety, though one wasn't very interesting to me and one was too creepy that I could happily done without it. Once again proves how much I enjoy Stephen King's creativity and storytelling, though. :-)
Adding this to my bookbox ray: Earreading Audiobooks on Cassette Bookbox #1
I hope whoever finds it, enjoys it!
I hope whoever finds it, enjoys it!
I'm taking this out of Katekintail's Cassette Audio Book Box Ray! Thank you Kate!
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Going in to the awesome Audio BookBox from Carlissa.
Going in to the awesome Audio BookBox from Carlissa.
Received as part of the dead audio bookbox from Mikavr... passing this one along to my fiance and fellow BookCrosser Regulator, who is interested in "reading" it.
Having all of these stories to listen to should make riding around in my '91 beater van with only a cassette tape player a little more interesting. I'm looking forward to listening to them, and I will decide what to do with them from there. (Passed on by my fiancee fireyfairy.)
