Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Signet Book
Publication Year: 2007
Language: English
Format: Ebook
Pages: 240
In the wake of a summer storm, terror descends..."New York Times" bestselling author Stephen King suspends a small town in a haze of terror-as humanity makes its last stand against unholy destruction...
The Mist is a novella about a storm that came over a small town. The morning after, a creepy mist appeared out of nowhere. David Drayton was leaving to buy groceries with his son Billy and his neighbor Norton when the mist started covering the whole town. Trapped in the grocery store, David and several other people tried to go back home. It was then that they learned it was not an ordinary mist. Something dangerous lurking in the mist attempted to devour every single one of them.
This is a monster story not a ghost or other unknown forces (if you want to know what to expect). Although it is a horror/sci-fi novella, what King was trying to focus on is what sort of things people willing to do under extreme conditions. That is what the central theme of this novella. Since it centers more on the humanity aspect, the creatures and the mystery behind them aren’t really explored. This is a shame for me, because I don’t like mysteries to be unsolved. Even now I’m still curious about the origin of the creatures.
Despite that, I still love the creepy feelings this novella gave me. The tension that builds up from the beginning made it difficult for me to put my e-reader down. The conflicts that rise among the survivors really grip me till the end of the novella. Especially the one with the crazy old lady. She really made me want to punch her in the face. Oh I just love the reading experience of this novella.
The Mist has an open ending which leave many possibilities as to what finally happened to the characters. I usually like this kind of ending, but since the creatures’ origin is never really revealed. I find it a bit unsatisfying. I like it that it leaves the characters’ fate up to the readers but the ending doesn’t really wrap up the whole aspects of the book (because of the creatures thingy). Considering King didn’t really explore the creatures’ aspect, maybe it is understandable to end it like that.
The Mist has been adapted into a movie starring Thomas Jane as David Drayton. Even though I enjoyed reading The Mist, I’m not going to watch the movie. Nothing personal really, I just can’t stand watching horror movie. I can get scared easily while watching horror movies so that’s why. That leads me to read a spoiler-y summary of the movie. Apparently the movie has a different ending that is more frustrating than the book ending. So there’s that. I still recommend the book though.
No comments :
Post a Comment