Quote Of The Day: Not Scary

Quote Of The Day #41

I read three of Stephen King’s book before: “1922”, “The Dead Zone”, “Full Dark, No Stars”. And I like all of them. And this is why I bought “11/22/63”, thinking that it is simultaneously entertaining and educational since it is about JFK assassination and 1963. However, the book is not in the author’s customary style. The most conspicuous difference is the absence of dread, horror, and despair, which is so vivid in the story collection “Full Dark, No Stars” that I had to give up reading half way. I was in the middle of reading one of the short stories about a serial killer who preyed on a woman who drove alone in a back road at night. And it’s so terrifying to me that I just stopped reading. That was many years ago. Since then, every time I was driving after sunset, I thought about the book. Somehow I feel that his book is more terrifying than those horror movies, which I used to enjoy watching.

“11/22/63” is not scary at all. It’s about a man who traveled back in time to 1960s through a mysterious tunnel behind a burger joint. He stayed there for the purpose of changing the history and rescuing JFK from the assassination attempt. The author steered away from his usual style of creating a horror atmosphere. Instead he created a happy picture of 1960s with beer as cheap as 10 cents. Buying a car only cost $200. Also men and women were quite innocent and ignorant in those days, and they seemed to be waiting for the main character Jake Epping to come to enlighten them.

There are many interesting quotes, but I am too lazy to list all of them. So I list these four quotes:

“If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I’ll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it’s yours.”

“Sarcastic people tend to be marshmallows underneath the armor”

“Humans were built to look back; that’s why we have that swivel joint in our necks”

“Sometimes the things presented to us as choices aren’t choices at all.”