Stephen King’s RV Monologue

Submitted by sunforthemoon t3_11uachk in books

I posted before about how sometimes in his books Stephen King’s personality shines through.

I’m (re)reading Doctor Sleep at the moment and I forgot how funny the RV monologue is, I can’t stop giggling at him spending 3 pages raging about the RV people

”And when there’s finally a hole in the fast lane and you pull out, holy God, you see a long line of those damn things, gas hogs driven at exactly ten miles an hour below the legal speed limit by bespectacled golden oldies who hunch over their steering wheels, gripping them like they think they’re going to fly away.”

He really hates those RV people lmfao

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Emperor_Bart t1_jco3izx wrote

King hates lots of people. This cranky raging thing is one of the reasons I gave up reading him. He didn't seem to love his characters any more.

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TimidPanther t1_jcozj9k wrote

Nothing beats Stephen King writing succinctly about something that has bothered him before. His style is perfect for it.

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jetogill t1_jcpnnye wrote

My sister was pointing out to me that pretty much all Stephen king books since he got hit by that person drive g a van has some sort of mention of bad drivers in it. Tbh I've not read that much recent king , so I can't speak to the accuracy of her observation.

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WheresTheMoozadell t1_jcq3lip wrote

I’ve yet to read Doctor Sleep (on my TBR, finally got around to The Shining last month) but I’m currently reading Salems Lot.

He has an entire chapter ranting about the town and how it’s an evil entity that traps the souls of the inhabitants because they know every nook & cranny, every person and every thing about that person, all of the events, and so on. It’s so absurdly sinister and drones on for pages, I found it absolutely brilliant. It really captured my feelings as someone who was raised in a town of less than 10k and now lives in a large city.

How are you enjoying Doctor Sleep so far compared to The Shining?

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subburner t1_jcqqhe6 wrote

I absolutely love his insights into human nature. I've been a life long Stephen King fan even though I have serious reservations due to a) his low key misogyny and b) weird writing quirks (Frederika Bimmel bugs me *every time I read that) but his world building is beyond compare.

I didn't enjoy The Shining, but Dr Sleep is my favorite, with Duma Key a close second. Both deal with recovery and 'mundane' mortality that reflect his personal experience in a down to earth manner.

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sunforthemoon OP t1_jcqs2vd wrote

Replying to subburner (#2,265,425)

yes Dr Sleep is such a good book about recovery, and I love the parallels at the start of the book where it says ‘FEAR stands for fuck everything and run’ and at the end when it says ‘FEAR stands for face everything and recover’

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nuke621 t1_jcqzosg wrote

I mean Cell was basically ranting and raving of a person who seems to hate cellphones and their users. The cell phone users punished and the technology luddites heros.

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blackknight1919 t1_jcrem0m wrote

Wasn’t king walking on a small county road with no shoulder. I see this all the time and I think the people that do it are placing a lot of faith in the drivers of passing cars. Cars have to leave there lane to avoid hitting people. King should have taken some responsibility some of it.

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sunforthemoon OP t1_jcrxmuw wrote

Replying to WheresTheMoozadell (#2,264,466)

There’s a couple of bits that don’t entirely line up between the two but I forgive that because they were written so far apart, but realistically it’s a great continuation and explores more of the shining talent that the main characters have and fills in some loopholes about the overlook!

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Ka_Tetof99 t1_jcs0923 wrote

Replying to subburner (#2,265,425)

I’ve always felt like he writes human beings as quintessentially human better than most authors. It seems like it comes from a place of a lot of empathy and life experience; his characters’ voices jump off the page at me in a way other authors don’t quite capture.

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MiloTheMagnificent t1_jcsndlq wrote

Replying to blackknight1919 (#2,266,523)

The van was approaching from the opposite direction. He was struck head on, not from behind. The van driver swerved over the line and across the oncoming traffic lane due to being distracted by his dog. King did nothing wrong why could not have predicted it or avoided it.

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Professional-Pace-43 t1_jcz6q5c wrote

I really enjoyed the book "Stephen King on Writing", kind of an autobiography. If you liked that monologue, you should check it out.

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