I haven't read this one since high school, nigh on ten years ago, twelve if I say I read it as a freshman, I can't remember. That time was the only time I'd read this book, so it was way past due for me to give it a re-read. All I really remembered about it was the phrase "The sparrows are flying", and the fact that it was about a writer whose alter ego or pseudonym comes to life and starts causing problems. So reading this now was almost like reading a story I'd never read before. Almost. Some things came back to me, like the whole twin-absorption thing, and the craziness of George Stark, but most of it was unremembered, and so it was good. Stayed interesting, though not to the point of total immersion I usually get into with SK's works. Not that this one doesn't stand up, it was good, but it won't be going onto my Top 10 SK list. I just didn't get as personally involved as I do sometimes. Occasionally I'd get real close to the characters, Liz mostly, but Thad and Alan too, but mostly it was like being a spectator. The action parts were good, like when it was Stark, showing what he's doing, when there's danger and heart-pumping thoughts. Stark was a scary dude, no way I'd want to ever meet him at any time. He's violent, no qualms. He's Thad's alter-ego, his pseudonym, not really existing, but still somehow there. Most likely because when Thad was a little scrap of human inside his mother, he apparently had a twin, and absorbed him, as I understand is not uncommon in those early stages. Well, when Thad was 11, coincidentally right when he started writing stories, he started getting terrible headaches, and would hear the sound of thousands of sparrows cheeping and flying, mostly accompanied by an image of the white spring sky. So he goes to a doctor, who operates, thinking it's just a tumor, but when he opens up Thad's head, there's an eye, part of a nostril, three fingernails, and two teeth there in Thad's head. He figures that he blob of tissue left over from an absorbed twin somehow became 'reactivated' when Thad started to hit puberty, and grew into the body parts there inside Thad's skull. Doctor doesn't tell Thad or his parents about it, and sticks to the tumor explanation. So, fast forward twenty-some years, Thad's married to Liz, and they have 8-month old twins, William and Wendy. Cute kids, but makes me glad I only had one baby and not two. I mean, the whole relationship between twins is fascinating, and when I was a kid I always wished I had one, but the mechanics of handling two babies at once is daunting, one is more than a big enough handful for me. :) But the twins only came along a few years after Liz was pregnant with another set of twins that she miscarried when an unknown person pushed her down an escalator with enough force to send her literally flying. Reminded me of ol' Jack Mort, The Pusher his self. Maybe it was him... probably not, but it did remind me of him. After this incident, Thad goes through a bad depression, stressed from writer's block, and the failure/flop of his second published novel, on top of the sadness he's already feeling. He starts drinking heavily, smoking more, and decides somehow to try writing under a different name to free his mind. He feels too hemmed in by the 'literary' expectations for his writing, and so he begins writing as George Stark, dark, violent books about unsavory characters and happenings. They prove to be massive bestsellers. But now Thad wants to write a good book as himself, and straighten up his act now that he's a father. Also, a creep figured out the 'secret identity' of Stark, and was trying to blackmail Thad. So Thad goes public in People magazine, 'killing' off Stark once and for all, complete with a picture of Thad and Liz shaking hands over what looks like the fresh 'grave' of Stark, with headstone and all. Somehow, this act brings Stark to life as a physical being, and boy is he mad! He comes and starts killing people, everyone involved, from the photographer for the magazine story, to Thad's agents and the creep who started it all. Plus numerous other casualties, including police. Problem is, he's got Thad's fingerprints and DNA, as well as an identical voice-print, though they sound nothing alike to the naked ear. Enter Sheriff Alan Pangborn of good ol' Castle Rock. At first he's rarin' mad, ready to kill Thad. After all, all the evidence says that Thad did it. Finally, with proof that Thad wasn't there when the first murder happened, and definite knowledge he was nowhere near NYC to commit the other ones, he starts to settle down. I liked Alan a lot, he was a good guy, and a good cop. Also a good husband it seemed, in the one short but touching scene with his wife. Only problem was his inability to consider or accept any sort of paranormal or supernatural explanation for the events. He was stubborn on this, at least til the very end, and even then, when it was right in his face, he knew it, and still had a hard time getting his mind around it. But still, I liked him. One of these days I'm going to get all the Castle Rock stories out and read them in order or something. Too many gaps in my timeline of the town. Liz though was the one I related to the most, wife, mother, put myself in her shoes, especially when Stark has her and the babies. Man, I'd be freaking, and do anything to protect my baby, anything. As Stark was all falling apart and nasty looking by this time, I was shuddering reading about him getting friendly with the babies. So gross, his skin all sloughing off, his teeth falling out, pus oozing from everywhere. Gag! And the babies liked him! Ugh. But I was scared for them, after all, he's crazy and could torture them and kill them all too easily. So Stark wants Thad to start another book about his trademark character Machine, an uber-killer psycho guy. Stark seems to be sort of vampiric, wasting and rotting away until Thad starts writing, and then Stark starts healing and Thad starts decaying. But Thad has the sparrows. The sparrows have been gathering ever since Stark's 'return from the dead'. So many of them they black out the sky and cover the ground like a blanket. Hundreds of thousands of them! No 'tumor' this time, now they are here to take Stark back to the land of the dead. Thad calls them in, they bust down windows and doors, kamikaze-ing themselves to get at him. At last, they tear him apart and fly away with him. It was strange but somehow exciting. I couldn't help but think of The Birds, but these birds only wanted one person, and they got him good. Strange, you see sparrows all the time, never really think about them, and certainly don't think of them as deadly, but when you start thinking of them in flock mode, huge numbers of them all pecking at you... Ouch. I'm glad they only took the baddy. So I didn't feel so bad for him, I wanted him gone. But made me glad they've never been set against me! The end was good, but left me hoping everything would work out good for Thad and Liz and the kids in the future. Seemed it might be a trifle touchy subject perhaps, and I hope they worked it out and were happy without Stark. Lol, look at me all acting like they're real people. See, that's the power of a good book, get ya thinking about the characters' lives once the curtain falls and the story's over, what are they doing ten years after the book ends, that sort of thing. I give it 4 Stars because it was good, but just didn't get as deep into my brain as some other works.
„Stark: The Dark Half“ ist der dritte Roman in Stephen Kings Castle-Rock-Zyklus. Er erschien erstmals 1989 (in meinem Geburtsjahr) und hat einen deutlich biografischen Hintergrund. Sicher wisst ihr, dass Stephen King nach den Erfolgen von Carrie, Brennen muss Salem und The Shining einige seiner älteren Manuskripte unter dem Pseudonym Richard Bachmann veröffentlichte, um herauszufinden, ob diese Werke auch ohne seinen berühmten Namen auf dem Cover für ihre Qualität von der Leserschaft geschätzt würden. Dies war tatsächlich der Fall; Richard Bachmann wurde ein kommerziell erfolgreicher Schriftsteller. Bis das Pseudonym 1985 nach der Veröffentlichung von „Der Fluch“ von dem Buchhändler Stephen Brown aufgedeckt wurde. Die Verkaufszahlen der Bachmann-Romane schossen durch die Decke und Stephen King entschied sich dazu, Richard Bachmann sterben zu lassen. In „Stark: The Dark Half“ verarbeitete King diese Episode seines Lebens.George Stark ist tot. Gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Liz trug Thaddeus Beaumont ihn öffentlichkeitswirksam zu Grabe. Natürlich nur symbolisch, denn Stark war nie wirklich lebendig. Er war Thads Pseudonym, unter dem er drei sehr erfolgreiche Romane veröffentlichte. Stark war definitiv kein angenehmer Zeitgenosse und Thad ist erleichtert, dass er nun aus seinem Leben verschwunden ist. Doch kurz nach der sinnbildlichen Beerdigung gerät der gefeierte Schriftsteller in einen Strudel der Gewalt, der ihn an Realität und Einbildung zweifeln lässt. Stück für Stück werden alle Menschen ermordet, die mit dem „Tode“ George Starks in Verbindung standen. Wer steckt hinter den grausamen Morden? Ein enttäuschter Fan der Stark-Romane? Ein Verrückter, der sich einbildet, George Stark zu sein? Oder… gar Stark selbst?Ach ja, Stephen King. Mit jedem seiner Romane ist es das Selbe für mich. Seine unheimliche Fantasie lockt mich immer wieder aufs Neue hinter dem Ofen hervor, doch beim Lesen kann er meine Aufmerksamkeit nicht uneingeschränkt fesseln. Leider war das auch bei „Stark: The Dark Half“ der Fall. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich dieses Buch jemals gelesen hätte, wenn ich es nicht auf der Straße gefunden hätte, denn die Geschichte eines mordenden Pseudonyms ist wohl nicht ganz das Richtige für mich. Wenn ich zu einem King greife, möchte ich mich gruseln. Ich will diesen eiskalten Schauer spüren, für den er so berühmt ist. Dazu muss mir beim Lesen bewusst sein, wie haarsträubend seine Ideen sind. Ich habe lange darüber nachgedacht, warum ich mich vor „Stark“ nicht gruseln konnte, obwohl es bizarr, verdreht, absurd und unglaublich ist. Ich konnte den Zwang, die unheimliche, düstere Spirale des Buches spüren, doch ich habe mich nicht darin verloren. Ich denke, das hatte zwei Gründe. Einerseits ließ mich die Idee hinter diesem Roman ziemlich kalt, weil ich überhaupt keine Probleme mit der Vorstellung hatte, dass George Stark lebendig ist. Es fiel mir nicht schwer, seine Existenz zu akzeptieren. Andererseits ist Starks Entstehungsgeschichte meiner Meinung nach sehr abstrakt, sodass sie mich nicht richtig erreichte. Stark ist widerlich, verrückt und extrem gefährlich, aber für meine Begriffe war er zu… real. Es fiel mir schwer, in ihm etwas Unheimliches, Übernatürliches zu sehen, obwohl er das selbstverständlich ist. Er ist ein Scheusal, eine blutgierige Bestie, doch das sind die meisten Serienmörder in der Literatur ebenfalls. Ich kann ihn nicht als den Widerspruch der Natur empfinden, der er ist. Dementsprechend fand ich auch seine Geschichte nicht so außergewöhnlich, wie sie eigentlich ist. Die Verbindung zwischen George und Thad ist beidseitig parasitär; wenngleich klar ist, dass Thad der „Gute“ ist, ist er an Georges Dasein nicht unschuldig. Zwar konnte er nicht wissen, dass er sein Pseudonym zum Leben erwecken würde, nichtsdestotrotz behandelte er sein Alter Ego wie eine Milchkuh, die er molk, wann immer es ihm passte. Er nutzte Stark aus, ohne ihm auch nur einen Funken Respekt zu zollen und als er der Meinung war, ihn nicht mehr zu brauchen, beseitigte er ihn kurzerhand. Natürlich rechtfertigt das keinesfalls Starks Verhalten, aber ich kann seine unbändige Wut durchaus nachvollziehen. Vielleicht hing meine Unfähigkeit, mich zu gruseln, auch mit diesem Verständnis für Stark zusammen. Ich denke, es hätte mir geholfen, hätte ich mehr über die Zeit erfahren, in der Thad als George Stark geschrieben hat. King beließ es bei Andeutungen, die darauf hinweisen, dass sich die Persönlichkeit des sonst so liebevollen, zurückhaltenden, tollpatschigen Ehemannes und Familienvaters grundlegend veränderte. Möglicherweise hätte ich das Abstoßende, Unnatürliche an George Stark besser begreifen und verarbeiten können, hätte ich erleben dürfen, inwiefern er Thads Wesen manipulierte.Vergleiche ich „Stark: The Dark Half“ mit den anderen Romanen aus Stephen Kings Feder, die ich bisher gelesen habe, muss ich feststellen, dass dieses Werk mich bisher am wenigsten berührt hat. Die Geschichte des Schriftstellers Thaddeus Beaumont und seines Alter Egos George Stark ist zwar faszinierend, doch als schriftgewordenen Horror empfand ich sie nicht. Horror entsteht, wenn wir mit Szenarien konfrontiert werden, vor denen wir uns bewusst oder unbewusst fürchten. Offenbar kommt ein Pseudonym, das in Fleisch und Blut existiert und grausame Morde begeht, in meinem persönlichen Angst-Repertoire nicht vor.Ich kann „Stark: The Dark Half“ nicht empfehlen, weil eine generelle Einschätzung hier unmöglich ist. Angst ist stets sehr persönlich und individuell; ob dieser Stephen King euren Nerv trifft, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Solltet ihr euch dafür entscheiden diesen Roman zu lesen, verspreche ich euch ein Buch voll mysteriöser Zeichen, Symbole und Zusammenhänge, die sich in Kings typischen Schreibstil zu einem wahnwitzigen Strudel der Absurdität verdichten.
What do You think about The Dark Half (1990)?
Stephen King aficionados might get a kick out of this geekgasm disguised as a review. It's not all new info, but I didn't know about Guy Pilsbury. If you know who that is (or should have been), you get a cookie. Also, I cannot promise there won't be spoilers, but I will try my best.Okay, we're all clear that Stephen King once wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman, right? Good. And if you didn't know, now you know. Bachman is probably one of the most famous pseudonyms ever created. King didn't do a very good job of hiding the fact that he was Bachman, though, because most people thought Bachman was ripping off King, both in style and content. King simply wanted to publish more than once a year, and back then such epic feats of daring do just didn't happen. Publishers pubbed one book a year from an author because people read slower in the dark ages. Or some shit. I don't know. (The only jokes I got are bad ones...) Which brings me to some really cool six-degrees-of-separation type goings-on within The Dark Half. Dig on this: Stephen King killed Richard Bachman in much the same way that Thad Beaumont kills off George Stark in this novel; by having a fake funeral for the guy. Bachman supposedly died of cancer, and is survived to this day by his wife Claudia Inez Bachman (a fictional woman who keeps finding manuscripts tucked away in the attic - The Regulators, Blaze). But, did you know that Richard Bachman was not always Richard Bachman? King's first choice for a pen name was Guy Pilsbury, which was also King's grandfather's name. Why did he change it? I'll get to that. First, let's discuss another author by the name of Donald E. Westlake. Donald E. Westlake is mentioned in The Dark Half not only because Westlake had a famous pen name, but because King took part of that pen name to create his own. You see, during the copyright process, somebody mistakenly put King's name AND Guy Pilsbury's name on the paperwork, so the person submitting the paperwork had to call King. King had to come up with a new name on the fly. First name to come to mind was Westlake's, but not Westlake himself, Westlake's pen name, which was Richard Stark. At the time of the phone call, King was listening to Bachman Turner Overdrive, so he threw the two names together. Richard Bachman. Now, fast forward to The Dark Half. The pen name that comes to life inside this book is George Stark. Richard Stark/Richard Bachman/George Stark. Obvious connections are obvious.If you want to hear the Guy Pilsbury story yourself, here's the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ_S8...Anyfuck, I love this book because it's a fictionalized piece of King's life with a heavy dose of the weird and the supernatural piled on top. It's lean, mean, and far from clean. One of King's more brutal works. But, overall, it's simply big fun. Notable names: Alan Pangborn (Needful Things, which is up next)In summation: If you're up on your King history, this book is a treat. Even if you're not, it's a damn good read. One of King's best. Highly recommended to long-time fans as well as newbies to the King-verse.
—Edward Lorn
Δεν έχω λόγια γι' αυτό το υπέροχα συναρπαστικό μυθιστόρημα του King!Αναμφίβολα από τα καλύτερά του!Η όλη ιδέα είναι απλά φανταστική!Έχοντας πλάσει κι ο ίδιος ένα φανταστικό πρόσωπο για να γράψει κάποια από τα βιβλία του - το οποίο πρόσωπο ευχαριστεί που πέθανε στην αρχή αυτού του βιβλίου - έχει καταφέρει να συλλάβει στο ακέραιο και όλη τη ψυχοσύνθεση,τον τρόπο σκέψης και τις αντιδράσεις τόσο του βασικού του ήρωα,όσο και του άλλου,δίδυμου εαυτού του.Το βιβλίο δεν σε αφήνει να το αφήσεις...Είναι όλο μια αστείρευτη δράση,μια συνεχιζόμενη εξέλιξη που ξεκινάει από ένα απλό γεγονός(όπως συνήθως)και κλιμακώνεται μέχρι το απίστευτο,συναρπαστικό τέλος!Διαβάζεται με μια ανάσα!
—Chrissa Vasileiou
Slight spoilers but as it is, they are without context and rather meaningless unless you have read the book. So possible spoilers.The sparrows are flying again. That phrase has been stuck in my mind for the last several weeks and while I’ve been meaning to write a decent review, it hasn’t gone much farther than that. The sparrows are flying again. And now when I see a flock of those damn birds, that’s what comes to mind. They’re psychopomps, harbingers of the living dead. Between that and a murder of crows you might want to watch yourself. Again King has fleshed out an interesting concept. Of course it has bits and pieces that are rotting like the corpse any idea becomes when it’s out of an author's head but overall a solid piece of work. The writing was dark, a little on the heavy side and engaging. King whether intentional or not has done with this novel as he has with others. There is that use of repetition, the use of the familiar and the experiences that the main character has shared with the reader to make them care about the characters. (The sparrows are flying again.) I enjoy that repetition for the most part, that referencing back to the however distant past. As humans, or at least in my mind, that happens quite often. The past has shaped us, given us a guide for the future and a hell of a list not to repeat. The way King can almost flawlessly incorporate such human characteristics into words on a page is something. That is one mark of a good writer. Not the most important or the only by no means but sure as hell, it’s one of them. King has written some duds, my opinion of course, but with how much he has put out, there’s no wonder. If a writer has put effort into a piece, it shows and sometimes that is what you take it as. As, they tried and points for that much. The Dark Half isn’t a favorite of mine at this point but I did enjoy it. Points for the effort, you know.In the acknowledgements, the dedication or somewhere (my memory is going to shit) King put a word towards Bachman, how he managed to help him with this. And that, in itself, is some scary shit. A good read, recommended. And the sparrows are flying again. 3 and a 1/2 stars
—Alissa
