Alessandra is reading…

The Outsider by Stephen King – Review and Thoughts

A young boy’s corpse is found violated in a small Oklahoma park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints make it obvious who the murderer is, but the entire time Detective Anderson has the feeling that finding the murderer was a little too easy.

The storytelling in this was good with the standard SK template that I’ve come to know and love. But The Outsider itself was missing something – and I’ve heard several reasons as to why that may be. Some SK lovers come outright and say Stephen King sober isn’t as great of a writer, some have said “oh, SK new stuff isn’t like the old stuff.” And I wonder if it’s possibly a combination of both.

Which sounds kind of horrible to say. And maybe it is. Just as well, I believe that some of the greatest artists create their best work from trauma. The most authentically creative and artistic people have been through some crazy shit. Because those are the people who will put all of themselves into their craft to perfect it – not just all of the work they have to offer, I’m saying all of themselves. There’s something that I’ve seen about art and trauma that just makes some beautiful (and let’s face it, sometimes horrible) art. I’ve developed this theory through listening to Halsey, looking at what David Goggins has accomplished, and reading about Cameron Hanes’ passions. I’m sure there are more who are perfecting their craft – and more power to them to create amazing art to heal from the trauma.

Overall, good but disappointing from what I’ve read of Stephen King’s work.

Read on.