The Talisman

The Talisman by Stephen King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I don't know. I like the story, as I almost always do with Stephen King's books, but there are some aspects of the writing I really hate. I don't know if it's his upbringing or just the way he writes, but sometimes it just sounds so terrible to me. "Put some bop on the radio, Jackie-boy" is what Jack's mother says to him, and while I can imagine that someone, somewhere, has said something like this, it sounds unbearably cornball to me. On top of that, he can't make the villains seem threatening to save his life. "Sunlight" Gardner is a parody of a televangelist. It's not that I have a problem of him making fun of the Jimmy Swaggart-Robert Tilton types, it's that he doesn't do it well. I know King is unfamiliar with evangelicals, but the only way you would know Gardner is charismatic is because King says no, not because he comes across that way.

Another problem I had with the book overall is that I have no idea why Jack's mom keeps running from Sloat. Why didn't she just hire another lawyer and appoint him guardian over the investments that would become Jack's when she died? Why didn't she go to a hospital? It's not like they weren't rich. On top of that, Jack's mom is just annoying. Pretending there's nothing wrong and running away! Come on, lady, that's no way to take care of your kid.

I don't really have a problem with much else, except it's seriously awkward to keep hearing "white" equated with good and "black" equated with evil. Sure, I know it's been done before (and is a recurring theme in King's fantasy) but when he says "the good, the white" as if the two are automatically the same thing just makes me want to shout out that it's a super-hackneyed cliche.

Oh yeah, and Parker doesn't really sound believable as a Southern black man. I know King didn't grow up with too many people of color around (I mean, Maine, really) so I don't know why he thought he could write a believable voice for one. Not that he's not a sympathetic character, and on the side of good, it's just he also sounds really corny and makes me cringe a bit.

Other than that, I really don't have a problem with the story itself. Kind of a modern hero's journey in the classic mold (as Joseph Campbell described it) set mostly in modern America but sometimes in a fantastical world. The more human and real King keeps it, the better. That's what he's exceptionally good at.

I'd still recommend it to most King fans, and possibly fantasy fans depending on what kind of fantasy they like. But there are definitely some folks for whom the drawbacks will be too overwhelming.



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