The Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub. 646 pages. Viking.
You know how when you’ve been constipated for three days and
you finally slay the dragon? How good it feels? And yet, there are still residual
cramps that torture you? Well, that’s exactly how I felt when I finally
finished reading The Talisman. I worked on it for over two months, occasionally
speed reading a section or two while at other times getting caught up in the
prose and absorbing it. I started it December 24 of one year and finished March
2 of another. Not since Moby Dick have I labored so hard on a single
book.
Here are the positives: 1). The prose is generally
delightful. I like Straub’s prose a lot and generally find King’s prose to be perfectly
adequate to the story by rather “meh” aesthetically, but King seems to have
risen to the challenge of Straub here and the book is finely written. 2). The
fantasy setting of the “territories,” which is contiguous with the world we
know, was excellent. I particularly liked how everything was experienced so
intensely in the territories. 3). The climactic scenes were powerful, both the
final battle with the evil and the denouement with the character’s mother.
However, there are a number of things I didn’t care much for
and I think they all revolve around one particular issue. The book is way, way
too long. I’d say at least 200 pages too long. Every scene is embellished and
packed with verbiage. There is nothing here that can be considered lean or stripped
down. Instead of a juggernaut, it moves like one of those giant armored buses often
depicted in zombie movies. The story rolls slowly along through the horrors and
mysteries, powerful but ponderous.
Because of the length of the book, the middle sags like a
mattress supported by broken springs, the characters repeat themselves and
repeat themselves in thought and dialogue, points get hammered (the book often uses
an apropos metaphor of a nail being pounded) flush to the board and then the
board gets hammered into mush. I frequently uttered the words, “Get on with it”
as I worked my way through. It also struck me as apropos that the main villain
is often called “bloat.”
Please note, this is a fantasy novel, not in any way a
horror novel. There are a few horrific images in it but the monsters and
characters are fantasy based, including the werewolves and the radiation twisted
monsters. I like both fantasy and horror, but they do different things to my moods
and mindsets.
Also note, the book makes no secret of being—in part—a fantasy
retelling of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Even the main character’s name is Jack
Sawyer, although the journey across the US smacks a bit of Huck Finn’s journey
down the Mississippi.
I didn’t dislike the book. Some things I quite enjoyed. But
the sheer length and padding of it made it a tough row to plow. You might find your
experience very different, as I might have if I’d read it when I was much
younger.
I also want to make clear, I do not dislike Stephen King or
Peter Straub’s work. Ghost Story by Straub is in my top 3 favorite
horror novels. Some of his short stories in Houses Without Windows still
scald me years after reading them. King’s Misery and The Mist
were absolutely riveting page turners, and Pet Semetary made me weep
with emotion. These are very fine writers but—to me—The Talisman is far
from their best work.
