The Stephen King Goodreads Discussion Group is embarking on a comprehensive re-read of his works, from start to finish. It has been a considerable amount of time since I truly immersed myself in Uncle Stevie’s captivating world. However, with a reading rate of one book per month, I am fully committed. My objective is to read and review each one with utmost honesty and deep reflection.

“Storm of the Century” was an ABC television miniseries penned by Stephen King in 1999. What sets it apart from other adaptations of his work is that it was not based on a pre-existing novel. Instead, it was an original screenplay written by King specifically for television. He described it as a “novel for television”. The screenplay was published as a mass-market book by Pocket Books in February 1999, prior to its television broadcast. My oversized paperback lists it as 376 pages, and unfortunately, it is not currently available electronically on my Kindle.

The plotline revolves around the residents of Little Tall Island, a small town off the coast of Maine, who are facing the storm of the century. When the storm strikes with great fury, the island is completely cut off from the mainland, leaving the islanders to fend for themselves. Alongside the storm comes a mysterious stranger named André Linoge. As the storm begins, Linoge appears and kills an elderly resident, Martha Clarendon, by striking her with a black cane featuring a silver wolf’s head. No motive is immediately apparent. Linoge willingly allows himself to be taken into custody and then proceeds to share the deepest, darkest secrets of others. His only other communication is the repeated sentence, “Give me what I want, and I'll go away.” Over the next two days, the island residents will face the most terrifying combination of physical and emotional challenges they have ever encountered. Survival seems unlikely.

In my thoughts and reflections, I must note that I have not watched the television miniseries based on this screenplay, so I am unable to comment on how well it turned out or what changes were made to the final version. My comments are solely based on the screenplay itself. There were several aspects that I truly appreciated about King’s presentation of this story. It strongly reminded me of his previous novel, “Needful Things”, where an evil stranger comes to a small town and awakens the darker side of the citizens, leading to them attacking each other and nearly destroying the town. Similar themes are present in this one. King successfully combines characters, plot, and setting to create a well-delivered visual horror story. Even with a large cast of islanders, their families, and children, he manages to keep the storytelling tight, alternating between two scenes at a time to build tension and momentum in his plotting. This strategy worked extremely well for me, as it layered the story one step at a time, continuously escalating the conflict. King simply knows how to master the formula of combining a small town with horror. It is his specialty, and he is a true master of it. Additionally, he avoids a clichéd ending and delivers a mesmerizing climax that makes me contemplate the decisions we make and the negative influence that group-think can have on individuals. Fear can indeed have a powerful impact on people’s decision-making.

Other notable points include an introduction by King in the book, where he describes the creation of the story as it came to him in 1996, his initial deliberation on whether it would work best as a novel or a screenplay, and his writing of the miniseries script. King has referred to this miniseries as one of his personal favorites among all the television productions related to his works. Little Tall Island was also the setting of King's previous novel, “Dolores Claiborne”. Overall, this turned out to be much more enjoyable than I had anticipated. It was an easy read that effortlessly maintained my attention and interest. I was initially leaning towards a four-star rating, but due to the powerful, authentic, and memorable ending, I am awarding it a five-star rating.

I happened to pick up this book at a used bookstore. Before delving into it, my expectations were extremely low. The format, written as a screenplay, was something I wasn't entirely sure about. However, let me tell you, I was truly astonished by it.

In fact, I think this might just be my favorite Stephen King book to date. As I was reading it, it felt as if I was sitting at home on a Sunday night, watching an old TV show.

The ending was so captivating that it left me completely unable to put the book down for the last 50 pages. I was on the edge of my seat, eagerly awaiting to see what direction this story was going to take. It was a thrilling and engaging read from start to finish, and I would highly recommend it to any Stephen King fan or anyone looking for a great story.

Cavoli.

This is the very first book by Stephen King that I've read.

Yes, I started a bit late!

Considering that I haven't even seen the film (yes, me and films, any film, don't get along very well), what can I say?

It's great!

I didn't give 5 stars only because the formatting of the writing slowed me down a little in reading.

But for those who have doubts about whether to read this book or not, I can only say to do it, you won't regret it.

The story is engaging and full of suspense. King has a way of creating characters that you really care about and a world that draws you in.

Even though the formatting was a bit of an issue for me, it didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the book.

I'm looking forward to reading more of King's work in the future.

What an incredible book. This man always surprises me.

Edit: I found out it's a script and here I am talking about the cameras, hahahaha. It's a script, the first one I've read, and it surprised me.

The book has the peculiarity of being narrated in the third person but we see everything from the eyes of the cameras. That is, each chapter that begins describes to us whether the camera is inside, outside, what part it points to, and whether it is day or night. Then it proceeds to describe to us what is seen, and if any of the people speak (whenever the camera can capture the words). I had never read in this way, and I really liked it because of the dynamism it gives to the book. At first I thought that perhaps it would be difficult for me to identify with the characters or feel those small emotions, but I was very wrong because, in fact, I felt a lot of tension.

Linoge, this strange man who appears on the island, begins to cause havoc. Island residents die in strange circumstances and no one understands what this man is doing there or what he wants. The whole book is immersed in despair, in the chaos produced by the storm, in tension, and in suspense. It is a constant terror of knowing what will happen to the people, both with the storm and with this strange subject.

It is an excellent book that transmits pure terror and tension. It is difficult to put it down, and it has many surprises.

3.5 stars rounded up to four... Though I'm not entirely convinced it merits the rounding. I think I'll approach it differently this time. 3.49 rounded down to three.

This isn't a novel but a screenplay. Generally, I'm not a fan of reading plays, and I feel much the same about screenplays. So, I initially excluded this from my "read all the fiction Stephen King has put out" project. However, after thoroughly enjoying the miniature screenplay "Sorry, Right Number" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes, I decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did, but I still prefer the movie (or miniseries). Since over 95% of the movie follows this line-for-line, I'd recommend just watching it instead. The movie is actually one of my all-time favorites, not just among SK movies but among all movies. I rate the screenplay three stars, but the movie is an unqualified five+ stars. In my early 20s, I used to have phases where I would watch the same movie every night for a few weeks, a month, or even more, and this one was in the rotation. This is no small feat considering it's about four hours long, but there was a fair amount of alcohol involved back then, and I used to stay up until the early hours, unless I passed out. In fact, I often passed out and would wake up with the title screen looping, but I digress. Despite all that, I pretty much have this movie memorized, and I still watch it about once a year, usually on a night when there's a snowstorm, which is truly the best way to experience it. If this isn't high praise, I don't know what is.

This book answered a couple of questions I had about the movie. King provides insights into a character's motivation from time to time. I assume this was to help the director/actor know how to convey a certain facial expression or something similar. I've always wondered why every child on the island was around four years old, except for Davey Hopewell, who was about 14. Was there a major orgy on Little Tall in 1985? Did Linoge do a flyover and cast an ovulation spell? What's the deal? Well, it turns out that all the school-age kids were at school on the mainland when the storm hit and were thus stuck there. I guess it's possible this was explained in a brief throwaway line that I missed every time, but I'm not sure. It's only mentioned twice in the book, and one of those wasn't a line of dialogue, so there's no way the viewer could know about it. As for Davey being there, it turns out he was recovering from mono, though he seems fully healed judging by the way he was dribbling his basketball up the street when he found the door to Martha's house open. Still, it's nice to have that question resolved. And if any of the parents on the island didn't seem overly worried about their kids stuck on the mainland, well, I guess we can cut them some slack because they surely had plenty of other things on their minds.

Any changes between the screenplay and the finished product were minimal and, in my opinion, improved the story. The most significant difference I noticed was in the final couple of scenes. Different characters deliver certain lines, and several are omitted. I assume this was due to time constraints and perhaps because the original characters weren't quite right for those lines, so it made more sense to give them to someone else.
One change I wish King had made, though, is the lyrics to "I'm a Little Teapot." They're incorrect. I've never heard his version, which goes:
I'm a little teapot, short and stout;
Here is my handle, here is my spout.
You can pick me up and pour me out;
I'm a little teapot short and stout.
It should be:
I'm a little teapot, short and stout;
Here is my handle, here is my spout.
When I get all steamed up, hear me shout;
Tip me over and pour me out.
Even the internet agrees with me on this, and thankfully, they corrected it for the movie. I'm surprised SK didn't know this, but I guess he can't know everything.
This reads like a rough draft, and I suppose that's what a screenplay really is. There were a few (very few) typos and several editing issues that I'm certain would have been addressed had this been a novel and King gone through his usual process. We also see several of King's thoughts or ideas, as if he was sketching out possibilities and leaving it up to the director to make the final decision. This kind of thing would never be in a novel or short story. It was also clear that he was addressing the movie makers directly in a few instances or just giving them a witty quip. None of this appears in the finished movie.
As for the story itself, it's fantastic. As I said, it's a favorite movie. I could almost picture the movie playing out in my head as I read, and it was enjoyable, but I have no idea what kind of experience someone would have with this if they haven't already seen the film. I imagine it would be frustrating given the issues I mentioned above. But this thing still makes me so angry that I could chew nails and spit out staples. After countless viewings, I still HATE the island residents by the end of this as much as I did the first time I saw it. Except for Mike, of course. He earns a place on my "favorite protagonists" shelf, even though things don't go well for him. Hell, if I were in his shoes, I'd have left a small nuke on Little Tall set to detonate two days after I left. That would teach those gutless jerks. And they have the nerve to be angry with him for being angry with them because they sold his son to Satan against his will! And they're upset with him for deserting them after they screwed him over. I mean, come on, the man stayed an extra six or seven months trying to make things work. I would have been out of there in six or seven seconds after they treated me like that. Ungrateful morons. The saying "no good deed goes unpunished" definitely applies here. ARGH, I hate them so much. I actually kind of hate them from the start, but only a little at first. They are the most annoying, nosy, stupid bunch. Get back, stay out of the way, and let the damn constable do his job! Anyway, the fact that this story still evokes such a strong reaction from me is a sign of a great story.
And Andre Linoge! What a wonderful villain. He manipulates everyone like a maestro playing a harp from hell. Only once does it seem like something might not go his way when one character just manages to resist his influence, but he quickly adjusts his plan and turns things around, so he's still in control. Sometimes a story fails when the power dynamic between the hero and the villain is so uneven that there's no hope for the weaker one to win, but in this case, King pulls it off perfectly, although I admit that might be a matter of personal preference. This is a great tragedy, and I loved it.
I think everyone should watch the movie in the dark on a snowy night when you have about four hours to spare. As for reading this rough draft, eh. Only die-hard fans need apply; they'd probably enjoy it as much as I did, or even more if they don't share my aversion to plays/screenplays.


[1]: (1/6/24 update) It's a nice, snowy, sleety night tonight, so I'm watching this again, and I can confirm that's exactly what happened. The line is "the radio says they're going to keep the bigger kids over in Machias, at least tonight. The reach is too choppy to send them back on the water-bus." It's said while there's a lot of howling wind, so I never heard it before, and I only caught it this time because I was listening for it. The Davey/mono thing was also mentioned by the TV reporter during the dream sequence. I guess I never paid close attention to this movie during my many viewings.

King is truly a remarkable author. His works never cease to astonish and move me.

This particular scenario he has crafted is a masterpiece. It is a blend of heartbreak and beauty, written in a way that is simply fantastic.

The emotions it evokes are so powerful that they stay with you long after you've finished reading.

King has a unique ability to bring his characters and their stories to life, making you feel as if you are right there in the midst of it all.

His writing style is engaging and captivating, drawing you in from the very first sentence and keeping you hooked until the very end.

Whether it's a tale of horror, mystery, or drama, King always manages to deliver a story that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

He is a true master of his craft, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

I didn't know it was written in the format of a TV script, so it was all a big surprise. Well, I prefer to read novels, but still, once you get used to it, it's not bad. Although it has the drawback that you don't empathize as much with the characters or the story.

Still, I love the plot. I think it's very original and although I already said that it loses intensity because the most terrifying images are not described so much, it's still worth it.

There are scenes that have made my hair stand on end (the whole demon thing freaks me out) and the ending is the best part of the whole story. Simply brutal.

The original novel is not so much because of the plot itself, but because of how it is written, in the style of a "film script".

This might seem like a random choice, but King's random choices always turn out to be the best.

His unique writing style gives the story a vivid and immersive quality. It's as if the scenes are playing out right in front of your eyes, just like in a movie.

The use of the film script style allows for a more dynamic and engaging narrative. It keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, eager to find out what happens next.

King's ability to create such a captivating reading experience through his writing style is truly remarkable. It's one of the reasons why his novels have become so popular and beloved by readers around the world.

I am a die-hard Stephen King fan. My wife and I own every book he's published, both in hardcover and paperback for easier portability. The reason I find Mr. King so engaging as a writer is his interstitial narration and the moments of indirect characterization that make his characters come to life. Unfortunately, none of that is present in this particular piece.

The problem stems from the format he's chosen - a screenplay. Screenplays don't focus much on narration, though the small parts he can't help but insert are very King-ish. They are pretty much just dialogue and main actions.

Even worse, this was a teleplay, and not just any teleplay, but a miniseries teleplay. A movie has to be done in about 90 minutes. This was purposely designed to go on over several hour-long episodes. I know Stephen King likes to hold forth, but television is not his medium. At around the 3/4 mark, the story starts to pick up; until then, it's pretty much, "Huh - haven't I already seen this show somewhere...?"

I do have to admit that the ending caught me by surprise. I actually turned to my wife, who had seen the miniseries (I had not), and asked if it had ended the same way as the script, because I found it hard to believe that a television exec would let the story end as written.

If the entire thing had been cut down to about half its length, it might have worked. As it is, it's way too long.

This was truly a highly enjoyable read!

I discovered that the format was extremely interesting to peruse, and it was really cool to soak up a written story from a distinct perspective.

The use of vivid language and unique descriptions made the narrative come alive in my mind.

My favorite quote from the piece was: "He's as excited and dismayed as a man who has just seen Satan peering at him from around a tree trunk."

This quote really stood out to me because it painted such a vivid and almost comical image in my head.

It added a touch of humor and drama to the story, making it even more engaging and memorable.

Overall, I would highly recommend this read to anyone looking for something different and entertaining to read.

Every new year should commence with a Stephen King story.

He is as reliable as one can get when in search of a GREAT READ.

What an outstanding read this turned out to be - and a captivating, vivid tale at that.

'Storm of the Century' is penned as a screenplay by King, yet (once you are just a few pages into it) it reads just like any other King novel - character-driven, with a marvelous pace and a tense storyline. I was thoroughly engaged and extremely eager to discover what would occur. And it most certainly did not disappoint me!

Thank you, Mr. KING! You have once again managed to transport me into a world of your own creation, filled with mystery, suspense, and unforgettable characters. Your ability to craft a story that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end is truly remarkable. I look forward to many more great reads from you in the future.

I began reading this book last night, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. A storm was approaching, and the wind outside was wild and crazy, just like in this screenplay.

The story is set in February 1989 on Little Tall Island off the coast of Maine. The Storm of the Century is about to hit, and with it comes a mysterious stranger named Andre Linoge. He has that creepy factor that many of King's villains possess, but there isn't really anything overly new here. The small community feels the pressure from outside forces, a threat to their way of life and their families. The stranger knows these people inside out and uses this knowledge to his advantage. He is extremely persuasive, to say the least.

It took me a while to get used to the screenplay format. It's like reading a play, sort of, which is okay usually, but not at all what I expect when reading Stephen King. However, after some time, it did start to work for me, especially with the perfect weather outside. I woke up this morning to snow on the ground and more falling, and for a moment I thought this could be Pittsburgh's Storm of the Century. But by the time I got home from walking the pug, the snow had stopped, and it wasn't even as slippery as it was when I left earlier. And I remembered that this really is Pittsburgh, and the only Storm of the Century that occurs here is when the Baltimore Ravens are in town playing against the Steelers.

I always enjoy reading King, even if his stories don't always amaze me or if they are so similar that I have to roll my eyes at times. But reading him is always like coming home for me. It probably has to do with the fact that King has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories involve looking at his early books on my mom's bookshelf. I started reading him at a relatively young age, and he's just always been there. He's a comfort read for me. I don't necessarily expect a lot from him, other than simple amusement and entertainment, the promise of being taken to another place for a while, and even the occasional thrill. I'm a huge fan of his characters, and I love when they make appearances in different books. (This story includes references to Dolores Claiborne and a shout-out to Danny Torrance from The Shining.) All of his characters seem to be part of the same small community, and I really like that. It's the most messed-up community ever, and it's not one I would want to be a part of myself. But it's familiar, and the people are pretty real, and I find myself coming back again and again to see what they're up to now.

Note: The ABC mini-series, Storm of the Century, is coming up soon in my Netflix queue, so I'll be back to add my review of that here. Tim Daly? Yes, please.

<03/11/12>: Last night I finished watching the TV miniseries for which Stephen King wrote the screenplay. It was decent enough, but I conveniently forgot that the book really is the screenplay. So the miniseries followed exactly what I had read a couple of weeks ago in the book. Both were okay, but nothing特别值得大书特书的. (Tim Daly is lovely to watch though.) There is a quick Stephen King cameo that you might miss if you've never seen a picture of him. That was fun. The performances were fine (I heart you, Tim Daly), and the actor they got to play Andre Linoge was great. And that's about it. Again, if you read the book, there's not much point in watching the movie, and vice versa. But it was a good way to pass the time.

(ETA movie review at the end.)