Cell: A Novel by Stephen King Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Cell: A Novel
Book Review: A fun, yet unsettling, social commentary by Stephen King
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like the way Stephen King can make such an elaborate social commentary, which is at once humorous and unsettling. The premise is comparable to "Dawn of the Dead," (he even writes this comparison into the dialogue) in that it is an extreme exaggeration of normality gone haywire - a plague unleashed upon those who have succumbed to the convenience of technology.
It is thus, a warning, from Stephen King to the masses, to reduce dependency on modern gadgets. They may one day be our downfall. And if the future is to be written by Stephen King, that downfall will be horrific and gory! Yay!
This instant plague, in the form of a "pulse" destroys the minds of all cell phone users, who inadvertently happened to be blabbering away at the time. Consequently, their minds are instantly destroyed, but they retain a primal rage. They continue blabbering, but now in some incoherent "phoner" language, and they attack and kill each other and other "normies." Whoever gets in their way, really. At the same time, other unused portions of their brains are triggered, so they quickly evolve into what amounts to zombies with super powers. Nice!
A few things I found interesting were the unspoken correlations between the title, "Cell," the idea of the pulse as an attack brought on by a terrorist "cell," and the fact that both the protagonists and the antagonists of the story seem to self-organize into small groups, or "cells." Hmm.
I have heard that a "pulse" which can destroy minds is actually possible, although I don't think I've heard that it directly involves cell phones. I've heard that a large electromagnetic pulse can be created, using some top-secret device, that only the most secret of secret agents knows about!
I do think cell phones are still kind of scary. Even though I own one, I wonder if I'll get brain cancer one day. I'm sure they'll find a cure for it the day after I die, though! :)
As one of the "about the author" pages in the book states, "Stephen King does not own a cell phone," I'll venture a guess that Stephen King sees cell phones as dangerous, and at least inwardly regards their users as mindless flocks, without individual thought. Thanks Stephen! But even as a cell phone user, I really take no offense, because in "Cell," he's built up a delightfully entertaining exaggeration of his concept.
So, to draw my little review to a close, I'll just say "Good book!" I'd recommend it for an entertaining read!
Book Review: A good book, but I still plan on using my cell phone
Summary: 4 Stars
Stephen King's newest novel is a violent, brutal, unflinching look at the possibilities of "brainwave interference." Cell follows Clayton Riddell, a comic-book writer, on his journey to find his wife and son in Kent Pond, Maine from Boston. Along the journey, Clay meets up with Tom McCourt, who is the best character in the book. Tom is an intelligent, emotional, thoughtful man who truly bonds with Clay and Alice, the teenager they also find in Boston and take along with them.
I wouldn't call this book a "zombie book." The phone crazies are not really zombies, in the general sense of the term, at all. They have some small ability to think and communicate, and have a clear purpose. What starts out as random violence and destruction turns into a specimen of group think, reducing our technologically-advanced society to a vast landscape of rainforest. There are no rules. You aren't safe, and you don't know what you are in danger from and what you aren't. The world that King paints is a scary one. Coming from the viewpoint from a few protagonists, the reader can still get a personal feel from the book, unlike a book that would try and paint a picture of the entire world, and what was happening everywhere. In fact, we don't get an outside viewpoint at all throughout the book, we are just left to assume about what is going on outside of the northeast region of the U.S.
The book starts out on an amazing note. When the Pulse goes out, all Hell breaks loose, and King writes with a style of violence that is second to no other. I have never felt as much of a sense of chaos as the opening pages of Cell. However, after about the first 100 pages, the book slows down a great deal. The middle part of the book is definitely the weakest. Filled mostly with the character's musings about what is going on, and thinking about those they have had to leave behind. Not much action takes place in the middle third of the book, and that hurts the breakneck pace that the first part sets. The third part of the book, when the group sets out on the final part of their journey, it returns to the pacing that doesn't let you put the book down even for a second. King is one of the only writers that I know of that can still have the reader completely guessing as to what is going to happen with only 20 pages left to read.
This isn't one of King's elite novels, but it definitely was a really fun, interesting read.
Book Review: A good page-turner
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't expect much going in,and I wasn't disappointed. Readers expecting another magnum opus from King will be let down, but if you are looking for a solid page-turner, "Cell" is serviceable.
This is the sort of book that King is best known for. Fast, exciting reads that you can polish off over the weekend. All the stock characters are here. Good stuff. The character of the reluctant boy-hero, Jordan was well written.
People criticizing the lack of deep background information are unjustified. I felt that the lack of information regarding the circumstances surrounding "The Pulse" only contributed to the suspense. You are not privy to any more information than the characters. There's no deus ex machina to solve the mystery for the reader.
A good book by Mr. King. He's got nothing to prove, and it's apparent here. He's back to writing simple stories that people eat up. I look forward to his next novel. Recommended.
Book Review: A good read with a clever plot
Summary: 4 Stars
Although not one of his best novels this is still a genuine page turner.Book Review: A good return to form for King
Summary: 4 Stars
With a few notable exceptions (such as the disappointing "Dreamcatcher"), most of King's work since the early 90s has trended towards character dramas and dark fantasy, not quite lapsing into the horror that he's known for. While this shows the versatility of the writer, something he's not usually given enough credit for, this also left horror fans thirsty for a new piece for quite some time.
With "Cell," King returned to the genre that made him huge. "Cell" focuses on Clay Riddel, a graphic artist who has landed a deal with a major publisher to produce his own graphic novels. He now just wants to get home from Boston, back to his son and estranged wife, hoping that this fix to their financial situation will help spur a reconciliation. Just after leaving the publisher, however, an event that comes to be called "The Pulse" shatters all of his dreams and tears apart the world. Everyone using a cell phone at just that moment has their minds destroyed, transforming them into a ravenous, murderous monster. The effects are immediate and devastating: planes fall out of the sky, cities burn and streets run with blood.
The book is dedicated to George Romero and Richard Matheson, appropriately, as the novel borrows liberally from the sort of zombie and undead stories they made so popular. While he uses the framework of a zombie story, though, King has created something unique - the effected, the "phone crazies," are far from your typical zombies. In fact, they're evolving into something else entirely.
Early descriptions of this story invariably compared it to King's early blockbuster "The Stand," but while both are about apocalyptic cataclysms and the survivors thereof, they're really very different. Where "The Stand" was a far-reaching, epic tale, Cell is much more personal, focusing just on Clay and the few people he connects with along the way. The book also doesn't have the strict "good versus evil" feeling of the earlier work either - while the creatures they battle in "Cell" are certainly horrific, they feel more of a malevolent force of nature than the devil himself that spurred "The Stand" (King's ubiquitous boogeyman Randall Flagg).
The novel isn't exactly perfect - as usual, King manages to work in some autobiography (Clay's graphic novel is a western fantasy called "Dark Wanderer," quite similar in description to King's own "Dark Tower," which is in development as a comic book series from Marvel Comics). The characters, while interesting, aren't developed much beyond their surface descriptions.
The plot carries the story. I was nervous at a few points in the book, I must admit - King is a proud devotee of stories where things "just happen" without explanation, which is fine if the story can support that. As he devoted more and more time to the bizarre abilities that the "phone crazies" manifest, I was worried that we'd never get a payoff of that plot thread. Fortunately, we do. While the writer doesn't tie up everything in a neat little bow - in fact, we're left with many dangling plot threads and mysteries, but that isn't a negative in this case. He gives us just as much as we need for the story and nothing more, and he manages to do it in a way that doesn't leave you feeling like a sequel is in the offing.
Overall, this return to form is entertaining. It won't be as classic as King's earlier horror works or his later masterworks like "The Green Mile," but it's a satisfying story for anyone who enjoys a few old-fashioned creepers.