The Institute in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Oct 09, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fanboy-goes-squee, ya, 2019-shelf, sci-fi, horror

It's been a while since I went gaga over a new King novel.

My favorites have always been his earlier stuff, but I've never actually disliked any of his new stuff, so there's always that. :)

And then this one comes around, hooking me from the very start, and managing to improve upon Firestarter, going the full YA dystopian route while also making me so invested that I wanted to scream.

This is Supreme King. I LIKE these kids. I love the story! And I especially love the twist that makes it all so mu ...more

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Apr 12, 2020 Nataliya rated it really liked it

Shelves: stephen-king, 2020-reads

“Great events turn on small hinges.”

For the last few years this Constant Reader of Stephen King’s doorstoppers has been slacking off on keeping up with Uncle Stevie. But then finally I got my hands on ‘The Institute’ - and next thing I knew it was 5:30 am and it was officially an all-nighter.

My verdict?
The magic still exists.

(And this review is a bleary post-all-nighter mildly delirious sleep-deprived ramble, so yeah).

As I have preached from the rooftops before, I will never see eye to eye

“Great events turn on small hinges.”

For the last few years this Constant Reader of Stephen King’s doorstoppers has been slacking off on keeping up with Uncle Stevie. But then finally I got my hands on ‘The Institute’ - and next thing I knew it was 5:30 am and it was officially an all-nighter.

My verdict?
The magic still exists.

(And this review is a bleary post-all-nighter mildly delirious sleep-deprived ramble, so yeah).

As I have preached from the rooftops before, I will never see eye to eye with any book snobs dismissing King, the self-admitted “literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.” I have praised over and over again his engrossing storytelling skills, his ability to breathe real life into any setting he chooses to create, his unerring ear for dialogue (not that common of a skill even among the best writers), and his knack for creating characters that never stop feeling like real people (especially kids; King has an uncanny ability to create the most interesting kid characters *). And I still stand by all of that.

* Case in point: IT, The Body, The Shining, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Firestarter, and The Talisman.

————————

We start this story with Tim Jamieson, a disgraced cop who ends up in a small Southern town of DuPray following little else but a strange hunch.

“Great events turn on small hinges.”

It’s a trademark King ‘normal guy in a small town setting’ segment, quiet and understated but thoughtful and dripping with apt characterization among the seeming mundanity. I love these King interludes - his writing ability really shines here, and those are my favorite moments to sit back and enjoy his writing voice.

And then we shift to seemingly unrelated story of Luke Ellis - a 12-year-old modestly telekinetic child prodigy (“He wondered what it was like to have a brain that didn’t seem to know all the answers”) whose parents are brutally and efficiently murdered by the kidnappers who whisk Luke away to the titular Institute - a place where children with hints of supernatural ability are used as basically batteries to power ... well... something. Something for which adults in charge do not hesitate to dehumanize children for.

“He belongs to me. He’s property.”

“Luke realized he wasn’t a child at all to her. She had made some crucial separation in her mind. He was a test subject. You made it do what you wanted, and if it didn’t, you administered what the psychologists called negative reinforcement. And when the tests were over? You went down to the break room for coffee and Danish and talked about your own kids (who were real kids) or bitched about politics, sports, whatever.”

Unlike many other King’s stories, this one does not have an otherworldly Big Bad encouraging our inner evils. There’s no Pennywise the clown or interdimensional Outsider evil being onto whom one we can always at least partially shift blame. It’s all ours. It’s the perfectly ordinary human evil, human monstrosity, human ultimate unfairness and cruelty.

“It came to him, with the force of a revelation, that you had to have been imprisoned to fully understand what freedom was.”

Dehumanization and the danger of desensitization to it is to me the main horror in this otherwise not-quite-fitting into the classic idea of a horror story book. Treating people as things, as *property* is the ultimate evil, the one that we can succumb so easily as history proves again and again. Whatever leads to this attitude - perceived global benefits, perceived superiority, or simply the thrill of power of the stronger one over a weaker one - it’s the ultimate chilling monstrosity.

But sometimes those who were thought of as weaker ones, the property, learn to strike back.

“Because it was chess now, and in chess you never lived in the move you were about to make, or even the next one. Three moves ahead, that was the rule. And three alternates to each of those, depending on what your opponent did.”

What’s interesting is that perhaps the ‘bad guys’ have a compelling reason to view themselves an anything but. Something bigger may be at stake here.

But does the end justify the means? Ultimately it boils down to the same philosophical issue that Ursula Le Guin brought up in her short and timeless ‘Omelas’ story: Is the happiness of the most worth suffering of a few? King has his answer.

“Let’s say our network of Institutes didn’t save the world from nuclear destruction five hundred times. Suppose it was only fifty? Or five? Wouldn’t it still be worth it?”
Very softly, Tim said, “No.”
Smith stared at him as if he were insane. “No? You say no?”
“Sane people don’t sacrifice children on the altar of probability. That’s not science, it’s superstition.”

—————
4.5 stars. ...more

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Oct 08, 2019 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a new favourite SK book!
Yep, it's THAT good.

We follow Luke, a 12-year-old boy with a very special, high-functioning mind. He gets accepted into MIT and Boston University. But he never gets there. Because before he can, some people from the ominous titular institute kidnap him. He wakes up in the facility and meets a number of other kids this has happened to as well (the kidnapping part at least).
From that moment on, he's trapped in a place that is all about experimen ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Philip rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, supernatural, fantasy, top-5-2019, sci-fi, author-man, 2019-releases, thriller

4.25ish stars.

Confession: I've never really read King before this year. I started reading The Dead Zone in 6th grade and got too freaked out. At one point in junior high I checked out Pet Sematary from the library but never got around to reading it. So I've only ever ready his very recent stuff, but if it's any indication of his talent and imagination, I understand why his classics are so celebrated.

This book is just so captivating. It's consistently tense and flows quickly which is impressive ...more

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Sep 30, 2019 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2024-read, audiobook, 2019-read, sk-readers, rereads

2024 reread
Definitely 4.5 stars for this one; I think I enjoyed it even more the second time. This time around I listened to the audiobook, and it was absolutely excellent. Fantastic narration really brought all the characters even more to life than the text already did.

As is the case with Firestarter I would LOVE to read a sequel with the kids as adult survivors of The Institute. Maybe they all meet Charlie and we see what happens to everyone?

2019 read
As expected, King delivers realistic horro ...more

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Oct 09, 2019 Ctgt rated it really liked it

So this was probably my favorite of King's later books. I haven't loved most of his books since.....well the mid 90s. Some were okay but none brought back the thrill of those early books. This one comes close. Classic King characters that draw you in to their world and make you care what happens in their lives. Decent ending with a conclusion that worked pretty well.

8/10

...more

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Oct 08, 2019 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, x2019-read

After a somewhat slow start, this book picks up once King introduces his adolescent and child characters, and then we're off. No spooky creatures or hauntings in this book, but lots of human-generated horror.
I enjoyed this book, and the slow unfurling of the actual horror at the centre of the story:
(view spoiler) ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read2019, favourites

4.5*

“He was only twelve, and understood that his experience of the world was limited, but one thing he was quite sure of: when someone said trust me, they were usually lying through their teeth.”

At the recommendations of two GR friends, I dived into this latest of King’s books, and yes, it was one brilliant, tense, thriller, that took over my life for two stressful days!

The story starts with Tim, ex police officer, and how he ends up in the little corner of DuPrey, before finally re-focusing on ...more

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Nov 25, 2019 Vavita rated it it was amazing

I loved it!
Best King book ever!

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Dec 30, 2019 Christina Pilkington rated it really liked it

Shelves: genre-horror, genre-scifi

One of the more enjoyable of King's recently published books that I have read.

As usual, my favorite thing about King's writing is his characters. My favorite parts of this book were the relationships between the kids at the Institute. The ending was a bit too convenient for my taste, but I had a great time reading this story. ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Andrew Tucker rated it it was amazing

I had pretty much given up on new SK novels about 10 years ago. After a few disappointments (the most memorable being Duma Key) I moved on and hadnt given much thought to reading his new stuff.

Then after seeing all the ranting praise for The Outsider I gave it a try and I LOVED it. I was hoping that he would repeat that experience with The Institute and I was not disappointed.

I was hooked right from the beginning and really enjoyed the story line and slow reveal of the horrifying world that The ...more

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