2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Institute by Stephen King.

Pages: 561 pages

Length: 1 Month (June)

Participants: Trisha, Dominique, Eirelyn, Ed

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.


Happy Buddy Reading!

I read this a few months ago. It was my first full length Stephen King novel and (view spoiler)[it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be building up tension not fear. Around 46% there was a moment which scared me a little though (hide spoiler)]
The book description mentions the type of people who would go to the Institute. (view spoiler)[While reading, I started to wonder if Roald Dahl's Matilda would show up. Are there any other characters (from other books) who you think could end up at the Institute? (hide spoiler)]

Enjoy your buddy read!

Thanks, Rachael! XD I'll wait to read your spoilers when I finish, haha.

Rachael wrote: "I read this a few months ago. It was my first full length Stephen King novel and [spoilers removed]
The book description mentions the type of people who would go to the Institute. [spoilers removed..."

Rachael, I accidentally read the spoilers! Thankfully, those weren't really spoilers! I'll need to read the book to answer your second spoiler. :)

When is everyone planning to start this one?

I was being very careful with my comments just in case.

My hold just came through, so I'll be starting very soon. Maybe today or tomorrow. :)

I’ve my copy handy, but I’ll start this a little later since I’ve committed to starting a few other shorter books before. Will look forward to your inputs, Eirelyn!

Oh, I want to join. I will read it in a german buddy-read-group - starting on june 16 - but I will love to hear your opinions.

I just now started and am pleased to see that the chapters are super short. XD I tend to read a book faster when it has shorter chapters.

Rachael wrote: "I read this a few months ago. It was my first full length Stephen King novel and [spoilers removed]
The book description mentions the type of people who would go to the Institute. [spoilers removed..."

They could round up all the kids from the Village of the Damned?

I'm through the first part (Night Knocker). It's a little slow getting going for me so far.

Eirelyn wrote: "I'm through the first part (Night Knocker). It's a little slow getting going for me so far."

Any further progress, Eirelyn? I’m counting on your opinion before I dive headlong into this one. Just went through the index and the structure of the chapters was so much like the disastrous Imaginary Friend that I freaked out, although I trust King too much, and I’m sure he won’t write something like that.

Trisha, I'm about to start the Shots for Dots chapter, so not too far in just yet. I know what you mean about Imaginary Friend flashbacks! Lol. I've only read 1 King book before this & it was only so-so for me, so I'm still a bit tentative right now. XD

Starting this today!

My ebook has 801 pages!!! 🤯

Wowza! XD Mine has 559. Not as crazy but still a bit of a whopper. I'm 20% of the way through now. About to start Ch. 10 in Shots for Dots.

I'm liking it a lot better now; although, I'm wondering how the 1st part (Night Knocker) relates to the rest of the story. I like Luke -- the book really gets into his character, (view spoiler)[as well as the other kids who are at the Institute. We really get a sense of their personalities quickly, which I like. And I feel so badly for them... What an unreal situation, especially for kids! I like that Nick is a fighter, but I'm afraid it's going to end badly for him. I hate that they have to sit by and let these things happen to them (Luke just got his first shots, ugh!). It makes me squirm a bit...but in a good way? lol. I mean, it's horrible, but so far, it's making me feel what I imagine the kids are feeling as well, which is what I want as a reader (hide spoiler)].

Trisha, for me so far, it hasn't had that "weird for the sake of weird" aspect like Imaginary Friend. So that's a plus! XD

Eirelyn wrote: "Wowza! XD Mine has 559. Not as crazy but still a bit of a whopper. I'm 20% of the way through now. About to start Ch. 10 in Shots for Dots.

I'm liking it a lot better now; although, I'm wondering ..."

Same here, Eirelyn! It started out slow but it’s picking up! I finished about 30% of the book last night and stopped right before starting chapter 17 of ‘Maureen and Avery’. (view spoiler)[ Like you said, I’m also curious to see how the Night knocker section ties up with the Institute. The Institute is weird, and I simply cannot guess what could be going on in the Back half. The constant emphasis on whatever service is expected in the back half is equivalent to serving your country builds my curiosity even more. I am liking the deductions Luke has been making wrt the Institute’s bizarre ways of instilling fear - measuring temperature rectally, monitoring computer histories and tagging the children. Even though, we are time and again told that Luke is exceptionally smart, we also get to see his weak side, making him more real and believable. I’m just wondering if the staff is also skilled in TP or TK - the higher folks. How else can they control kids with such extraordinary abilities? (hide spoiler)]

Okay, so as someone with a Psych degree, I can't help but go on a little psychology-related rant here. lol Feel free to pass on by. I'll even put it behind a spoiler tag in case you all don't care to read about it. XD Also, there are minor spoilers if you're not through Ch. 14 of "Maureen and Avery" yet.

(view spoiler)[There was an excerpt that made me cringe because of its psychological inaccuracy (especially given that Luke is supposed to be a genius who knows all about so many things).

There's a moment (in Ch. 14 of Maureen and Avery) where Luke gets slapped by Priscilla for not giving the right answer, and then he narrates this part: "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."

According to Skinner's Operant Conditioning, this would actually be called positive punishment. "Positive" & "negative" don't mean good and bad -- they mean "adding to" or "subtracting from." As for "reinforcement" vs. "punishment," the former is to encourage a behavior to continue & the latter is to encourage a behavior to stop.

So if she's slapping (adding a factor = positive) him to stop him from answering incorrectly (encouraging a behavior to stop = punishment), then this would be positive punishment.

This just drove me a little mad because of its inaccuracy. And given that Luke is a supposed genius, it stands to reason that he would have knowledge of Psych 101 terms such as this. Which means that this was simply under-researched by our beloved author. (hide spoiler)]

Little mistakes like this just kind of bug me while reading, so I felt the need to vent a bit. XD I was just going to put it in my status as I updated my reading progress instead, but it wouldn't allow enough characters for my wordy rant, lol.

Eirelyn wrote: "Okay, so as someone with a Psych degree, I can't help but go on a little psychology-related rant here. lol Feel free to pass on by. I'll even put it behind a spoiler tag in case you all don't care ..."

Thanks for pointing out the inaccuracy! If not for you, I'd have never known this. :|

Lol, I just had to get it off my chest. XD

I am about to start Ch. 1 of "Escape." I am enjoying it so far (but, omg, cringing at some of the stuff (view spoiler)[being done to the kids... (hide spoiler)]). I'm really liking the character development, and I'm hoping there's (view spoiler)[an uprising on the horizon! (hide spoiler)]

I'm through 60% of the book now, and I'm missing King's usual style of writing. It could be because I've only read King's most accomplished works, not his recent ones - so I may not really have a taste of his current style of writing, perhaps! This book doesn't seem like him at all! Or let me say, this is clearly not the writing I've admired! Trust me, I've been trying to make myself hold onto the plot believing the best part is yet to come. But 60% of the book done, and not once have I felt a rush of adrenaline. The plot seemed promising at first, but I can't see justice being done to it. It's just FLAT! And DULL!

Read the following spoiler once you’ve crossed Chapter 20, section ‘Hell is waiting’. The Institute with its (view spoiler)[ Opal and Ruby Red teams picking up children that they had flagged at the time of their birth, is portrayed as a highly secretive organization with its spies all around the country. Their staff is all ex-military, they are merciless, blah blah, but it just takes one smart kid and a dying housekeeper to reveal its deteriorating infrastructure! Seriously? How can an institute like this have just two tech guys, with absolutely no one to do the surveillance at night? All they have is a fence to protect the boundaries! Not even one having an electric charge? What is this - a library? The whole idea sounds stupid to me! (hide spoiler)]

This book definitely lacks lustre!

Rachael wrote: "I read this a few months ago. It was my first full length Stephen King novel and [spoilers removed]
The book description mentions the type of people who would go to the Institute. [spoilers removed..."

How about young Sherlock and Voldemort?

Maybe young Sheldon from the TV series too!

Wow so amazing guys🙂

Just finished! The last 30% was so much better than the rest of the book (for me). It was more (view spoiler)[action-filled, not that I’m an action fan, but I strongly felt that without a strong resistance from the Institute, all the buzz about the organisation would have seemed exaggerated. The Institute’s motives were finally disclosed, with a fair bit of reasoning for and against it, providing food for thought. I only wish that some of these revelations would’ve been dropped all through the course of the book to give the book some rhythm, which felt quite flat. Luke saying that he knew about Precogs all along, felt quite stupid, since most of the book was from his perspective, and not once we are given hints of this precognition thingy. The first time I feared something of that sort was when Dr.Evans warned Luke to be careful if he didn’t want to be held responsible for the end of the world! Or was there a mention earlier, and I missed it? Whatever be the case, some subtle hints of what was going on, a bit earlier than the big climax could’ve made the book more interesting. (hide spoiler)]

I’ll rate this an average read, and now I’m off to find one of King’s acclaimed works to quench my craving for his writing. Once a fan, always a fan!

I'm avoiding the spoiler for now, but I'm glad to see that the book picked up for you! I'm enjoying it so far, so hopefully it will only continue to get better for me as well. :D

I just finished! The only other Stephen King book I've read is Cell, and I wasn't impressed. So, I was very pleased to find that I enjoyed this book way more!

I can't quote it, but I do remember 2 or 3 mentions throughout, basically with the idea that the kids trying to (view spoiler)[stop the Institute would be "catastrophic" or whatever. So I had it in my mind through at least the last half that they (The Institute) actually thought they were doing something really good & beneficial for the world (hide spoiler)]. I wish I could remember exactly what was said... I might try to find a mention, but...in 559 pages, that may be difficult & time-consuming. XD

Trisha, I do agree that Luke (view spoiler)[suddenly saying that he knew all along about the Precogs was...kind of jarring? Really? How was that kept a secret from us when a huge portion of this was from his POV? (hide spoiler)] I would've liked subtle mentions of that peppered in as well.

I can imagine that it being a different writing style to the King books you're used to would be disappointing. I really don't have much experience with Stephen King books to make a comparison, so I didn't have that issue. And I actually really enjoyed the writing style. I thought the characters were very well developed, and I liked that nothing felt rushed. And about the time I was ready for a "change in scenery," (view spoiler)[Luke escaped from The Institute. (hide spoiler)] So, I didn't feel like things dragged either.

There were some minor issues, but they didn't detract from my enjoyment very much. Overall, I liked this book a lot. I'm not sure what my rating will be yet. I need to sit with it for a bit as I just finished earlier today. :D

Okay, so I managed to find a couple mentions of (view spoiler)[the Institute's motives & how they basically thought they were helping/saving the world! (hide spoiler)]

Just over halfway through the book, in Hell is Waiting Ch 5, there was this excerpt: (view spoiler)["The entire staff...understood that nothing less than the fate of the world was in their hands, as it had been in the hands of those who had come before them. Not just the survival of the human race, but the survival of the planet. They understood there was no limit to what they could and would do in pursuit of those ends. No one who fully grasped the Institute's work could regard it as monstrous." (hide spoiler)]

At the very end of Hell is Here Ch. 20, when Luke & the others are (view spoiler)[watching the video that Maureen gave him, she is talking about what a difficult decision it was to help Luke. She says that that's because even if he escapes & finds someone who believes him, he might be able to take down The Institute, "and that might mean the end of the world." (hide spoiler)]

Those were actually easier to find than I thought they'd be, thanks to Kindle's "Search" feature. :D

I´ve totally forgot to comment on the book till today. I finished "Maureen and Avery" today. Like the other books by King I´ve read it starts really slow. You get to know a lot about the characters and their "routines". At the moment there are two things that always apear in my mind:
1. How does Tim fit in this story?
2. What is this institute about?

Anneke, I had those same 2 questions as well. XD