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The Store: (finished)
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Adelaide
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rated it 3 stars
Sep 30, 2023 05:46PM
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Gosh this was just a little too outlandish to really be scary. Interesting twists at the end, but it could have used a dose of subtlety.
Sarah wrote: "Gosh this was just a little too outlandish to really be scary. Interesting twists at the end, but it could have used a dose of subtlety."I agree.
I kept thinking that if this story was written today, it would be about Amazon. It would feature an evil Alexa spying on people and influencing their purchases, and the Amazon delivery vans driven by those undead "overnight crew in the basement" guys from this story. They'd be undead, so they'd never need breaks and could deliver 24/7 to your house.
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Ha! I'm a reader, not a writer. I'm sure someone either has or will write a similar story.
Well, I finished it. And it was..... ok. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Characters were ok. Ending was kind of... weak, to be honest. Yay unions? It seemed like the book was just a way for him to lecture on the evils of corporations. Don't get me wrong, I agree with him. But it was... preachy. And the horror parts? They've all been done. And better. The concept was just an Amazon-ized version of the shop in Needful Things. And the villain in that was a lot better than ole Mr. King. (hmm, was he poking at his better with the name?) And for the final bit in the epilogue, been done before. The Stand, to be precise. So while it was an ok book, and he did have some good scenes (and bad ones), all I felt at the end was 'ok, that's done. What's next on my list?'. This does not indicate a really excellent book, you know? I'd give it 2.5 starts out of five. Was an ok, typical standard horror fare from the time period. To be honest the scariest part for me was the complete willingness of the townspeople to go along. And that is mostly because I see that trend in the news, way way too often. That was the part I found unnerving. The rest of it was ok at best, bland at worst, and in the case of the ending, too easy and predictable.
And yes, completely lacking in subtlety. I totally agree with you on that one, Sarah! Hardest decision I made was do I make it 2 or 3 star rating? Chose 3 because 2 for me is 'did not like at all', and it's not that I didn't like it. Parts of it were effective. There just weren't enough of those parts!
Kelly wrote: " It seemed like the book was just a way for him to lecture on the evils of corporations. Don't get me wrong, I agree with him. But it was... preachy ."My least favorite parts were the town meetings, where there was alot of this preachy dialogue. I, too, was reminded of Needful Things, which had been wtitten a few years before this book.
I like Needful Things, but the guy who really hit it out of the park was Ray Bradbury with “Something Wicked this Way Comes. The movie’s pretty good too and has Pam Grier as the spooky witch.
Sarah wrote: "I like Needful Things, but the guy who really hit it out of the park was Ray Bradbury with “Something Wicked this Way Comes. The movie’s pretty good too and has Pam Grier as the spooky witch."Sarah,
It’s been many years since I read that book, and I don’t think I have ever seen the movie. I’ll definitely look for it!
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I hadn't even thought about Bradbury's book! There are indeed a lot of parallels, although I think it's more like Needful Things. It was just a whole lot more subtle than this book. This book is NOT subtle, in any way. Not in message or in plot. But I do think it's time for my biannual rereading of "Something Wicked This Way Comes.". I think it would be an excellent read for the time of year, too. My work has formed its own book club and we're reading Starling House. I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more than The Store. :-)
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