Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

ready for a post

In Part two Jake begins to acclimate to the reality of the past with a few fits and starts ...it seems appropriate to use an old phrase I remember from my own past, :) He isn't as familiar with 1958 as I am since it was before he was born.
Each time Stephen King layers on new nuances of the past it immerses us further into that world when things were quite different, no cell phones, rotary dial phones, $75 cars!

Kindle Location 15%
Derry, Maine. DD and I found the references to IT quite creepy, mention of a clown and murdered kids and the Barrens, yikes!

I found myself humming Glen Miller tunes from this point throughout the book, loved the encounter with Bevvie and Richie which solidified the setting even more. We are in 1958.

...and then Jake's work begins in earnest. Find Harry Dunning's father and stop him. The past is obdurate, and the butterfly effect looms large as Jake realizes his actions make waves of change. His attempt at saving Harry's family doesn't go so well, but he escapes the past without being detained. I was not surprised that he didn't go undetected on his quest, but the revelations of Bill Turcotte's identity and story were a surprise.

Living in the past most of this section. So much that is not so foreign to me, like DRexel8-4777 as a phone number. I never liked it when we went to just numbers, another great mnemonic destroyed, and now 3 more digits to add insult to injury. My grandfather had a phone with no dial at all, you picked up the handset (party line of course) and told the operator who you wanted to call. His number was Liberty670W. When we went home from visiting, my parents would call person to person, he would not pick up, but the ringing phone told him we made it safely.

Similarly for the bank, I recall the pride of my first bank book, where they stamped my ever growing balance every time I visited and made a deposit.

My first exposure to a touch tone phone was at the 1963 NY World's Fair in Flushing Meadow. (follow the blue arrow to the World's Fair) From Jersey City the blue arrow took quite a few hours. I was actually faster on the rotary than I was on the touchtone, but I did win the Mobil Economy run at their pavilion. For those who have been to Disney, the GE pavilion was the Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (shining at the end of every day) which still resides there.

To rant onward- who could possibly dislike the Purple People Eater? I mean, it had one eye and one horn! Maybe you had to be 4 to appreciate it fully.

I fully appreciate '53 cars too, we had our '53 Studebaker till 1959. In 1959 (I was 2) my parents bought their first house. They dropped me at my grandparent's in June and took me to the new house at the end of August. I refused to go in, because it was not my house, and still remember standing on the sidewalk in my stubborn refusal. (good thing I am so different now). The funny thing is that I have no memory of where I moved from, but definitely recall my first day in the new house.

Chilling stuff- Derry in general, the clown in particular. Shades of his other stories? King can make anything scary.

Finally- who is real and who is Memorex? We already have our suspicions about the yellow card man, now there are the dancing teens in Derry. maybe some of those rules we do not quite understand are involved.

The reset bothers me the most. Even if he succeeds, anybody else using the portal resets time and undoes 5years spent living in the past. Of course, I've known people who lived in the past longer than that...

Barry:
The "every time is a reset" seemed sort of odd to me too as I read. I kept thinking of Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day when everyone always said the same thing every morning, and yet here they didn't; right off the bat in the Kennebec Fruit, the second conversations are different. It all makes time seem rather unstable, doesn't it? Perhaps that is the point, in this world it is rather fragile.

Our old phone number started with Canal, why can't I remember the rest of the numbers... we didn't have a party line for long, we went single line by 1962 I think. I can still hear the rotary dial in my mind as it returned from a circuit.

No to mention one black phone that covered the whole house. And you rented it from ma Bell.

LOL Barry, my family also did the "person-to -person" phone call trick. I bet those Ma Bell operators were on to us.

Ann, I think you're right about the point that this world is very fragile. King also repeatedly reminds us that "life turns on a dime."

Just got to the part with the dancing kids...and am so pulled in. Its been a while since I've read a King novel, now I remember how good they are! I did read IT so was equally creeped out by the Derry and clown references. I'm at a loss about the yellow card man???? As much as I'm enjoying the novel, I'm enjoying all your rememberences as well

Me too, Dawn! The remembrances of the past here, and in the book are so interesting. I was unaware of the political climate back then so found Al's notes for Jake especially interesting to flesh out the atmosphere I was unaware of as a child.

ok.. am not reading any of these yet but am wondering..
what's the significance of the yellow card man's card being orange?? and why was he acting strangely- or was he?
derry is a creepy place.. and i wonder what , if any, the ramifications of him throwing the cell phone and change into the pond might be...

Some answers we cannot give you , you'll just have to see, but I never did quite figure out the color of the card, other than black.

Sorry, Sherry, Barry is right, we are not meant to understand the card colors in this part, but you are spot on to wonder about them! :)

I am loving the things this book is reminding about! I remember my grandma's phone number was BAldwin 2-4455, and our number at the house I lived in most of my life was CLearwater 6-9252. In KY, where my other grandparents lived, you only had to dial the last 4 numbers of anyone's phone number as the first 3 numbers were the same for everyone in the community. And I remember party lines, too! Also like the music mentions. And the bank books where they'd enter your new balances every time you made a deposit! King also talked about something I don't ever remember hearing about from anyone else. When I was little I used to have earaches all the time and I can remember my dad blowing cigarette & cigar smoke into them. Got a chuckle when Jake mentioned his dad doing the same. This is definitely the best King book I've read in awhile!

Barry wrote: "Living in the past most of this section. So much that is not so foreign to me, like DRexel8-4777 as a phone number. I never liked it when we went to just numbers, another great mnemonic destroy..."

JAckson 3-7331.. i remember those numbers, too.

Ann wrote: "Sorry, Sherry, Barry is right, we are not meant to understand the card colors in this part, but you are spot on to wonder about them! :)"

there are so many things to wonder about here, aren't there? like the kids he met in the park.. and will he go back again and save the family again so that the brother doesn't die? and did it change anything when he got back to 2011? i was spooked when he couldn't find the stairs and wondered if he'd head right to dallas.

I look forward to tormenting you with veiled references to the book while we go see Dragon Tattoo.

Ann wrote: "Kindle Location 15%
Derry, Maine. DD and I found the references to IT quite creepy, mention of a clown and murdered kids and the Barrens, yikes!"

Yes, me too, Ann. It's been some time since I read It. Maybe we should put that down for a re-read later in the year..

Ann wrote: "I found myself humming Glen Miller tunes from this point throughout the book, loved the encounter with Bevvie and Richie which solidified the setting even more. We are in 1958."

That was cute, wasn't it? King's descriptive powers were in full swing. (snicker)

Ann wrote: "...I was not surprised that he didn't go undetected on his quest, but the revelations of Bill Turcotte's identity and story were a surprise. ..."

Ann, I loved this little twist! King hasn't lost his touch. Unlike you, I was surprised.

I can't wait to find out (in the next part) how Jakes intervention in the Dunning situation plays out in the "future."

Did anyone think that he was actually not going to find his way back into the future? King had me fooled for a minute there, I was actually envisioning, along with Jake, what it would be like if he couldn't return, had to go on with his mission.

for some reason I kept thinking of all the cool expressions and sayings he could lay on people, and get the credit for first introducing them, LOL.

Barry wrote: "
The reset bothers me the most. Even if he succeeds, anybody else using the portal resets time and undoes 5years spent living in the past. Of course, I've known people who lived in the past longer than that...
..."

Well, clearly he would have to eliminate the portal once he'd determine he'd been successful. Although who's to say the portal wouldn't reappear someone else. The portal may have a will of its own...

I'm still anxious to see what impact his saving Mrs. Dunning and three of the four kids has on the future. Does she get remarried and give birth to a serial killer? Does the former janitor win the Nobel Peace prize for achieving peace in the Middle East? Does the little girl grow up to be the next Lucille Ball?

Marcy wrote: "LOL Barry, my family also did the "person-to -person" phone call trick. I bet those Ma Bell operators were on to us.
.."

We did the phone call thing all while I was growing up, didn't need a person-to-person operator. Just call and hang up after one ring. But I guess now i know how it started....

Barry wrote: "I look forward to tormenting you with veiled references to the book while we go see Dragon Tattoo."

Forget it, Barry. I'm bringing a scarf to gag you with if you get out of hand.

Carol: There is a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of IT just released last month (maybe too creepy to read again! ;))
http://www.stephenking.com/promo/IT_2...
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "references to IT quite creepy, mention of a clown and murdered kids and the Barrens, yikes!"
Yes, me too, Ann. It's been some time since I read It. Maybe we should put that down for a re-read later in the year.. "

Anyone else having some whacky dreams while reading this ... the scary creepy factor is much more subdued than in other King books, but it must be running under the surface!

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Barry wrote: "I look forward to tormenting you with veiled references to the book while we go see Dragon Tattoo."

Forget it, Barry. I'm bringing a scarf to gag you with if you get out of hand."

the boa? i'd better prepare alfie.

Sherry wrote: Forget it, Barry. I'm bringing a scarf to gag you with if you get out of hand."

the boa? i'd better prepare alfie. ..."

Alfie can handle it. Now if I was wearing the fringey dress to go along with.....

No dreams, Dawn, thank goodness, but a general senses of unease, especially late at night. And that creepy ad for The Woman in Black here on GR doesn't help matters.

Dawn wrote: "Anyone else having some whacky dreams while reading this ... the scary creepy factor is much more subdued than in other King books, but it must be running under the surface!"

...Now if I was wearing the fringey dress to go along with.....

This could be the best movie ever.

The actual movie is really good too! snicker!!

Barry wrote: Carol wrote: "...Now if I was wearing the fringey dress to go along with....."
"This could be the best movie ever."

I got no satisfaction at all. No fringy dress, no feather boa, just the usual good movie and good dinner with good company.

Barry wrote: "I got no satisfaction at all. No fringy dress, no feather boa, just the usual good movie and good dinner with good company."

and don't forget your first trip to trader joe's!