Jason Reviews: Needful Things by Stephen King @JPellegrini1983 @vikingbooks @stephenking
Needful Things
by Stephen King
I'm so thrilled to have Jason Pellegrini here as a guest to review the ever popular, Needful Things! A King novel that has always been in my top 5 favorites, it's so much fun to read a review from a first time reader. Better late than never. 😉 Read about his journey through Castle Rock.
As a writer himself, Jason makes this review so much fun to read! Take a gander below and then continue to find out more about Jason, his books and where you can follow him. 👌
Publisher: Viking/Penguin
Published: October 1, 1991
Hardcover
690 Pages
Genre: Horror
Standalone
Goodreads Synopsis:
There was a new shop in town, run by a stranger. Needful Things caused some gossip and speculation amongst the good folks of Castle Rock, Maine, while they waited for opening day. The store contained something for everyone. Something they really just had to have. And always at a price that they could just afford. The cash price, that is. Because there was another price to pay. There always is when your heart's most secret, true desire is for sale.
HIDDEN
GEM: NEEDFUL THINGS REVIEW
By:
Jason Pellegrini
It has been a yearly tradition of mine to
kick off the new year with a Stephen King novel. For the past decade, I have
started my year off with the Master of Horror. Well, except for that one year,
where I decided to give my tradition a break and give Richard Bachman a go. ::wink, wink:: As the years have gone
by, though, and I found myself soaking up King as much as I could throughout
the entirety of the year, I began to feel that maybe I burned through all his
essentials (The Shining, IT, The Green
Mile and Salem’s Lot, just to name a very few) too quickly, and now all that
remained were ones that would undoubtedly still be enjoyable, but would not be
those captivating epic tales I had grown accustomed to, like The Stand or 11/22/63.
As 2017 came to a close, I began to debate
which King book to start 2018 off with. As I stared at my bookshelf, none
really jumped out at me as one that I just had to read. I began to accept that
I would just pick one and that would be my choice. Then I came up with the idea
of letting other people decide which King book would be my first read of the
new year. I turned to Twitter and put up a poll for my follower to vote on. I
chose for books at random—Rose Madder,
Sleeping Beauties, Needful Things and The Colorado Kid—and my fate in the hands of fellow readers. After
the initial posting, I stepped away from Twitter and when I returned a half
hour later, curious to see what had taken the lead, one book had stood out
above the rest. That book was Needful
Things. On top of the early commanding lead, I received multiple comments
on the tweet from people, asking me how had I not read it yet, or stating that
it was one of their favorite—if not their outright favorite—novels by King. My
interest was immediately piqued, and Needful
Things was instantly on my radar. Was it possible that I hadn’t yet read
every epic piece of literature that Stephen King had to offer? It was seemingly
possible, and throughout the duration of the poll being open to vote it seemed
as if I was going to soon find out. By the time the poll closed on Twitter, Needful Things had a strong lead over
the other titles with forty-three percent of the votes. Nearly five-hundred
people had spoke up, and had chosen it as my next King read.
I entered 2018 with a sense of eagerness I
hadn’t felt for a long while with a book. Especially, admittedly, a Stephen
King book. I woke up on New Year’s Day, got comfortable on my couch and cracked
the spine of the first edition hardcover I had picked up for a steal at a local
thrift store. It did not take long for me to realize that I had been missing
out on something unique. It had all the traits of a King novel that I loved.
The ones that kept me coming back for more, and made a daunting over
five-hundred page novel seemingly fly by. This one was undoubtedly going to be
considered Stephen King’s hidden gem.
Needful
Things is a story of the fictional town of Castle Rock. Like some of his
other works with towns spawned from the author’s imagination, such as Derry in IT or Jerusalem’s Lot in Salem’s Lot, King puts the time in to
breathing life into the town and making it seem as real as the town we, the
reader, live in. For those familiar with his work, it is no secret that King is
a fan of the small town ambiance. The place where everyone knows everyone and
secrets are hard to keep. Castle Rock is no different. It is place where little
happens, and when something does happen, the whole town takes notice and has
all the residents abuzz.
This is shown when a new store pops up on
Main Street (cause all small towns need a Main Street, right?!). The name of
this new establishment in Needful Things. With only an ‘Opening Soon’ sign in
the window that reads ‘A new kind of store’ written on it, Needful Things gives
the residents of Castle Rock very little to go off of. This gets the chatter
going, and creates a buzz for the establishment, even before it opens. Despite
growing speculation, the people of Castle Rock would find, once Needful Things
opened its doors for business, that what the small business had to offer far
exceeded anything they could have possibly imagined.
With the guidance of the store’s almost too
charming proprietor, Leland Gaunt, what each and every customer that stepped
inside Needful Things would find was the one thing in life they wanted most.
Whether what a person was looking for was a super rare 1950’s signed baseball
card, a photo of Elvis Presley, a fishing rod, a foxtail, or even an ancient
charm that promised to heal the most painful of arthritis, Needful Things
somehow had it. And at an affordable price, too! There was just one catch
(isn’t there always?)! Leland Gaunt would let his merchandise go for an almost
unfathomable discounted price if the purchaser promised to play a small prank on
another random resident of Castle Rock. One that was harmless, Gaunt would
assure each and every person who passed through his store and found an item
they just needed to have. Only the pranks would turn out to be not as harmless
as promised, and as they played out, one after the other, the town of Castle
Rock would find itself on the brink of utter destruction.
Needful
Things is the embodiment of selling your soul to the Devil. Of what happens
when the most selfish part of our being takes total control, and the
repercussions for not being able to let go of the thing we desire the most.
Even when we realize it is wrong.
Like so many of Stephen King’s stories, the
draw power of this work is not in the plot, even though this plot is a
brilliant one, but in the characters. As a writer, myself, I am a firm believer
that the plot moves a story along, but the characters are what builds the
story. King has proven this to be a correct statement, time and time again. The
characters, from main to secondary, are the meat and potatoes of Needful Things. In a story about the
greediness that lies within us all, King uses his abilities to flesh out
characters that show the ugliness called selfishness that lives inside so many
of us. He also shows us that some people are capable of putting their selfish
needs behind them for the better good and for the sake of others. No matter
what human trait Stephen King desires to get across to his reader, he has a
well-established character in place to carry out his bidding.
Needful
Things was an all-around strong read that does not lack in any aspect of
storytelling or writing. Not that I needed much reminding, but it made me
remember why Stephen King is my all-time favorite author. It is a clinic in
character development for aspiring writers. Even though it took me over a month
to finish—I had to put it on pause to move—the novel did not drag. It is one of
those doorstop novels, but never does it feel that way. A must for every
constant reader. A 5-star read, through and through.
Jason Pellegrini is an award winning author from Levittown, New York. His works include Booth, The Cool Kids and The Replacement.
Find him here: Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website
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