Out of the Lot

Ben: Finished it today.

Me: Do you feel relieved to have it over with?

Ben: The last "part" of the book was coincident with a single chapter

Ben: so I had no choice but to continue.

Ben: I liked the very end of the book, by which I mean the epilogue.

Ben: The final part where they start fighting vampires was pretty good in general.

Ben: Although

Ben: I think Richard's fascination with boy-love stems from his desire to be Stephen King.

Ben: Like srsly, first THE GUNSLINGER and now SALEM'S LOT.

Ben: Grown men professing their love for boys they met yesterday is not as normal as Stephen King wants us to believe.

Ben: Are there any more books that deal with this?

Ben: Besides THE SHINING, which might as far as I know.

Me: Hearts in Atlantis is in large part about children.

Ben: Is it about grown men falling in love with children?

Ben: Or about prepubescent orgies?

Me: No orgies.

Me: Part of it involves a young boy becoming friends with an old man.

Me: It's very sad though.

Ben: There are some good passages in the final part.

Ben: I generally liked the bits where he gets into the goings-on of the townsfolk

Ben: but the faux newspaper clippings felt pretty forced.

Me: I like the part with Callahan on the bus and the kid sitting on steps or something.

Ben: Yeah wtf was that all about?

Ben: I do remember liking that part.

Ben: I liked how, before they stake Susan, the book describes the wine cellar of the house and I was then disappointed when Callahan did not start swilling the booze.

Me: Hahaha.

Ben: "No," Ben said, speaking quietly, as a man speaks a fact. "I can't."

"You must," Father Callahan said, sending spiders scurrying as he retrieved a dusty bottle of wine from its cobweb-choked place on the rack. He uncorked the bottle, and, all but ignoring the fetid vinegar stench that swam out, put it to his lips and drank deeply. A minute or more passed, and he lowered the bottle only when it was clear that its emptiness was absolute. "I'm not telling you that it will be easy, or for the best. Only that you must."

Me: What is that?

Ben: I edited a passage to fit Callahan's character.

Me: I can't tell the difference.

Ben: I'm glad that you think I'm as proficient a writer as Stephen King.

Ben: Or maybe I'm dismayed that you think I'm exactly equal to him.

Ben: Emotions are mixed.

Me: Remember, you have assimilated him now.

Ben: I fucking told you.

Me: Did it make sense that Barlow could burst in through the window?

Ben: Maybe he was more powerful than the other vampires.

Ben: Although

Ben: if, as it is implied, speaking a vampire's name allows you to resist their Jedi mind tricks, Barlow probably shouldn't have had his lackey use his real name on the STRAKER AND BARLOW ANTIQUE FURNITURE STORE.

Me: Hahaha.

Me: I dont rember that.

Me: They should have called him by his dream name.

Ben: It's when the kid's at the top of the stairs to the Marsten cellar just after Susan gets unkilled, and Barlow is luring him down the stairs and the kid shouts "I KNOW YOUR NAME, IT'S BARLOW!!" and then can run away somehow.

Ben: They were prescient enough to buy all the roses in town, but not enough to use aliases.

Ben: Also, I lol'd at this line.

Ben: Mr. and Mrs. Petrie eat sandwiches in their kitchen, trying to puzzle out the call they have just received, a call from a local Catholic priest, Father Callahan: "Your son is with me. He's fine. I will have him home shortly. Good-by."

Ben: It's like a perfectly absurd line.

Me: Is all of that a quote from the book or just the dialogue?

Ben: That's a straight quote from the book.

Me: Why is it in present tense?

Ben: All the townsfolk segments are.

Me: What would your reaction be if a priest called you to say that?

Ben: A Catholic priest?

Ben: About my son?

Ben: I'd probably crack up and ask the person on the other end if they were making a SALEM'S LOT reference.

Ben: Like I said, it's a perfectly absurd line.

Ben: Then I'd go eat some sandwiches.

Me: So now that you've finished the book, what's your interpretation of who the man and boy at the beginning were?

Ben: It was a mystery until the epilogue, when they are eventually revealed to be Ben and Mark.

Ben: Thank you for not spoilering me.

Me: Yeah that was my favorite twist.

Ben: I did like the epilogue.

Ben: It was hopeful and cool.

Ben: I didn't even consider burning down the town until the radio in their car remarked what a dry season it had been.

Ben: It was a good parallel with the previous fire.

Me: Creative destruction.

Me: Legend of the Overfiend.

Me: Ka is a wheel.

Ben: That's the name of our blog, all right.