October Book Club discussion - Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

[rootbeerfloat]

I didn't see a thread yet. Am I the only one who read it, lol?

If not, any thoughts?

I don't really like scary books anymore, and this was uncomfortably scary for me. I finished it, though. And I liked Jude.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

I read it, not knowing there was a book club. I personally didn't like it. I didn't think it was scary. I finished because I don't normally like to leave books uncompleted, lol, but I thought it was a poor imitation of some sort of Steven King story.

[itsme]

I had no clue it was the book for the month. I read it because I saw it mentioned here earlier this month.

I don't think it's fair to compare it to Stephen King (the author's dad) because the writing was so different than King's. Oh and much less descriptive and a lot shorter! I find King's books to drag which is opposite of Hill's. Heart Shaped Box was fast paced which is probably the only thing that kept my attention. **UPDATE: Just read a review and now I see how it can be likened to Stephen King**

I finished it the other day and was not impressed. It wasn't scary at all and was pretty corny. Maybe when Craddock first appeared it was a little creepy but the creepiness lost steam as the story went on. I liked Jude's character and yea he was shallow but I expected that but the overall story fell short for me. The whole goth thing is 90s to me. Granted I have no clue if it's still a "thing" or if it's called something else now. I'm just so out of the loop on that stuff but I don't think it's as main stream as it was then so the constant reference to goths annoyed me a little.

I still plan on reading another of Hills' books. This was his first book and I don't think he is a horrible writer so I have hopes that the other books will be better.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

itsme, I had absolutely no idea that Stephen King was Hill's father. OMG Hahaha

The book felt all over to place to me. The new chick was a bitch, then she's nice, then she acts like she's there for a free ride, and then all of a sudden she cares, blahhhh. Then the whole thing w/the dogs, really, come-on. Oh and he gets into relationships with all these young girls and they move in w/him, not buying it that he's a hard rocker guy.

[moreace01]

I didn't know this was last month's book. I finished it a few days ago. I didn't care for it either. I thought the beginning was scary, but then it fizzled out. And overall, the plot makes no sense to me at all. Maybe I am missing something, but there is absolutely no way Craddock or Jessica would have any reason whatsoever to reach out to Jude in the first place. Why would they willingly risk exposing their secret to someone who was completely out of the picture - and had nothing to do with them at all? The whole thing makes no sense.