Stephen King

Book Review: The Institute

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Institute
Stephen King
Read by Santino Fontana

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Sci-fi thriller

When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped from home, it turns out his kidnappers don’t care at all about his high IQ. They want him for his minor psychic abilities, along with other kids, all of whom are taken to the Institute and given lots of tests and shots. When they first arrive, they are in Front Half, where the food is good but the adults are cruel. Luke learns that kids are eventually taken to Back Half, after which, they’re told, they’ll be returned to their families. But Luke doesn’t trust these people who punish any slight insubordination with brutality, and as his time in Front Half nears its end, he becomes increasingly desperate to escape.

I really enjoyed this book and was engaged all the way through. Even when I felt like the narrative had taken a strange turn, or when I was confused when the first several chapters seemed completely unrelated to the main story, I was interested, invested, and always looking forward to when I could get back to listening to the audiobook again. The suspense and intensity build throughout the book, as stakes get higher and more is revealed about the Institute. I really appreciate that the main character isn’t the strongest, psychically speaking. He’s a genius, but really on a meager TK (telekinetic). He needs help from other kids, especially one that’s a particularly strong TP (telepath). And the anticipating of seeing how Luke’s story would intersect with the seemingly unrelated man we’re introduced to in the first 15 chapters adds to the suspense.

The ending was a little anti-climactic, maybe a little bit of a letdown after an otherwise great story. Overall, though, I really enjoyed my first full-length Stephen King novel. I’m still not sure I’m ready for any of his horror books yet, but this won’t be my last King novel. Santino Fontana did a great job with the narration, too, and added to my enjoyment of the book. I can’t speak to how this compares to King’s other works, but I do recommend this books to anyone interested in the premise or genre.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Shawshank Redemption

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The Shawshank Redemption
Stephen King
Read by Frank Muller

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Fiction

It is always difficult for me to write a review of a book when I know an adaptation of that book already. The strange thing is that I’ve only seen the movie based on this book once, though I’ve seen clips, references, and parodies enough to keep it fairly fresh in my mind. That said, I wanted to give Stephen King a try, but I was a bit intimidated, so this seemed like a good place to start. And it was a good starting point, with a story that really drew me in. I may have known the ending (who doesn’t, at this point?) but I still appreciated the little hints and secrets kept along the way to it. I didn’t remember all of the details and was caught up as the story unfolded. Telling Andy’s story through Red’s eyes was a great move on King’s part, as I think it makes the reader more sympathetic to Andy than if Andy just told us himself what had happened to him, the various ways he was wronged.

What makes it difficult to assign a rating to this book (aside from the difficulty separating the written story from the movie) is that there’s a lot of content that I struggle with or makes me cringe. Of course that’s not surprising in a book about prison life, but that doesn’t make it easier. (It does make me want to avoid going to prison though.) Overall, I’m glad I listened to this book, and it does make me want to dive a little further into other works by King (maybe not any horror yet though). Whether you’ve seen the movie or not, if you’re interested in the book, I do recommend it. I listened to the audio, which is well narrated.

Find out more about The Shawshank Redemption

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!