THINNER
Srinath Sridevan
I just finished Thinner yesterday. I had reread it after a long
gap. Brilliant as always. But I feel it could have been rounded off in a
way that could have made us all feel "warm and fuzzy" inside.
1. For instance, Ginelli dying was a big disappointment. I really
liked the guy. I liked the way he dealt with the gypsies.
2. If this book was all about punishments being disproportionate to
the actual wrongs, then the silly weakling Halleck should be the first one
to take the dive, instead of finding someone to pin the blame on, and
getting his friends killed in the process.
3. How did gypsies come to the US ? Are these the Romanian variety,
or are these the local homespun variety ? I doubt if gypsies who crossed
the Atlantic would still retain their roots very much. They'd probably be
watching MTV and guzzling Coke, rather than casting spells.
This is a criticism. But it is not critical of King. If I wasn't
so involved in the book, my feelings about it would not be so strong.
SS
Ivon Kok
ss...@is4.nyu.edu (Srinath Sridevan) wrote:
> SS
One more criticism: the language that the gypsies spoke among
themselves looked a lot like Swedish to me (I read Thinner just after
I got back from Sweden). IIRC, the words the were supposed to mean
'terrible curse' were Swedish for ' purple landscapes'.
IIRC the gypsies in Thinner were indeed of the Rom variety, and I
can't believe that their language and Swedish are related.
Any Scandinavians out there who'd like to comment on this?
-Ivon
Zorina Wrenn
Aloha:
<snipped lotsa other stuff>
Srinath Sridevan wrote:
> 3. How did gypsies come to the US ? Are these the Romanian variety,
> or are these the local homespun variety ? I doubt if gypsies who crossed
> the Atlantic would still retain their roots very much. They'd probably be
> watching MTV and guzzling Coke, rather than casting spells.
>
On this particular point, I must disagree. The Gypsy community is alive
and well all over the globe. Have a Gypsy group here in Hawaii, in
fact. They retain their original life styles as much as possible.
Very closeknit, and relatively closed society. Not unusual in that.
The Amish, Hassidic, and other groups still maintain their lifestyles
in the US. Some Hawaiians, Indians, etc. also keep their styles of
life intact...even in the face of ever encroaching progress, or the
advent of MTV. :)
Sooooooo, this idea in Thinner is not in the least far fetched. For a
look at Gypsy living, check out *King of the Gypsy's*...the movie
with Eric Roberts is pretty good. Can't remember the author's name, tho.
Dialing the local Kahuna for a puter blessing,
Zorina
Ivon Kok
ma...@andy.pp.fix (Antti Matikka) wrote:
>King has admitted that he didn't care doing much investigating with
>the language -- he just about picked the first phrase dictionary he
>happened to have at hand and used it. Happened to be a Swedish one.
>After Thinner, he has been 'forced' to be a bit more careful ;-)
What was he thinking? That noone would notice?
>Must admit, it made the Thinner all the more hilarious reading for us
>in just such parts where some gypsy or another casts some terrible
>curse with a purple landscape <g>
*Hilarious*? I found it very irritating. I couldn't stand it that my
favourite writer would do something that stupid.
Other inhabitants of my bookcase, like Frederick Forsyth and esp
Robert Ludlum, write very well researched novels. That was the
standard I was used to when I read Thinner.
>Andy
-Ivon
Vegard
In article <5f9oua$54a$2...@news.nyu.edu>, ss...@is4.nyu.edu (Srinath
|> I just finished Thinner yesterday. I had reread it after a long
|> gap. Brilliant as always. But I feel it could have been rounded off in a
|> way that could have made us all feel "warm and fuzzy" inside.
Since when has horror books been supposerd to make you "warm and fuzzy"
inside?
Vegard
Vegard
In article <33193291...@news.eunet.fi>, ma...@andy.pp.fix (Antti Matikka) writes:
|> iv...@euronet.nl (Ivon Kok) wrote:
|>
|> >One more criticism: the language that the gypsies spoke among
|> >themselves looked a lot like Swedish to me (I read Thinner just after
|> >I got back from Sweden). IIRC, the words the were supposed to mean
|> >'terrible curse' were Swedish for ' purple landscapes'.
|>
|> the language -- he just about picked the first phrase dictionary he
|> happened to have at hand and used it. Happened to be a Swedish one.
Wasn't it a Swedish translation of one of his own books?
|> Must admit, it made the Thinner all the more hilarious reading for us
|> in just such parts where some gypsy or another casts some terrible
|> curse with a purple landscape <g>
It was hilarious, but to me it took away a lot of the enjoyment of the
book. To me, Thinner was King's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".
Vegard
Corey M. Soldano
Zorina- I must agree, that movie was good. Eric did a great job. I too
believe that Thinner is not too far fetched.
Corey
--
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
-- Napolean Bonaporte
marzas
"Thinner" has been on my mind lately due to the news story about
weight loss and how researchers have discovered that turning on a
certain gene makes the body temperature rise and burn fat (or
something along those lines.)
I remember thinking to myself:
That's how the gypsy did it!
; - )
MLS
ss...@is4.nyu.edu (Srinath Sridevan) wrote:
> I just finished Thinner yesterday. I had reread it after a long
>gap. Brilliant as always. But I feel it could have been rounded off in a
>way that could have made us all feel "warm and fuzzy" inside.
>1. For instance, Ginelli dying was a big disappointment. I really
>liked the guy. I liked the way he dealt with the gypsies.
>2. If this book was all about punishments being disproportionate to
>the actual wrongs, then the silly weakling Halleck should be the first one
>to take the dive, instead of finding someone to pin the blame on, and
>getting his friends killed in the process.
>3. How did gypsies come to the US ? Are these the Romanian variety,
>or are these the local homespun variety ? I doubt if gypsies who crossed
>the Atlantic would still retain their roots very much. They'd probably be
>watching MTV and guzzling Coke, rather than casting spells.
>
Rose Marie Andresdottir
> One more criticism: the language that the gypsies spoke among
> themselves looked a lot like Swedish to me (I read Thinner just after
> I got back from Sweden). IIRC, the words the were supposed to mean
> 'terrible curse' were Swedish for ' purple landscapes'.
>
> IIRC the gypsies in Thinner were indeed of the Rom variety, and I
> can't believe that their language and Swedish are related.
>
> Any Scandinavians out there who'd like to comment on this?
>
> -Ivon
I'm Icelandic, but I can't remember what the words were.. can anybody tell
me and I'll see if I recognize it