Stephen King - Cell

[AphroditeMSC]

I was disappointed with Cell. True, the story and the plot and the writing were great. Hey, it's Stephen King! But the ending just left me a little dry. I felt cheated, to be honest. The whole book built up to that very moment and then..........................

[smudge05]

Cell is the first Stephen King book i've read and i thought it was amazing. #The only thing that let it down was the ending.

[suupaabaka]

Originally Posted by smudge05

Cell is the first Stephen King book i've read and i thought it was amazing. #The only thing that let it down was the ending.

I remember making a sort of "nghargh" sound when I finished that one. Yes, the ending was slightly frustrating =P. But I don't think he could have given us anymore without jeopardising the story.

[Wiggum]

I am completely baffled by the fact that Cell gets more attention from us King fans than Lisey's Story.

Cell seemed like he chopped off the first and the last hundred pages and just decided to publish the middle of a story that had potential.

[Brigitte]

I loved this book! Sure, the ending was not as promising as I hoped, but the rest of the plot was captivating! When it comes to Stephen King, I only like his works that are only mildly bizarre and far-fetched, so this one fit the bill perfectly! I'd recommend it to anyone wondering about it.

[Barristan]

This was the 1st Stephen king book ive read, and the last.

The ending was soooo unfulfilling that it ruined the journey for me. I think he just couldnt think of a way to finish and his deadline was getting close.

Meh!

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Barristan

This was the 1st Stephen king book ive read, and the last.

The ending was soooo unfulfilling that it ruined the journey for me. I think he just couldnt think of a way to finish and his deadline was getting close.

Meh!

Please read some of his earlier works like Shining or Misery... or even Bag of Bones for something slightly more recent. Cell was terribly unfulfilling, I agree. He has written much better novels.

[Moraven]

Originally Posted by Barristan

This was the 1st Stephen king book ive read, and the last.

The ending was soooo unfulfilling that it ruined the journey for me. I think he just couldnt think of a way to finish and his deadline was getting close.

Meh!

I somehow doubt SK wouldn't have been able to get an extention on his deadline...

That said, I finished the novel about 45 minutes ago. Loved it, as seems to be the sentiment, though I'm not sure about the ending. Here comes a spoiler: quite reading.
















And here's some blank space in case you didn't.











I think he wanted to keep the ending creepy, by not saying "And then Johnnie-Gee was back to normal" but he didn't want to be like "Then Johnnie-Gee was totally insane and tore out his father's throat." Because, after all that, we didn't want to see them die. So he was sort of stuck for how to end it.

[BakaTensai]

I always feel that the endings of King's books let me down at first (Dark Tower Series?), but after thinking about them for awhile, meditating, and rethinking it, I usually decide that they are pretty good after all. I think that I'm just disappointed that it is over!!!

"Cell" = Good

"Dark Tower Series" = OMG read this it is amazing!!

[HoopyFrood]

The thing that I love most about Stephen King's books, friends and neighbours (well, OK, I pretty much love everything about the books ) is the endings. You get a...real ending with Stephen King, in that they are rarely happy. I guess for some this can be quite disappointing, to have read the entire book and then find out that the main character dies at the end (Insomnia, Desperation, The Shining, Tommyknockers (well, a little ambiguous, but I doubt Gard's coming back after that ending!) etc) or that things aren't resolved...but the fact is that not everyone does skip off into the sunset and especially not after going through the things that King's characters go through. I love King endings!

The ending of Cell was fine for me -- I wasn't annoyed that they didn't find out from where the pulse was coming, because really it's pretty unlikely that the characters would just coincidentally trip over it. And the ambiguous ending -- well that left people to make up their own minds. You could believe that it worked and his son would get better...or that it didn't...

[Marvolo]

Cell ended perfectly because the story was over honestly. The story concerned him getting his son back. He got his son back, end of story.

The Dark Tower series was about him getting to the tower, it consumed his life and became the obstacle of emotional growth and morals along the way. The tower sent him back to the beginning to go through it again, so its champion would make the tower full of love, not of death, because that I think is the key to saving Roland's world. Roland was supposed to be a Knight Errant, questing towards the Tower as a last bastion of the world of light. Instead he was a deathbringer, destroying entire towns and murdering along his way. His cold logic and quick hands dealt with every situation and only changed towards the very, very end. So he will do it again and again until he finally gets it right. I personally think the tower is Dark because of him. But that is just me.

The endings are good because they are honest. A lesser author would give people the sugar coated version because they are worried about book sales for the next book. He isn't worried about that, so we get a good, honest ending.

[Abyssimal]

Cell I found to be an engrossing, if light, read. Good characters (as usual - King's character development is always excellent) and a really interesting premise. Also as usual, a character you feel affection for dies suddenly but retribution is paid.

A very good read.

Nice work, Mr King.

[TheFountain]

I thought Cell was entertaining...worth reading. I read all of his books (SK is the one who got me into reading in the first place), but it defintely wasn't one of his best. HOWEVER, Cell, the movie (directed by Eli Roth) might be interesting.

Have to admit though, I LOVED the first 65 pages of the book. Reminded me of The Stand.

[Omphalos]

I read this thing when it came out, but just found this thread today. I loved the book, and I'd put it up there with 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, The Dead Zone and Firestarter. It felt like an early King book to me. Here is my review:

Omphalos' Book Reviews: Book Info

[Lioness]

I too, loved the book. It also got one of the guys I know who thinks like 'I don't read, reading is for nerds' captivated for ages. He loved it!