I want to thank TA Sullivan for becoming a member of the U. L. S. The Underground Library Society! TA Sullivan is an author of fiction and nonfiction; TA’s excellent website can be found here: TAS Through the Looking Glass. Please be sure to visit this wonderful site!
TA Sullivan’s post:
If I were to choose a book to memorize, I believe it would be Bag of Bones by Stephen King.
While this book is categorized as horror, to me it is first and foremost a book about relationships and loss. The protagonist is a young author, Mike Noonan, whose wife unexpectedly dies. With no close family, we struggle along with Mr. Noonan as his despair and depression result in his inability to write.
At first, he moves through his days following a sort of hazy routine, but eventually, he recognizes what he’s doing, and he strives to find more purpose to his life that no longer contains the love of his life or his life’s work (writing).
The insight and care with which Mr. King has approached this subject of loss is so complete that you can’t but help hurt along with Mr. Noonan as he works his way through this story of love, loss, and the idea that you never really know anyone, not even the person you’re married to.
It’s this book and Mr. King’s insights that helped me understand just what my father was going through when my mother died. I saw him try to follow the same routines that he and my mom had forged during their long years of being together. But I also saw how hollow those motions were because my mother was no longer there to share the routines with him. Because of Mr. King’s book, I was able to help my father move away from those shared routines and find a new purpose to his life.
It wasn’t easy for my father, but then losing someone you love and have lived with for over 50 years never is. However, letting go of those old patterns of behavior can sometimes make it a little easier, and that’s what Mr. King’s story showed me. Therefore, if I were to choose a book to memorize, it would be Bag of Bones, so that others could also benefit from Mr. King’s insights while enjoying a good spooky story in the bargain.
Once again, thank you to TA Sullivan for joining this little society!
A moving review, Charles. Makes me both want to read the book but also a bit afraid to. I lost my own ability to write (and even think and speak clearly) after a car accident some years ago and I now dread reading anything that brings back the most painful memories. But if I read it, it will be because of your terrific review.
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Thank you, and it was a review from TA Sullivan.
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How wonderful to welcome another ULS member!
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Yes, it is. Do you think it would be a good idea to put out the call for new members once a month?
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My gut says once every month for two or three months, then wait a few months, and repeat.
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Jennie, thank you! I will give this plan a try.
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You’re welcome, Charles. Do what feels right to you.
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This is a terrific write up about this book. It is wonderful when a book can influence a reader in such a positive way. I am a Stephen King fan but haven’t read this particular book which I shall look up.
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Hi Robbie, I recommend it highly.
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I find King’s Literary strength is in these books where he uses Horror as a parenthesis to showcase a greater human horror — like Rose Madder and Delores Claiborne…Oh, he has the chops… but to appreciate them we have to stop asking him for campfire tales (and how we LOVE those campfire tales!) Woe is us….?
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I love the campfire tales as well as the deeper excursions into human horror.
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I was very touched by TA’s reflection on the role of King’s book in helping her deal with her father’s grief at losing his wife.
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Yes, and I was also.
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