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lauraborkpower's review against another edition
3.0
I always enjoy Stephen King's short fiction, and this collection doesn't disappoint.
No, it's not perfect: some of the stories are gimmicky and some endings feel forced. But there are more than a few terrific ones in here ("Blockade Billy," "A Death," "Ur," "Obits," and "Summer Thunder" are stand-outs), and they're all 100% King stories.
King introduces each story with a bit of background or inspiration. Although it was interesting to read (I always enjoy reading about King's writing process), I'd have preferred to get them after the stories and have gotten the stories straight, or 'pure' without the context first. If any other readers sense that they'd feel the same, I'd recommend skipping the intros and then going back to them later.
No, it's not perfect: some of the stories are gimmicky and some endings feel forced. But there are more than a few terrific ones in here ("Blockade Billy," "A Death," "Ur," "Obits," and "Summer Thunder" are stand-outs), and they're all 100% King stories.
King introduces each story with a bit of background or inspiration. Although it was interesting to read (I always enjoy reading about King's writing process), I'd have preferred to get them after the stories and have gotten the stories straight, or 'pure' without the context first. If any other readers sense that they'd feel the same, I'd recommend skipping the intros and then going back to them later.
mathman329's review against another edition
4.0
While I own a few of Mr. King’s short story collections, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is the first I’ve actually read through completely (albeit a bit ashamedly). One of the best parts of this collection was the fact that I wasn’t committing myself to an entire novel at any one time. For whatever reason, being able to take a little time and read a single story at my own convenience made the book much easier to complete. I believe the appeal of the short story format also stemmed from my lack of reading throughout the rest of the summer, hence every story felt like a bigger contribution to my reading list than a single 495 page book would have felt.
If you've never read anything by Stephen King, it would be easy to pigeonhole him as a horror writer and believe that to be the end of it. This collection showcases all of the various genres Mr. King may fit into. Stories like "Mile 51" and "The Little Green God of Agony" fit into that horror category in their own ways (Reverend Rideout in the latter brought to mind Mr. Nancy from Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"), whereas stories like "Blockade Billy" and "Drunken Fireworks" evoked the kind of regional storytelling embodied in other King works "The Green Mile" or "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". Throw in his prose works "Tommy" and "The Bone Church", and it becomes apparent that Mr. King is not simply a one trick pony, as his Constant Readers surely can attest to.
My favorite story in the entire collection was "Ur", a delightful entry from King's "Dark Tower" universe. Even though his introduction to the story alludes to some possible "Dark Tower" imagery, it somehow was a surprise to see just how much of an allusion was being made. Consequently, I also had a "duh!" moment at the end, realizing how the story felt so much like "The Dark Tower" works in retrospect and yet didn't reveal itself to me immediately.
There were other stories that were fairly transparent and did not surprise me like "Ur", but nevertheless they were enjoyable. "The Dune" was one of those where the ending was clear about halfway through, but the ending brought a smile to my face as only the macabre works of Mr. King are wont to do. The collection was organized in a way that spread out the dread and suspense amongst the comical and ironic, leaving us with a balanced compilation of vintage King works. If you've never read any of King's works, I would say that this collection is a solid introduction to all of his various stylings and can be enjoyed easily. 4/5 stars.
If you've never read anything by Stephen King, it would be easy to pigeonhole him as a horror writer and believe that to be the end of it. This collection showcases all of the various genres Mr. King may fit into. Stories like "Mile 51" and "The Little Green God of Agony" fit into that horror category in their own ways (Reverend Rideout in the latter brought to mind Mr. Nancy from Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"), whereas stories like "Blockade Billy" and "Drunken Fireworks" evoked the kind of regional storytelling embodied in other King works "The Green Mile" or "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". Throw in his prose works "Tommy" and "The Bone Church", and it becomes apparent that Mr. King is not simply a one trick pony, as his Constant Readers surely can attest to.
My favorite story in the entire collection was "Ur", a delightful entry from King's "Dark Tower" universe. Even though his introduction to the story alludes to some possible "Dark Tower" imagery, it somehow was a surprise to see just how much of an allusion was being made. Consequently, I also had a "duh!" moment at the end, realizing how the story felt so much like "The Dark Tower" works in retrospect and yet didn't reveal itself to me immediately.
There were other stories that were fairly transparent and did not surprise me like "Ur", but nevertheless they were enjoyable. "The Dune" was one of those where the ending was clear about halfway through, but the ending brought a smile to my face as only the macabre works of Mr. King are wont to do. The collection was organized in a way that spread out the dread and suspense amongst the comical and ironic, leaving us with a balanced compilation of vintage King works. If you've never read any of King's works, I would say that this collection is a solid introduction to all of his various stylings and can be enjoyed easily. 4/5 stars.
errski's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good. The story definitely messes with your head.
jimbowen0306's review against another edition
3.0
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is a collection of short stories and novelas that are of a dark/horrific bent. Some, like The Dune and were really rather good, with endings that caught me off guard. Others. like Obits and Moralty, were rather good, even though I knew the ending. Others, however, felt like stories I'd read before, and I'm somewhat at a loss as to why UR, a story about the Amazon Kindle got the reviews it got.
The other thing worth noting is that each book gets their own introduction from Stephen King that gives a summary of his thoughts about the books. This is something that you can either take, or leave, depending on how you view that sort of thing from King (it has been given to us by King before in other books).
Overall, it was a decent read. It's easy to dip in and out of. some are good reads, it's just you'll think some of the stories have been seen before, even if you're not 100% sture where you saw it before.
The other thing worth noting is that each book gets their own introduction from Stephen King that gives a summary of his thoughts about the books. This is something that you can either take, or leave, depending on how you view that sort of thing from King (it has been given to us by King before in other books).
Overall, it was a decent read. It's easy to dip in and out of. some are good reads, it's just you'll think some of the stories have been seen before, even if you're not 100% sture where you saw it before.
blitskater's review against another edition
4.0
Ik vond dit boek ergens op zolder. Waarschijnlijk ergens gekocht in 2015, maar nooit gelezen. Zonde, wat het is prima leesvoer. Wat het eigenlijk altijd is als je een boek van King in je handen hebt. Want het valt nooit tegen. Een verzameling van heerlijk diverse verhalen, de ene kort en de ander iets langer. Het blijft me verbazen hoe King in 20 tot 40 pagina’s zo’n dijk van een verhaal kan schrijven. Echt genoten van de 14 dagen dat ik hier doorheen ben geschoten. Toch maar zoeken naar nog meer vergeten parels.
ineffable_bowtie's review against another edition
5.0
King's story collections are always hit or miss for me. This one was a definite hit! I enjoyed these stories and the reader's notes from King himself. Great read.
izywithonez's review against another edition
2.0
It was all right, but honestly I only liked a few of the stories, the rest were kinda ehhh
njdarkish's review against another edition
3.0
As with all Stephen King collections, there are some good ones, some okay ones, and some kind of cruddy ones. The Dune was pretty good, and Bad Little Kid was pretty creepy, but there weren't any that really stuck with me like other collections had (N. in Just After Sunset comes to mind). I'm glad I read this, though-- I enjoyed the author's notes for each one as they were insightful into King's process, plus finishing it brought me again to being able to say I've read all of King's books.
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
3.0
You know the final twist is about where the coin is, and you think you want to know where it is - but believe me, you are wrong, you won't really like to know.