Thinner
Published: 19, November 1984
Author: Stephen King
Genre: American, Classics, Drama, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Media Tie-In, Supernatural, Thriller
Check the summary of this book here:
The Review
Thinner is a Stephen King horror thriller written under the pen name Richard Bachman. The plot revolves around lawyer Billy Halleck, who ends up killing a Romani lady crossing the street in a car accident but avoids legal punishment due to his connections. Billy Halleck, on the other hand, is cursed by the woman's father, who makes him lose weight uncontrollably. I'm freely revealing the plot because it's listed on the back of the book, so it's not a spoiler in my opinion, and the same goes for some of the things I mentioned under Final Thoughts at the conclusion of this review.
Following an annual medical inspection, Stephen King, who was overweight at the time of the novel's composition, conceived the novel's outline.
Stephen King was at his most creative in the 1970s and 1980s. He was, without a question, the King of the literary world at the time. Thinner is from this epoch. That, of course, means that this novel is fantastic!
I read it once before, and I just completed listening to the audio version. The narrative is just as compelling today as it was then. Wonderful characters, tremendous plot, great prowess, and a fantastic finish! I really suggest this book; whether you read it, listen to it or both!
While reading Thinner, I had a lot of fun and experienced a lot of different emotions. It's another of my all-time favorite Stephen King works, written under the pen name Richard Bachman.
It stands among Misery, The Stand, The Shining, and The Running Man in my opinion. I mean, I had a great time. I purchased it in hardcover, then the Kindle edition, and then the audiobook.
The ominous soundtrack played between chapters added to the unsettling effect of the audiobook. Unlike many audiobook soundtracks, it enhanced the story's atmosphere rather than detracting from it.
I usually read or listen to many novels at once; alternating between them depending on my mood, but this was not the case with Thinner.
In my spare time, I read and listened to it all the way through, eventually staying up too late one night to finish it. All three times I've read or listened to it, it's been the same.
The plot appealed to me more than the plots of previous Stephen King works. He left a lot to the imagination, including the whole detail of what transpired the night of the disaster, which kept me guessing.
I also didn't see the finale coming or guess it. With a less talented writer, I usually figure who the bad people are, who's going to get it, who's going to win or lose, and so on halfway through, if not a quarter of the way through, but not with Thinner.
I honestly wanted Billy Halleck to be in more pain than he already was. I was basically with Taduz Lemke, the father of the unlucky dead lady, and I thought the same thing in real life.
Yes, it was the mistake of the lady who died, since she essentially rushed in front of the car. So it's a mistake on both sides, but still I didn't care for Billy Halleck. I'm not shocked by how I felt while reading the book since Stephen King's writing style is so fantastic, and he clearly wants the readers to despise Billy Halleck or be undecided about how to feel about him and the circumstance he was in.
The characters were among Stephen King's most memorable. Thinner is an outstanding illustration of his ability to create real individuals with true motivations, virtues, and weaknesses.
Each character was believable in every way, from their habits to their conversation to their actions. In fact, I didn't feel like I was reading characters at all; instead, I felt like I was watching portrayals of real people doing real things.
The conclusion came as a shock. It wasn't a happy conclusion, but then again, they aren't often in real life. All of my friends and reading groups with whom I discussed the novel were enthusiastic.
Some people experienced problems with this novel, and they were all unhappy with the finale. Okay, let's just say this narrative isn't for you if you want your books to have happy endings.
I thought it was reasonable, though not pleasant. People are forced to live with the repercussions of their decisions but those decisions might have a negative impact on others.
Readers may have noticed that I didn’t talk about the movie adaptation of this novel, the reason is that I don’t recall the full movie except for some scenes because I watched it a long time ago and can’t pinpoint the difference between the movie and the novel, but one thing that I remember is that my cousins were on Billy’s side for some reason so maybe it was twisted into making him the hero.
And what I remember is that the movie was almost as it was in the novel but some details are different in some parts except for the ending because the ending is the same and some details relating to the wife of Billy.
One of the most stunning aspects of the film was the creepy makeup of Taduz Lemke, performed by Michael Constantine, which was almost precisely as I envisioned him while reading the novel.
I encourage readers to write comments and email me about the film so that I may edit this section of the review. I'll try to watch the movie again if I have the time, so I can fix the problem myself if necessary.
Thinner was an unexpected and really entertaining book for me, and one of Stephen King's best as Richard Bachman.
Final Thoughts
Stephen King has always astonished me with his fertile imagination; how does he come up with ideas like a rabid dog holding a family hostage, as in Cujo, or a haunted automobile, as in Christine?
With Thinner, the Stephen King's deranged imagination runs wild as he conjures up a scenario about what it would be like if an overweight guy was cursed with losing weight at an alarming pace and if he could discover a method to reverse the curse or whether he would waste away. This is the core of this work; it is not classically written, yet it is nevertheless a page-turner due to the well-conceived tale.
If you're a voracious reader like me, you might have found parallels between Thinner and Dark Melody of Madness, a short novel by Cornell Woolrich published in 1935. Woolrich's novel likewise has a guy condemned to die in agony — except this time it's a voodoo spell rather than a gypsy curse. But I wouldn't call it a knockoff.
As with all Stephen King works, this one moves quickly as we see Billy Halleck, a humdrum Connecticut lawyer, lose a lot of weight after his trial for hitting and killing a gypsy lady is completed.
Halleck's sole explanation for the weight reduction is the acts of the gypsy lady's father, who caressed Halleck's face and muttered the phrase "thinner" in his ear as he went on at the end of the trial.
When Billy's weight loss becomes worrying, he concludes that the curse is genuine and decides to face the gypsy and convince him to remove the curse...the ensuing chase and denouement become more of a psychological game than a physically gruesome narrative.
The conclusion is unexpected and "classic" Stephen King...as in much of the author's writing, the least expected consequence is the one that follows, leaving the reader surprised.
This is a fantastic summer light read for most fans of psychological thrillers. It's an easy book that passes by quickly.
Synopsis
“The “extraordinary” (Booklist) novel of a cursed man’s quest to find the source of his nightmare and to reverse it before he becomes…nothing at all. This #1 New York Times bestseller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, “pulsates with evil…[and] will have you on the edge of your seat” (Publishers Weekly).
“You can’t do anything… It’s gone too far. You understand, Halleck? Too…far.
Attorney Billy Halleck seriously enjoys living his life of upper-class excess. He’s got it all—an expensive home in Connecticut, a loving family…and fifty extra pounds that his doctor repeatedly warns will be the death of him. Then, in a moment of carelessness, Halleck commits vehicular manslaughter when he strikes a jaywalking old woman crossing the street. But Halleck has some powerful local connections, and gets off with a slap on the wrist…much to the fury of the woman’s mysterious and ancient father, who exacts revenge with a single word: “Thinner.” Now a terrified Halleck finds the weight once so difficult to shed dropping effortlessly—and rapidly—by the week. Soon there will be nothing left of Billy Halleck…unless he can somehow locate the source of his living nightmare and reverse what’s happened to him before he utterly wastes away…”
Useful Search Related Words & Keywords
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Rating: 90/100
Recommended: 90/100 Yes.
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