I love reading books. I love reading books and talking about them with a friend even more. Sharing is truly caring in this area of life. I find other people’s perspectives and memories actually lend to my interpretation. Sometimes I think about writing book reviews like we used to write book reports, just for fun, so that I can remember the book all that much better. Nerd alert.
My girlfriend, Susan, and I have started a Stephen King book club. It’s very elite. In fact, there are only two members. To get in, you must recite your favorite SK quote by memory, disclose what shape It takes in its most natural form, pick a favorite ride from Joyland, and if you think Dolores Claiborne should be innocent or guilty.
Let me know if you want to be admitted 😊
Anyway, we are reading Needful Things. It turns out, this book is all about CONTROL. Pesky little word that is turning out to be. And not any kind of control, but straight up MANIPULATION. In true King-style, there is an element of supernatural at play, some hypnotism, and definitely a good versus evil theme.
A little background on the book (but please read it for yourself, because it is shockingly good!): Leland Gaunt opens a shop called Needful Things in a small town called Castle Rock. He panders to the deepest, darkest desires of his clientele in exchange for a small monetary fee plus a small act of service. These acts are construed as harmless pranks that Mr. Gaunt asks each customer to perform on a seemingly random townee. Once the web becomes visible, however, the sheer power of Mr. Gaunt’s control, and use of the objects of his customers’ affections to dig his hooks in, is illuminated.
What strikes me throughout my reading is that each and every person knows Mr. Gaunt is evil before they strike any deals with him. A handshake causes nausea. A smile looks leering. An approach is aggressive. Familiarity is premature. His skin feels like paper. His eyes change color depending on who is telling their story. Despite that intuition, everyone still assumes Mr. Gaunt “knows best.” Except Sherriff Pangborn who just can’t shake off his intuition that something is not right, with his gut leading him ever-closer to Needful Things and its creepy proprietor.
I am going to confess that this is not my formal book review as I still have about 30% left to read. But I am also going to tell you straight up that I can’t stop considering control as a good versus evil thing. Stick with me here. In my previous post, I explored mastery versus manipulation as forms of control. Here, as I chat with Stephen King about control via Needful Things, I wonder if we know the difference between good control and bad control based on intuition. Our 6th chakra. Ajna. Our third eye. That gut instinct that tells us – don’t do that, calm down, stop being negative, you can do this, don’t give up. That intuition that says that the universe won’t leave us on our asses no matter what is being dished out at any particular moment. That feeling that if we stay centered and uplifted, we will be able to see more clearly.
Should any one of those Castle Rock inhabitants trusted their gut, walked out of Needful Things, or, gasp, returned the item they didn’t want… perhaps Castle Rock would remain intact, rather than the town formerly known as Castle Rock. That, however, doesn’t make as good of a story.
And in this thing called life, struggle is indeed a better story. Mastery of our perception of struggle is the best story yet. Looking forward to see how this chapter of life plays out.
