The Institute by Stephen King

[Brian861]

What is the consensus on the book so far?

Still quite a ways to got til the finish but I'm liking it so far. A little bored at the moment so hopefully it'll pick back up soon.

I agree about Tim Jamieson being interesting. I'm sure the story gets back around to him eventually.

[Ranger]

What is the consensus on the book so far?

I thought it was mid-level King. Once again riffing off past far superior works.
The first 90 pages of the book dealing with Tim Jamieson were more interesting than the remainder of the story dealing with The Institute.
I felt like I was reading a YA novel with a bunch of plucky kids battling against the evil grown-ups.
Cartoon character villains, a complete lack of tension and the obligatory digs at the 'deplorables'.

Actually, mid-level King is being fairly generous. I thought it sucked.

[Martin]

What is the consensus on the book so far?

I loved it. A mix of classic and new King. For me it is his best read since at least 11/22/63.

[JJ123]

What is the consensus on the book so far?

[Brian861]

A little of both. I am listening to the Audible version when driving and reading the Hardback when home. The narrator is just ok for me.

Ugh. I'll be listening to it next. Hopefully that narrator doesn't blow for me.

[Martin]

Are you reading or listening, Martin?

A little of both. I am listening to the Audible version when driving and reading the Hardback when home. The narrator is just ok for me.

[joejets]

They're at it again:

The Institute variants

That link didn't work - who is selling the variants?

[Brian861]

Are you reading or listening, Martin?

[Martin]

The New York Times didn't much care for THE INSTITUTE (and, yes, I'm cherry-picking the review for the negative portion...but that negative portion essentially makes up half of the review...and, sigh, more Trump hysteria laced within King's narrative):

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/b...phen-king.html

I read “The Institute” quickly and painlessly and I tried to enjoy myself. That I didn’t is partly a matter of temperament. I generally want to smack a (fictional) kid with special powers. I don’t care about quests or magic or Vulcan mind-melding. Yet I can suspend my predispositions. The right writer can convince me to stick around. King kept me marginally on the hook.

“The Institute” buries itself under a self-generating avalanche of clichés. I began to underline them but I had to stop after a while; carpal tunnel is no joke. “Funny as a rubber crutch,” “seeya later, alligator,” “serious as a heart attack,” “none of your beeswax,” “coals to Newcastle,” “touch him with a 10-foot pole,” “not in Kansas anymore,” “go big or go home” — they’re termites, and they collapse this house before it’s even partially up. To be fair to King, he sometimes uses these half-mockingly and is partially in on the joke. But it’s hardly a good joke. Is a cliché tax feasible? At $10,000 a throw, paid to his publisher, to support rhyming poets (a suppressed minority), King could have all he wants.

The right words are all we have in this world, and King too rarely pauses to search for them. He can access a good deal of genuine chrome-wheeled magic as a writer, but he reaches too often for the canned and frozen stuff, for the dried spices, for word-clusters that fell off the back of a Sysco truck.

“The Institute” feels antiquated and a bit gamey in other ways. The novel is set in the present day, but potatoes are “spuds,” coffee is “joe,” food is “chow,” mosquitoes are “skeeters” and a doctor is “the local sawbones.” You may start to feel you’re in a ’50s-era cartoon strip, that you’re locked inside “Beetle Bailey.”

This novel is less a motorcycle than a double-decker bus, but it does handle gracefully. The plot never stalls. There’s a fervent anti-Trump streak. And King still really knows what to do when he gets his characters out on the road.

I am at the halfway point in the book and so far I am convinced the review quoted is for a different book. Nothing stated in the review has transpired yet. Things may change but I am really enjoying the story. A story which in no way is mentioned in the portions of the review listed here.

[Dave1442397]

Read it yesterday. Loved it!

[Martin]

I got through the first two sections today, about 80 pages. So far I am really enjoying it. Much more classic King than his more recent work. It is nearly a 600 page book so it has lots of time to go south but so far I am pleased!

[Martin]

I am looking forward to this one. I will be reading it by this time tomorrow!

[Ben Staad]

I agree with both points. As I've stated elsewhere social commentary is fine and expected but straight up bashing is when I have to set a book down.

Either way I will buy the book, read it or try to, and stick it on the shelf. Truly hope it is a great read.

This complaint doesn't make sense to me. This just sounds like a New York reviewer who hasn't been anywhere else who thinks everyone talks the way New Yorkers talk. I haven't read The Institute yet, but there are certainly places in the country that talk like this. Specifically small town / rural America, and SK likes to set his books in those kinds of places.

Also if I kinda feel like if someone doesn't like SK writing anti Trump / anti Republican stuff they should probably stop reading him, because I don't think he's ever gonna stop including those themes.

[Dan Hocker]

“The Institute” feels antiquated and a bit gamey in other ways. The novel is set in the present day, but potatoes are “spuds,” coffee is “joe,” food is “chow,” mosquitoes are “skeeters” and a doctor is “the local sawbones.” You may start to feel you’re in a ’50s-era cartoon strip, that you’re locked inside “Beetle Bailey.”

This complaint doesn't make sense to me. This just sounds like a New York reviewer who hasn't been anywhere else who thinks everyone talks the way New Yorkers talk. I haven't read The Institute yet, but there are certainly places in the country that talk like this. Specifically small town / rural America, and SK likes to set his books in those kinds of places.

Also if I kinda feel like if someone doesn't like SK writing anti Trump / anti Republican stuff they should probably stop reading him, because I don't think he's ever gonna stop including those themes.

[RonClinton]

The New York Times didn't much care for THE INSTITUTE (and, yes, I'm cherry-picking the review for the negative portion...but that negative portion essentially makes up half of the review...and, sigh, more Trump hysteria laced within King's narrative):

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/b...phen-king.html

I read “The Institute” quickly and painlessly and I tried to enjoy myself. That I didn’t is partly a matter of temperament. I generally want to smack a (fictional) kid with special powers. I don’t care about quests or magic or Vulcan mind-melding. Yet I can suspend my predispositions. The right writer can convince me to stick around. King kept me marginally on the hook.

“The Institute” buries itself under a self-generating avalanche of clichés. I began to underline them but I had to stop after a while; carpal tunnel is no joke. “Funny as a rubber crutch,” “seeya later, alligator,” “serious as a heart attack,” “none of your beeswax,” “coals to Newcastle,” “touch him with a 10-foot pole,” “not in Kansas anymore,” “go big or go home” — they’re termites, and they collapse this house before it’s even partially up. To be fair to King, he sometimes uses these half-mockingly and is partially in on the joke. But it’s hardly a good joke. Is a cliché tax feasible? At $10,000 a throw, paid to his publisher, to support rhyming poets (a suppressed minority), King could have all he wants.

The right words are all we have in this world, and King too rarely pauses to search for them. He can access a good deal of genuine chrome-wheeled magic as a writer, but he reaches too often for the canned and frozen stuff, for the dried spices, for word-clusters that fell off the back of a Sysco truck.

“The Institute” feels antiquated and a bit gamey in other ways. The novel is set in the present day, but potatoes are “spuds,” coffee is “joe,” food is “chow,” mosquitoes are “skeeters” and a doctor is “the local sawbones.” You may start to feel you’re in a ’50s-era cartoon strip, that you’re locked inside “Beetle Bailey.”

This novel is less a motorcycle than a double-decker bus, but it does handle gracefully. The plot never stalls. There’s a fervent anti-Trump streak. And King still really knows what to do when he gets his characters out on the road.