Book Review: Cell

Cell by Stephen King
Release Date: January 2006
Publisher: Scribner
Audience: Adult/Mature
Pages: 480
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









Alas, we have reached the last day of Stephen King week... If you are wondering why none of the Dark Tower books made an appearance, a couple reasons. 1. I haven't read any of them beyond The Gunslinger and...well...that's about it. The series is fairly well known, and I wanted to share other King offerings. That doesn't mean the series won't appear on this blog. . .

Bit of a shift today as I am looking at a more dystopic book and one of his more recent novels. Cell follows Clayton, an unsuccessful artist, as he tries to find his son during a technology-induced apocalypse. From Clayton's observations, using a cellphone essentially erases the human brain, much like a magnet on a hard drive. This creates a mass of humanity that is wild, unpredictable, violent, and later dangerous as the full potential of the human brain is unlocked and creates a group-mind populace with preternatural abilities. Along the way he ends up grouping together with a number of people and they try to find out how to turn humans back to normal while trying to find loved ones.

This book is a very visceral book, which I think affects the novel negatively. It's almost as if King wanted to write in all the blood and filth that many authors may not include in their 'artistic vision'. Does knowing that humans lost control of their bowels and crap their pants matter? No. Do I need to know the specifics of naked people running by the narrator or details of people bashing their faces in? No. (alas, King-itis affects this book with its cast of many). It may just be a personal beef, but blaring the humanity of humans in novels when it doesn't have direct bearing on the plot smacks of self-superiority. One could make the argument that it is a physical representation of the mind-wipe people experienced, but that is shown in so many other ways this feels extraneous and only serves as shock value.

That being said, King must have done something right because I read it when it came out and the novel, upon recollection, is still vivid in my mind, perhaps because of the realistic and visceral nature of the novel. The nature of the threats the main characters face change throughout the novel, and Clayton's quest to find his child amongst the wreckage of humanity is compelling. Also, the nature of humanity is discussed some as the main characters try to make sense of it all.

Beyond the shock value of the book, it was a vivid and fast read, well put together and is an interesting take on the many apocalypses (apocalypsi?) humankind may face, often from unexpected quarters.