Stephen King's 'Cell'

Caution: in this topic, there be Spoilers.


Has anybody else around here read this as of yet? I was under the impression that King had retired from writing, but I saw Cell in the book store this weekend and I had to pick it up.

I finished the book yesterday, and I have a question to ask of anyone that has read this novel...

does anybody else feel like the last quarter of the book was missing?

I appreciate the ambiguity of the ending insofar as it pertains to the fate of Clay's son, but there were a huge number of other loose threads. Cell was only around four hundred pages, which is pretty short for King, and I can't help but feel that the story he had going could have been carried on for another two or three hundred pages. We learn nothing of the fates of most of the secondary characters, of the origins of the Pulse, of what befell the world beyond the East coast of America, or of many other things... the first three hundred and ninety pages were spectacular, but the last three were a blasphemous anticlimax.

So am I the only person that feels this way?

Maybe I am... but here's the topic anyway. make of it what you will, i suppose.

[edit on 8-3-2006 by The Parallelogram]

I wish I hadn't read this topic. I haven't read the book, but I know if I do, I'll be reading it with the thought that I won't be finding many of the answers at the end of the book....so I'm not sure if I want to read it at all now

Is it possible (from the way it "ends") that there could be a sequel in the works?
I don't expect it....the way "The Dark Tower" went towards the end was similar, a great, great dissapointment.

I think he is a serious workaholic, I dont he could quit if he wanted to...

Originally posted by chebob
I wish I hadn't read this topic. I haven't read the book, but I know if I do, I'll be reading it with the thought that I won't be finding many of the answers at the end of the book....so I'm not sure if I want to read it at all now

Is it possible (from the way it "ends") that there could be a sequel in the works?
I don't expect it....the way "The Dark Tower" went towards the end was similar, a great, great dissapointment.

You know, I didn't even consider the possibility of a sequel until now, but since you mention it, it seems that this could very well happen.

I guess I'm making too many assumptions when it comes to King's writing, and one of these is that I can't expect a sequel... he may very well produce one.

And either way, Chebob, I'd still recommend the book... as I said, the vast majority of it is worthwhile and it gets you asking so many questions that there would've been no way to address all of them. One sort of has to fill in the blanks oneself, which can be very interesting, or very dull, depending on the reader.



And Lianna, I was glad to hear he came out of his supposed retirement. Not many artists in any medium express the ratio of talent to prolificity that King has demonstrated throughout his career as a writer.

It sounds like you know your King, so I'm going to trust your opinion and give the book a chance. There's only about 2 out of around 40 King books I haven't really enjoyed, and The Cell definately sounds like one of his good plots.

I just hope he has got a sequel planned - It worked wonderfully with The Talisman/Black House, and he obviously has no trouble connecting stories, as displayed in most of his work to date.

I zipped through Cell quicker than usual...A real "page-turner," so to speak...

Like you, I was a bit disappointed with the abrupt ending at first - It seemed that (as usual) King wanted to give us insight of every breathing moment of these characters, but when the most crucial moment in the story comes, it remains completely devoid of any closure…

Conversely, it's in his nature to tell a story to its end, so I too can't help but wonder whether we'll be in store for a sequel or not....

But in all honesty, I've grown to favor the ending to the book....The very nature of the anticlimactic finish, in truth, adds endless chapters of possibilities in my own mind....

King has given us the rare treat of being allowed to finish this story for ourselves...And he can't be labeled "lazy" or "incompetent" to have made such a decision at the end, as he lead us up to the edge with crisp detail and vivid resolution....

It's risky business to cut your novel short these days, when people want nothing but more more more - Risks are something King can easily take – His name is quite literally “in the books” already....We reap the rewards of his “free reign on creativity” if we're willing to accept it as such….

Now - All we have to hope for is that they don't turn this book into a movie, execute it flawlessly until the very end, and then destroy it entirely....Throwing in a pre-game show to draw the crowds....Jeez, what could I be talking about

damnit i was reading cell and it was pretty cool not Kings best but not by any means bad... id just gotten to the part where clay went back to his house and found his kids note on his door and Tom found his kids dead friend in the street... then my dad took it away because im failing math.

No offense but I wouldn't use the word spectacular when it comes to describing King's latest. The premise was awesome but the story just sort of ambled forward with no real magic. If you want spectacular, read "It" or "The Stand".

I hate the ending, it is incomplete and it has been five years and no sequel. What the Hell??????

I just finished reading the cell, and I have to say it was a great piece of literature. After about page 4 I couldn't put the book down, literally. I was definately dissapointed at the loss of the only real heroin, wasnt sure if it was needed, but none the less, didnt stop me from reading on. I really like the ending, however first thing I did when I was done was to look online to see if there was any possibility of a sequal in the works. It would be incredible to find out all the open questions I had in Cell, to be answered by a rockin second installment.

"I hate the ending!" It has been five years?"
The only "what the hell" about that is that the book came out in 2006...

Yes, i dont like the ending, and yes, there will be a movie. Check wikipedia for the links. Hopefuly it will be a GOOD movie, because there are alot of books made into movies that are not, then again there are alot that make great movies.

Cell was the first book i have read by steven king and i loved it. About a year ago i looked at "The Dark Tower" but it didnt interest me, though i think ill take anotyher look soon.

Yeah, there deffinetly looks like there will be a sequel, which is exactly why i think there will NOT. As pointed out, the ending is a sort of ending that we finish ourselves, thats what happens alot in the horror genre, they dont have a happy-knight-saves-the-princess-and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after ending, they just END. Take a look at 1408, one of the firstr horror movies i saw, based on a stephen king short story, it doesnt explain ANYTHING about the room "1408", just has an open ending. On that note, 1408 is one of the best book-to-movies EVER. A while ago i found the book, and it was surprisingly not as good as the movie, actually it was just going to be used as an example writing piece or something, but then SK liked it and finished it or something.

Anyways, hope the Cell movie is good, supposed to be released sometime this year

So am I the only person that feels this way?

Was a while ago, as I read this book when it first came out (big King fan), and although I somewhat agree...it's pretty much expected of King in many cases... He always kind of leaves things hanging for the reader...especially in cases of incarnations of Randall Flag....

Heck, remember The Mist? Same kind of deal...they go through all of this crap, and you don't really even know if they make it (I mean the book, not the movie)...

The Cell would make a GREAT movie though....

[edit on 12-1-2009 by Gazrok]

Despite being a huge fan of horror fiction, I usually don't read Stephen King. As far as horror authors go, I find him to be very over rated.

But for some reason I decided to read "Cell" when it first came out. I really enjoyed reading it...until the ending. The story was great but ending totally sucked.

Yep...that's why most King movies seem to change the ending...
I actually enjoy his short stories more than his novels...and I tend to pick Koontz over King more often than not...

It seems like King wrote a decent book with cell but didn't give the detail that folks expect. I liked it.
If you look at how many books he writes and the fact that some are fantastic and one or two just mediocre (the regulators) then you might realize that it's not always easy to write a blockbuster every time.
Writing is a very involved and sometimes taxing job. They won't always be the same.

Having said that, I think that his book 'On Writing, a Memoir of the Craft' which is nonfiction, is the best book he's written.

Liseys Story is recent and very good.
I've got Duma Key but haven't started yet.

Obviously I'm a king fan but I think Cell had its merits. Don't let this thread stop you from reading it.

I actually liked all of his Rose Red stuff too...and the earlier books in the whole Dark Tower series...

The short stories all rock though....

Yeah I thought it didn't seem like the "proper" ending. I did like the book I was just a bit annoyed that there were loads of loose strings at the end.