About a quarter of the way through and it's nothing to write home about, but it doesn't present itself as such either. I admire the challenge of King writing about a writer struggling with his writing, with onus of a distinct narrative voice (clear), as well as the internal monologue of the protagonist author, and the troubled writing of the protagonist author. The voice(s) is/are pretty masterful, and you can tell that this is the shit that King loves to write about, so if you're down for the cause, you can kinda just buckle up and let King do his thing. Audiobook narrated by him as well is stellar so far.

I also like the repeated motifs present across his books (not just –Maine–, btw lol). Moreso the familiar settings of either the vacation homes out in the woods of a buoy out in the middle of a lake lake, or the truck stop diners. Settings where some of his most grotesque scenes have unfolded which make me tense up when he describes them again (in this book, or in others) because I know the type of shit he be on sometimes. I wouldn't say that this book does any more of that than the median King book either (it's not like an Avengers movie or anything), it's just a lot King being in his bag, setting the stage and keeping me on my toes.

A lot of grief in this book, and coming of age trials of a 40 yr old man. "How do you come up with this shit Stevie"

6.75/10 so far

"to a Nazarene, no good comes out of Nazareth"

Okay, middle half of the book is less writer's block and more custody battle. I enjoy the inclusion of references to King's contemporaries and the protracted allegory of folks living on the TR as Bradburian martians from "Mars is Heaven!"

Not particularly exciting, but good to read. 6.25

Last quarter of the book is brutal, and ties the whole story together as a tragedy oddly similar in theme to The Sound and the Fury. Also references to other boogiemen of his from e.g. The Outsider and Mr. Mercedes, as well as Bradbury's monster from Mars is Heaven.

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