In Progress: 'Salem's Lot

Hey we're on book number two: 'Salem's Lot! This post is a slow-roll live blog, a place to dump some running thoughts on the book as I work through it. As I prefacing the same post about Carrie, this may be spoiler-intensive in places. I'll keep updating this one post as I go, since there is no need for 20+ "in progress" posts.

July 25 (page 65): I started in a couple days ago. This Roy Lichtenstein-esque cover seems to be part of a re-issue series that went as far as The Shining. I haven't seen any covers in this style after that one. If you have a particularly old (or even new?) edition, you may want to find this one for it's valuable "author's note" from 1999. I'm not sure if 1975 readers were supposed to be unaware of the vampire nature of the book, but that potential spoiler has been long-blown both by this introduction and the packaging of this version. So far, outside of the prologue, it seems quaint enough, almost Winesburg, Ohio, but in 1970's economically-challenged Maine. If I were to hazard a guess, the mysterious man and boy pair from the prologue are Ben Mears and a yet-to-be-introduced character, but I could be wrong. Also, the prologue is in the near future and the main part of the book smack-dab in the present (1975) day. I caught one sly reference to Carrie in the mention of the town of Chamberlain (four years before its destruction!). However, this book, King promises in his introduction, makes Carrie look "fey". On the other hand, in the same introduction, he notes this book shows its age: an honest-to-God milkman (and not one of those hipster-yuppie throwback businesses), and the ability to find newspapers from Maine throughout the country. Oh, Internet, how you changed everything! At this point, I've gotten a hearty introduction to Susan and Ben and right now I'm meeting about a hundred assorted characters that populate the town. A couple of "off" things have happened, but no blood or guts to report. It's high noon in the chapter "The Lot (I)" -- let's finish the rest of the day and see what happens.

July 27 (page 110): Other than a dead dog and a kidnapped (murdered?) child, nothing out of the ordinary to report! Actually, I'm still wondering how wise I'd be the what's going on if I didn't know this novel dealt in vampires. Barlow and Straker? Just a couple old gay men wanting to start an antiques business. Dead dog? Cruel twist of fate. Giant box of sideboard? Just sideboard. If I had no background on this book, I would probably just see all of this as the portrait of an odd, small town in Maine.

July 31 (page 256): It took around half the book, but the forces of evil are now on the march and there is no mistake that something seriously diabolical is happening to the town. My hunches that Barlow was out and about were finally confirmed, although he seems to be more about dazzling the town's down-and-out than outright killing them. I had forgotten how many characters were introduced in the chapter "The Lot (I)" and now they are all started to reappear, almost as if ready-made cannon fodder for the bad guys to exploit. They're like sheep.

August 2 (page 320): Gadzooks, half the town has turned, that is if you believe that good-for-nothing Straker. As I plow through the second half, I'm getting confirmations of things like Barlow being a vampire and Straker his "friend" for lack of a better word. On the other hand, I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to Susan so suddenly. However, it is clear now that Mark is joining Ben as co-protagonist, while Susan's character has been marginalized. This also almost entirely confirms that Ben and Mark were the unnamed characters of the prologue (that, and I accidentally read the final chapter heading - please don't do that).

August 5 (page 409): Well, the cliche librarian is dead. Or, rather, Undead. Susan, too. Stephen King's theology (via Father Callahan) is a little wacky. He incorrectly states St. Paul was crucified upside down to so that he would face the earth instead of heaven. (It was actually Peter, by his request; Paul was a Roman citizen and was beheaded.) It's just a tiny quibble in an otherwise intense vampire hunt, where Barlow manages to keep one step ahead of the hunters. Not bad for a guy who has to sleep all day.