Why You Should Read Stephen King Novels

When I tell people my favorite author is Stephen King, their immediate reaction is to comment on how messed up his books are, but beyond that, they typically have no ground to make judgments on. 

It is frustrating to me that people typically make judgments based on what they have heard about aspects of his early writing, and that has caused them to turn away from his works. His works have more depth than others give them credit for, and those who ignore that risk missing out due to their closed-mindedness. 

Despite my biased nature, I truly do believe the heart of his novels is the messages that come across in them, despite the darkness he often bases his stories in. Now, it is no secret that he was not sober back in the 80s during the height of his writing, but those messed up aspects are only a small part of the larger narrative at play. 

That being said, as someone who personally read It at 15, I recommend that books that have more mature themes should be set aside until kids are 16. It is not necessarily because kids can’t handle the content, as they often reflect realities, but the books contain large amounts of these messed-up situations that can be a lot to process. 

Now that I have hopefully piqued your interest, allow me to explain to you why I believe that it is beneficial for people to read Stephen King novels. 

The first reason is that his books can expose audiences to various genres. Even though Mr. King is known as “the master of horror,” he is versatile in the kind of literature he produces, and I feel people often forget about that. Sure, he has horror novels like Carrie and The Shining, but even those books contain supernatural elements. The Dark Tower series is perhaps some of his most well-known work that crosses science fiction, fantasy, and western elements. The movie Stand by Me was based on Stephen King’s novella titled The Body, which focused heavily on themes of friendship and growing up, which has been replicated in other works like It. If you close your mind and characterize his texts in one way, you will never experience the beauty of the multitudes of worlds he has created throughout his career. I truly believe that there is some aspect everyone would fall in love with if they were to pick up a novel of his. 

The second reason I believe people benefit from reading his works is that the messages he created are ones that tend to resonate with audiences and have continued to do so for generations, which is why so many of his works tend to be translated to screen or revitalized for new generations. I was having a conversation with my boyfriend the other day after we saw The Long Walk, which is Stephen King’s latest book-to-screen adaptation, and I was talking about how even though the premise is messed up, at the core the movie is about hope. The story is about fifty kids competing in the long walk competition, and whoever is the last one standing gets millions of dollars and anything they wish for. The film critiques how the system “backs people into a corner, points to an escape route, and says that is the only way out.” Stephen King wrote this novel prior to the 80’s, and the fact that this many years later it is still relevant proves his intention in writing the book is to make meaningful commentary. The movie encourages the audience to have a virtuous attitude and appreciate the beauty in the world amongst the madness, and it is messages like that that make me invested in his works and continuously reading more. 

Finally, the main reason I believe people should read his works is because it is easy to connect with characters. At the very least, if you are an English major, you can often associate with his self-insert characters who love to write. Beyond that, depending on the story, there is often one longtime fan of his who can connect to characters that they see themselves represented in. I know when I was 14 and watched It (2017) for the first time it was to see what all the hype was about, and it instantly became my favorite movie of all time. Fast forward six years later, and that fact has not changed because of how much I connected with characters like Bill Denbrough, Stanley Uris, and Eddie Kaspbrak. As the oldest sibling, I have always seen parts of myself reflected in Bill, and that is what made me have an emotional tie to the story and why I find comfort in It. I know some people think I am crazy when I say that is my favorite book of his but being able to write characters that genuinely reflect human ideologies in the middle of often sci-fi-like circumstances is a tribute to how humanistic his writing is. 

In conclusion, I do believe that there are people who connect with his stories and characters more than others, and those that are like me want to help spread awareness of his stories to stop others from closing their minds off from his works. The reason I started reading Stephen King’s works was because of my grandma who loved him. If messages from generations ago can continue to be passed down and well received by audiences, this is proof that his stories can truly impact your life.

I hope I have convinced you to either pick up a Stephen King book or made you consider starting to read one. After all, he has written so many classics that there is bound to be some story of his that should interest you to read. 

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