Needful Things

I have nearly finished this story, and have to say how good it has been. It's really enjoyable to hear the author reading the characters, as they will use the accents they imagined at the point of writing.

But, the music and sound effects interspersed throughout the reading are very off putting and don't really add anything to the atmosphere, but rather puncture it just at a point where I'd found myself lost in the importance of the events.

This was my second Stephen King novel and I am now a fan of his. This story is creepy and kept you wondering what each character was up to but to me the best thing about the novel was the way commercialism is portrayed. What would you do for the object you have always wanted? If you are a character in this novel the answer is a lot.

I'd highly recommend this novel if only to question if anything you own is "needful".

i'm a long time fan of Kings books, and i would have to say this was another really good example of a page turner, admittedly this is indefinably not his best book, but the chaos created in it was incredibly funny, at times the novelty wore of a bit, but the other characters reaction made it worth it, sometimes parts of the book just seemed to be almost glossed over by other events in the book, in one case a character breaks there neck and not much more than 2 sentences are given about it after, this does in my opinion actually add to the sense of chaos however i can imagine for some people it would be almost annoying. i haven't given to much away i think.

all in all i would say read through some of the better books like: the dark tower series ( by far the best of his books, and explains a lot of characters in other books like the spider in "IT" however this series is quite an undertaking, i managed to finish all of them in 2 weeks and would say it was really well worth it), i would also suggest listening to the stand, the shining and under the dome. once you have gone through those maybe try some of the other books if your not sick of listening to people read to you by then :)

Any fans on Mr King, will enjoy his usual style of writing, he brings each character to life in his own special way, and this book is no different.



The story is great and I found myself waiting for the ring of the shop bell to see who was going in to buy something " needful". I found that the reading by the author added to the book and he little bits of music and the jingling of the door bell also added to the whole experience.



So why only 4 stars...the ending. I do find a lot of stephen King books have a bit of a let down with the ending. It was not a bad ending, it was such a good and gripping tale that I was expecting something a little more. Having said that, dont let it put you off the book, it is a superb read.

Reminiscent of Salem's Lot in that an old guy opens a shop in a quaint town and is not all he seems. The residents find themselves buying items they feel they 'need' and go to extremes to keep them.

Stephen king at his creepy best, characters deep enough to care about and hope they are not seduced by our favourite shop keeper... I wanted to hear this book and "needed" to know what happens. luckily enough it was only 1 credit; well so far...

I love this story, read it every couple of years since I was a teenager. The narrator is pretty good.

My only slight criticism is the sound effects....not sure I liked these, I found them an unnecessary distraction and made the story seem comical, which I'm not sure was the authors intenion

Needful this is an excellent example of modern greed, and typical society, with an all to familiar twist... Great caricatures, each with their own story's to follow, bring this intricate and gripping story together. Narration a little fast, and at times difficult to keep up with Stephen King himself. All in all fantastic story

I ve been a fan of king for many years and have listened to quite a few on audio.

I have to say though that I'm not a fan of king as a narrator. I just can't get used to his slow american drawl.

I found the solution however by upping the narration speed to 1.5 . That done I enjoyed needful things. although under the dome remains my favourite!

This was my first Stephen king book, have seen loads of his films but never read any of his books before, we'll I must say I enjoyed most of it and would try another from him. I was not keen on the music in the background kinda off putting at times and was not keen on the ending it was like the ending was rushed? Took me a bit to get into Stephen kings narration but when I did must say his descriptions of items and characters really do bring the book to life so in all a good listen.