That's not surprising since "Sleeping Beauties" is a collaboration between Stephen King and his other son, Owen King.
Owen King
Stephen King
Joe Hill
*****
At the beginning of "Sleeping Beauties" - which takes place in the Appalachian town of Dooling - a beautiful woman appears in the woods, strolls over to a trailer housing a meth lab, kills the two belligerent dudes inside with her bare hands, then burns down the trailer 🔥.
The woman, called Eve Black, is arrested by Sheriff Lila Norcross and detained in the Dooling Correctional Institute for Women.
At the same time, a mysterious phenomenon, called the 'Aurora Disease' is affecting women all over the world. The moment a woman falls asleep, white tendrils start to sprout from her body.....and she's soon enclosed in a fibrous cocoon.
If an attempt is made to remove the cocoon or awaken the woman, the sleeper flies into a murderous rage and kills the interfering party ✂- then calmly goes back to sleep.
This scourge is attributed to the 'Aurora virus' - though no one really knows what's causing it.
No female of any age is immune from the so-called Aurora disease, and gals all over Dooling - including teens, schoolgirls, and babies - are succumbing. The Appalachian women start using stimulants - like coffee and uppers - to try to stay awake, but this is a temporary fix at best.
Just about all the females fall asleep eventually, including the town's mothers and wives; the sheriff; the prison warden; the female guards; the women inmates; and so on. The only exception is Eve Black, who's able to go to sleep and wake up without a problem. It's soon clear that Eve is not a typical woman. In fact she's not a woman at all 😵.
It turns out that Eve is an otherworldly being with unusual abilities. When a prison inmate tries to assault Eve, for instance, a single glance from Eve burns the offender's hands. Moreover, Eve is clairvoyant, can float above her cot.....
…..and uses the 'Jedi mind-trick' to get things she wants, like a male guard's cell phone.....which she uses for phone calls and games 😊.
After a few days, all the female prison officials are out of commission, and the institute's administration falls to the jail psychiatrist, Dr. Clinton Norcross - who happens to be the sheriff's husband 👨💼
The menfolk of Dooling have varied reactions to the Aurora disease. Some are happy - like fired prison guard Don Peters.....who thinks women have 'done him wrong' (by reporting his continual sexual abuse). Some of the disgruntled men form squads to burn the women in their cocoons. (I can't imagine what they're thinking. These guys plan to live in a world without women? Goodbye human race! 😏)
Other men are distraught - like animal control officer Frank Geary.....whose beloved daughter is enclosed in a cocoon. Frank is desperate to cure his little girl, so - when he hears that Eve is immune to the Aurora virus - he hatches a scheme. The animal control cop puts together an 'army' (consisting mostly of alcoholics, misfits, scumbags, and underage boys), and plans to abduct Eve from the prison, so he can somehow use her to formulate a 'remedy' for the Aurora virus.
Meanwhile, inside the prison, Eve confides in Dr. Norcross. She tells him that a battalion of men will try to capture and kill her. If they succeed, the women of the world will NEVER return. However, if Dr. Norcross can protect Eve for five or six days, the planet's women MIGHT come back …..if they want to.
It turns out that the cocooned women of Dooling have entered an alternate dimension, called 'Our Place', where they're starting a new civilization without men.
Male babies can be born (to mothers who were pregnant when they fell asleep), but these boys will be brought up to be 'gentler and kinder' than the males left behind. IF Dr. Norcross can protect Eve for the requisite time, the women of Our Place will be given the CHOICE to come back....and the vote to return WILL HAVE TO BE unanimous.
In short, the Aurora disease is a test of mankind (literally MAN-kind), to see if they're worthy of going on.
In addition to Eve, there are other supernatural elements in the book. These include a mysterious white tiger.....
…..a preternaturally intelligent red fox,
…..an exotic multi-trunked tree,
…..unnatural flocks of moths, and more.
The book is over 700 pages long, but the structure of the story is fairly simple. Geary and his troops formulate strategies, collect guns and munitions, and try to batter their way into the prison. And Dr. Norcross and a band of loyalists try to keep the attackers out....and protect Eve. This goes on for hundreds of pages.
All this leads to the book's dramatic climax. 😎
Sleeping Beauties is a typical King 'horror' novel - with a plethora of characters, a dual between good and evil, and a lot of graphic violence and death.
On the downside, I thought the novel was over-long with too much chicanery by Geary's team. It got repetitive and was a bit of a slog to get through (for me) 😕.
On the upside, the book is thought- provoking and made me wonder about the real women of the world. If the Earth's females found themselves in "Our Place", would they vote to stay there.....
…..or would they decide to come back to the world as it is now: with sex abusers and 'pussy grabbers'; inequitable salaries; glass ceilings; men who commit domestic violence; men who disrespect women; men who start wars; and so on. I'd be curious to know. 🙄
I listened to the audiobook version of the novel, and I want to give a shout out to the narrator - Marin Ireland. Ms. Ireland does a FABULOUS JOB voicing the various characters, and raises the fun of the book 500 percent. 💖
Rating: 3 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment