re: #414 Cato the Elder

I’d argue that it depends on which SK novel you’re talking about. Some of the very old ones definitely hold up; some of the newer/newest ones are just plain awful.

But I’d argue very strongly that the brilliance of the Shining endures, and this is because it’s dealing with elemental fears, below the surface level of “spooky old hotel” — alcoholism, child abuse, domestic violence. On one level it’s this story about the supernatural; on another it’s profoundly terrifying because it’s about the natural unnatural— the dysfunctional.

Similarly, Pet Sematary on one level looks like a gruesome story about the walking dead; in fact on the deeper level its an extended meditation on mortality: the death of a son, the slow death of a sister—not supernatural events in the novel, but the ordinary and horrible tragedies of families.

And Salem’s Lot— i’d say the brilliance of that lies in the depiction of an entire small town, and the ordinary evils that people get up to in small towns. When he’s good, Sk is very good, and has a knack for characterisation and dialogue.
When he’s bad, his pop culture references all seem to stop in the 80’s, and he seems tired and there’s more pyrotechics going on than anything else. Which unfortunately characterises his novels of late, mostly.

in my opinion, etc.