#BookReview ‘1922’ by Stephen King

About the book…

I believe there is a man inside every man, a stranger

So writes Wilfred James in his confession. It’s 1922. Wilfred owns eighty acres of farmland in Nebraska that have been in the family for generations. His wife, Arlette, owns an adjoining one hundred acres.

But if Arlette carries out her threat to sell her land to a pig butcher, Wilfred will be forced to sell too. Worse, he’ll have to move to the city. But he has a daring plan. It may work if he can persuade his son.

A powerful tale of betrayal, murder, madness and rats, 1922 is a breathtaking exploration into the dark side of human nature from the great American storyteller Stephen King.

Adapted into the powerful Netflix movie starring Thomas Jane, ‘1922’ is one of the four novellas which comprise the collection , ‘Full Dark, No Stars’, published by Hodder in 2010.

It has been re-released as a stand alone as part of Hodder’s birthday celebrations, leading up to the 50th anniversary of Carrie in 2023.

Tandem Collective have done a massive campaign over on Instagram, and sent out single novellas, as well as some readers who were given all 7 to read.

I was sent Rita Haworth, but as I have them all, in one form or another, I decided to just join in the party and read them all!

”Here is something I learned in 1922:there are always worse things waiting. You think you have seen the most terrible thing, the one that coalesces all your nightmares into a freakish horror that actually exists,and the only consolation is that there can be nothing worse. Even if there is, your mind will snap at the sight of it,and you will know no more. But there is worse, your mind does not snap and somehow you carry on.”

 

1922 begins with a confession, a letter, dated 1930 in which Wilfred Leland James confesses to the murder of his wife eight years prior.

It sets the tone, the location and the crux of the narrative which, over the next 125 pages, lays out the whole sorry tale. Wilf, you realise, is not asking for redemption, he is explaining why he did what he did as he knows he is bound for the dark place.

Having married his wife, Arlette, his 80 acres have been merged with her 100, and create a sizable farm estate. They married, it is suggested , because their son Henry was on the way, and he is 14 years old when this story begins. Pining for the bright lights of a city, feeling that her occupation of farmer’s wife has effectively strangled any ambition, an offer for her land could be the way out for her. Suddenly, that fashion shop is not just a pipe dream, but Wilf, however, has others plans.

”She could always talk me round. Except when it came to land. About that she should have known better. Land is a man’s business”

Living on the land owned by him, his father before him, and once back again, he is, in name and in duty, tied to the land in Nebraska and means to die there, one day.

Using his influence over his son, accidentally aided by the way she treats Henry, which pushes him into conspiring with him, Arlette has unwittingly signed her death warrant.

A very dark novella, with little chance of redemption-except for that final line, and boy does it land-there is horror galore in the way that once his actions have been competed, Wilf and Henry become literally and figuratively haunted by the actions they have taken.

Also, if you loathe rats, there is so much here to make you squirm!

Wilf explains away his actions, almost abdicating his responsibility by blaming his inner ‘Conniving Man’ as the one who plotted the death of Arlette and then covered it up. If each man has, under his skin, a conniving man then that is only in response to his wife being a harlot, a vixen, a shrew. There is a constant thread of misogyny, seeing women as property, and, when the Sheriff comes to investigate Arlette’s disappearance, he even offers to drag her back by the hair.

In tone, it reminds me of Poe’s ‘The Telltale Heart’ and the gothic sensibilities employed here, imbue the story with a sense of tragedy and melancholy which fits well with what King is trying to say. In the end, Wilf’s love of tradition and ownership of his, and his wife’s land, is his downfall as it supersedes his love for his family. Home is wherever you make it, as long as your family is there, and, once he has killed Arlette, it appears that fate, all the warnings he had been given, and even nature intervene in his life. He listens to no one, does what he believes was right, and creates an unholy mess of the lot. As the year progresses , he begins to see just what Arlette bought to the house, her for thinking in laying food and combustibles away, her points about the farm not bringing in the money spent to keep it going…all of this comes to fruition.

And it is a dark, lonely revenge wrought upon Wilf, a finale which seems just and fine, given the context of what came before.

Links to other King works-

Pg 5– Hemmingford home is the birthplace of one Mother Abagail Freemantle from ‘The Stand’

Pg 27-using a well as a motif, and to hide a dead body, has been used in other King novels, specifically, ‘Dolores Claiborne’ and ‘Gerald’s Game’

Pg 31– Wilf is walking up and down the rows of corn, listening to the sheaves and mentions that ‘foolish ones who say it’s the sound of the corn growing’, this brings to mind , once more, The Stand as well as the short story ‘Children Of The Corn’

And , I cannot leave this review of 1922 without linking to the fantastic Kingcast, a podcast for Stephen King fanatics. They interview the star of both The Mist and 1922, Thomas Jane, in a ‘it has to be heard to be believed‘ podcast that totally rocks. It can be found here!

And another favourite of mine, The Losers’ Club, discuss it with Thomas Jane here 

About the author…

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, ‘Mr Mercedes’, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both ‘Mr Mercedes’ and ‘End Of Watch’ received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel ‘Sleeping Beauties‘ with his son Owen King, and many of King’s books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including ‘The Shawshank Redemption‘, ‘Gerald’s Game’ and ‘It‘.

King was the recipient of America’s prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine

Links-https://www.stephenking.com/

Twitter @StephenKing @HodderBooks @Kingcast19 @LosersClubPod