On His Life

Since almost half of the book "On Writing" is autobiographical, it only seems appropriate that I address his writing about it. He presents his life in a way that is serious, yet humorous. One thing that struck me about his writing was the use of vivid metaphors. One example occurs on the very first page after the forward, when King describes his childhood as "a fogged-out landscape from which occasional memories appear like isolated trees... the kind that look as if they might like to grab and eat you." He captures all sorts of emotions with these images.

The events he describes are snapshots, like a puzzle that's missing a few pieces, but the picture is still shown. It's effective because you can see the big picture without being distracted by too many irrelevant puzzle pieces, like the white piece in the middle of a cloud, or each individual brick on the house.

One thing he mentioned about his childhood I could definitely connect with was what he wrote about when he got his tonsils out. He said "When I woke up I was indeed allowed all the ice cream that I wanted, which was a fine joke on me because I didn't want any." I've had a similar experience with getting my teeth pulled. I was promised apple sauce and ice cream, but I didn't get any because all I did was sleep.

Overall the autobiographical section of "On Writing" did what King meant it to, show how a writer was formed.

~Cafferty Frattarelli