So I noticed a weird trend while browsing another subreddit. I was reading a post on r/suggestmeabook titled something to the effect of books you were too young to read that scarred you, and found a strange trend. A surprising amount of replies mentioned the person reading a Stephen King novel when they were – in most cases – between 10 and 13. So I was wondering, what could have caused this?
I mean probably in most cases it was because of parents not noticing what they were reading at the time, still I thought I'd ask.
Personally I had also experienced my first King novel at 13 (I think it was Desperation). It was due to me reading whatever my mother had gotten from the library at the time.
by Sand_Angelo4129
5 Comments
I think the bible is a book that has scarred a lot of people.
And the worse thing is, it’s being read to them by their parents or while in school.
So don’t say it’s because of parents not noticing what their children are reading at the time.
As for me, I don’t think my parents cared what I read. I get books from their shelves and put ’em back when I’m done. The only effect it had on me was that I grew up loving horror, books and movies/tv shows.
I think a lot of parents were just excited that their kid wanted to read and didn’t want to risk putting them off by telling them they couldn’t read something. I know personally that I was reading death note and warhammer books when I was 10. My parents were aware of the gore and other issues in them but they were so happy I was showing an interest in reading that they would just let me read whatever. Though they did also by Michael Monpergo books as well to try and get me to read stuff that was a bit less dark from time to time.
At least with me and some friends I’ve spoken to about getting into Stephen King it was our parents having a bunch of his books and talking about them as the scariest things ever that you couldn’t read yet, so the temptation was just always there.
As for parents not noticing what you’re reading, I can’t speak for anyone else but when I did ask about King my parents were cool that I could read whatever I wanted to but advised starting with one of his less horror leaning books.
My first Stephen King was in 1976 when I was 12 and Carrie was shown on TV. It got many of us reading his books. After Carrie I read Salems Lot. Not sure the average age of the other sub Reddit but I do remember his books became very popular after that. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074285/
I was also reading Stephen King at around that age, but in my case it was a recommendation from a second hand store guy who wanted to help me read more in english. Kings writing is indeed very accessible (part of why he has so many fans: low barrier to entry) and that also makes his books accessible to younger people.
Add to that the fact that you can easily read some of his books and not be disturbed or scared and you have ppl recommending King because The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a nice generic read and then a kid will pick up something else that they actually find very scary.
Meanwhile you’ll have a much harder time convincing a kid to read Poe or Lovecraft.