Cell discussion

Recently just finished tearing through Cell. And, I must say the ending kind of blows. What are your thoughts? Do you think Clay was able to to reverse the effects of the mild Pulse on his son? What ending have you imagined for yourself?

Also, I got to wondering if those that were text messaging when The Pulse occurred were safe from becoming Phoners. What do you think?

Alice Maxwell- what are your thoughts on the young, 15 year old heroine? Do you believe King should of killed her off? Should another character have died?

Thanks..

It's been a while since I read [book:Cell|10567; I remember feeling that everything at the end was leading up to Clay's son being reversed.

I wasn't happy about Alice getting killed, but part of King's genius is his ability to make his characters so real that it's upsetting when they get killed.

Who knows? I love an open ending. Wrapping up a specific plot point is not crucial for me. Life is cyclical and continuous. "And they lived happily ever after" is the weakest way to end a story, in my opinion.

Alice's death felt like a bad dream. I hated to see her go, but that is not to say King made the wrong decision in killing her off. As Peggy alluded to, it is a testament to King's ability to make us feel for his characters. If Alice's death had left us ambivalent, then the work would have suffered.

1) Since the signal was fading away when Clay made his phone call, I think that his son would probably be somewhat-reversed. It wouldn't restore any of his memories. He wouldn't say "Daddy" then hug Clay. He would have to learn everything again, from walking and talking to who Clay was.

It could have had other effects, though. Maybe instead of "wiping his hard drive" it could have "upgraded" him. He may have been a phoner-normie hybrid. Or not.(Maybe it vegetablized him.)

2) I doubt the people who texted were affected. The Pulse was like a computer virus that wiped a person's hard drive. It either reprogramed phones to radiate certain signals, or it could have emitted an auditory signal. Since the texts were different from the calls, the transmition couldn't have got to their brains in order to alter them.

3) Alice dying was a great call, in my opinion. I was sad when she died and enjoyed her character, but her death changed the tone of the book a bit. It gave King an excuse to see how what the phoners did affected normies. It also shows the "Wrath of the Raggedy Man."

B. wrote: "1) Since the signal was fading away when Clay made his phone call, I think that his son would probably be somewhat-reversed. It wouldn't restore any of his memories. He wouldn't say "Daddy" then hu..."

Thank you so much for responding back to my post! Thanks to everyone actually!

Do you think the 'Raggedy Man' was a scary character? I honestly feel as though he was not. I felt more uncomfortable knowing that the phoners worked as individuals-ripping and tearing normies apart.

When the phoners grouped together as a unit and had a leader the book just kind of lost it touch.

Renice wrote: "B. wrote: "1) Since the signal was fading away when Clay made his phone call, I think that his son would probably be somewhat-reversed. It wouldn't restore any of his memories. He wouldn't say "Dad..."

When the phoners got a leader, it stopped being a zombie book. It evolved into something else entirely. That's what made it interesting.

I don't think that the raggedy man was scary, but he did show what was going on with the phoners. It made the normies seem, as the book said, insane.

well that's something that not even king could answer for sure

Watch the Mist or read pet semetary and then you tell me.

I think he was, possibly partly because I want to think he was but also because Jordan is the one who suggested it, and throughout the book, despite being the youngest one and even though he doubts himself, Jordan is actually always right.

Thanks!

I agree with Hayley. First off, because we WANT his son to be reversed. Jordan proved to have the most insights on what happened and what will happen. The ending was VERY disappointing. I found myself upset because I need to have closure! I had to make up my own ending and let it go, and I didn't feel like that was fair. I wanted to know if Clay was able to meet up with his friends up north, if they even made it. So, so many unanswered questions here.

I to disliked the ending. I did not mind so much the open ending of whether or not the phone reversed the affects the pulse had on Clay's son but there was no final confrontation with the ragedy man, just like that he was dead. The previous part of the book was a build up for a confrontation between Clay and the Ragedy man that never took place. I felt cheated because of this

I like to think that part of the horror of it all is that he holds onto hope that his son can be reversed when there is no reversal for becoming a zombie... getting sucked into the horror of denial, caring for a zombie son the rest of his days.