Koontzland - Dean Koontz discussion

I just finished reading Life Expectancy and noticed there was no thread for it... so here goes..

Spoilers**

I had high expectations for this book since I had heard so many good things about it. I Loved it. However it was totally different from what I expected. As always Dean kept my interest the whole way through the novel and the story stayed unpredictable until the end. The feud between the clowns and the aerialists was... unexpected haha And very different. When Konrad Beezo was first introduced I didn't "This is the villain for this story!" I was totally caught off guard by the murder spree that followed and even more surprised by his continuous appearances in the book. This book was full of surprises from start to finish and it ended with a pretty big revelation (Jimmys biological father being Konrad Beezo himself)

I think because I have read so much Koontz that sometimes its easy to predict what will happen next in a novel... Life Expectancy was definitely different!

:)

I think this is the funniest novel overall that Koontz has written. Jimmy's humor was a bit too much for me at times even. I loved the war between the aerialists and clowns! :-D I was much more amused by the clown and aerialist characters than I was by Jimmy or his family. One good lesson from this book is to not ever get a clown on your bad side, because they can be as relentless as book critics. ;-)

Hahaha so true;)

Laurie got on my nerves. haha I couldn't help it--I tried to like her... but its just wasn't happening.

I thought that Tick Tock was very funny too, mostly because of being so absurd and "out there". Life Expectancy was surprisingly enjoyable. I consider it to be one of his last good books, mainly because of the plot - I think he did a good job with the overall setting of five terrible days to come and keeping the suspense.

I wasn't crazy about the resolution. When there are simultanous biths at the beginning for the story it's pretty obvious what's the reason. And, as more often than not, Koontz goes for the cliche. I liked the uplifting ending thhough; I usually think his endings are hackneyed to the max but this one works.

Life Expectancy ranks as my #1 favorite Dean Koontz book! Life Expectancy is Amazing!!!!!!

Dustin, were you voting for the clowns, aerialists or bakers?

Personally I went with the clowns, I mean who wouldn't?

One thing that separates Koontz from most other bestselling authors is his unfading belief in the inherent good of humanity, the perserverance of the heart and victory of light over darkness.
The overall motto of his whole work could be summarized as "never give up - perservere". I think it works really good in Life Expectancy, especially the very last scenes.

Maciek wrote: "Dustin, were you voting for the clowns, aerialists or bakers?

Personally I went with the clowns, I mean who wouldn't?
"

Send in the Clowns! I didn't like them high-flying aerialists :-)

That's my boy.

Life Expectancy is my very favorite! If you want scary clowns try this one listed below - I've only seen the movie but IT's quite horrifically fun :-)


IT by Stephen King

Alex (Reader, Writer, and All Smiles) wrote: "I have this dreadful fear of clowns from a horrendous experience as a child. You don't want to know....."

I want to know ... if you want to share :-) Have you met Pennywise?

Alex (Reader, Writer, and All Smiles) wrote: "And he didn't even do very good balloon animals. :D The first experience was more tramatic and is the reason I'm afraid of clowns....Pennywise? I must say that I haven't or maybe I have and my short term memory loss is making me forget. ;) "

So, the clown did perverted balloon animals or shapes? Interesting.

Pennywise is the clown from IT.

Alex (Reader, Writer, and All Smiles) wrote: "Ah, well then, no I haven't met this Pennywise."

Oh, WOW, you have got to meet Pennywise!

So do you want to read the book!?!

IT is very good!

I want to read IT! :-)

Life Expectancy is our August 2011 Group Read!!!!!

Dustin Crazy- you should DEFINITELY read It, ASAP!

It is a must read.

Anne wrote: "It is a must read."

Dustin wrote: "Dustin Crazy- you should DEFINITELY read It, ASAP!"

You people are so silly, but absolutely right :-) I've already read it twice and I'm looking forward to reading this must-read for the third time ASAP. This is my #1 Favorite Dean Koontz Book!!!!

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "I want to read IT! :-)"

Here, I believe I was referring to IT by Stephen King :-)

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Anne wrote: "It is a must read."

Dustin wrote: "Dustin Crazy- you should DEFINITELY read It, ASAP!"

You people are so silly, but absolutely right :-) I've already read it twice and I'm looking fo..."

Oh..I apologize, Dustin Crazy. I thought you hadn't read It, but I guess you have (three times, actually..)

Dustin wrote: "Oh..I apologize, Dustin Crazy. I thought you hadn't read It, but I guess you have (three times, actually..) "

I've only read it twice so far :-) My third reading is forthcoming.

Awesome, DC!

Hi, everyone!:)

I mean no disrespect or anything to anyone, but I simply must ask, is Life Expectancy really a great read?

Dustin wrote: "....is Life Expectancy really a great read?"

It's certainly one of his most humorous works, with the whole story being fairly tongue-in-cheek. I like it well enough (I rated it 4/5), but it's not among my favorites. By the way, always feel free to ask others' opinions and express your own in Koontzland. It's not disrespectful to ask someone's opinion, which is bound to be different from at least one other person's. Only people inherently deserve respect, not their ideas (including their opinions), which must earn it. :-)

Oh, thank you very much, Jason.:)

Dustin wrote: "Dustin Crazy- you should DEFINITELY read It, ASAP!"

Dustin wrote: "Hi, everyone!:)

I mean no disrespect or anything to anyone, but I simply must ask, is Life Expectancy really a great read?"

No. It isn't a great read. HELLO! It's an Amazing work of literature. It's my very favorite of Koontz's masterpieces. It is so fun. It's number one. It's simply stunning.

I thought you already read it anyway because you told me I should definitely read it ASAP or are we confusing "it" with IT again?

I thought you already read it anyway because you told me I should definitely read it ASAP or are we confusing "it" with IT again?


Hi, Dustin Crazy!

Is IT possible that you have me confused with someone else?

Dustin wrote: "Is IT possible that you have me confused with someone else?"


I haven't confused YOU with anyone else - I have confused the two books of Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz and IT by Stephen King. I think the confusion all started in Post #19 of this thread - you can read the posts from that point and understand what happened, and it's quite funny :-) basically I posted that LIFE EXPECTANCY was the group read and the next post you said I should read it. I thought you were referring to LIFE EXPECTANCY but you were referring to the previous post regarding IT by Stephen King.

Okay so this is how it really is:

I have read Life Expectancy but not IT
You have read IT but not Life Expectancy
Both books feature clowns as main characters
I want to read IT
You should read Life Expectancy.

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "I haven't confused YOU with anyone else - I have confused the two books of Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz and IT by Stephen King...."

I have to say, this has all been very amusing, like a comedy routine. :-D I guess you both have your pronouns figured out now. :-)

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Dustin wrote: "Is IT possible that you have me confused with someone else?"


I haven't confused YOU with anyone else - I have confused the two books of Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz and IT by Ste..."


Now that we've gotten that figured out!
Thank you, DC.:)

Dustin wrote: "Hi, everyone!:)

I mean no disrespect or anything to anyone, but I simply must ask, is Life Expectancy really a great read?"

Dustin - I have read this before and I am going to read it again for this group read. It is quite humorous in the way only Koontz can produce.

Okay, thank you, Tracy.

Yeah, I've been curious about it lately, Tracy.. I'm not sure if I'll ever read it, though..

Just finished it, Life Expectancy that is and I have to agree with Dustin Crazy. It is one of my favorites as well. I love the dialect between Jimmy and Lorrie Tock, it is typical in a DK novel, but htey just mesh so well.

While a bit predictable, and a bit cheesy at times....Life Expectancy is just an all around good read. Loved It!

Oh, thank you, Jen!

I thought Life Expectancy was a good read. One of the few by Koontz I liked enough to buy.

Question, if it's the August read why are so many reading it already? did I miss something? lol, I mean it wouldn't be the first time.

No Nora, you didn't miss anything. We just got a little ahead of ourselves, or at least I did. Sorry.

Nora wrote: "Question, if it's the August read why are so many reading it already? did I miss something? lol, I mean it wouldn't be the first time."

We just have some very ambitious (or excited) readers who are ahead of the game. I promise they won't get any bonus points for starting early. :-)

Well that's good to know. :)

Tracy wrote: "No Nora, you didn't miss anything. We just got a little ahead of ourselves, or at least I did. Sorry."

Tracy- aren't you ALWAYS getting ahead of yourself, when it comes to reading!?!

Yes Dustin you know I do especially when it's DK.

Isn't that the truth!?!

I'd like to read this one right now but I promised to read ICEBOUND first. I guess I'll have to wait until August.

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "I'd like to read this one right now but I promised to read ICEBOUND first. I guess I'll have to wait until August."

DC - I thought you have already read Icebound as a group read. I picked this one up at the library. I guess since you guys are reading it now I will hop over and join in on the conversation.

ICEBOUND is currently featured as a Mini-Group Read - it's never been featured as a group read before. Maciek highly recommends it but I haven't been able to get into the book yet. Here's the link to the Icebound discussion thread:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Thanks DC

Borrowed Life Expectancy from a friend for the August book read, I'm looking forward to reading it and discussing it with the group, have not read it yet. I'm new to this group so cant wait to get started once im done whispers.