Read & React to Stephen King's GRAMMA

[@agentofentertainment1361]

I think you need to add “Bad things happen to kids named George “.

[@babsywoman4212]

Georgie

[@MaggieOBrien-u1p]

Being named "George" or "Georgie" in a Steven King novel is like being named "Jeremy" in FNAF. You are just in for a bad time.

[@Lizardsbreathnails]

With all Grandma’s witch powers she at least could have helped with the dishes.

[@onesunnyday5699]

😂😂😂

[@darktower0603]

Sledding on Joe Cambers hill? It was Joe Cambers son Brett who happened to have a dog named Cujo! Edit: That language Gramma spoke was the same language that Taduz Lempke spoke in Thinner.

[@michikoclark8602]

Is Henrietta Dodd (the mum's girlhood friend) Frank 'the Castle rock Strangler' Dodd's mum? (The Dead Zone)?

[@darktower0603]

Sure was! I didn't catch that one.

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Holy crap! I didn't catch that either! Nice one :)

[@marshawargo7238]

Dude! That was so good, I tapped your Like👍button about 10 times! Too bad it doesn't Give you 10 points! But I Felt Better😂!!!!!!!!!!

[@hdervish2497]

I first read this story while i was sitting with my bed ridden great grandma. We were, of course, in my grandmas big creepy Victorian house with shelves full of Stephen King an other horror novels. I was scared stupid and called one of my cousins to come sit with me lol

[@stevenandcarminabeedle9089]

He said “Aunt Flo from Salt Lake City” and I got confused when the mom started having a conversation with her 😆

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

LOL

[@user-kz4ro9uq4q]

It seemed like the adults in the family know about this could happen, wonder why they didn't say anything or prevented it. A great story!

[@joshuacritchfield3564]

This story was adapted into an episode of the 1980s twilight zone series. Gramma Episode 18. Is the 1st story on the episode. It features the Barret Oliver who played Bastian in The Never Ending Story Movie.

[@michikoclark8602]

Yes, and again into a film called 'Mercy' with Chandler Riggs (Carl from The Walking Dead). Not seen it, but apparently it's bad. And not in a good way...

[@danieljohnson2005]

Ahhhh that’s where I know this story! I could’ve sworn I had already read this.

[@montecristo1845]

I REMEMBER!!! I’m so thrilled someone else does too! Scared the pants off me when I saw it. I wouldn’t have been able to articulate it back then, but I thought: How on God’s green earth is this allowed on network TV?!

[@ambds1975]

I was about 11 when I first read this. I was babysitting my three little cousins, and my aunt had given me permission to read anything in the living room bookshelf. It was mostly Stephen King, heh. That was a terror-filled year of babysitting.

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Yikes!

[@twindrill2852]

Damn, poor George. Even though Buddy was a major jerk towards him, the fact that the story only vaguely implies that the possessed George would be willing to do horrible things to his own brother when nobody would see is haunting.

[@TheSpanishInquisition87]

I don't see how anyone could possibly have read this and not remembered it. I remember exactly where I was when I read this. That was when "Skeleton Crew" was a new release, and that has been a while. I remember because it scared me. I'm talking Room 217 levels of fear. I had forgotten all about the "Spoon Torture of the Heathen Chinee."😂😂😂

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

I read it and didn't remember lol. Not that memorable even know imo.

[@AngieCee1]

Lol! I haven't read this in years but I do remember it! The Heathen Chinee lol. I love the short stories the most.

[@KnotyerbizKut]

Your gramma voice is stellar and off the chain and the bees knees all wrapped up in one. ❤

[@alicenolfi2095]

Honestly, in a story with a witchy grandmother, the OLDER BROTHER is the most evil person here XD Only Stephen King, folks!

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

LOL!

[@cherispencer3081]

Agreed!!!! And I’ll admit that I didn’t hate the idea of some retribution!!!

[@alicenolfi2095]

@@cherispencer3081 Indeed! I actually would've preferred it if the kid and Gramma actually agree to share the boy's body because they can both benefit from it: The kid can pay his brother back for his every cruelty, while Gramma gets to live another lifetime and re-experience youth. Everybody wins! Well, except the brother, but who cares XD

[@shadesofsoulproductions2924]

Thanks for telling the entire story in the 1st line of the first comment showing onscreen when I play this video. 😒

[@TheValleygirl1981]

​@@shadesofsoulproductions2924I know!! I HATE when that happens it's so irritating!!

[@marcyavila3436]

The artwork you have is vital to bringing the story to life....they are amazing. Where do you get them?

[@babsywoman4212]

AI I guess.

[@TrentRushton]

I now know that this is exactly like that Twilight Zone episode, the only difference I can think of is the grandmother had yellow snake eyes, and the ending scene Mom is hugging George he opens his eyes and they are the same

[@TrentRushton]

If Stephen King did not write that episode or give permission, then the show did plagarism

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Not to worry... I believe that episode was based on this story (and credit was given to King).

[@melissacross5525]

1, your Granny voice is spectacular! 2, your reactions have me guffawing 😭

[@treehouse318]

it has been so long since i'd read this one, it was nice to have it read to me! a good creepy story right at bedtime...😱☠️😱

[@ioanaberbece8137]

Whyyyyy isn't he leaving the house! 🥲😭😫 Also, from the ending I understood that the grandma died but the spirit/entity that possessed her because she used the books, ended up possessing Georgie.

[@ColdZombie_AI]

The first Stephen King Book Club video where I hesitated before pressing play. This story terrified me as a kid. Might need to take some breaks during this one 😱Grandma is in the same league as the sister in Pet Sematary

[@pamelacurl8342]

Me too , this is one very disturbing, scary story.

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

Over an hour!!! Heaven here I come!

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

LOL, I'm glad you're glad! I had no idea I would be making such a long video when I started this journey.

[@ingenuinetiptoe]

Makes me happy I had my kids too young. Even though I struggled, I get to enjoy being a Nan at 39 ❤

[@kristennelson3190]

Yes! I'm 42, and there is nothing I love more than being a Nana🥰. And, my grandson was born the day before my birthday (he the 22nd, I the 23rd), so I always said it was fate that he's my best buddy - I'm such a nerd😅.

[@Certain_Donkey]

I love these read and react videos! I've been listening to them while crafting and they are so entertaining. Please keep doing them!

[@EdieBird]

As a cook in a nursing home, I tend to really really hate how Stephen King writes non-protagonist elders. (however, "Insomnia"? Delightful and so very weird) I do get where the fear/revulsion of old people comes from. Unless you die young, it WILL happen to you. Maybe not to this extent, but at the very least, loss of senses, loss of faculties. The things you love to do become difficult, even impossible. The memories that make you who you are? Those slip away and become almost a fiction in your own memory. The people who love you come to visit and you think you've just met them and you cry for your child to come, who is standing right in front of you, thirty years older than you think she should be, older than you even think you are yourself. On a bad day, you scream "HONEY!" in a way that makes it an expletive, because you are in pain and you can't remember the nurses' names so they're all just "honey". There are still golden moments though. A picture of an old pickup reminds you of the time you went to a high school dance, wearing a pretty yellow dress with your petticoat pulled up extra high so your mother wouldn't know that you had on a RED petticoat instead of the white one she picked and you felt scandalous and even (whisper this) sexy! Or, a staff member at the home brings their extremely friendly Basset Hound to visit (this would be me LOL) and you remember your uncle's hound and how he loved to howl and chase rabbits in the field and for just a minute, you're ten years old and going fishing and finding the fattest bullfrog you've ever seen. This got way longer than I planned. Sorry about that. LOL

[@EdieBird]

In more story-related context, I do like the use of a child versus an old person. Two ends of the same yardstick. The child, in the act of becoming the person they will be, the old woman, un-becoming and fighting it tooth and nail. Gramma does not fight fair.

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

@EdieBird -- this might be the most beautifully written comment the Book Club has thus far received! Thank you for sharing this :)

[@marshawargo7238]

​@@EdieBird No apologies necessary! This was written Wonderfully!!!❤

[@katekenn156]

That was so beautiful ~ thank you from someone whose mom passed away from complications of dementia, after spending her final 2 years in a nursing home ❤️

[@snazzybean]

Thank you from someone who is on the threshold of old age, and finding that listening/reading to Stephen King's stories that he wrote when he was young are scaring me in a way they never have before.

[@fishjones4618]

I wished that clown pic in the living room would have been Tim Curry’s Pennywise.

[@Comfortdoll]

It does have a resemblance,

[@ryancoulter4797]

I remember ‘see anything green’ the most from the miniseries Golden Years

[@RogerLareau-qx2cy]

The first picture of the mother looks a lot like The Winchester brothers mom when she was young. I always considered Supernatural taking place in Stephen King's universe.

[@fullonsociopath]

Read this one when I was pre teen, and completely did not get the Ambrose Bierce/Lovecraft reference of Hastur. Still, this one stuck with me since then, and I still get chills reading or hearing George's demise. All that fear and terror, and he was absolutely right to feel that way. Chilling. Thanks for the read. Although it's outdated now, a good Kingo card slot would have been the mention of a party line style of telephones. It is pretty prevalent in earlier King works.

[@ArvelleWhitaker]

I remember this on the tv show monsters or outerlimits

[@kristennelson3190]

Yup, the 1980's "Twilight Zone" series!

[@vonniedemers5683]

The movie "Mercy" with Chandler Riggs was based on "Gramma"

[@zenfriend3260]

Stop, not the Kingo 😂 I’m a new fan of Stephen King but that made me so happy

[@AngieCee1]

I haven't heard (read) this one in years!! You're a great narrator. Thank you for keeping these stories going ❤

[@diesel4125]

Love me a good Kingo on a Thursday morning. I’ve read it many years ago and then again just last summer, but I still I keep hoping the ending would change….oh, almost a spoiler alert there. 😅 Even if it’s awesome. So fun to hear your reactions since they often correspond with mine. Im the only King fan in my family so it’s good to be on the same page with You and the rest of the jolly crew.

[@tarahartshorne4439]

Who does the artwork for these videos? The visuals are fantastic

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

These images were generated with MidJourney A.I. (with a little bit of photoshopping from yours truly).

[@zitadoeza]

As a kid I loved reading horror books, I think I was around 10 when I finished everything remotely interesting in our town's local library. I figured my reading skills were advanced enough that I could start reading from the adult section so I got my hands on a Stephen King novel. I loved it. However a friend of my mom saw what I was reading and told mom about Stephen King's work and that it's not exactly kid friendly and might mess me up psychologically, prompting her to ban me from the adult section. After that I barely had anything left to read (this was 20 years ago in a small dutch town), so that kind of ended my reading hobby right there sadly enough. I sometimes wonder if i'd still be reading had my mom not figured out who Stephen King was.

[@susancearing3185]

My first Stephen King book was Firestarter in the 5th grade. I've read everything of his ever since and i'm 56.

[@jwsuicides8095]

Great reading and fun commentary. Thank you.

[@dfarr9585]

I saw this story on the 80’s twilight zone and it terrified me as when I was a kid I had a larger aunt that always wanted to give me hugs and I would run from her because I thought she wanted to switch places with me

[@JetSetFrett]

I think my favorite part is when the aunt makes it clear they know exactly what the books are and why the grandma is the way she is, such a cool revelation

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

That's a very cool moment!

[@rickreavis4104]

Always well done and i look forward to many more

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Thank you! We'll keep 'em coming!

[@aksprkl6594]

"Man you can't wake up dead, that shit would be redundant." "Unless, you a zombie."

[@andydavies5879]

Thanks! Read this myself recently, great story!

[@claudiamuckler-sievers300]

I enjoy your content so much. So well put together. This must be a ton of work. Thanks and greetings from germany ❤

[@onesunnyday5699]

I've made my own KINGO cards to play with different movies. Fun 😁

[@tracycraft2546]

I really hated when the hand grabbed his wrist! Creepy story!

[@lfirehorse7225]

19. Number of miles of tar road after 2 miles of bad road to get to it

[@Dumpsterfiregrace]

**Grabs my blanky and squshmellow for storytime** Woot! This was my first SK book, too. I think I was 11.

[@doriangrey9702]

Yay! Thank you. ❤

[@babsywoman4212]

I loved the Richard Bachman stories. Especially the marathon. Fairly unknown....

[@helpmeImpoor5314]

"Dank, dying guts"...powerful

[@pearcegreatesteverleftback03]

Willy the Weirdo must be related😎👍🏻

[@vincezetti7216]

any normal kid woulda went outside hours ago

[@AlmightyRawks]

I really enjoy your reading voice, and the bits in between where you address how you feel and what you expect are fun! And it was a very good story. One thing I wanted to mention. I think this work references The King in Yellow. Certainly there's enough yellow being mentioned when referring to Grandma. That story also concerns a written publication that's not allowed to be read (officially it's a play, people who read it go all loopy, maybe mad, at least there is great evil). It doesn't address her wish for children. However, one important clue is that The King in Yellow is the first published work where the name Hastur is mentioned. Of course, Lovecraft has used the name too, and it appears in other media since. But the combination of the forbidden publication that got Grandma kicked out, the frequent mentions of yellow, the strange words, well it leads me to think there's some reference or hommage there. I wonder what you think about this?

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

I love these interpretations! And it looks like I need to do more research on The King in Yellow.... sounds like you're onto something :)

[@AlmightyRawks]

@@stephenkingbookclub1054 I'd be interested to hear your interpretation of The King in Yellow, what you think about its relationship to Lovecraft's writing, and if you think there's any subtle reference to it in Gramma.

[@pondponder]

Oh how King hates his characters. Love it! Great production!!!

[@michaelpatopie8680]

Love it! I read this story once or twice a long time ago.

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

36:00 how she made those babies? 😮😳😨

[@susanjohnson5824]

Can't wait until he/she gets revenge on Buddy I wish it was continued

[@marshawargo7238]

Might be! You just have to look for it as a subtopic in another story!

[@MrJaycrow30]

This is King's best short story imo! The Twilight Zone did an awesome adaptation of this short, chills me to this day lol!

[@daniellewillis2767]

I think the family was saying without saying that nobody would question the judicious application of a pillow or over administration of medicine as long as Gramma was given at least 8 months to die naturally...too bad everyone is too scared for the Old Yeller solution..

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

12:44- Frank Dodd’s mother

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Yep -- and unfortunately i didn't notice it until a wise book club member pointed it out. I missed out on a Kingo Square!

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

@@stephenkingbookclub1054 You do a really good job; i want to read King stories like this too.

[@khher1979]

This was the mother and aunts/uncles fault. They knew the dangers but they didnt prep the kids...especially the mother, who should've known better than leave him alone with the grandmother.

[@SingingSealRiana]

On the other hand, should she have just aband9ned the kid with the broken leg instead sparta style?

[@khher1979]

@@SingingSealRiana He's in the hospital, not in a ditch. I'm pretty sure he's going to be better off with the doctors than his brother with the grandmother.

[@OfficialSparklyPig]

9:50 - it was 19 miles to lewiston. Didnt check other comments for this but just in case! ♥

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

The spawn of the wind is my taken father. I reject the false Olympians. I reject the Hebrew Titan. I reject the gods of holy Celtica. And Germania. The Bantu spirits. They I reject. Be bountiful unto me lord Haster. I will bring you - who are my taken father. My devotion. And reeking offerings......

[@TrentRushton]

This is very similar to an episode of the new Twilight Zone series done in the late 80s, I do not remember the name of it. But I do remember how that episode freaked me out.

[@omarcuellar2349]

It's because that episode is based on this story, called "Gramma", staring Barret Oliver from the Neverending story. You can watch it on KZbin :)

[@Red-USA]

I just read this story a few weeks ago! Super creepy!!

[@marshawargo7238]

IDK if it's my imagination or you but sometimes, the way you pronounce some words or a group of words or phrase, you sound like Steven King❤!!! I love the Kingo & your observations & your humor & your voice😎‼️

[@joshuawiese8446]

I have a 94 year old grandma that lives by herself and is still so healthy and good in life and holy shit this shit scares me so much

[@sheiladavis7339]

Isn’t the movie mercy based on this. I know a tales from the darkside or 80’s twilight zone episode did this too.

[@armond120]

This story reminds me of an episode of the Twilight Zone remake back in the 90s

[@AncientPrecursor]

Ok, i have a theory just hear me out. When Uncle George and Ruth were talking and little George heard them, he mentioned that the day Franklin died that Gramma had hit or swiped at him too hard and that it had caused him to die. My theory is that when she did this, she may have known she was dying or would soon, when she swiped at her son she took Franklin's life force to lengthen her own life instead of swapping bodies like she did with little George.

[@Soulsfromthevoid]

Heh... Roar, roar, roar... No one understands you, she-bear. 🤣

[@catlover2223]

Honestly, what’s wrong with this mother, leaving her son with the creepy grandma?!

[@hw9066]

I applaud your channel and bringing these stories to everyone, could you upload a regular version. I hate the scary story interrupted every few lines for this ? Bingo? thing. I don't know why or really what it is. It stops the story cold and diverts you back to reality. I wanted a scare but this didn't happen as the story kept ending for you to keep speaking about someone or something? you call ?Bingo? Is this the spelling? Autocorrect suggested?

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Thanks for your questions... There are some channels that will post the audiobook story uninterrupted 9and of course, you can order the book Skeleton Crew on Audible and listen to a professional :). However, that can result in a copyright strike. That's why I began doing these discussion videos where we react / analyze (because I believe that follows "fair use" guidelines). These types of videos are probably more entertaining for those who have already read the story and want to hear how a new reader responds to them. The Kingo/Bingo is a game we play to see if Mr. Stephen King is incorporating some of his many storytelling tropes / styles that we often find in his other works. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I think if I just read the story by itself it would get removed from KZbin.

[@thecassandraeffectvsperilo6754]

For those on the YOUNGER side *-* *"Party Lines"* date back a couple of decades ago, *AND is when multiple households share ONLY ONE phone line, hence you can't make calls OR receive calls if another household is on the phone line* 🤓 My gosh that makes me feel old, that I actually lived through that, *something that would NEVER work today* 🤭

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

It must've been frustrating to have a party line!

[@thecassandraeffectvsperilo6754]

@@stephenkingbookclub1054 it was 😂

[@pamelacurl8342]

This story is so scary.

[@devonniewalker2675]

Scared the poop outta me. And unlike poor Georgie I would've left gramma right then.

[@jesusromanpadro3853]

Story time. 🍿🍷

[@So-Be-It_890]

GRAMMA

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

1:15:00 oh no... I have a 7 year old son...this is bad.

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

right???!

[@ronniejohnson1302]

Darkhold books maybe?

[@kaysingh9174]

This is very much like Hereditary

[@mztweety1374]

I thought it was a reference to The dark half

[@babsywoman4212]

What's with all the people on one phone line?

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Back in the olden days, that's how a lot of phone lines worked... especially in rural parts of the country :)

[@doclewis8927]

SUGGESTION: You really do not need the swiping noise for "turning the pages" or if you want to keep using it...please make it softer. The sudden, sharp "shhhheee" is painful. If you like using it, could you make it softer and as a background noise instead of loud in the foreground? Thanks!

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

Thanks for the tip... I'll soften it up. I do think we need some kinda transition sound, though. I was building the latest reaction and at first tried to make it without the transition sound -- but then it was difficult to tell when it's the text and when it's the commentary. :)

[@ackamack101]

Thank you so much. I love your channel. Could you do I Know What You Need? Pretty please?

[@glassandhoney]

Have to disagree at the end here- “Gory” is a Maine expression, used in place of “Lordy/Golly” so I’d give you the Maine accent square!

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

That's true! I didn't catch that!

[@glassandhoney]

both Judd and Dolores use it in their respective films!

[@captainlazereyes8851]

First

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

*hugs from gramma*

[@marshawargo7238]

Here's yer cookies 🥠 🍪

[@DaganRose]

So.... what haven't you read before? Give me options man

[@stephenkingbookclub1054]

I haven't read most of the stories coming out in his new collection: You Like It Darker... and I have yet to read FAIRY TAIL or the Gwendy books. I thought I had read all of Skeleton Crew when I was a kid... but I must've skipped a few, because I don't remember anything about "Uncle Otto's Truck," the Milkman stories, or "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet."

[@DaganRose]

@@stephenkingbookclub1054 I've read the first gwendy book and it's a doozy. Very twilight zone, but I haven't read the following sequels. Fairy tail is on my list of the #NB2R after I finish Holly. I really love your channel and I just wanted to say...."I'm your Number One Fan" 😈😃😇

[@LilFoxyCosplay]

​@stephenkingbookclub1054 highly recommend the gwendy books thouhh the first is the best Wasnt a huge fan of fairytale but it was still good!

[@datsweetsansabooty]

17

[@Wulfslove]

One of the only issues I have with Stephen King is that you can tell that he's fat-phobic. It's obvious in most of his stories. I think he's a very well-meaning guy, but he reveals a lot about his mental issues in his books. Not to mention that he's a little ableist. No one should be encouraged to be afraid of disabled or sick people.

[@Mjmjmj66]

To be fair there were way less fat people in the 70s and 80s. I was in high-school in the 80s and we only had a few overweight kids in school. It's a bigger issue nowadays.

[@tarahartshorne4439]

I don’t think he’s fat phobic he is just very good at describing the finite details of characters. Sometimes the everyday details become grotesque when you think about them using the same inner monologue style king writes his character descriptions. Anything can become horrific when described in detail

[@fishjones4618]

You can choose to read more safe, PC, woke tomes where inclusivity, equity, and diversity takes precedence over plot and characters.

[@Comfortdoll]

@@fishjones4618 Right, because there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things.

[@fishjones4618]

@@Comfortdoll When they are the focus, it’s absolutely wrong. It dehumanizes them and relegates them to a checkbox to be ticked. But if you want to or consume crap where the important thing is how much melanin is in a person’s skin, what is or isn’t hanging between their legs, or who they’re banging behind closed doors, go nuts. Pardon me for looking past superficial crap like that for deeper stories.

[@RhapsodeStories]

This wasn’t scary to me

[@SingingSealRiana]

So what?

[@efnfen]

the bingo bs is really disrupting the flow and pacing maybe interject your vapid takes in a less disruptive way

[@mandie492]

Or you can go listen to an audio book instead of being a rude jerk

[@SingingSealRiana]

Maybe just pay for an audiobook or read it youtself?! You go to a place to get cookies for free and them complain it is not pizza they gifted you

[@efnfen]

@SingingSealRiana these content creators aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts so don't tell me I need to be thankful for slop. They make money off of this hon Glaze someone who's worth it