Gabrielle's Reviews > 1922

You’d think watching TV (which I confess I do a bit more than I’d like) would distract me from reading, but when I enjoy a show or movie adapted from a book, it usually just motivates me to read the original material even more. Case in point: “1922”. The Netflix algorithm is starting to understand how my twisted brain works and recommended the movie, so naturally, I got the novella despite not being the biggest King fan out there. I do love a good haunting story, especially when it’s narrated by someone who is clearly going insane.

"1922" is Wilfred James' confession, written in the hopes that unburdening his soul might redeem him. In the titular year of 1922, Wilf lived on a farm in Nebraska with his wife Arlette and their son Henry, and he was a content man, taking care of his land, not owning anyone anything. But Arlette gets sick of the farm life, and starts pushing her husband to sell so the family can relocate to Omaha, where she plans on opening a dress shop. When Wilf refuses to sell, Arlette tells him she'll divorce him and take Henry to the city with her. Under that kind of pressure, Wilf's darker side takes over and he begins to hatch a plot to get rid of Arlette, keep his son with him and keep living on his beloved farm. Of course, crime begets crime, and covering up a bad deed just means committing more and more bad deeds until it's all out of control. King mixes the worse of human nature with just enough supernatural spookiness to keep it balanced.

As horrible a man as Wilfred is, I kind of enjoyed being in his sick and twisted head: he's a red neck with a drawl, but he's very smart, manipulative and selfish. His descent into guilt-induced madness, and the way circumstances exact their punishment better than the law could was tragic and chilling.

King drew a lot of inspiration from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” here, obviously, but that’s OK: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Better than the movie? Sure. Though I think everything is better with a bit of Thomas Jane, who did an amazing job with this truly repugnant role, the novella gets into James' head and his descent into madness the way a movie simply can't. 3 and a half stars, rounded up.