by Monnie

Created on: September 11, 2010

Just After Sunset is the fifth and most recent collection of short stories from horror writer Stephen King. King offers a total of thirteen stories ranging from the haunted, beautiful “The Things They Left Behind” to the more visceral and violent “The Gingerbread Girl”. This collections feels a little different than his previous compilation books such as Night Shift, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and Everything’s Eventual. There is an evolution in his writing. While no one can deny the power of some of his classic short stories like the eerie “Mangler” or more emotionally charged pieces like “The Last Rung on the Ladder”, there is a different, more complex feel to this most current batch of tales. Many feel his best work comes in novel form and he has certainly written some amazing books. Yet, overlooking King’s short story and novellas would be a huge mistake.

Unfortunately, Ayana is not a prime example of this.

The plot is a basic one, too basic. Ayana details one man’s account of witnessing a miracle and his involvement in other miracles over a period of time. The story begins when his father is on his deathbed due to pancreatic cancer. The man is with his family which includes his wife Ruth, brother Ralph and sister-n-law Trixie. Then suddenly a young African American girl is standing in the doorway of his father’s bedroom. She approaches his bedside, kisses him and amazingly his father is cured of his cancer. This is not the last time such miracles touch his life. This is pretty much all there is to the story. The story is a little lackluster as there is really no conflict or problem. It’s just a description of something out of the ordinary that happens to an ordinary man. Nothing major occurs because of this and at the end of the story the reader will find themselves wondering what the point of the story is.

As many other reviews have mentioned, Ayana is a lesser attempt at the territory explored beautifully in The Green Mile. The story itself is well written but King himself has already mined this concept more effectively. One might notice the connection between these stories where both prejudice and the idea of the African American culture as one of wisdom and healing are woven into the fabric of the literary tapestry. The Green Mile was significantly better because the main character experiences conflict and confusion around the situation. In Ayana, the protagonist is merrily pulled along amazed but overall okay with what is happening. This makes the story flat and uninteresting.

Few stories within this collection could be declared unworthy of your time but this one would be most deserving. The tale isn’t a terrible one but certainly not nearly as interesting as the other stories contained in Just After Sunset. The writing was well done but in the end the result just isn’t very memorable.

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