March 8 - "The End of the Whole Mess"

Sundays with Uncle Stevie“The End of the Whole Mess”
by Stephen King
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993)

* * * * (Great) Science Fiction

Howard Fornoy feverishly types out the events that led up to the end of the world. This final manuscript follows the life of Howard’s younger brother, Bobby – a genius in search for a cure to the meanness of the human race.

I’m a sucker for stories from the edge of the end of the world. It is the hope that is often found in these darkest moments that interests me most in apocalyptic times (e.g. McCarthy’s The Road). However, there is no hope in this story, no happy ending, and yet I still enjoyed it. What I continue to discuss – and enjoy most – in King’s stories are the relationships unearthed between the characters. The Calmative, the end of the world, the bees and wasps, all of this is fine and good, but I was more engaged by the brothers in youth – one soaring, mad genius gliding over a park in D.C., while the other, older, shouts in fear and exasperation, and flashes upon images of tragedy. These true, human moments give the reader that empathetic connection that makes the end of the world – or hidden horror – seem all the more troubling, exciting, and ultimately satisfying.