Thinner by Stephen King

Image Googled since I'm too lazy to take a picture of my own copy

The review below is from my Goodreads review.. with tiny alterations. So here I'd like to say I'm giving it a 3.5 star instead of just 3 coz I really did enjoy the book =)

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The only reason this book is getting only a 3-star rating from me is because I've read most of my best books from the King so this is just in comparison to some of his other books.

Truth: I watched the movie first, though only snippets of it, but it was enough to make me interested enough to find the book.. which sadly took me, what, 7 years?!?

What would you do if you were suddenly losing weight after years of telling yourself you'd do so? I'd jump with joy at that (especially when it takes almost no effort at all) BUT only if I didn't keep thinking of a 100++ year-old gypsy who came up to me saying only one word, "Thinner"

So even from the start, there wasn't this fooling-myself sentiment, Billy Halleck was sure it was the gypsy's curse and as the king (no pun intended.. hmm, on second thought, I guess it was subconsciously on purpose) of imagination-you-sometimes-wish-you-didn't-have, you are then brought on a journey on Billy's mind..

All his fears every time he loses another 3 pounds actually brings a smile on your face when you think of how much of a jerk he actually is. Blaming his wife, blaming his friend - the judge, blaming everyone until finally he admits he does have fault, though now he had diminished it to almost nothing after putting everyone else to blame too. The only innocent victim of all this must be his daughter.

Though I have to admire his guts on taking time off work to go find the old gypsy and to plead his case. The young gypsy Gina was one of the strongest (impression-wise) characters, left quite an impression on me even if she only appeared in a few pages. Another character was Ginelli, a not-so-innocent victim who made the book even more interesting with his role in it once he was actively featured in the story. 

I was hating Billy even more towards the end when he had decided on how to take off the curse.. but the King had just another trick up his sleeve that made me feel like a horrible person when I realized I loved the actual ending of the book.

So bravo to the King.. who just made me lose another night's sleep for 'just one more chapter'. Please DON'T lose your imagination for us, eh..