Definitely more of a rambling memoir than a writing manual. It's interesting to get an insight into Stephen King's childhood and general worldview, and some of the advice seems useful, even if it's nothing you won't find elsewhere. He does tend to belabour some points with over-the-top metaphors. He portrays himself as the low-brow populist that the critics hate, but ends up coming across as quite pretentious himself.

It is a light read, but even then I was really pushing myself through it by the end.