Post by Bartwald on Apr 3, 2004 1:33:44 GMT -5
Stephen King[glow=red,2,300]From A Buick 8[/glow] ***
I'm a King fan and one that thinks that the man didn't write many truly bad books (only Hearts In Atlantis and Rose Madder stand out to me in a bad way), but his latest several novels were leaving me disappointed:
Dreamcatcher started with a kick but then got lost in the snow.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was good and not overlong but still wasted some of its potential suspense because of predictable plot devices.
Bag Of Bones, just like Dreamcatcher, had a very good beginning but when the unnatural forces invaded the book halfway through, it started to be much less engaging than before.
Sure, On Writing - which is also one of King's most recent books - belongs easily to the best stuff he wrote, but it ain't fiction.
What about Buick 8, then? Hmmm, I would say: good, but as dissapointing as all the books above; alright: better than Dreamcatcher, probably. Since it's a story of a guy reflecting back on his life, you get the familiar Green Mile structure; since it's about alien creatures popping out of an alien Buick, you get an extension of a minor Mrs Todd's Shorcut idea (where strange animals stuck in the car parts were the only reminder of the main character's travels into the unknown); the narrator of Buick 8 tells you about everything in a slow and simple manner (with some welcome traces of irony in it) which is a mirror of what his characters were usually doing since King started writing. The point is: I don't think Buick 8 is as original as some reviewers wanted it to be. It is different from King's early books because it doesn't use as much blood and violence, but if you consider other writing antics - it's typical Steve.
All this doesn't really mean the book's worth shit - it grabs your attention since the very start, and if you're patient enough to cope with the lazy narration (which has its charm, I must admit), you're probably going to have lots of fun with the book. King is still able to surprise and shock - even here, in one of his most peaceful stories.
I'm a King fan and one that thinks that the man didn't write many truly bad books (only Hearts In Atlantis and Rose Madder stand out to me in a bad way), but his latest several novels were leaving me disappointed:
Dreamcatcher started with a kick but then got lost in the snow.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was good and not overlong but still wasted some of its potential suspense because of predictable plot devices.
Bag Of Bones, just like Dreamcatcher, had a very good beginning but when the unnatural forces invaded the book halfway through, it started to be much less engaging than before.
Sure, On Writing - which is also one of King's most recent books - belongs easily to the best stuff he wrote, but it ain't fiction.
What about Buick 8, then? Hmmm, I would say: good, but as dissapointing as all the books above; alright: better than Dreamcatcher, probably. Since it's a story of a guy reflecting back on his life, you get the familiar Green Mile structure; since it's about alien creatures popping out of an alien Buick, you get an extension of a minor Mrs Todd's Shorcut idea (where strange animals stuck in the car parts were the only reminder of the main character's travels into the unknown); the narrator of Buick 8 tells you about everything in a slow and simple manner (with some welcome traces of irony in it) which is a mirror of what his characters were usually doing since King started writing. The point is: I don't think Buick 8 is as original as some reviewers wanted it to be. It is different from King's early books because it doesn't use as much blood and violence, but if you consider other writing antics - it's typical Steve.
All this doesn't really mean the book's worth shit - it grabs your attention since the very start, and if you're patient enough to cope with the lazy narration (which has its charm, I must admit), you're probably going to have lots of fun with the book. King is still able to surprise and shock - even here, in one of his most peaceful stories.
Just to say I enjoyed it but it's not one of my faves.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was ok,,but like you said, was fairly predictable.