Christine

Stephen King is a genius. CHRISTINE is a masterpiece. It is the most traumatic, shocking, horrific, frightening and yet unequivocally brilliant piece of fiction that I have ever read. It is a horror novel. It is a love story. It is a tragedy. That is a review in its own right, but I choose to continue. Because this is fun. The story goes like this: A young lad by the name of Arnie Cunningham is cruising the streets of his hometown with his pal Dennis ... When Arnie just happens to catch a glimpse of a vision of something that he never knew that he wanted. A 1958 Plymouth Fury sedan. The problem is, the car is a wreck, it is a rust bucket which shouldn't be on the road. And there is no way in hell that our Arnie can afford to fix it up. Dennis can see it for what it is but he cant make his pal Arnie see the wood for the trees. But Arnie buys it anyway. Because when Arnie looks at this particular Plymouth he doesn't see what everyone else sees. He sees a stud bucket on wheels. He sees success. He sees easy living. He sees everything he has ever wanted without ever realising he wanted it. In other words, the devil has come to Libertyville and he has set his sights on Arnold Cunningham as his first victim. Stephen King has always been a delight to read. In CHRISTINE, his writing is suspenseful, compelling and at times down right addictive. Given that the book was written back in the 1980s it still holds up remarkably well today. At times, CHRISTINE is shocking, but in a good way. You switch on the kindle (or open your book) and see an innocent and innocuous looking chapter introduction that (so my kindle tells me) will take me 15 minutes to read but once you read this chapter you are faced with the choice of re-reading it for the simple joy of it, or rushing straight on to the next chapter even though it is a work day and it is well past your bed time. Personally, i tend to re-read them. His "shocking" chapters are classic Stephen King gore fests, which are gruesome, highly enjoyable rides of absolute terror and completely unexpected. Hence the shock factor. They can also be quite moving and emotional once your heart beat and blood pressure drop back to normal levels. And also once you have regained your grip on reality and your own sanity. Reading CHRISTINE is like attending a master class in writing sophisticated horror fiction. As always with Mr King, his characterisation stands out like high powered fog lamps on a brand new 4WD motor vehicle. His plot is sufficiently complicated and complex that the book never seems long despite its 746 pages. I have already mentioned its gore factor, the shocks and the unremitting terror in the second half. And so to the ending. It is perfect. It is brilliant, shocking and yet, heartbreakingly sad. The perfect (horrific) ending to the perfect horror novel. Brilliant stuff. BFN, Greggorio.

I must confess I haven't read the novel itself yet, but for those who want to curate a decent King collection, this is the version of this novel to get. Well manufactured, with a sturdy spine, nice pages, and just the right size to hold and leaf through. Great retro/vintage cover design by designers who actually had a clue, unlike the majority of King's mass market paperback designers. I wish Scribner Vintage was in charge of *all* of King's classic reprintings.

This novel follows the story of a young man named Arnie Cunningham and his car, Christine. Along for the ride is his best friend Dennis and girlfriend Leigh. It seems that Christine is no ordinary car. This haunted automobile has a habit of killing people who have crossed Arnie and the spirit of the car's former owner slowly takes over control of Arnie himself. How his friends react to all of this is what forms the meat of the story. Regular readers of Stephen King will probably not be surprised to hear that the greatest strength of this book is its characters. Dennis narrates most of the tale and he is a very likable young man. Leigh is another good character and is very easy to root for. Arnie basically represents the tragic victim here. He was victimized by school bullies and his domineering mother before buying the car and then is placed in peril of losing his entire existence. The former owner of the car, Roland LeBay, also looms large and his sheer malice makes him compelling in his own right. The story moves along at a solid pace for the most part but does sag a bit in the middle. The book is less terrifying than it is creepy. The suspense keeps you tingling with interest but don't expect truly intense scares here. There is some light humor peppered in to help break the tension from time to time and it works fairly well. Probably the weakest part of the book is that the beginning of every chapter is marked with song lyrics that pertain to cars. They don't relate even loosely to the story so they appear to be there solely for the sake of nostalgia. The problem is that they are so old and/or obscure that I've never heard the vast majority of them so they end up serving no purpose at all. It's obvious that King put a lot of effort into digging these up but the effort was wasted on me and most readers under the age of 55 or 60 will probably have the same reaction. In summary, I enjoyed reading Christine. The characters are interesting, the suspense worked for me, and I definitely wanted to see what happened next. The book has flaws but they are pretty minor and did not detract in any major way from my enjoyment. This is not Stephen King's best novel but it is well worth reading.

Liked the movie but the book is 10x better

Non si può schematizzare un’opera così, che ancora a distanza di anni sa spaventare, destreggiandosi tra nuove forme di possessione e sapienti spennellate di gotico, tra il nostalgico (marchio di fabbrica dell’autore!) e momenti di quotidianità che mai nascondono l’orrore in fondo alle vite dei personaggi. Non cade neanche nell’effetto ‘sagomadicartone’ per quanto riguarda i ‘sacrificabili’ di turno (a parte un paio di eccezioni, ma vabbé). Un lavoro degno di essere riletto per esserne terrorizzati come la prima volta!

El libro bien es muy bonito pero me llego suelto en la caja sin plastico ni nada tiene marcas de haberse movido dentro de la caja ,devolucion no porque si va hacer asi de nuevo paso de hacerlo,ya me quejado directamente con devolución del dinero.

Watched this movie when it came out in the theaters and several times afterwards during my teen years. This book really completes some of the missing elements and would have been nice to see added in the movie (way more characters and twists in the book). Well written (it’s Steven King after all) and worth the read. You need however to set yourself in the late 70’s to fully appreciate the story.

Always a great read

A bit longer than I remembered but still a great book.