|
Christine
by Stephen King
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Signet (1983-12-05)
ISBN: 0451128389
EAN: 9780451128386
Paperback
SKU: 528
Condition: Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Good. Very slight wear along spine.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
She purrs like a kitten...but watch out when she roars.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Enjoyable King, But Not one of His Best
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-10-17
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I first read CHRISTINE back in the mid-to-late 1980s, back when I was the
same age as the two teenaged protagonists. Now, twenty years later, I have re-read the novel, and currently find myself (gulp) closer in age to their middle aged parents. I still enjoyed the book, but not as much as I did when I was younger.
I'm still a big fan of Stephen King, and CHRISTINE was the first novel of his that I ever read. As a kid, I found the book loads of fun, largely due to the remarkably fine characterization. King does a great job depicting high school and family life in this book, in a way that is both emotionally compelling and authentic. Back in the 1980s, there weren't too many novels that succeeded at this, so I treasured this book during my teenage years.
Re-reading CHRISTINE as an adult, I'm not quite as impressed. The characterization is still first-rate, but King's unfortunate tendency to inflate his plots with unnecessary verbiage has become more apparent to me.
The storyline of this novel is ultimately quite simple, featuring a geeky teenager who is possessed by the spirit of an evil car. Will his friends be able to save him before he reaches the point of no return? This would have worked well as a novella (like THE MIST), but there's simply not enough plot here to support a 200,000 word novel. To be frank, much of this novel consists of filler -- dialogue and description and situations that do little to advance the plot. It's largely entertaining filler, but it does get tiresome in spots.
It doesn't help that the plotline of CHRISTINE is largely predictable. This is one of the novels where the reader knows exactly what's going on, and is several steps ahead of the characters. As a result, I didn't feel much suspense as I patiently waited for the protagonist to understand something that I had already figured out a couple hundred pages earlier.
In saying this, I don't mean to imply that CHRISTINE is bad, but only that its structural flaws make it less than great. It's an okay read, but not the best Stephen King novel to start with. My advice is to instead go with better-plotted efforts such as SALEMS LOT, THE SHINING, THE DEAD ZONE, THE STAND, MISERY, or THE GREEN MILE. I think you won't likely be disappointed with any of these titles, which represent the very best of King's work.
|
|
MY FAVE STEPHEN KING NOVEL
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-05-06
Christine is by far my faveorite of all stephen kings novels. The story of a posessed car and the teenager that loves her. I can relate to the character of roland lebay and his spirit of unending vengeance. This is not only a must read for all of us stephen king fans but i would highly recommend to non stephen king fans. Its just an incredible book all the way around.
|
|
Streeb's Class
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-29
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Christine
Stephan King
Arnie takes one look at Christine and falls in love. Christine isn't any girl, she is a car. Like with any new relationship Arnie spends all his time with Christine, rather than with Dennis, his best friend. The only thing that matters to Arnie is Christine. Then Arnie's enemies all mysteriously die all at once once. All the things that Arnie used to love now disgust him. He also lashes out at everyone he used to love for only small problems. Dennis is having nightmares about Christine. Arnie is changing, in a bad way.
I think that Christine is a very exciting read. The way King can make his dialogue believable really pulls me into the story. When you think about a possessed car you would probably think the story is dumb but King makes the story scary. I love the way King can draw you into the book. This book is a Stephan King masterpiece. Read this book if you love a good plot, a little bit of drama, suspense, good character descriptions, fantastic dialogue, and of course a good scare. It is amazing the way King can make a story about an evil car believable and scary, but at the same time funny.
By:
Tommy
S.
|
|
Wasted potential.
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-02-08
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have a lot to say about Stephen King's "Christine". Unfortunately, most of it is negative. Like many of King's books, I was drawn into the novel as soon as I opened it. Within the first 50 pages the reader is introduced to a handful of well developed, interesting characters, and an intriguing plot begins to build. It isn't until the last 150 pages or so that it starts to go downhill. And once it starts to go downhill, the story continues to suffer right up to the very last page. I can't say much more without ruining the book for those who haven't read it yet, so from here on in my review will be full of spoilers.
**SPOILERS**
I had some major gripes with this book, and I'm not even sure where to start. The most obvious problem was that be book was simply too wordy. This is one of King's trademarks and I knew this going in, so I guess it's kind of a moot point. Another thing that bothered me was the general format. I understand that it was supposed to be a memoir told from the first person perspective, but what about the middle of the book where it's told from the third person? It reveals things that Dennis couldn't possibly know and would leave a significant gap in his story if anyone were to read it. I guess that's why King told the second part of the novel from a third person perspective, but it makes the overall format inconsistent and prevents story from flowing naturally.
My biggest problem with this book was Christine. The novel's title is "Christine" and throughout the book the reader is led to believe that the car itself is evil. It isn't until toward the end of the novel that the reader finally figures out (and this point was never made entirely clear) that Christine isn't evil, nor is she even all that important. The driving force behind the car (and the true source of evil) is LeBay. So if Christine doesn't have a persona of her own, what's the point of giving it a name and a gender? If the car isn't even important, why is it the title of the book? It could have been an interesting plot twist of handled correctly, but the issue is never explicitly addressed. Left as it is, it misleads the reader and is ultimately self defeating.
When we first meet LeBay, he's a grumpy old war veteran with a taste for bigotry and a mouth as foul as a sewer. He sells his rusty old car to Arnie (who is inexplicably drawn to it) and he laughs evilly after making the transaction. So what would this lead the average horror fan to believe? It would seem logical that the car is possessed and had brought great misfortune to LeBay. When Arnie is suddenly drawn to the car it's because the car has chosen a new victim. LeBay realizes that he can finally be free of the cursed car and relinquishes it to its new victim. Stereotypical? Yes, but it works. Unfortunately this is not how the story plays out. And as a result, it leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions.
If the car wasn't possessed in and of itself, then what was it that made Arnie want it so badly? And what exactly went through LeBay's mind when he sold Arnie the car and began to laugh? "I'll die as soon as I sell this car only to be reincarnated in the form of ghost and possess the car in order to... um... I guess I'll figure it out when I get there..." Does this make any sense to you? If you think about it, this is what must have happened.
Setting aside the absurd concept of LeBay knowing that he would die and possess the car, what exactly was his motivation? Normally when we read books about evil characters who die only to continue their evil after death, it's for a specific purpose. In most cases it's because they have unfinished business (usually in the form of revenge that has yet to be issued). From what I can tell, LeBay just wanted to continue to be a jerk from beyond the grave. What kind of motivation is that? I'm not buying it.
Another thing that bothered me was Dennis's plan to get rid of Christine. After brainstorming with Leigh he has a brilliant revelation that is hidden from the reader until the very end of the book. And his incredible plan is to... beat the living crap out of it? I'm pretty sure he realized that every time Christine received a blow she was able to heal herself, so why would his plan be any different?
And then when Christine is compacted into a cube and Dennis has finally moved on, years later he discovers that one of the kids who helped mess up the car about half-way through the book is mysteriously killed... by a car. Now, Dennis makes a casual connection that it may be Christine, and points out the possibility that it could be after him and Leigh next, but not only does he not sound particularly concerned about it, he basically says that the story is over. It's clear as day to the reader that Christine had finally recovered and was, in fact, continuing her mission to kill everyone who crossed her. How could he not know that, and how could he not even care? If not for himself, he should at least have been afraid for Leigh (for whom he still had romantic feelings for despite the fact that she was married). And what does he do in response to this news? He ends the story. Seriously, what the Hell?
Yet another point to add to the list was the fact that Arnie died. Dennis nearly gets himself killed for one main goal: kill Christine in order to save Arnie. He successfully kills Christine (or so he thought at the time) and Arnie dies anyway! And what's worse is that it was never made quite clear how this even happened. Dennis hypothesized that when Christine was getting creamed, LeBay retreated back to Arnie's body... and then he and his mother died in a car accident. I guess I can kind of see it, but it desperately needs clarification.
And I just don't understand why Arnie had to die. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like it when main characters die in books, it's just that death should add depth to the story. In this case, it simply doesn't. To me it seems like it was only thrown in for shock value, while failing to add any real value to the book. I generally don't like happy endings in horror novels, but I felt like this story could have gotten away with it.
I could go on, but this review is too long as it is. In a nutshell, this book severely lacks something that most Stephen King books are overflowing with: Explanation. Reminiscent of King's "The Dark Half", "Christine" never really reveals the true origin of the evil force, nor does it even give enough clues to begin to form a larger picture. As a result, the leader is left scratching his or her head thinking, "What just happened?"
It's a real shame. This could have been an excellent story.
|
|
Character driven story.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-02-08
I've read a lot of Stephen King's books. In general he tends to have a lot of stories that are character driven. The major characters in this story have really great character development behind them. A reader will really get to know his major characters in this story. Stephen King really captured what and how a typical teenager thinks. It makes for a very rich love story and great supernatural thriller.
|
|
|