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Mario the lone bookwolf's Reviews > Christine
Christine
by
by
Mario the lone bookwolf's review
bookshelves: king-stephen
Mar 21, 2018
bookshelves: king-stephen
Read 2 times. Last read March 16, 2023.
Wanna be taken on a final ride on the highway to hell?
(Big)Boys and their toys
An average King, focusing on the relationship between teenage boys and cars, something often fetishized and, with other hobbies, leading to lifelong obsessions and special interests of many males. Of course, because it are boys and later man, there is also something pathological, if not somewhat sexual, because males just can´t do something without mental issues or erections.
Coming of age with much horsepower
The teenage drama outsider setting (view spoiler)and the underlying question of why consumerism and status symbols won´t go out of fashion soon make it a King work in the line of novels he seemingly didn´t really invest that much finetuning in. That´s mostly the case if there is just one complex character vs a problem or the world with no metaplot and no fascinating, inner struggles. In contrast, his best novels have two or multiple character perspectives and sometimes even something like a premise and deeper meaning that must have suddenly appeared while he let the characters tell the story or, although he would never admit that because he likes to rant about planners, secretly plotted, planned, and storyboarded a bit.
Just if you´re into it
How enjoyable the novel can be is again highly subjective, just as Cujo might be a great read for dog enthusiasts, Christine is something for the car maniac feeling more than the usual pride about a fancy new vehicle, more driving the route towards developing unhealthy fixation and fetishism for a pile of metal. I am also not sure if this special group might not find it more appealing than horrifying what happens in this story. Not just the gore, but this intimate relationship, the human car fusion in the tradition of primitive, steampunk cyborg love that was maybe
Inspired by King being pretty high and drunk in the 80s
Cujo is one of his really bad works from that time, others are ingenious, and Christine is somewhere in the middle. It could have been accelerated with some storytelling nitro and finetuning, but King didn´t just produce en masse without care, his own fuel consumption immensely influenced the quality of his work. He freaking wrote Different Seasons, Pet Semetary, and It in this time period. What a freaking high titan of literature.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
(Big)Boys and their toys
An average King, focusing on the relationship between teenage boys and cars, something often fetishized and, with other hobbies, leading to lifelong obsessions and special interests of many males. Of course, because it are boys and later man, there is also something pathological, if not somewhat sexual, because males just can´t do something without mental issues or erections.
Coming of age with much horsepower
The teenage drama outsider setting (view spoiler)and the underlying question of why consumerism and status symbols won´t go out of fashion soon make it a King work in the line of novels he seemingly didn´t really invest that much finetuning in. That´s mostly the case if there is just one complex character vs a problem or the world with no metaplot and no fascinating, inner struggles. In contrast, his best novels have two or multiple character perspectives and sometimes even something like a premise and deeper meaning that must have suddenly appeared while he let the characters tell the story or, although he would never admit that because he likes to rant about planners, secretly plotted, planned, and storyboarded a bit.
Just if you´re into it
How enjoyable the novel can be is again highly subjective, just as Cujo might be a great read for dog enthusiasts, Christine is something for the car maniac feeling more than the usual pride about a fancy new vehicle, more driving the route towards developing unhealthy fixation and fetishism for a pile of metal. I am also not sure if this special group might not find it more appealing than horrifying what happens in this story. Not just the gore, but this intimate relationship, the human car fusion in the tradition of primitive, steampunk cyborg love that was maybe
Inspired by King being pretty high and drunk in the 80s
Cujo is one of his really bad works from that time, others are ingenious, and Christine is somewhere in the middle. It could have been accelerated with some storytelling nitro and finetuning, but King didn´t just produce en masse without care, his own fuel consumption immensely influenced the quality of his work. He freaking wrote Different Seasons, Pet Semetary, and It in this time period. What a freaking high titan of literature.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
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Christine.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
March 21, 2018
– Shelved
Started Reading
March 16, 2023
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Finished Reading
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Bon Tom
(new)
Oct 10, 2020 11:29AM
I think you got this story completely wrong. Dig slightly beneath the surface and you'll find archetypal love story. It's not about being obsessed with piece of machinery. It's more about mystique of sudden crash, or deep love towards anything or anybody. When you think about it, it happens exactly that way between humans. For no obvious reason, except for the magic combination of involved parties being there at the same place same time. Also, what was fancy about Christine when he fell in love with it/her? Because, the car was seemingly piece of trash when he bought it, yet he was still lured by it. Come to think about it, that sounds like a relationship dossier of at leas half the people I know. Christine proceeded to blossom and reveal its true colors for the sole reason of - being loved.
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Bon Tom wrote: "I think you got this story completely wrong. Dig slightly beneath the surface and you'll find archetypal love story. It's not about being obsessed with piece of machinery. It's more about mystique ..."That´s completely possible.
I wouldn´t have found this allegory in a century, but it makes pretty good sense.
Could of course also be that we both are wrong or right in some parts and King intended something even different or that there is absolutely no deeper, hidden meaning. That´s what makes subjective dissecting literature such a great fun.
"Because, the car was seemingly piece of trash when he bought it, yet he was still lured by it. Come to think about it, that sounds like a relationship dossier of at least half the people I know. "
That made me laugh freaking hard, the dry misanthropy floating through this statement made my day, and the metaphor for being blind, mad, and dangerous because of love would fit too.
It's hard not to vent some misanthropic tendencies when I see people fall victim to same delusions all the time, everywhere :) You're right about King, you never know what's in his head, if not for other reason than for the fact he's simply out of this world. Although, if I understand his creative process from his own writings about it, he doesn't plan or intend anything, actually. He just is, and does. That's why the magnificent shit he channels from the netherworld through his head has that perennial truth air to it, and sounds so archetypal to me. Like a dream that actually has some half-sense, for a change.
I read the book when it first came out, and it looks like it may soon be time for a re-read. I enjoyed your review as well as the give and take between you and Bon Tom. Good work!
Bon Tom wrote: "It's hard not to vent some misanthropic tendencies when I see people fall victim to same delusions all the time, everywhere :) You're right about King, you never know what's in his head, if not for...""Although, if I understand his creative process from his own writings about it, he doesn't plan or intend anything, actually."
That´s exactly what I forgot mentioning, although I use to drivel about it all the time, he can´t really plan to hide extra layers, because the characters write the thing.
He is simply a god, an entity, blessed with a secret wire to higher forms of reality tiny mortals like us can´t grasp.
Kat wrote: "I read the book when it first came out, and it looks like it may soon be time for a re-read. I enjoyed your review as well as the give and take between you and Bon Tom. Good work!"Thanks! Not sure about rereading, there are many of his works I would put first. Great to hear that we could entertain, he is body and brain, I just brain but at least something.
Another review by you I really enjoyed reading, Mario. But what made it really awesone was the exchange between you and Bon Tom. Thank you for this, guys. :)
Cynnamon wrote: "Another review by you I really enjoyed reading, Mario. But what made it really awesone was the exchange between you and Bon Tom. Thank you for this, guys. :)"Thanks for liking it!
I know, we are awesome.
