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Summary: Stephen King Writes a Gothic Novel?
Review: Okay, we're not looking at violence, gore, screaming fathers, crying rape victims, exploding aliens, and Crimson Kings here, but this book is somehow wonderful.It's about a man, Mike Noonan, who starts out telling a story of how his wife had died from some illness. It begins very sad. It's been years since her death, and he's been unsuccessfully living life. He is (or was) a writer who wrote Thrillers, but ever since the death of his wife, he has stopped doing his job and basically lived on what money he has acquired from his fame. Mike is a lonesome man who lacks even MALE companions, (because he wants to be alone. That is what he likes to think, anyway). Mike Noonan wanted to live alone so much, in fact, that when he ran across a woman, Mattie, who was having legal troubles trying to keep her late Ex-husband's Father from gaining custody over her daughter, Kyra, that Mike lends her a big wad of money so that maybe she can have a fighting chance in court. Why Mike does this, Stephen never explains entirely, but just gave excuses, "What else was he going to spend his money on?" But to me, it seemed Mike was trying to buy a female companion in a very unnoticeable, passive, and denied way. He ended up being tempted to love Mattie, but like most people who lost their husbands or wives to God's curse, Mike gets caught in this psychological situation, asking himself if he would be betraying his dead wife by loving Mattie, who is financially inferior....which somehow makes her a lesser being. Pretty deep story so far, but I only told the very beginning. An uncountable number of situations occur: one where Mike finds that his wife could have possibly had an AFFAIR without his knowing; another where Mike struggles to protect Mattie from her late husbands father that will do anything to win his case, to where the only way to stop him would be to cut his life; and another situation--the most interesting, in my opinion--where ghosts communicate to Mike, seeming to demand something from him because he's the only one in the town who is....different, unrelated, and most of all, too deeply involved. Even his dead wife takes part in the haunting, letting him know that it's not only Mattie's late husband's father who wants Kyra, but the dead of the town as well. The mystery is, "WHY does the town's previous inhabitants want Kyra so badly?" The answer could explain why the father of Mattie's late husband wants Kyra. Get the book. It is incredible, and complex. A GOTHIC story, without the Medieval Castle or Manor, set in today's dying world. The only reason why I rated it a 4, is because before I read Bag of Bones, I read Hearts in Atlantis, which was a better book. If I had read this one first, I may have given it a 5.
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Summary: KING RETAINS HIS CROWN
Review: THIS IS MY FIRST TIME BACK TO READING STEPHEN KING IN MANY YEARS. THIS IS A GHOST STORY AND NOT AS SCAREY AS SOME PEOPLE WOULD THINK.KING GOES INTO A LOT OF DETAIL AND BUILDS HIS GHOSTS AND MAIN CHARACTERS INTO PEOPLE YOU LOVE OR HATE. THERE IS A LOT OF GORE BUT AFTER READING HUNDREDS OF OTHER BOOKS BY BLOOD THIRSTY AUTHORS, THIS ONE IS RATHER MILD. NEVERTHE LESS HE KEEPS YOU IN SUSPENSE AND YOU ENJOY SEEING THE MEAN GUYS GET THEIR DUE. GRANDPA IS USING EVERY TRICK OF THE TRADE TO GET CUSTODYOF HIS 3 YEAR OLD GRANDDAUGHTER EVEN IF HE HAS TO KILL HER MOTHER.OLD TIMERS IN SMALL TIME MAINEWON'T HELP MIKE FIND OUT WHY HIS WIFE SECRETLY WENT TO THEIR COTTAGE. HE STARTS THINKING SHE WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR. WHEN SHE DROPS DEAD IN A PARKING LOT, HE HAS TO FIND OUT WHAT HER SECRET WAS. HE HAS TO MOVE INTO THE COTTAGE AND STARTS FINDING OUT IT IS HAUNTED. STRANGE "MESSAGES" HELP DIRECT HIM TO THE HISTORY OF THE SMALL TOWN WHERE THE OLD TIMERS WANT HIM OUT. BIT BY BIT HE UNCOVERS THE SECRETS OF THE GHOSTS AND RESIDENTS SO HE CAN PIECE TOGETHER THE WHOLE STORY THAT STARTED BACK IN THE 1800S AND ARE STILL AFFECTING THE DESCENDANTS TODAY. THE PLOT KEEPS YOU READING BECAUSE YOU CAN'T STAND NOT KNOWING.THERE ARE 732 PAGES TO GET THRU IN THE PAPERBACK ISSUE SO BE PREPARED TO SPEND SOME CHILLING HOURS.
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Summary: King has done it again!
Review: Stephen King has done it again. Not many authors can combine horror and romance and turn it into a great novel. But that is exactly what King has done with "Bag of Bones". This is a novel that faithful King readers will love. For those who have never appreciated King for his previous efforts, this is a book that will turn them into King-addicts.
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Summary: A nice surprise
Review: This is not the usual horror story from Stephen King but rather a charming, melancholy ghost story which held me captivated to the very end (which is a surprise to me because I usually hate the endings in Stephen King's books as for example Langoliers or Needful Things) Bag of Bones has less violence than some of King's other recent work, although when it occurs it is genuinely jolting. There is as well an almost overpowering sense of frustration and unfairness to some of the proceedings. This novel doesn't seem to have attracted the attention of some of King's better-known books, which is a shame because it's one of the better books by King. You can even read it if you usally don't like hus books.
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Summary: My first. By no means my last.
Review: In times gone by i have been put off reading Stephen King by the fact that he writes "horror" novels. But my friend read this book and reccomended it to me. I told him about the fact i don't generally like horror, and he assured me that i would like it, wether i like horror or not. He was right. This book is nothing short of a masterpiece. I find it hard to believe King could ever have surpassed this, yet i will now gleefully read through all his others novels to see whether this is in fact his best. If it not, the others must b brilliant! I do not ever find books scary. this one is no exception. Words never have the power to frighten me. A film can, but a book never. But although i didn't find it scary, it was certainly creepy! especially the last hundred pages. I have deicded that i definitely like Kingsd "write as you would speak it" style. The language he uses is quite simple, which makes the books really easy to read, even when the plot should deem it hard-going. As i have been now made aware, all of Kings books seem to have a writer in them, somewhere. This one is no exception, and the writer in this book is fascinating. King has drawn him...although not in great depth, certainly very well. He's a very likeable man, and you feel a great deal of sympathy for him when these horrible things begin to inexplicably happen. King unfolds his story skein by skein, right from the sepllbinding beginning. (...) The villains in this book are SO bad! i was astounded. how can anyone be so evil? you feel no sympathy at al for the villain, and i found myself smiling when he died. if this book were a movie, (as it is soon to be, i believe) the audience would probably have cheered. which brings me to the ending. the ending is haunting. literally. and it is brilliant. it is gory and horrific, yet you cannot tear your eyes from the page. but again, Stephen Kings rips your emotions apart. (...) this is a great book, a wonderful romance, which will no doubt draw out a tear from even the most hard-hearted reader. this book is a masterpiece, it twists, it turns, it leaves you emotionally drained and weak. (...)
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Summary: Not as scary as you might think
Review: This is a very different book written by the master of horror. He is writing for a new publisher and getting over a car accident that left him in pretty bad shape physically but he can still crank out a masterfull yarn. Mr. King has quite alot to say about emotion and loss in this riveting tale of loves lost and bonds created. There is still a few hauntings that take place, and some pretty creepy events that sneak up on you and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up but all in all it is a book about discovery, trust, and the curses that bind people to the past. I recommend that you buy this book on tape. Stephen King reads his own work and we all know no one can read something better than the person who wrote it. It is long but it lets you dive into the story while you still have the ability to do other things like clean the house or exercise. Mr. King really is a wonderfull companion.
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Summary: Avoid This at All Costs
Review: I've enjoyed some of King's stories -- The Stand, Shawshank, The Green Mile -- and been lukewarm about a few others. "Bag of Bones" was, in short, terrible. Most of the book is mind-numbingly boring. Most of what isn't boring is horrifically violent, as we get brutal detailed descriptions of murder, rape, child murder, and attempted murder by sociopathic bullies against anyone who makes the mistake in this book of being a decent human. The boredom and brutality destroy whatever romance King is trying to incorporate. As for horror, Saturday morning cartoons are scarier. Also, the writing is lame; there's nothing clever or sophisticated about his use of language. If you want to read some King, read or reread "The Stand." As for "Bag of Bones," bag it.
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Summary: A highly underrated masterpiece
Review: This book helped bring King back in my eyes. Not that he was down but after reading The Tommyknockers (see my review for that) I was a little more skeptical of his work. Although it started off slow, it turned into a creepy ghost story that only King is capable of giving. I was a bit upset near the end because keeping true to Kings style, it's not all roses and caviar for the characters the reader holds most dear. As with the trend of his past, the good guys don't always win hands down. There is a lot of suffering and turmoil that takes place in the process. This book is a page turner which will make you want to sleep with a light on.
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Summary: Takes forever to get off the ground - but worth it
Review: I've finally managed to finish Stephen King's "Bag of Bones," and I'm glad I did. This is my third attempt--I got the book when it first came out and started to read it, but got bogged down by protagonist Mike Noonan and his writer's block. The second time I tried to read it on a plane and managed to get as far as Mike's arrival at Sara Laughs before giving up. Well, third time's the charm, and in my case the third time was the audio version of the story. After listening through the parts I'd already read, I soon realized that I'd bailed out right before the story starts to pick up and things get really good. From that point on I was riveted, finding excuses to drive more so I could listen to the tapes. This isn't a typical King story--it's more like what I call "the literary King" than "the horror-novelist King." I make no secret of the fact that I prefer the latter, but "Bag of Bones" contains enough horror elements, ghosts, and dark small-town secrets (I love a good nasty mystery almost as much as I love a good horror novel) to keep fans of King's gore-drenched yarns happy. You just have to wait awhile to get to 'em, that's all. King reads the novel himself and occasionally his voice can get a bit annoying (I fixated for some reason on the wet little clicks he made around his "l's") but he does the Maine voices very well. The blues music was a very nice touch, giving us a hint of what the late Sara Tidwell and her Red Tops might have sounded like. The characters, as in all King stories, were top-notch and well developed. The little girl, Kyra, sometimes came across as too intelligent and "together" for a three-year-old, but I could ignore this to support the story. The villains were monstrous--I didn't think an eighty-five-year-old man could be that scary, but he managed! In short, "Bag of Bones" takes awhile (probably around 150 pages) to really get off the ground, but it's kind of like a good roller coaster: you have to wait through the slow, clacking ride to the top before you can really enjoy the gut-churning thrill once you get there.
Rating:
Summary: King Scores Darkly
Review: Bag of Bones is a classic ghost story made palpably better through King's clear prose and dedication to an intriguing story line. The evocative portrayal of the denizens of Dark Score Lake and the dark secret they bear effortlessly carries the reader through the gauze that separates this reality from other grim possibilities. In the words of old-timers, it's "a ripping good yarn".
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