Bag of Bones

Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly Sad
Review: This story is about a man who is suffering from writer's block and an agonizing loss over the sudden death of his young wife. He moves to his summer cottage to tackle both issues and finds himself embroiled in the mystery, not only of his wife's death, but of the community and a young mother, fighting to keep custody of her three year-old daughter. As always, his depictions and descriptions of the places and events are exceptional. The ending is both satisfying and horrifying. Read it and judge for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not the best, but certainly good.
Review: This book is certainly worth taking the time to read. King keeps on showing us "constant readers" that he is by far the best literary genius of our time.

Rating:
Summary: Kings Best of Bones
Review: I think this book is Kings best. I like Bag of Bones because the book has so much life. When he writes about the death of Mattie you feel it. You just accept it you can feel it. Thats what makes an author great and a book live. King knows how to do that. Some books are exceptions, most books are artful and smart, Bag of Bones is a journey.

Rating:
Summary: Two for oh wo....w
Review: I ran down on this one about page 100. I am a King fan, so I tried, I really tried. Just couldn't keep my eyes open. I feel certain it gets better but I keep remembering John Cheever's comment when asked what books he liked to read: "Anything I can get past the first page of..." Well, I went many further, but I found this just too meandering, sleepy, and, frankly, a tad pretentious (re. the "book world").

For some reason, I kept hearing Rhett Butler saying "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Giggles. Lights out. Sorry, Steve. Maybe next lifetime.

Rating:
Summary: King's Best Book
Review: As far as "Stephen King books" go, this is the best. I think Hearts in Atlantis is a better novel, but this is the best of what to expect from Mr. King when he wants to be Mr. King. Pet Sematary is scarier, I admit, so is Desperation and The Shining, but this also is a moving book. It talks about loss, love, a man's thought process (which is vastly more complicated than you'd think), and modern ideas, conceptions, and attitudes towards various societal aspects. Pretty deep, huh? At the time, I promise you won't notice. At the same time, it's a ghost story, and a good one, with Stephen's usual mix of the right amount of everyday, normal situations and make-your-hair-stand-on-end fear. The ending is not what you'd call happy, even for Mr. King's normally tragic ends, and the next to last page contains a piece of information about the story, the narrator, and even Stephen King himself that made me think about it in wonder. I won't say of course, it's nothing big, but thought-provoking at least. For all this and everything I forgot or left out when I got sick of typing, but Bag of Bones.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful garbage
Review: I made it all the way to page 500 or so in this book. It then met the wall of my house. King allows you to hope for things that cannot come to fruition in this sad excuse for literature. He should stick to what he knows best, and give the readers what they want, not pull the rug out from under them in mid-story in the holy name of 'high literature'. This one is absolute rubbish. Well written, but with plot flaws uncharactaristic of what King usually delivers. Maybe getting writer's block would be a good thing for King...

Rating:
Summary: King needs some barer bones
Review: Although the thriller Bag of Bones was a page-turner, in the end I felt victimized by King's overindulgence. The well-drawn characters were likeable and heroic, but the plot became so dependent on psychic wanderings into surrealism, my suspension of disbelief was ultimately destroyed. I have not read a lot of Stephen King, but was totally impressed by Deloris Clayborn (the book; not the movie!). I found The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon another overlong exercise in silly horror, and after reading Bag of Bones I'm becoming a skeptic. Anyone who has the power to write books like Deloris Clayborn and The Green Mile or a story like The Shawshank Redemption should not stoop to the verbal wanderings of Bag of Bones. I kept wondering if anyone had the guts to tell King he needs a decent editor to make him pare down the excess flesh of his verbage. Bag of Bones was a disappointment; I'll recommend it to no one.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo, I can finally read Stephen King again!
Review: I fell in love with Stephen King novels after reading Salem's Lot back in high school. Unfortunately, his work started degrading due most likely to the volume being pumped out at the height of his career.

When this book came out, I read the reviews posted here and decide to take a chance. After all, it sounded like he was trying something new. I was not disappointed. This novel develops the characters very slowly, much like every other SK book I've loved. But after you learn about the characters and the way they think, the twisting roller coaster ride begins.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as a former die-hard SK fan. More importantly, I enjoyed this novel as a fan of a good thriller. I can't give it a 5 because those SK books are It, Salem's Lot, and The Stand for me.

Rating:
Summary: One of King's Best!
Review: I found this to be one of King's most charming novels. Rather than being a typical gory, slash 'em up, typical King novel it was poetic and told a true love story. I was amazed to hear such lovely prose from the same man who wrote Carrie! This book was up there with The Stand as one of his best.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best I've Read
Review: I am normally not a big King fan (I hated insomnia) but once I got into this book I really couldn't put it down. I am a very slow reader and this a very thick book and I read it in 3 days! It really was great. This book is King, Grisham and Steele all rolled into one!