Product Description

A classic of the mighty King repertoire, and many people's favourite.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37041 in Books
• Published on: 1984-03-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

The Times
King can make the flesh creep half a world away'

Guardian
‘An incredibly gifted writer'

Mirror
‘As a storyteller King is unbeatable'

Customer Reviews

Average For King
As someone who has written around forty novels and over two hundred short stories, and most of them in the same genre, Stephen King can occasionally repeat himself, and here in "Christine" several motifs recur that pop up, and often to greater effect, elsewhere in his work. There's the car-ride with the corpse, as appears in "It". There's the notion of gestalt, as appears in "The Shining" and others. There's the thing/person which fills in about the horrifying background - often a scrapbook ("Misery", "The Shining"), sometimes a person (Mike Hanlon in "It") - and here done by George LeBay. There's the meaness of high school, as appears in "Carrie" and some of his short stories. As a man who has been a professional writer since his mid-twenties, it must be hard work for King to maintain enough knowledge of the world, and here it rather shows.

All the same, "Christine" is a fun, undemanding read. The plot is simple and ludicrous, but what gives it real edge is King's handling of it - he makes it a tale of teenage rebellion, and taps into parental fears of how kids can "turn" during the stormy years of adolesence. Often this is because of an influence - whether a friend, drugs, peer group pressure, etc - so here we have a car turning a boy from a highscool nerd to one driving (excuse the pun!) his parents and childhood friend up the wall. It's in a way similar to "The Exorcist" where the sweet young girl becomes something completely other - so here does Arnie. He becomes apparently possessed by the ghost of the former owner of the Plymough 58 - a silly concept, but King gives the man, Roland LeBay, sufficient meaness that you buy it, to some extent anyway.

The book is split into three sections, the first and last parts narrated by Arnie's childhood friend, Dennis. He is supposed to be something of a jock, into football (the American variety) and dating a cheerleader, and popular at school. But we never really hear of the cheerleader, we never meet any of Dennis' other friends, and his voice seems too literary - at one point he quotes (or King has him in quote in passing) Wilfred Owen. Not likely. All the same, Dennis does come across as a decent, likeable, fairly ntelligent young man. Similarly, Dennis' dad and sister are well drawn, as are Arnie's parents, the bossy Regina (queen, gettit?) and the weaker Michael.

As suggested above, this book seems to contain elements of the better King books. "Christine" may be no bad introduction to Stephen King, but far better books and stories are there to be savoured - "It", "Misery", "Carrie", "The Shining", many of the stories in "Night Shift", "Dolores Claibourne", and "Danse Macabre", his under-mentioned non-fiction book on the horror genre.

Teenage Kicks
Well i found this book to be so easy to identify with when i was 16. SK was writing to a younger audience and he scored completely. This book was as influential on my life at 16 as 'Stig of the Dump' and 'Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh' were far earlier.
Arnie was teenage turmoil incarnate beautifully observed.. the whole scenario was alive. From acne to virginity and bullying this book rocks! I am as surprised now as I was then that SK wrote such an insight! My life, without a Plymouth Fury! Well done Stephen King.

Different But Great
I must admit that when I picked up this book, I wasn't expecting to be greatly impressed. For a start I know nothing about cars and could only see this as being a bit of a struggle to get through. As it turned out, I found it difficult to put this book down, it was gripping and I found myself really thinking about the ending after I had finished it.

I would recommend this book as one that you really shouldn't pass over.