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Title: From A Buick 8 : A Novel by Stephen King, James Rebhorn, Bruce Davison, Becky Ann Baker, Peter Gerety, Fred Sanders, Stephen Tobolowsky ISBN: 0-7435-2096-3 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 10 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.26 (269 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Say it ain't so - King to retire J.D. Salinger style!
Comment: From a Buick 8 is reported to be King's last novel (other than the final 3 books in the Dark Tower series, scheduled to come out over the next few years), and King chooses an interesting topic to serve as an epilogue to his amazing career: curiosity - and the obsessions and fear that it can unleash.
King writes about the power the unkown can have over us and the best parts of "From a Buick 8" deal with the various reactions characters have to the mysterious events that fill the pages of this book.
This book starts out strong - the first 100 pages can be considered "vintage King". The middle act gets a little repetitive, but the conclusion plays out well (although some Constant Readers will be frustrated that all of the "loose ends" aren't tied up).
Wisely, King leaves things somewhat ambiguous at the end. I liked his approach - I think many readers will find that this story stays with you, leaving you curious at the end and still wanting more. This is intentional, and ties in well with the novel's themes. Fans of the gungslinger series, however, may get some of their questions answered as I suspect King's Buick (or maybe its creepy driver?) may find its way into Roland's tale.
Recently, King has commented that although Buick 8 and the Dark Tower finale are his last novels, he will continue to write...he just won't publish. I thought of this statement as I closed the final pages of "Buick 8" and wondered how many other Constant Readers would become curious, much like Curtis Wilcox, wanting to know why King is retiring or trying to imagine what books he may write, never to publish?
In conclusion, this is a solid King novel, not his best, but very good. I think King could have trimmed about 50-100 pages from the text and left us with one fewer "autopsy" or "light quake" scene - also, keep track of how many times characters puke in this book, definitely a King record.
Rating: 4
Summary: "8" is almost enough.
Comment: Long live the King. Stephen King, of course. Magazine and newspaper headlines have been trumpeting the news that King is calling it quits for the past month or so.
The uber-horrormeister has declared that after something like the next three television miniseries and the conclusion of his ultimate saga, "The Dark Tower" series, he's going to enter J.D. Salinger territory and write purely for himself, without the goal of publication.
He sounds pretty serious.
I'll believe it when I see it, however.
In the meantime, King's announcement certainly hasn't hurt sales of his latest book, "From a Buick 8."
"8" marks a return to form for King. With the exception of "Black House," his sequel to "The Talisman" co-written by Peter Straub, King has gone for the brains over the chill factor with the recent entries to his gallery.
But "8" sets us back on familiar turf.
It is the story of the band of state police officers at Troop D in Pennsylvania. Ned Wilcox, the son of a fallen comrade, begins hanging out at the station in order to preserve his own sanity in the aftermath of his father's death.
Soon, Ned uncovers a mysterious Buick 8 in one of the station sheds that has haunted the troopers over the past few decades. Much like King's other story about an evil car, "Christine," (it is this apparent recycling of tales that has driven King to his declaration of retirement, although this is premature; the stories are not that similar) there's something wrong with the vehicle.
Years ago, Ned's father Curt and partner Ennis Rafferty answered a call from a gas station about an apparent suicide, in which a mysterious traveler vanished without a trace and left the Buick behind.
They feel uneasy about it, but bring it in and let it sit. Soon, Ennis is gone without a trace, and Curt borders on the point of obsession with the car.
This story is told to Ned from the perspective of the veteran troopers who were there, especially the main narrator, Sergeant Commanding Sandy Dearborn.
Will Ned find Curt's obsession with the Buick 8 to be hereditary?
The storytelling narration works for the tale, as we sit enraptured as King spins his yarn.
But there are some quibbles to be had with the book, although certainly nothing to retire over. It's not a recycled plot; it feels like vintage King and is the equivalent of pulling on a familiar, fluffy gray sweatshirt or sliding in between some well-worn bed sheets.
But there is more to be spooked by and more of an element of danger in the story Sandy and his comrades tell Ned then there appears to be in the story wherein they exist.
The secrets of the past certainly feel like they are being built up to influence the contemporary figures, but there's no real payoff.
The ending is almost anticlimactic and peaceful compared to some of the stuff we see and hear come out of the trunk of the mystery car back in the good ol' days.
King's got a clever cast of characters here as well, from the gas station owner who we learn eventually claims Curt Wilcox's life, to beleaguered veteran Sandy and the beguiling communications officer Shirley Pasternak.
They have potential but lack the punch we think they should have in the end.
If it were up to me, I'd assign him to work on a couple more novels until he gets it right.
"8" is as if King is pushing a slightly stalled car steadily up a hill, and making progress the whole way, but in the end he doesn't quite have the extra oomph to put us on the other side, speeding toward home.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not King's Best Work
Comment: I listened to the unabridged audiobook version of this book and was not terribly impressed. But it did have enough sprinkling of classic King horror elements to keep me interested enough to finish the book.
Let's start with the negatives. To me, this novel felt a lot like a short story that had been drawn out with filler until it was long enough to be a novel. There were too many similar characters being developed, many of which were named and I could not be bothered to remember enough about their story to distinguish between anyone but the four or so main ones. Even when the lesser characters became the narrator of the story for a short while, to me they were still just one of a muddled group of not important State Troopers.
The biggest negative, in my mind, was with the main reader of this audiobook. His reading was extremely dry and ruined the story for me in several places. I think he may have been attempting to act, but to me the emphasis was unnaturally placed and sounded super-fake. I did enjoy the woman reader and most of the other male readers.
As for positives, the great thing about this book is that King did not fail to present us with what the majority of his readers really want: wierd and horrible things that we could not have imagined before. Also I liked the forshadowing of future wierd and horrible things that were going to happen later in the novel. This was all that kept me going through some of the duller plot areas, especially in the beginning. I was not going to stop listening then and miss out on this promised future wierd and horrible thing.
All in all it is worthwhile listening (or reading) this book for true King fans. Like the Buick 8, I think King is winding down these days. Faithful readers have to take what they can get, and I think the classic King horror elements of this book make it worth the time spent slogging through the slower parts at the beginning.
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Title: Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King ISBN: 0743457358 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 30 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5) by Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson ISBN: 1880418568 Publisher: Donald M. Grant/Scribner Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Desperation by Stephen King ISBN: 0451188462 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Black House by Stephen King, Peter Straub ISBN: 0345441036 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Regulators by Stephen King, Richard Bachman ISBN: 0451191013 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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