Bag of Bones
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Horror
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Horror
Book Type: Paperback
Helpful Score: 1
We all know that Stephen King can spin a fabulous, hair-raising horror story. However, when you look beyond the hype, beyond the blood, gore and juddering bones, many of his works show finely honed artistry.
Bag of Bones is, arguably, King's best work so far, although since the quality of his work is of such high literary caliber, this could be a questionable claim. In it, he combines such frightening images that, as one PBS reviewer wrote, "It scared me so much I couldn't read past the first few pages." (sic - I can't see the review while I am writing this one, so I cannot quote it correctly.)
King's characters are full bodied People, with families and histories and allergies. His houses have dust, the garden weeds, and you don't want to think about what might be underneath the surface of the lake. His villains, frightening enough as they are, are all the more horrific for the fact that it is very easy to identify with their very humanity.
One of King's greatest skills is that he DOES write fine literature for those who wish to seek it - there is amazing symbolism and philosophical discussion of what it means to be an artist/writer and the responsibilities incumbent upon the artist. Yet for those who just want to read a book so scary it will make them wet their pants, this book satisfies completely. He interweaves his artistry into the story so deftly that the reader is never pulled away from the world within the book - on the contrary, his world is so fully drawn, so complete, that it is easy to feel the hot sun on one's back, the warm wood of a deck beneath one's feet and the bone-chillingly frigid water in one of Maine's famously dark watered lakes.
I believe it goes without saying that this is a book one would not want to give to a child, no matter how precocious. There are some very disturbing images of child murder, some graphic sex and a very violent rape in the story.
So if you like to read Stephen King because he's stomping scary - you'll love it.
And if you are a bonehead intellectual who loves to seek the symbolism and resolution of the "anxiety of influence," you'll be astounded.
Bag of Bones is, arguably, King's best work so far, although since the quality of his work is of such high literary caliber, this could be a questionable claim. In it, he combines such frightening images that, as one PBS reviewer wrote, "It scared me so much I couldn't read past the first few pages." (sic - I can't see the review while I am writing this one, so I cannot quote it correctly.)
King's characters are full bodied People, with families and histories and allergies. His houses have dust, the garden weeds, and you don't want to think about what might be underneath the surface of the lake. His villains, frightening enough as they are, are all the more horrific for the fact that it is very easy to identify with their very humanity.
One of King's greatest skills is that he DOES write fine literature for those who wish to seek it - there is amazing symbolism and philosophical discussion of what it means to be an artist/writer and the responsibilities incumbent upon the artist. Yet for those who just want to read a book so scary it will make them wet their pants, this book satisfies completely. He interweaves his artistry into the story so deftly that the reader is never pulled away from the world within the book - on the contrary, his world is so fully drawn, so complete, that it is easy to feel the hot sun on one's back, the warm wood of a deck beneath one's feet and the bone-chillingly frigid water in one of Maine's famously dark watered lakes.
I believe it goes without saying that this is a book one would not want to give to a child, no matter how precocious. There are some very disturbing images of child murder, some graphic sex and a very violent rape in the story.
So if you like to read Stephen King because he's stomping scary - you'll love it.
And if you are a bonehead intellectual who loves to seek the symbolism and resolution of the "anxiety of influence," you'll be astounded.
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