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Summary: My Favorite Writer out of Gas
Review: Hard to resist all the car references "out of gas " "wreck". Hard to believe this is the same writer who wrote The Stand,The Shining,It and Salem's Lot. Where's the mystery, where's the horror -good lord where's the story ? Sorry Steve , guess it is time to retire -maybe a few years off ,will refresh your enormous talent . This is one of the most tedious books ,I ever finished [only finished because it was written by Stephen King].Is full of adjectives and page fillers ala Dean Koonce ,but is pretty dull stuff. Happy retirement Steve and thanks for the memories.
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Summary: Good Story But Goes Nowhere
Review: King has given us a new version of "Christine," a car with supernatural qualities. While he is an excellent story teller, King ends this one with a disappointing whimper rather than the "bang" it deserves.
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Summary: They're right; it's not Christine
Review: Christine was much better . . . It is a shame that authors sell based on who they are rather than what they write. If you or I wrote this book it wouldn't be given a glance; it would be tossed in the heap by every publisher lest they be sued for plagerism. Stephen King hasn't written anything innovative since Pet Semetary, unless you liked the Green Mile. In either event he has been writing by rote mentality in formulaic King prose for quite some time. But since it all walks off the shelf, why should he stretch himself? It becomes apparent that his earlier works were helped greatly by the editors he now rejects, because this book just ran on. Pages of descriptive narrative that revealed nothing. I've heard he is hanging it up soon, and that is good. Like all greats, talents wither when expended and he has obviously run out of new things to write. In this novel, he is not only knocking off himself, but he has "borrowed" many stereotypical, age old horror gimmicks. This tale wasn't original when it was on the Twilight Zone. Enjoy your retirement Stephen and bask in you past glories . . . I know your readers will . . .
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Summary: Strange Story
Review: I am an unabashed fan of Stephen King - so I bought this book as soon as it came out. In reading it, I found that King had come up with an interesting premise - a car - but not a car - maybe a portal to another universe might be more like it. King tells the story using flashback techniques - and you have to be really observant in reading to have even a wild guess at how this story ends. If you are not familiar with King's other books, this isn't the one to start your experience. Try reading "Christine" or "The Shining" first to see how King does things. All in all, I enjoyed the book - but it is not for new readers of King.
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Summary: From a Buick 8: A Novel
Review: Why does King (Dreamcatcher, 2001, etc.) write such gross stuff ("I have the heart of a small boy . . . and I keep it in a jar on my desk")? His latest is less gross-out than police procedural. A strange "man" in a black coat and hat pulls up to a nearly deserted gas station in rural western Pennsylvania in a weird Buick 8 Roadmaster and, while his tank is being filled, disappears behind the station. Troopers come and move the Buick to Shed B out behind their precinct house. Why? Because the car is only a poor simulation of a car: the battery's not hooked up, the dashboard is stage-dressing, and most of the car seems made of unknown materials. Then the vehicle starts to make local earthquakes and gives off a purple light that outlines the nails in the shed walls. All this began 20 years ago, and the troopers have watched the car go through otherworldly shifts: it gives birth to a big batlike thing; a sofa-sized fish; unfamiliar green beetles; a lilylike plant; and it has sucked one trooper into its trunk, teleporting him God knows where. Then a girl-battering tattooed kid gets sucked in. Lead investigator is Trooper Curtis Wilcox, who dissects the strange bat and finds egglike one-eyed baby bats inside. This year, Curtis Wilcox has been killed on the highway after hailing a tractor-trailer, and now his teenaged son Ned wants the lowdown on the station's cover-up about the Buick 8. The novel gives the history of the car-or would that it did. Instead of following it's fairly gripping premise, King stuffs his tale with endless police procedure and some of the most truly dull characters this side of a 1930s Soviet proletariat play. The writing's not bottom drawer, but this is truly a miscalculation after the emotional wonders of The Green Mile, Hearts in Atlantis and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Seven-tenths filler, three-tenths story.
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Summary: Bitter, yet sweet.
Review: As far as the story line goes, I don't think that this is near what he could do. It's a story of the past, gradually leading to the present, and it all came together nicely, the only thing is, it could have had a more exciting, thoughtful ending. The ending was suspenseful, of course. However, unlike the other King books I've read (25 give or take...and I didn't like hearts in Atlantis) the end didn't fill me with awe. There was no huge revelation, and the end was predictable. The writing of the story though...WHOAH! I mean common, this is gotta be some of the best he's done. The dialogue...the similes, the metaphores...It's so brilliant. It completely amazes me how good he is with words, especially in this one. Sometimes I have to put down the book for a few moments and just think for a few seconds on how he could come up with something so great. But to get to the point, if you like great writing, great dialogue, and awesome characterization, definately read this. But if you like super-suspense, incredible endings, and like to be wowed by the way things come together, I wouldn't read this (Actually I would read it just to read it, but thats me...I like both!) But I think it deserves a four. A job par excellence, Mr. King. Keep it up.
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Summary: Elvis, Lou Reed, Malcolm MacLaren & now Stephen King...
Review: If you saw 1996's Trainspotting, you may remember Sick Boy's diatribe about how "we all get older, we can't hack it anymore, and then we die." I'm afraid when it comes to Stephen King, I have to agree. I don't agree that his literary style has matured. ... This book is wretched. Long, slow and dull. It has no point, and none of the vaguely interesting tidbits in it (and they are only tidbits...nothing to sink your teeth into) are explained. Some have said, "So what, many things in life are not explained," but that's why I read books...to have a story told in full, not left hanging like in real life. When an author fails to satisfy his reader in this way, it's a mark of both laziness and, more so, a contempt for the reader. King's recent announcement that he's going to write only for himself and stop publishing altogether is vivid proof of the contempt he has for his fans. This is in evidence on every page of From a Buick 8. Skip it. If you're tempted, go back and read Christine instead, from a period in King's career before he was taken over by aliens from the Planet Banal.
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Summary: From A Buick 8 rocks!
Review: This is one of King's better works, I certainly liked it better than his last solo offering, "Dreamcatcher". If you've read any of the other reviews I won't waste your time with that, but I will say that it really is gripping especially toward the end. Like most ofKing's works, the characters need time to develop, but to be honest there isn't much to these guys. Now that's not to say that the characters aren't good, because I think there's definitely something about them, especiallyNed as he struggles with his father's untimely death thanks to a drunk driver. I am sure there are people out there who will say "ah, this is just another Christine"...but just 'cause it has a car, doesn't make it a Christine knockoff. It was an enjoyable experience and any constant reader will certainly enjoy this. It is shorter than his last few books which is certainly ok. You don't have to write a 700 page masterwork every single time to stay fresh. Give this one a try.
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Summary: King's Coda feels like a B-sides filler album
Review: The Mighty King goes out not with a bang, and definately not with a whimper either, but with FROM A BUICK 8, a rather dissapointing coda to his long, mostly engaging and occasionally brilliant career. This feels like a novella blown up to novel length: there is no storyline to speak of, instead, we are wintess to a series of flashbacks that conclude inconclusively (!), followed by a hasty present day wrap up that also leaves us hanging, although this is intentional. I'd recommend it to devout SK fans, but newbies should look elsewhere (anywhere but TOMMYKNOCKERS!) for entry into King's works. King's atmospheric novella THE MIST (from SKELETON CREW) is a superior tale of an inexplicable other-dimensional encounter. BUICK is a non-essential and lesser variation. I wish King had been able to pull out a showstopper for his final, non-DARK TOWER novel. Although BUICK is a slightly sad coda to a memorable career, it is, of course, always nice to pull up a chair and hear SK's voice.
Rating:
Summary: From A Buick 8
Review: If you want a creepy "page-turner", this book is not for you. If you want to immerse yourself in truly great writing, read it. I've read all of King's books, and the stories always seemed to overpower his talent to put down wonderful words and descriptions. He has gained his fame by being a great storyteller, but not as a great writer...a shame.
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