Christine

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "I'm not adding this to my superlist because technically I didn't finish it. But I got to the literal halfway point before the sexism got too exhausting. It took me 10 hours, and that still counts as a book ******* it -- so I'll keep it on this list."

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "But no, this is SK at his worst tbh. There are some really excellent moments, and the POV character for part I is a cool tour guide for this world -- leaving him for part II was a big ask. Maybe I don't see where this is going, maybe it continues to sprinkle honest, sometimes critical looks at young American masculinity in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, the other 80% of the book is just unapologetic male gaze, and it's often just gross. "A different time." Sure. Not for 20 hours."

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "When I say at his worst, I mean it. His women tend to be either masturbation fantasies or monsters he calls Bitches. Toys or Bitches, take your pick: he'll often try to get away with it by "calling himself out," or coming up with a cute, in-universe reason to justify himself. In Cujo, it's often the situation: sure she's a "bitch," but look at her situation. Here, it's just "bitches." They're after your symbols of manhood or going through "changes of life.""

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "At his worst: Carrie's "changes of life" are told from intensely subjective narrative (the movies use this story, Carrie's perspective) but the rest comes at us in flashes from the future. We're in on the experience: her mother's a psycho and we have some fun spooky evidence to reveal about her as the story unfolds. Here, it's okay to belittle a woman for being a writer, going on about how dumb her stupid bad stories are. "Stupid psycho liberal bitch" he calls Arnie's mom."

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "But it's okay! this book just about cries. Before you get tRiGgErEd remember that you don't have to read her stories! SK tries this move frequently: say something terrible about a woman (or sometimes a gay man) then claim deniability. His narrators will say something about how maybe that's a little rough, or hey, she's not always like that! And hey, she just wants what's best for her son! Alright, then maybe we can tone down the other stuff? This is essentially the line Bag of Bones relies on."

jake_thompson_7669 shared a tip "I'll leave it at this: no amount of clever cute backpedaling will unprint nasty, hateful thoughts. But he's built himself an ironclad defense: he says, basically, in On Writing, it's not real, it's not me, it's a story, get over it. I mean... Alright? I have a lot of fun with the rest of it. It's kind of cool to watch this car take over a guy, it's fun to pull the pieces of story together in Carrie & Misery & even Dead Zone. But 20hrs requires a lot of work, to get through SK's gaze."

madison_peregoy shared a tip "At first I wrote off the concept of Christine as a little too far-fetched, even for King. A possessed car??? I was not sure I would find that scary. Safe to say, King never disappoints. Once you get through the beginning, you witness the slow possession of a teenager told through the eyes of his best friend. While slow at times, King spends this extra time really weaving in the details of madness and how pure anger can consume the soul."

taylor_anepete shared a tip "I am such a huge Stephen King fan I love all his books! One of my other two favorites is Doctor Sleep and Salem's Lot. Highly recommend!"