Stephen King

Holter Graham

Library Edition

Christine

Lize

If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being grown-up is about learning how to die.

Justin Staack

Colton Ray

This one felt like a letdown after the excellent Pet Sematary, which was written in the same year, 1983. King tries his damndest, but there's just nothing really scary about a car. It starts with an implausible premise I cannot take seriously. Perhaps he was trying to hearken back to good old B-movies. Perhaps it was intended to be corny, but I don't think so. King seems very sincere about trying to scare us with an automobile, but I'm just not buying it.

Add to this some seriously wonky characters and you've got a hot mess of a novel. Arnie is constantly described as a nerd and a dork, but he talks like a butch jock for the most part, even before his "change." When King wrote Carrie, she was a believable high school outcast with social problems. Here, he just seems content to labor the fact that Arnie has bad acne and constantly describe him as a nerd without actually making him talk or act as a real high school nerd would. It's just bad characterization. He's also a generally unlikeable jerk even before his "change," and his friendship with Dennis is the only thing in this novel more implausible than a haunted car that murders people. 

There are some good scenes in here, and the opening and ending are both particularly strong, but everything else here feels like King on cruise control (pun not intended.) Up until the ending, I was waffling on giving this a 2 star, but the ending was sufficiently tense and awesome to salvage it up to a 3. It's not the worst book to spend your time with, but there are so many amazing books in the King library that I'd save this one till later.

Daniel Spruill

3.5. A lesser coming-of-age novel than It, but there’s a lot of great stuff in this.

It goes a little off rails towards the end with the possession and Lebay of it all, but there’s a lot to be said with the themes of addiction/obsession and the idealization of the past and the unwillingness to accept how things will change around and within you whether or not you’re ready. It’s more clunky than some of his later works, but it reflects where King was at in his own journey.

The Christine kill-sequences are standouts, but there is such an interesting, chaotic energy in this book that really shines in the self reflection sections from Dennis and in part two with Arnie. Also, lots of queer-coded readings to be had in the relationship between Arnie and Dennis. Had a great time with this one.

Christine, blood-red, fat and finned, was twenty. Her promise lay all in her past. Greedy and big, she was Arnie’s obsession, a ’58 Plymouth Fury. Broken down but not finished. There was still power in her – a frightening power that leaked like sump oil, staining and corrupting. A malign power that corroded the mind and turned ownership into Possession.
--back cover

Laura Mauler

Alina

King’s love for American cars was a significant part of his early career. Christine reflects on that with themes of youth, maturation, cars, friendship, and terror!

Christine is not my favorite King novel. I would place this well below others like The Stand, The Shining, or The Dark Tower on my personal list. It’s still a pretty enjoyable King novel. Despite rocky patches, it was enough to put me on the King's path I’ve been on ever since.

I think the first issue I had was the length. The 700-page book normally doesn’t bother me, but for Christine, it was overwhelming. For me, there were too many chapters without enough substance. Initially, I was expecting graphic descriptions of twisted events that kept me awake at night. Although I hate saying this, I could not get into some of this book.

A few scenes made my skin crawl, and I flitted through the pages, getting that “Classic King” feeling. When that happens, it’s amazing. Things went quite a few pages later, and it left me hanging. In reality, a possessed car was not as scary as I thought.

Wynter

How does he do it? Take any weird concept - like I don't know, a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury?! - and I guarantee King will conjure a story that would convince you beyond all doubt that it's the scariest thing ever. Why? Because it's genuinely well-crafted with all the right ingredients: believable characters, human emotions, chilling atmosphere, and nail-biting suspense. If King didn't sell his soul to the devil for the brilliance that comes out of his dark mind, I don't have any other explanation for this phenomenon. Instant favourite.

Iris Wijshof

This is such an amazing book. My dad really wanted me to read it, so I did. It was soooo well written and soooo scary! I'm actually scared of old cars now😂 I loved this book. Just one tip: don't read it in de middle of the night, because I did and I regretted it

alina s

my impression of this dumb ass book :

as Dennis approached Christine da car, he was surprised to find that he felt hatred towards it. His best friend Arnie was in the driver’s seat and looked like he had aged about 20 years. he looked older than a teenager...

“Hey pimple face!” Dennis said to Arnie as he got closer. 
“Your face looks like my ass” Arnie stated back and the two broke out in hysterical laughter. 

Dennis looked at his friend again and couldn’t believe how different he now looked. He couldn’t help but think it was because of the car. But it COULDN’T BE. It’s just a car, Dennis thought. It’s not even a she! It’s an it. Unless ... no it couldn’t be that. But... what if?? No way though. Hm but perhaps??? 
 
Da end

Alecsia Dima

Pentru mine, horror-ul mereu a fost genul literar pe care îl admiram frumos de la distanță, fără să vreau neapărat să mă avânt în lumea asta. Cu toate acestea, de ceva vreme au început să îmi facă cu ochiul reeditările cărților lui Stephen King ( recunosc, în primul rând din cauza coperților, și mai apoi din cauza sinopsurilor) dar nu prea știam de unde să încep cu el, mai ales că are un repertoriu de peste 60 de cărți scrise.

Anul acesta, pe lista de goals-uri pe care le aveam se afla și King, că tot vorbește tot mapamondul de cărțile lui. Așa că, la recomandarea celor de la Nemira, eu am început cu Christine, un triunghi amoros nemaivăzut, o poveste a unei pasiuni bolnavicioase față de o mașină nu-foarte-prietenoasă.

Asta e povestea unui triunghi amoros, cred că așa i se spune. Protagoniștii lui sunt: Arnie Cunningham, Leigh Cabot și, bineînțeles, Christine. Dar vreau să înțelegi, cititorule, că prima a fost Christine. 

Christine este împărțită în trei, dintre care două părți fiind narate de către Dennis, singurul și cel mai bun prieten al lui Arnie și unul din personajele care iese cel mai mult în evidență datorită autenticității cu care este scris. Repertoriu de personaje din cartea asta par suspect de reale și cred că autorul a făcut o treabă genială în redarea vieții de adolescent, dar și a dinamicii dintre tineri – limbajul, gândirea, hormonii. Personajele pe care recunosc că le-am găsit fără prea multă esență au fost Leigh și mama lui Arnie, tipica femeie dominatoare cu care nimeni din poveste nu simpatizează. Poate lipsa asta de esență vine și din cauza faptului că povestea este redată din perspectiva unui adolescent. Cu toate acestea, Arnie, Dennis și Bătrânul LeBay au compensat, căci sunt create complex și cu substraturi.

Am fost foarte curioasă încă de dinainte să încep cartea de cum va manevra autorul conceptul de mașină, mai ales într-o lume în care mașinile sunt foarte fetișizate. Mașina nu este doar un mijloc de transport, ci se transformă într-un membru al familiei, o iubită, un impuls erotic. Pentru Arnie, Christine devine un stimul de a se îndepărta de oamenii pe care îi iubește, corupându-i încet sufletul și făcându-l să se îndrăgostească de ea. Cred că relația dintre Christine și Arnie a bătut detașat toate celelalte relații detaliate în carte – raportul dintre felul în care mintea lui Arnie începe să fie încet coruptă și trezirea la viață a mașinii, instinctul lui de a considera mașina o persoana, toate sunt capturate într-un mod mult mai complex decât m-aș fi așteptat. Cred că asta a fost partea care mie mi-a făcut pielea de găină – transformarea băiatului timid, cu care puteai foarte ușor să simpatizezi, într-un om violent, putred și perfid.

Trebuie să recunosc că unul din primele aspecte care m-a atras a fost ideea de mașină-ucigaș. Și, în principiu, cam asta am și găsit. Cu toate acestea, după ce pui cartea jos din mână, îți dai seama că nu este doar despre o mașină răzbunătoare, care se repară singură și îi strivește pe toți cei care îi greșesc lui Arnie (maybe she has some anger issues), ci este despre obsesie, despre o furie acumulată, ucigătoare, necontrolată, care poate să distrugă destine atunci când își pierde controlul. Iar abilitatea lui King de a impregna semnificații complexe unor teme ce pot părea banale — asta este aspectul care m-a captivat cel mai mult. 

🦋Găsiți întreaga mea părere aici: https://thelandwithbooks.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/recenzie-christine-de-stephen-king/. Cartea o găsiți pe site-ul celor de la editura Nemira, sau în librăriile și site-urile partenere. De asemenea, cei de la editură au și boxseturi King Classic super faine care poate vă fac cu ochiul!

Karla 

Neveen Badr

Ariel Himboi

A great Stephen King story about a guy to a best friend who gets possessed by a car. Typical King with his amazing storylines. I enjoyed this one mainly because of the three main characters, plus a shout-out to the family of the 'antagonist' of the novel who played a huge roll. I love when King brings out his characters, the voices he gives them that bring life into the novel, and the enraged, jealous wife of a vehicle that goes on murder rampages is a nice touch. 

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this one, liked the ending although a little predictable having a cliff-hanger that makes me wish King wrote another book but... I'll move on. I loved the non-heterosexual hints towards the two main characters being devoted to each other not just by friendship... but something everyone else sees too. Brilliant. We stan. 

I give King short reviews not only because of how high my expectations are, but also because I know that even if I didn't like a book of his based on plot or characters, I still recognize him as an amazing author who could publish six million books and I'd still try to reads them all.

I liked this story a lot and I'd definitely read it again. I recommend it to anyone who likes a little bit of mystery, family drama, love drama, thrilling murders from a possessed car and a best friend who tries to save a boy married to a red and white fury.

Stephen King’s ultimate evil vehicle of terror, Christine: the frightening story of a nerdy teenager who falls in love with his vintage Plymouth Fury. It’s love at first sight, but this car is no lady.

Evil is alive in Libertyville. It inhabits a custom-painted red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine and young Arnold Cunningham, who buys it.

Along with Arnold’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, Dennis Guilder attempts to find out the real truth behind Christine and finds more than he bargained for: from murder to suicide, there’s a peculiar feeling that surrounds Christine—she gets revenge on anyone standing in her path.

Can Dennis save Arnold from the wrath of Christine? This #1 national bestseller is “Vintage Stephen King…breathtaking…awesome. Carries such momentum the reader must force himself to slow down” (The New York Times Book Review).
source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Christine/Stephen-King/9781508216902

Ally Perkins

François Declercq

Andy Nicolaides

Paige Wanner

Stephen King's tale of a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury. Arnie buys an old Plymouth that has mystical powers to possess and destroy. She purrs like a kitten ... but watch out when she roars.

Victor Wilson

A. D. Knapp

George Penston

Christine was eating into his mind, burrowing into his unconscious. Christine, blood-red, fat, and finned, was twenty. Her promise lay all in her past. Greedy and big, she was Arnie's obsession, a '58 Plymouth Fury. Broken down but not finished. There was still power in her - a frightening power that leaked like sump oil, staining and corrupting. A malign power that corroded the mind and turned ownership into Possession.

Christine Library Edition

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