Oh dear, I think I just hit a problem (Rage by Bachman)

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Oct 17, 2013
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This is the only Bachman book i have yet to read. As it stands Roadwork holds the #1 spot with running man at a close second. As much as i love Regulators it just never felt like a bachman book to me. I think it's because of some of the minor supernatural elemants. It's been awhile since i read it but i swear there is a scene where the boy
levitates and floats across the room???

Amazing book....it just feels out of place with the other Bachman stuff.

Heck...i think i might start rage before mr mercedes hit's the shelf! =)
 

Kingfisher

Well-Known Member
Jan 1, 2015
55
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'Rude and offensive'.

That's a quandary. I never really found King's work to be, well, beholden to personal standards but his own or morals. They're stories, and if they touch upon the rude or offensive, that's life. Life may be a heavenly green garden, or a city river overrun with sewage and trash. The world is beautiful and ugly. Sweet or sour. So too, can a book be.
 

krwhiting

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2015
258
1,081
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I just started reading the Bachman Books, and I thought Rage was absolutely rubbish?

It was unpolished, rude, offensive and yet tense at the same time, and I have no idea what to make of it. It made me feel ashamed that I liked a writer who wrote such appalling stuff. It was as if he flung loads of moral garbage into a book and got it published.

My goodness..

I just finished it and largely, though not entirely, agree. It reminded me of the moral obtuseness of Salinger. The one thing I appreciate the most about King is his surprising moral clarity. I thought that was missing in this story. I thought the writing was good, not great. The story was not compelling. I doubt very much that kids would react the way described. But like so much in life, "eat the meat, spit out the bones."

Kelly
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
It helps to be a 17 year-old male when you first read it. It's all angst, hormones, alienation, rejection, hate, more hormones, more angst. I was around that age when I first read it, I totally identified with the character. High school can be hell sometimes, and this one taps into that vibe. Loved it then, still have affection for it.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
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Well . . . I won't speak to the voice of the story, you don't have to like the character if you don't want to, but what the voice says certainly resonates.

These stories -- one way or another -- all seem to be about being (or feeling) alone in a crowd; or trying not to be alone in a crowd; or not understanding whether you should be in the crowd or not; or if the crowd should exist at all; or if you exist at all.

Seems to me those are confusing questions for people (particularly Charlie and Ray Garraty) who aren't even old enough to know who they are yet.

Raw?

Yup!

And for good reason.