Picked Firestarter back up after a decade

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

The Walkin' Dude

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
47
267
30
Charlotte, NC
Still continuing my journey to read all of King, and I've just finished Firestarter. This is yet another one that I attempted to read back when I was much younger but couldn't get into. This book seems to get a lot of flak, but I quite enjoyed it. It's not one of my favorites, but I do like the fact that it's just full tilt science fiction as opposed to his usual work. Andy and Charlie are tremendous characters. Rainbird might be what I consider to be the creepiest character I've read so far. His obsession with Charlie is just very uncomfortable. This is definitely a story that will bother me forever unless I know what happened after the end. I need to know how it all turned out! I also wish we got to see more of The Shop, it seems like King kinda decided to just drop that idea from his work besides their brief mention in The Tommyknockers. I would be excited just to see them mentioned again honestly. I'd want to know what they'd think / do in events such as Under the Dome.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Still continuing my journey to read all of King, and I've just finished Firestarter. This is yet another one that I attempted to read back when I was much younger but couldn't get into. This book seems to get a lot of flak, but I quite enjoyed it. It's not one of my favorites, but I do like the fact that it's just full tilt science fiction as opposed to his usual work. Andy and Charlie are tremendous characters. Rainbird might be what I consider to be the creepiest character I've read so far. His obsession with Charlie is just very uncomfortable. This is definitely a story that will bother me forever unless I know what happened after the end. I need to know how it all turned out! I also wish we got to see more of The Shop, it seems like King kinda decided to just drop that idea from his work besides their brief mention in The Tommyknockers. I would be excited just to see them mentioned again honestly. I'd want to know what they'd think / do in events such as Under the Dome.
...Rainbird was a thinly guised pedophile...The Shop?, yeah-I've wished for another drop-in....
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
Savin Firestarter for late in life. Part of my King backlog. I mean, I've seen the movie, but that just makes me think of my life long love of Drew Barrymore. Hey, we're, like, the same age, don't give me that look.

Ah hell, I love ALL the Barrymores. Lionel is my favorite. George Bailey, you're worth more dead than alive...
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
To be honest I'd be happy if I never read another word about the shop. The whole sneaky, ruthless government/military agency who do what they want at all costs has worn so thin that even King's versions of them either bore or annoy me. It was the same thing with Kurtz in dreamcatcher, way too cliché.

Rainbird was one kings most chilling baddies because he wasn't a monster (in the normal sense) or demon, he was a cold man with no remorse, intent on seeing the fear in the eyes of a dying child.
 

Paddy C

All Hail The KING...
Sep 18, 2017
1,078
5,890
57
Drogheda, Ireland
This is one book I didn't enjoy as much as I hoped. I remember feeling that it read like a bad Dean Koontz novel. Its the only one I haven't re-read, so obviously I should do so.

I re-read it a while ago and, honestly, enjoyed it just as much as I did years ago. The fact that I had read it before any of Mr. King's other works may have coloured my perception but the fact is that Firestarter was where it all began for me...