Seriously?

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VultureLvr45

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
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13,707
Maryland
I had a choice between The Stand audio book or From A Buick 8. I chose the latter and sat in my car in the library parking lot wondering if I made the wrong choice. I almost went back into the library to get The Stand. "No, let me give this a couple of minutes and if it doesn't grab me, I'll run in the library and get The Stand." I said to myself. So I popped Buick 8 cd in and began to listen.

I stared at the CD player in disbelief and awe: it was perfect. The first lines were perfect:

Curt Wilcox's boy came around the barracks a lot the year after his father died, I mean a lot, but nobody ever told him get out the way or asked him what in hail he was doing there again.

Seriously? How can he make me care from the first sentence? And keep on caring with all succeeding sentences? Amazing. So simple but emotionally charged. I hope someday I can write enough and read enough to write sentences like this.
Genius doesn't begin to describe it...
 

Timothy A

Member
Apr 26, 2014
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This is another work of Mr. King's that I purchased upon release and haven't read for some reason or another. I guess I started to try to read more "serious fiction" such as Jonathan Franzen at that time. Not trying to make an author comparison, but I guess I felt Mr. King's works were like a new CD by a band that I loved that had put out 10 prior releases (not comparable at all to his output) and the new stuff didn't resonate with me as it had before. That ended after reading 11/22/63.
I just started Buick 8 and I think it is pretty good and I am starting to feel that connection with Mr. King again, as I did with finally reading Duma Key.
Hope that wasn't confusing!
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
This is another work of Mr. King's that I purchased upon release and haven't read for some reason or another. I guess I started to try to read more "serious fiction" such as Jonathan Franzen at that time. Not trying to make an author comparison, but I guess I felt Mr. King's works were like a new CD by a band that I loved that had put out 10 prior releases (not comparable at all to his output) and the new stuff didn't resonate with me as it had before. That ended after reading 11/22/63.
I just started Buick 8 and I think it is pretty good and I am starting to feel that connection with Mr. King again, as I did with finally reading Duma Key.
Hope that wasn't confusing!
I hope you like From a Buick 8 Timothy A! - I enjoyed it a lot but I also have a 'thing' about cops - I like them a lot :blush: :nerd: :smile-new:
 

Damocles

Member
Nov 8, 2014
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Tralee, Kerry, Ireland.
After many attempts I cant find the Sk groove in From a Buick 8! I was relatively young when it first published. Now I am old and I will try to get it once more. I remember wondering if Sk actually wrote From a Buick 8. Yes I found it that difficult to get to grips with and we all know that Sk works get read so quickly. Not having read the entire work I am in no position to pronounce judgement.
 
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Christine62

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
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Damocles,
The glory of from a Buick 8 (see my essay in the book section) is in its subtlety. I think the whole thing is a metaphor for "**** happens"--there are no easy answers. There is no horrible monster to conquer. There is just weird ass life that people have to grapple with and an old Buick too. I think it is genius how it ends, personally---if you try to read it like a straight horror story---it will fall flat but if you read it as a metaphor about life, it blooms with possibility!
 

Aija

Active Member
Nov 7, 2007
25
77
Norway
Damocles,
The glory of from a Buick 8 (see my essay in the book section) is in its subtlety. I think the whole thing is a metaphor for "**** happens"--there are no easy answers. There is no horrible monster to conquer. There is just weird ass life that people have to grapple with and an old Buick too. I think it is genius how it ends, personally---if you try to read it like a straight horror story---it will fall flat but if you read it as a metaphor about life, it blooms with possibility!

YES! THiS!
 

BrokenolMarine

Well-Known Member
Dec 13, 2016
128
587
65
Yup, I know what you mean. :) Be sure to read/listen to The Stand though!

Not to hijack, but I found this short little quiz on first lines... I got 90%.

The First Lines of Stephen King quiz: 10 questions by Michael T. Gennaro


I got 100% on the test, and I have to admit, some of that score is flat out luck. I know it's blasphemy, but I have yet to read the Gunslinger series. I have read the Talisman and The Black House... which touch on the series, and I have a couple of the books on my King shelves in my home library, just haven't started the series yet.