#54 – Christine

Plot

It’s love at first sight for high school student Arnie Cunningham when he and his best friend Dennis Guilder spot the dilapidated 1958 red-and-white Plymouth Fury for sale—dubbed “Christine” by its original cantankerous owner—rusting away on a front lawn of their suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood.

Dennis knows that Arnie’s never had much luck in the looks or popularity department, or really taken an interest in owning a car . . . but Christine quickly changes all that. Arnie suddenly has the newfound confidence to stick up for himself, going as far as dating the most beautiful girl at Libertyville High—transfer student Leigh Cabot—even as a mysteriously restored Christine systematically and terrifyingly consumes every aspect of Arnie’s life.

Review

Christine is a good book. It’s well-written, develops multiple characters in tidy fashion and tells a complete and action-packed story. On the surface, this has all the makeup of a Top 20 Stephen King novel. And it likely would have, had it not featured a demon-possessed car as its main antagonist. I just couldn’t get past that – especially when the “female” car starts to get jealous of real female humans.

The plot is well thought-out and is continually moving, which says a lot considering Christine checks in north of 700 pages. Christine held my attention throughout, has plenty of diverse characters and takes us back to the 1950s-60s with exceptional detail.

Maybe I have a problem with King and bringing life to everyday items (like trains and cars). Maybe I find it juvenile or maybe I just want my imagination stretched a bit further. Whatever the reason, it ultimately holds back otherwise solid novels like The Waste Lands and Christine.

Details

Pages: 721

Dates Read: June – July 2020

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

Best Part: Even demon-possessed cars have issues with septic tanker trucks.

Hint for #53: Haven, a five-season show on SyFy that debuted in 2010 was loosely based off this novel.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.