First of all, I must apologize for not doing this read-a-long by the book, so to speak. I know others had trouble staying caught up and I was the same. I guess it's not the best time of year for a read-a-long. Darn A&E for airing the mini-series in December, one of the busiest times of the year. But I digress....
As I mentioned, Bag of Bones is a reread for me and it is one of my favorite Stephen King books. Now I remember why it is a favorite. It is such an atmospheric ghost story, truly creepy to its depths. I like my horror subtle and that is exactly what this book is. It comes at you from the gut. The part where Mike is on the cellar steps and knows that there is a presence down there and the presence starts thumping the wall, it had me literally crawling in my skin! So, Bag of Bones is not blatantly scary or in your face with horrors, but it's a book that has you looking behind you to see what's there.
The chills aside, Bag of Bones is just a great story. The incorporation of a bitter custody battle with a back story about the bad doings of ancestral descendants makes for a very interesting read. Throw in a buried vein of racism and a secret crime (I'm not going into detail because I don't want to spoil it for others who have not read and those who are going to watch the mini-series) and you have the makings of a riveting story. I have really come to expect no less from King. Bag of Bones is truly one of his best novels, in my humble opinion.
I must thank A&E for airing an encore presentation of the movie at midnight, as I only just finished the book. So I leave you to go off and watch in an hour and a half or so and I can't wait! If you read along, or not, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, even if you finish at a later date. I will do a write up on the mini-series some time after I've watched.
I am recording the movie and will be forwarding the tape to Shalaena at Moirae (the fates).
If anyone else in the U.S. who was not able to watch it wants to watch it, she will forward the tape on to you. Just let me know.
The whole thing creeped the tar out of me! I'm nearly done with it though!
ReplyDeleteI did a horrible job during the read a long! I DID finish the book though and was really excited to start watching the movie. I know I can't express ALL my thoughts here, because I just have too many, but overall I was REALLY disappointed with how it all played out. I'm not a stickler, I know things are going to get changed from book to movie - but one thing I had the hardest time with was the lack of character development. Mattie and Kyra were barely in the movie. It was just really hard to connect. I did get a pretty good chuckle out of watching Pierce Brosnan fight a tree though ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Michelle. I agree about the subtle nature of his writing in this book. I have put my thoughts here:
ReplyDeletehttp://bookscraftsprettythings.blogspot.com/p/bag-of-bones-read-long-2011.html
There may be spoilers but I don't give away the ending.
I will have to wait now util it comes to Australia - I hope it comes onto free TV, as I don't subscribe - otherwise it's DVD for me :)