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Loading... From a Buick 8 (original 2001; edition 2002)by Stephen King
Work detailsFrom a Buick 8 by Stephen King (2001)
None. Read in 2003 I think and I remember that I did not like it as much as I did his other books. I want to re read some of his books. Read them in English for the first time although I must say the Dutch translator of his work back in the days when I bought his books the minute they were in the shop, did a fantastic job. (  ) Marlene-NL | Apr 12, 2013 |  Looking at the reviews, this one didn't seem to go down that well. It's pretty different to most of Stephen King's other stuff -- very little actually happens beyond some old guys telling a story -- but I did like it. It's a story about stories, I think, how they don't really end, and I'm actually surprised that it got as much of an ending as it did. I was half-expecting the Buick to sit there for a couple more generations. It's interesting that, I think, I identified most with Ned and Ned's father, yet we never hear anything from their points of view. We can't hear anything from the father's point of view. I feel like I'd feel the same draw of curiosity. Ned's father was possibly the most vivid character of the lot: the others, who just tried to get on with their lives, don't have that much to define them, so they blur into each other. But Curtis is pretty vivid. I really liked From A Buick 8, anyway. It's not perhaps the most satisfying read in the world, but the idea is fascinating and the narrative just kept on ticking, pulling me on through the story. If you need a hard and fast end, though, if you need answers? Definitely not the book for you. ( ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 | One of King's 21st -century masterpieces. Flawlessly handles mutliple narrators and delivers a story of mesmerizing impact. (  ) srboone | Apr 3, 2013 | so i'm super-partial to stephen king and have pretty high expectations from him. this is not one of his better stories, until maybe the last quarter or thereabouts. don't be fooled about the car - it's nothing like christine (and not nearly as good, in my recollection), but this isn't just about a supernatural car, this is, like his better stories, about a lot more. it's about grief, for sure, but mostly it's really about giving up the ability to know everything, to control things based on your knowledge. it's accepting that you can't have the answers to everything, and being able to go on. (  ) elisa.saphier | Apr 2, 2013 | Slowest book I ever read, but sweet. ( ) cherilove | Aug 21, 2012 |
 Give this much to Stephen King: He doesn't sit on his laurels and rely on formulas. Yes, "From a Buick 8" is about an evil car, in a manner of speaking. And yes, King trod that ground years ago with "Christine," which was engaging if mediocre. But this latest novel is different in many ways — in topic, style and in the way King chooses to tell his story. Is From a Buick 8 Stephen King's last real novel? He insists as much, and -- bad sign -- his latest main character is a dissatisfied storyteller. A Pennsylvania state trooper fills a mournful teen in on the confounding history of a grinning, otherworldly Roadmaster that may or may not have offed the boy's father.  IT must get exhausting, inventing monstrous evils year in and year out, especially the sort of ancient, supernatural forces that start by insinuating themselves into the fabric of everyday life and grow to threaten everything sane and decent before being vanquished, against all odds, by a valiant band of unlikely heroes. You can see why Stephen King, who has done this many times, might get tired of it, might look around him at a world that certainly enjoys no shortage of terrors as it is, and write a book like ''From a Buick 8.'' Back in 1983, Stephen King tried to send a collective shiver through his audience with "Christine," a novel about a killer hot rod that could mow down unsuspecting pedestrians all by itself. Despite some effective scenes, that book proved to be one of his sillier offerings. Stephen King was driving from Florida to Maine in 1999 when nature called. He pulled off the highway, found a gas station and used the restroom. Then he walked behind the building and lost his footing, sliding down a slope and almost landing in a stream. That was when nature -- his nature -- called upon him to dream up ''From a Buick 8.''
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The book's intriguing plot revolves around the troopers of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D, who come into possession of what at first appears to be a vintage automobile. Closer inspection and experimentation conducted by the troopers reveal that this car's doors (and trunk) sometimes open to another dimension populated by gross-out creatures straight out of ... well, a Stephen King novel. As the plot progresses, the veteran troopers' tales of these visits from interdimensional nasties, and the occasional "lightquakes" put on by the car, are passed on to the son of a fallen comrade whose fascination with the car bordered on dangerous obsession.
Unlike earlier King works, there is no active threat here; no monster is stalking the heroes of the story, unless you count the characters' own curiosity. In past books, King has terrorized readers with vampires, werewolves, a killer clown, ghosts, and aliens, but this time around, the bogeyman is a more passive, cerebral threat, and one for which they don't make a ready-to-wear Halloween costume--man's fascination with and fear of the unknown. While some readers may find this tale less exciting than the horror master's earlier works, From a Buick 8 is a wonderful example of how much King's plotting skills and literary finesse have matured over his long career. And, most of all, it's a darn creepy book. --Benjamin Reese
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:31:46 -0500)
"The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew immediately that this one was...wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than dangerous - and that it would be better if John Q. Public never found out about it." "Curt's avid curiosity took the lead, and they investigated as best they could, as much as they dared. Over the years, the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still-life painting that breathes - inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of whatever world it came from.""In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his eighteen-year-old boy, Ned, starts coming by the barracks, mowing the lawn, washing windows, shoveling snow. Sandy Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it's the boy's way of holding onto his father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he looks in the window of Shed B and discovers the family secret. Like his father, Ned wants answers, and the secret begins to stir, not only in the minds and hearts of the veteran troopers who surround him, but in Shed B as well."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
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