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Christine (Signet) by Stephen King
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Christine (Signet) (original 1983; edition 1983)

by Stephen King

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8,82990923 (3.56)172
A scarlet-and-white, 1958 Plymouth Fury -- salvaged over every rational dissent and objection, from decay -- possesses its new owner and brings hellish terror to him, his friends, and his classmates.
Member:cydonia51
Title:Christine (Signet)
Authors:Stephen King
Info:Signet (1983), Mass Market Paperback, 528 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

Christine by Stephen King (1983)

  1. 00
    From a Buick 8 by Stephen King (ElBarto)
    ElBarto: Eine andere Geschichte von King über ein gefährliches Auto.
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» See also 172 mentions

English (83)  French (2)  Italian (1)  Spanish (1)  Hungarian (1)  Finnish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (90)
Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
Great book. A fine example of what made Stephen King's early work great. ( )
  everettroberts | Oct 20, 2023 |
Arnie Cunningham is your classic loser: slightly built, grotesquely acned, chess player and, obedient son. What he has going for him is mechanical skills and a best friend, Dennis. Told from Dennis's point of view, this is the faux bildungsroman of Arnie when, one day, he spies a 20-year old beat-down Plymouth Fury for sale and manages to scrape together the money to buy it. But the car's previous owner might not be as willing to part with it after all-- even though the old man has passed away... The car seems to have a mind of its own and Arnie isn't quite himself. Set in 1979 in upstate Pennsylvania, King captures the zeitgeist and details of the time and place with deft touches. Arnie's anger, resentment and jealously bubble & simmer; Dennis's angst and sex drive propel him into acts of moral equivocation; And Christine (eponymous car) and Leigh Cabot (a girlfriend) compete in ying-yang fashion for attention and love. Dismiss King as a pulp writer if you will; but the simple prose is an exposition of psychological terror and freudian manifestations. ( )
  Tanya-dogearedcopy | Oct 19, 2023 |
Holy shit, what a ride. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
King’s love for American cars was a significant part of his early career. Christine reflects on that with themes of youth, maturation, cars, friendship, and terror!

Christine is not my favorite King novel. I would place this well below others like The Stand, The Shining, or The Dark Tower on my personal list. It’s still a pretty enjoyable King novel. Despite rocky patches, it was enough to put me on the King's path I’ve been on ever since.

I think the first issue I had was the length. The 700-page book normally doesn’t bother me, but for Christine, it was overwhelming. For me, there were too many chapters without enough substance. Initially, I was expecting graphic descriptions of twisted events that kept me awake at night. Although I hate saying this, I could not get into some of this book.

A few scenes made my skin crawl, and I flitted through the pages, getting that “Classic King” feeling. When that happens, it’s amazing. Things went quite a few pages later, and it left me hanging. In reality, a possessed car was not as scary as I thought. ( )
  onlyfiction | Jul 18, 2023 |
While King's ability to scare his readers is, of course, one of his greatest gifts, I am especially drawn to the way he takes utterly fantastic and incredulous stories and turns them into believable, human, and authentic horror stories. ( )
  keithlaf | Jun 12, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
A POSSESSED car? An insanely angry 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine that drives itself around attacking people? This time Stephen King has gone too far, I said to myself as I began to catch the drift of his eighth and latest horror novel, ''Christine.'' This time he's not going to get me the way he did in ''The Shining,'' ''The Stand,'' ''Cujo'' and his other maniacal stories. This time he's just going to leave me cold.
 
SEVERAL years ago Stephen King published ''Night Shift,'' a collection of short stories that had appeared in magazines before his debut as a novelist. Among them was ''Trucks,'' in which the products of Detroit's auto industry were anthropomorphized and portrayed as barbaric, homicidal and utterly antihuman. I recall the piece vividly, because Mr. King made those vehicles - all vehicles - live not only on the page but in my imagination. ''Trucks'' might also have been the inspiration for Mr. King's latest novel.
 

» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Stephen Kingprimary authorall editionscalculated
Baumann, BodoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chizmar, RichardAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dobner, TullioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Graham, HolterNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Isomursu, PenttiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Hey, lookie there!
Across the street!
There's a car made just for me,
To own that car would be a luxury. . .
Dedication
This is for George Romero and Chris Forrest Romero. And the Burg.
First words
This is the story of a lover's triangle, I suppose you'd say -- Arnie Cunningham, Leigh Cabot, and, of course, Christine.

(Prologue)
"Oh my God!" my friend Arnie Cunningham cried out suddenly.
Quotations
I think part of being a parent is trying to kill your kids.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (1)

A scarlet-and-white, 1958 Plymouth Fury -- salvaged over every rational dissent and objection, from decay -- possesses its new owner and brings hellish terror to him, his friends, and his classmates.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Christine is no lady, but 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham loves her enough to do anything to possess her. Arnie's best friend Dennis distrusts her at first sight. Arnie's teen-queen girlfriend Leigh fears her the moment she senses her power. Arnie's parents, teachers and enemies soon learn what happens when you cross her. Christine is no lady. She is Stephen King's ulitimate, blackly evil vehicle of horror... (0-451-12838-9)
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