Take a photo of a barcode or cover
.png)
I am not sure how to rank this one. So take the star rating above with a grain of salt and forgive my stream of consciousness review below.
At the moment I am reading all of King’s books in chronological order and so I have just completed ‘Salems lot and the Shining. What strikes me most while reading this was that this book could be written by one of two of Kings Fictional Characters, that is either Ben Mears from ‘Salem’s Lot or Jack Torrance from the Shining. In fact, as this novella deals with the effect of childhood abuse on the child and the ensuing uncontrollable rage that emerges in the young man as a result of the abuse, it is most definitely a story Jack Torrance would have written.
Which begs the question was this a type of Novel that King wanted to write all along? He seems to have been thinking about writing it through author characters for a couple of years before the publication of this one. Therefore was Richard Bachman at this stage nothing more than another fictional character that King used to write a story he really wanted to be told? Interesting.
As I write this I think I will rate it four stars because I was intrigued by the ending (more of that below) but I have to say I feel it actually fell short of what King/Bachman was trying to achieve. I believe that this is meant to be a clever piece of literary fiction, talking about how life forms who we are as teenagers and giving some important comments on who actually is the bad and/or the good guy. Now Literary fiction is something I have only been reading for a couple of years (so I could be talking out of my arse here) but this is what I think King as Bachman was trying to achieve.
Unfortunately, the novella falls short of good literary fiction for me due to the unrealistic characterisations of the teenagers. I have read several novels that have done this in a truly believable manner. The most recent of which being [b:Allegedly|30037870|Allegedly|Tiffany D. Jackson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476974718s/30037870.jpg|50000013] by [a:Tiffany D. Jackson|15119254|Tiffany D. Jackson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1466121798p2/15119254.jpg] and [b:Far from the Tree|33830437|Far from the Tree|Robin Benway|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501680687s/33830437.jpg|54757933] by [a:Robin Benway|753097|Robin Benway|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359394916p2/753097.jpg]. In both books damaged sometimes very angry teenagers were drawn in a believable manner by their authors. In Rage King falls far short of this and has his teenagers acting and behaving almost like adults and well, I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief and believe in these kids. So the quality of the narrative. at least for me, was patchy at best.
However I am a big fan of the ending. So yes an extra star for it.
I am recommending this to anyone who has enjoyed the first part of [a:Yōko Ogawa|42775|Yōko Ogawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1236603936p2/42775.jpg]'s [b:Revenge|16032127|Revenge|Yōko Ogawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349818757s/16032127.jpg|6316882] and actually would recommend people read both novellas together.
Final note and comment. I realise Stephen King has withdrawn this book from publication after an incident when the book was found after a high school shooting. I am not sure whether I did the right thing in reading this if the author wanted it withdrawn? I am very glad I did as It is important part of the catalogue of one of my favourite authors. But is it morally right? I do not know.
At the moment I am reading all of King’s books in chronological order and so I have just completed ‘Salems lot and the Shining. What strikes me most while reading this was that this book could be written by one of two of Kings Fictional Characters, that is either Ben Mears from ‘Salem’s Lot or Jack Torrance from the Shining. In fact, as this novella deals with the effect of childhood abuse on the child and the ensuing uncontrollable rage that emerges in the young man as a result of the abuse, it is most definitely a story Jack Torrance would have written.
Which begs the question was this a type of Novel that King wanted to write all along? He seems to have been thinking about writing it through author characters for a couple of years before the publication of this one. Therefore was Richard Bachman at this stage nothing more than another fictional character that King used to write a story he really wanted to be told? Interesting.
As I write this I think I will rate it four stars because I was intrigued by the ending (more of that below) but I have to say I feel it actually fell short of what King/Bachman was trying to achieve. I believe that this is meant to be a clever piece of literary fiction, talking about how life forms who we are as teenagers and giving some important comments on who actually is the bad and/or the good guy. Now Literary fiction is something I have only been reading for a couple of years (so I could be talking out of my arse here) but this is what I think King as Bachman was trying to achieve.
Unfortunately, the novella falls short of good literary fiction for me due to the unrealistic characterisations of the teenagers. I have read several novels that have done this in a truly believable manner. The most recent of which being [b:Allegedly|30037870|Allegedly|Tiffany D. Jackson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476974718s/30037870.jpg|50000013] by [a:Tiffany D. Jackson|15119254|Tiffany D. Jackson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1466121798p2/15119254.jpg] and [b:Far from the Tree|33830437|Far from the Tree|Robin Benway|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501680687s/33830437.jpg|54757933] by [a:Robin Benway|753097|Robin Benway|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359394916p2/753097.jpg]. In both books damaged sometimes very angry teenagers were drawn in a believable manner by their authors. In Rage King falls far short of this and has his teenagers acting and behaving almost like adults and well, I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief and believe in these kids. So the quality of the narrative. at least for me, was patchy at best.
However I am a big fan of the ending
Spoiler
as it left me hanging, what exactly did the class do to Ted when the blinds were down? I am a fan of this kind of ending, where there an element open for interpretation.I am recommending this to anyone who has enjoyed the first part of [a:Yōko Ogawa|42775|Yōko Ogawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1236603936p2/42775.jpg]'s [b:Revenge|16032127|Revenge|Yōko Ogawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349818757s/16032127.jpg|6316882] and actually would recommend people read both novellas together.
Final note and comment. I realise Stephen King has withdrawn this book from publication after an incident when the book was found after a high school shooting. I am not sure whether I did the right thing in reading this if the author wanted it withdrawn? I am very glad I did as It is important part of the catalogue of one of my favourite authors. But is it morally right? I do not know.