****
From a Buick 8
Posted: August 19, 2002
From a Buick 8 tells the story of a Buick that isn’t from this world, left by a man in a black coat at a gas station in 1979. Pretty soon it’s apparent that there is something really strange about the car.
The Buick ends up in Shed B at the local Pennsylvania State Police headquarters. All the fellows in Troop D become really interested, but trooper Curt Wilcox gets obsessed.
What’s so strange about the car then? Well, for starters, it can’t get dirty. If you put a piece of dirt on its tires it will fall off within a few seconds. Its interior is fake and the car can’t be driven.
Troopers from Troop D tell the story, which mostly consists of narrations from Sandy, Eddie, Shirley, Huddie and the Swedish janitor, Arky Arkanian. Both they and Wilcox’s son, Curt, tell us what happened from the day the car was abandoned up until today.
After a while it becomes apparent that the Buick is some sort of gateway to another world that goes both ways. During the years it sits in the shed out at Troop D, several people go missing (who are taken by the Buick) and unidentifiable things get out from the Buick’s trunk.
Every time there is something or someone coming out of the trunk of the Buick it’s preceeded by purple lightning. At first all of the troopers are afraid that the lightning is something really dangerous, but it proves harmless…as long as you don’t enter the shed.
Curt, the one who takes charge when it comes to the Buick, puts two gerbils, Jimmy and Roslyn, in the car when it’s time for one of its lightning episodes. Only one of them returns.
In From a Buick 8, King tells the story in a rather slow and nice pace. He uses “NOW” and “THEN” to tell what time the chapters are set in. The mix of the present and the past is, as usual, greatly handled by King. One difference between From a Buick 8 and most other books by King is the conclusion. In From a Buick 8, we don’t get an explanation as to what the Buick is, where it came from, where its driver went or what will become of the Buick. It’s all up to us, the Constant Readers, to figure it out for ourselves, which is quite nice.
There aren’t many connections to King’s other works in From a Buick 8. The only one that I found is the mention of Inside View (the same magazine that appears in The Dead Zone and “The Night Flier”). Another connection is the mention of Cynthia Garris. In the book she is a waitress, but in reality she is the wife of Mick Garris, the same man who directed King’s The Shining and The Stand, to name a few.
It took King two years to finish From a Buick 8. King started it in 1999 and finished it in 2001. This wasn’t because King was writing slowly; it was because of the accident he was in. King had written a first draft before the accident, but felt that he needed to get more information about both Pennsylvania and the Troop. This wasn’t possible with his injuries though. If the accident hadn’t happened, we probably would have seen this one before Dreamcatcher (released in 2001).
Lilja’s final words about From a Buick 8
From a Buick 8 is a really good book. It’s an easy read and it’s a great story. Many people have raised the concern that it would be too much like Christine…let me tell you this: don’t worry. From a Buick 8 is nothing like Christine apart from the fact that they are both about cars.
This might be King’s last “normal” book (not counting the upcoming Dark Tower books)—he has hinted that it might be. From a Buick 8 is a great last book. It shows King’s ability to tell a really good story. Go get it now!
****
From a Buick 8 (audio)
Posted: October 20, 2002
I just finished the audio version of From a Buick 8 and I’m really happy I did! Some years ago I really didn’t like audiobooks very much. I thought that you had to read the book yourself to fully appreciate it. Was I wrong or was I wrong? When I listened to From a Buick 8 I had read the book about a month before, so I had it fresh in my mind. I could really compare the two versions and the impression I had of the story afterwards.
Even though I don’t think you should stop reading the book (that would be a mistake), I don’t think you should skip the audio either—especially not From a Buick 8. What is different with From a Buick 8, you might ask? Well, the biggest difference is the number of narrators. It doesn’t have one reader like most audiobooks have; it has no fewer than six.
When I first heard that six people would share the task of reading From a Buick 8, I thought it would be a difficult dramatization to make successful. There have been some good ones, but they are really hard to make work, especially with such a long book as From a Buick 8. Then, when I heard that it would be a “regular” audiobook but with different narrators for different characters, I was really eager to hear the finished result. I wasn’t disappointed.
All the readers do a great job, but my favorite is Becky Ann Baker as Shirley. You may remember Becky from Storm of the Century, where she plays Ursula Godsoe. She will also be reading “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” on the second audio collection from Everything’s Eventual, The Man in the Black Suit, so if you like her, we have a lot to look forward to.
Her interpretation of Shirley gives the character a depth that wasn’t there when I read the book myself. I especially like her comments on men. They are hilarious!
Another voice that is interesting is Stephen Tobolowsky as Arky. Unfortunately, the two Stephens (King and Tobolowsky) don’t know how a Swedish accent sounds. You see, Arky (who is often referred to as “That dumb Swede”) is supposed to be of Swedish descent and have a heavy Swedish accent. Now, I am Swedish and I have never heard anyone here speak English with such an accent. It could be that this is the accent a Swede gets after living in the U.S. for a long time, but I’m still skeptical. This, however, has nothing to do with the story itself and is probably only interesting to people in Sweden, but I felt I wanted to mention it here. After all, I am a Swede. There is one time when they get it right, though. At the end (I think it’s on disc eleven) he says “Jesus,” and that sounds exactly like Swedish!
Besides reading the role of Arky, Tobolowsky also reads Huddie’s part and does so very well. If you don’t know that, you won’t realize that it’s the same man reading both roles. He really does a great job!
The narrator of the story (who actually does a better job than Tobolowsky speaking Swedish) is James Rebhorn. He has one of the best-suited voices for reading audiobooks I have ever heard. It’s like he was born to do it. Unfortunately, it’s a bit frustrating in the beginning. [You see, Rebhorn is the narrator and in the beginning most of the things are told in Sandy’s perspective.] This makes it sound like it’s Rebhorn who is reading the role of Sandy. Then, when Bruce Davison comes along, who actually reads the part of Sandy, it becomes a bit confusing to know who is who. This all straightens out as the story moves along though.
The two last readers are Peter Gerety (Phil) and Fred Sanders (Eddie). They both do a great job reading their parts (but don’t really have that much read-time, which is sad). They both do a great job with what they have. But hey, what can they do? They can’t read more lines than King wrote for them, right?
Another thing I want to make you aware of is when Rebhorn (in the first half of the book) reads the part of Bibi. I really liked that. It was a great interpretation of the character and just as I imagined him when I read the book.
Lilja’s final words about From a Buick 8 (audio)
If you miss this audio you are making a big mistake! As I said in the beginning of this review, I wasn’t a big fan of audiobooks at first, but after hearing quite a few of King’s books on audio I have changed my mind. I might not have come as far as replacing the real book with the audio, but I do feel the audio is a really great complement to the book. From a Buick 8 is a really good example of what a good audiobook should be!
So, what are you waiting for? Run out and get the audio edition of From a Buick 8 now!
****
The Man in the B
lack Suit (audio)
Posted: November 17, 2002
The Man in the Black Suit - 4 Dark Tales is just as the title says—a collection of four dark tales. This audio completes the release of all of the stories in Everything’s Eventual. The other stories are available in Everything’s Eventual, Blood and Smoke, L.T.’s Theory of Pets and Riding the Bullet.
The stories that can be found on The Man in the Black Suit are “The Man in the Black Suit” (read by John Cullum), “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” (read by Peter Gerety), “The Death of Jack Hamilton” (read by Arliss Howard) and “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” (read by my favorite, Becky Ann Baker).
When I wrote the review for the book Everything’s Eventual, I said that “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” was one of the weaker stories in the book. The same goes here. Though it’s far from bad, “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” is this collection’s weakest story. Peter Gerety does a really good job portraying the suicidal Alfi, but the story itself is rather weak, if you ask me. Peter Gerety also reads one of the roles on the audio edition of From a Buick 8.
The same goes for my favorite audiobook reader, Becky Ann Baker. In From a Buick 8, she reads the role of Shirley. Here she reads the story “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” and she can’t go wrong. Not only is it a good story, but Becky Ann reads it with just the right empathy and feeling. It’s the collection’s best story!
The third story in this collection is “The Death of Jack Hamilton,” which is nicely read by Arliss Howard. This story is almost like a nonfiction piece. It deals with the death of Jack Hamilton (as the title says) and since no one really knows exactly how he died it’s certainly possible that it happened like King tells it here.
The last one is the collection’s title story, “The Man in the Black Suit.” It’s read by John Cullum, who really does a good job sounding like the devil. It’s certainly a hard role to portray with just your voice, but he does it really nicely.
Lilja’s final words about The Man in the Black Suit (audio)
If you like audio editions of King’s books (or of any books for that matter) you should get this one. If you don’t like audiobooks: give it a try! You might find that you like it after all. The Man in the Black Suit might just be the one you’re looking for…
****
’Salem’s Lot (audio)
Posted: February 18, 2004
I have just finished the new audio edition of ’Salem’s Lot read by Ron McClarty and I can state once again that a really good audiobook has been released. Ron has a really good voice for narrating. He changes his voice for each of the characters so that you can hear that they are different from each other, but not so much that it becomes silly.
The audiobook spans over 17.5 hours and fifteen CDs (or eleven cassettes) and contains a totally new introduction by King himself. I have been informed that this introduction isn’t in any other edition of the book, and in it King talks about ’Salem’s Lot and why he wrote it. A really interesting, fun and informative look at the book’s (and King’s) history. And all of you out there who want to have everything King has done…well, here is a new item for you.
In ’Salem’s Lot, as most of you know, King tells the story of how vampires invade a small town, Jerusalem’s Lot (called ’Salem’s Lot among the inhabitants). This was only King’s second book, but it shows how good of an author King really is. It’s a very well told story in which King introduces us to Ben Mears and how he returns to ’Salem’s Lot to write a book about the Marsten House, an evil house.
Not only is ’Salem’s Lot a good book, but now is also the perfect time to listen to it, even if you have read it before. For one thing, Wolves of the Calla has just been released and in it you get to hear what happened to Father Callahan after ’Salem’s Lot, and I’m sure we’ll get to hear more about Callahan in the two last parts of The Dark Tower that are being released this year, so it’s a good thing to get up-to-date about it.
This summer TNT will air the remake of ’Salem’s Lot (where Rob Lowe plays Ben Mears) and I don’t know about you, but personally I like to read or listen to the book close to seeing a new movie version of it. It gives me a better chance to see how well they have transformed it…
Lilja’s final words about ’Salem’s Lot (audio)
So, if you haven’t read ’Salem’s Lot yet, now is the time to do it. If you have already read it once (or more), now is the time to reread it so you’re ready for all the references that will fall upon you during 2004.
****
The Devil’s Wine
Posted: April 4, 2004
I have just read The Devil’s Wine, edited by Tom Piccirilli and, unfortunately, I must confess that I’m not a big fan of poems—not even those by Stephen King. The book itself is very nice and you can tell by reading the introduction that Tom really loves his poems.
If you, like Tom, love poems, then this book is totally right for you. Personally, I think it’s a nice addition to my King collection, but it’s not something I’m going to read again, I’m afraid. It just doesn’t do anything for me.
One thing that is fun with this book is that it’s always interesting to see other sides of your favorite authors, like King, who hasn’t published that many poems and isn’t known for his poetry. Here though, you get a chance to see that side of him. The poems in the collection by King are from the late 60s/early 70s, so there isn’t anything new, but it’s still interesting to see how he was with words back then. It does give you a feeling for his background. It’s almost the same feeling as when you read one of his really early short stories.
Other known names that appear in the book are, to name just a few, Peter Straub, Ray Bradbury and Jack Ketchum.
Lilja’s final words about The Devil’s Wine
If you’re a fan of poetry you should definitely get The Devil’s Wine. If not, you might want to think about it a bit longer. It’s really nice to have King’s old poems in the collection and I would miss them if I didn’t have them, but I’m not sure they are worth buying the book for…
****
Building Bridges (audio)
Posted: November 1, 2004
Building Bridges is King’s acceptance speech from when he received the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters last year. In his approximately twenty-five-minute long speech, King tries to build a bridge (hence the title of this CD) between literary and popular writers.
What’s most satisfying to hear in his speech, though, is his love for his wife, Tabitha. You could almost describe his speech as a twenty-five-minute love letter to her. She is his everything, and he lets us know it.
As most of you know, King is a really good storyteller, but he is also a really good speaker. He is fun to listen to and he combines his speech with both humor and seriousness. He really is a joy to listen to. If you then take into consideration that he was diagnosed with pneumonia and underwent drainage procedures to remove fluid from the lung right after the ceremony, then you have to admit he is a genius!
The speech was also taped and aired on C-SPAN 2 (on the program Book TV), and if you get a chance to see it, please do.
Lilja’s final words about Building Bridges (audio)
If you get the chance, I definitely think you should check this one out. I laughed out loud while I listened to it and it’s really a treat to get to hear King talk. Don’t miss this chance. Also, one hundred percent of the publisher and author profits from Building Bridges will be donated to The National Book Foundation.
****
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (popup)
Posted: November 5, 2004
I have just finished the popup edition of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and all I can say is wow. This is probably one of the coolest King books that has ever been made. It’s an oversized hardback with sixteen wonderful pages. Sixteen pages that you can pull up, pull out, fold in, fold out and so on and so on. This book will ke
ep you busy for a long time, and then you still have the story itself left to read…
As I said, there are things that you can fold out, fold in, pull out, pull in and much more. You have to read the book several times to find out all the things you can do with it. It’s like King said on The Today Show; you can sit with this book for a long time and still not have found out all the things you can do with it.
The story is still there even though it’s been shortened. Peter Abrahams has adapted it to fit better in this format. It’s still a good story, though, and the important things are all still there.
Alan Dingman has done the illustrations, which are really, really well done. They are somewhat dark, though, so I can imagine that some may be a bit scary to children. That brings me to the only problem I have with this book. I can’t decide whom it’s for. It’s labeled as a children’s book (from eight years), but I’m not sure an eight-year-old would understand and appreciate it. I will, however, state that my children aren’t eight yet, so it’s just me guessing…to me it’s more of an adult book than a children’s book, though.
Anyhow, no matter who the book is for it’s, as I said, one of the coolest King books out there and a must-have in every King collection. My guess is that in the end there will be more grownups who buy it for themselves rather than for their children. If you buy this for your child, please let me know what they thought about it; it would be interesting to hear.
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