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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This was a very good book. It reminded me of different authors, depending on the scene, but most of all it felt similar to The Shining with Doctor Sleep mixed in. There were a lot of things going on but it didn’t feel like too much. And the way it all came together at the end was quite satisfying.
Wendig blijft één van mijn favoriete auteurs.
Zijn personages zijn écht en zijn schrijfstijl leest supervlot!
Ik hou van de dingen die hij met structuur doet: 2 prologen, interludes: zalig!
Hij gebruikt de vorm van een hoofdstuk soms op manieren waarop ik niet eens doorhad dat het mogelijk was! En het verhaal! Dit was een goed verhaal! Het was zo goed dat ik het jammer vond dat we niet wat meer tijd met de personages konden spenderen alvorens de plot tegen een razendsnel tempo richting de climax stormde. Ook fucking mooi hoe hij het telkens weer opneemt voor menselijkheid, vriendelijk zijn tegen jezelf en gezonde vriendschappen en familiebanden.
Wendig schrijft fucking menselijk en dat is waarom ik denk vaak het gevoel heb dat er stukken missen in zijn boeken. Ik wil weten hoe het met Oliver gaat wanneer er erge dingen gebeuren maar door het wisselen van POV's krijgen we dat niet onmiddellijk en in volledig detail te zien! Hetzelfde met Nate op het einde van het boek! Jammer maar dat is de vloek van een goed verhaal: ik wil méér! Ik wil hier een vervolg op met Maddie & Oliver die het land rondreizen om mensen te helpen. Fuck it, ik wil een boek waarin alle personages van Blackbird, Black RIver Orchard, the staircase in the woods én the book fo accidents samenwerken tegen één of andere demoon. Wendig schrijft de soort shit die ik wil schrijven en ik ben hem er fucking dankbaar voor.
Dit boek leest als een epische blockbuster-serie, als een verhaal over familie, vriendschap en de strijd tegen je innerlijke demonen en als een ode aan de menselijkheid. Ik kan niet wachten tot zijn volgende boek!
Zijn personages zijn écht en zijn schrijfstijl leest supervlot!
Ik hou van de dingen die hij met structuur doet: 2 prologen, interludes: zalig!
Hij gebruikt de vorm van een hoofdstuk soms op manieren waarop ik niet eens doorhad dat het mogelijk was! En het verhaal! Dit was een goed verhaal! Het was zo goed dat ik het jammer vond dat we niet wat meer tijd met de personages konden spenderen alvorens de plot tegen een razendsnel tempo richting de climax stormde. Ook fucking mooi hoe hij het telkens weer opneemt voor menselijkheid, vriendelijk zijn tegen jezelf en gezonde vriendschappen en familiebanden.
Wendig schrijft fucking menselijk en dat is waarom ik denk vaak het gevoel heb dat er stukken missen in zijn boeken. Ik wil weten hoe het met Oliver gaat wanneer er erge dingen gebeuren maar door het wisselen van POV's krijgen we dat niet onmiddellijk en in volledig detail te zien! Hetzelfde met Nate op het einde van het boek! Jammer maar dat is de vloek van een goed verhaal: ik wil méér! Ik wil hier een vervolg op met Maddie & Oliver die het land rondreizen om mensen te helpen. Fuck it, ik wil een boek waarin alle personages van Blackbird, Black RIver Orchard, the staircase in the woods én the book fo accidents samenwerken tegen één of andere demoon. Wendig schrijft de soort shit die ik wil schrijven en ik ben hem er fucking dankbaar voor.
Dit boek leest als een epische blockbuster-serie, als een verhaal over familie, vriendschap en de strijd tegen je innerlijke demonen en als een ode aan de menselijkheid. Ik kan niet wachten tot zijn volgende boek!
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a mess of a book I am glad I stuck with. At first it took a bit to really get me invested but when things started to hit the fan I was really hooked. I enjoyed everything this book set out to say and honestly even for it's mistakes I enjoyed it. Overall worth sticking it out.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my second Chuck Wendig book (the first being Wanderers), and I really appreciate the way he can write an epic story. Though this story is much shorter and maybe a little less epic than Wanderers, it was still captivating as ever! I have so many more thoughts that I might come back to write about later, but I really enjoyed this (audio)book.
This was soooooo good!!! I preferred Wanderers just a *smidge* more (my heart just loves the cdc, what can I say) but this was ENTIRELY different. It was SCARY in a softy, creepy kind of way. The writing was very SK (so was Wanderers) but this reminded me more of Desperation (monster in a mine) but also a little Shining Girls and a little Dark Matter, but mostly it was just its own amazing story. I loved Maddie, I loved Nate, I looooved Fig, Jed reminded me of Jud from Pet Semetary so I didn’t love him, the writing was top notch, the story was fabulous, it scared me in the best ways- HIGHLY RECOMMEND. #engelbrechtreads2021 #engelbrechtreads
My Review of The Book of Accidents by Stephen King Joe Hill Chuck Wendig
This read like it was written by someone who had been heavily influenced by Stephen King. I also got some real [b:NOS4A2|15729539|NOS4A2|Joe Hill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369591617l/15729539._SX50_.jpg|21408527] vibes for some reason. I say this in the most complimentary way possible. I love both King and Hill, and for a while, reading this was like being wrapped in a warm, cozy blanket (possibly one crawling with maggots and worms and things that go bump in the night).
This started off great. I was ready to be creeped the eff out.
SMALL, POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD
We start off with a serial killer in the electric chair, ready to cry and fry. Well maybe just fry. But does it go to plan?
We then quickly jump to the main crew in this book. Nate, Maddie, and their fifteen-year-old son, Oliver, move into Nate's childhood home after his father passes away. Nate's father was an abusive prick, so much of one that his son is happy about his death, so he's a bit hesitant to return to a home full of horrible memories. However, it's cheap and Olly isn't doing so hot at his current school after a very embarrassing episode, so off they go! VERY shortly after his father dies, Nate sees a ghost (?) of his father. We also find out that Maddie possesses a...unique skill. And that Olly also has a special gift. We are also slowly introduced to friends they make in their new town. Some of them definitely questionable. There is also a super creepy tunnel that used to be a coal mine. Maybe. It used to be a lot of things.
Excellent. Between the big, creepy house on an overgrown property, the ghost, multiple special gifts, some sketchy weirdos, and a dark, creepy tunnel-ish place, this is going to be some creepy shit.
Right?
I don't know if I've just grown a thick skin or if the direction this took threw me off, but this did not make me sleep with the lights on. Which was a tad bit disappointing since I wanted it to be one of my spoooooooky October reads.
Somewhere around the halfway mark, it lost a lot of the "scare" for me, which meant it lost steam for me shortly after. I tore through the first 60% but found it harder to pick it up to read the last bit despite this being very readable.
There were a lot of tough stuff and moral questions brought up in this book. For example:
◼️ With all the terrible things going on in our world, would it be better to just wipe it clean? Start over? Would we if we could? Some of this reminded me a lot of CW's Supernatural (I'm on the last half dozen episodes of season 15 - DO NOT RUIN IT FOR ME) - what if where were multiple worlds with different versions of ourselves, with different life stories, with different demises?
◼️ Pain. Would we remove it if we could or is the pain we endure necessary? What if we could remove only a little of it? All of it? How much pain do we need?
◼️ Abuse cycles. Specifically, what is passed on to children when they endure abuse? How does it affect their lives as children and as adults? How does it affect their children? Their children's children? How much is a terrible childhood responsible for?
While these (and some others that I didn't even mention) were great thinking points, they kind of distracted me from feeling straight up horror, which is what I thought I would feel. I did, however, often get that itchy scalp feeling you get when an e-mail goes out from the school that a student had head lice. There were some gross, graphic scenes that would have definitely creeped me out hardcore had this been a shorter, tighter novel. And I think that would have been a better route than trying to go King level doorstopper. There were a lot of really cool things and questions that I didn't feel got answered/explained/flushed out by the time the conclusion hit.
But this was what it was. And it was still pretty damn good. There were things to think about, multiple characters I grew to care about, truly evil characters to loathe, and a couple scenes I'll have a hard time scrubbing from my brain. I'll definitely be reading more Wendig in the future.
4 Stars
This read like it was written by someone who had been heavily influenced by Stephen King. I also got some real [b:NOS4A2|15729539|NOS4A2|Joe Hill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369591617l/15729539._SX50_.jpg|21408527] vibes for some reason. I say this in the most complimentary way possible. I love both King and Hill, and for a while, reading this was like being wrapped in a warm, cozy blanket (possibly one crawling with maggots and worms and things that go bump in the night).
This started off great. I was ready to be creeped the eff out.
SMALL, POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD
We start off with a serial killer in the electric chair, ready to cry and fry. Well maybe just fry. But does it go to plan?
We then quickly jump to the main crew in this book. Nate, Maddie, and their fifteen-year-old son, Oliver, move into Nate's childhood home after his father passes away. Nate's father was an abusive prick, so much of one that his son is happy about his death, so he's a bit hesitant to return to a home full of horrible memories. However, it's cheap and Olly isn't doing so hot at his current school after a very embarrassing episode, so off they go! VERY shortly after his father dies, Nate sees a ghost (?) of his father. We also find out that Maddie possesses a...unique skill. And that Olly also has a special gift. We are also slowly introduced to friends they make in their new town. Some of them definitely questionable. There is also a super creepy tunnel that used to be a coal mine. Maybe. It used to be a lot of things.
Excellent. Between the big, creepy house on an overgrown property, the ghost, multiple special gifts, some sketchy weirdos, and a dark, creepy tunnel-ish place, this is going to be some creepy shit.
Right?
I don't know if I've just grown a thick skin or if the direction this took threw me off, but this did not make me sleep with the lights on. Which was a tad bit disappointing since I wanted it to be one of my spoooooooky October reads.
Somewhere around the halfway mark, it lost a lot of the "scare" for me, which meant it lost steam for me shortly after. I tore through the first 60% but found it harder to pick it up to read the last bit despite this being very readable.
There were a lot of tough stuff and moral questions brought up in this book. For example:
◼️ With all the terrible things going on in our world, would it be better to just wipe it clean? Start over? Would we if we could? Some of this reminded me a lot of CW's Supernatural (I'm on the last half dozen episodes of season 15 - DO NOT RUIN IT FOR ME) - what if where were multiple worlds with different versions of ourselves, with different life stories, with different demises?
◼️ Pain. Would we remove it if we could or is the pain we endure necessary? What if we could remove only a little of it? All of it? How much pain do we need?
◼️ Abuse cycles. Specifically, what is passed on to children when they endure abuse? How does it affect their lives as children and as adults? How does it affect their children? Their children's children? How much is a terrible childhood responsible for?
While these (and some others that I didn't even mention) were great thinking points, they kind of distracted me from feeling straight up horror, which is what I thought I would feel. I did, however, often get that itchy scalp feeling you get when an e-mail goes out from the school that a student had head lice. There were some gross, graphic scenes that would have definitely creeped me out hardcore had this been a shorter, tighter novel. And I think that would have been a better route than trying to go King level doorstopper. There were a lot of really cool things and questions that I didn't feel got answered/explained/flushed out by the time the conclusion hit.
But this was what it was. And it was still pretty damn good. There were things to think about, multiple characters I grew to care about, truly evil characters to loathe, and a couple scenes I'll have a hard time scrubbing from my brain. I'll definitely be reading more Wendig in the future.
4 Stars
4.25 stars
Well-crafted story. Unique premise. Some “explanations”/ outcomes at end were slightly cheesy. Lots of questions left unanswered (can be good or bad depending on reader).
Well-crafted story. Unique premise. Some “explanations”/ outcomes at end were slightly cheesy. Lots of questions left unanswered (can be good or bad depending on reader).
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was very Stephen king like- not the scariest but a hell of a fun adventure!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes