Reviews - Rage | The StoryGraph

1.38k reviews for:

Rage

Stephen King

3.41 AVERAGE

sarahlou79's review against another edition

3.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bcuda's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jonezeemcgee's review against another edition

3.0

2.75

I haven't read this since junior high school, so I felt a re-read was in order.

I'll share my thoughts soon...

reading_ryn's review against another edition

2.25

dark

staxreads's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bexlu77's review against another edition

3.0

dark medium-paced

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

boesgesicht's review against another edition

2.75

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

liz_neidich's review against another edition

1.0

While this book was a quick read, and I always enjoy King's writing style, I just couldn't get behind this one. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt - especially considering King was a teenager when he wrote it - but by the end, I was left confused and annoyed.

The basic premise is a high school senior, Charlie Decker, has killed two teachers and has taken a classroom full of students hostage. After that, it just gets bizarre. The students in the class almost immediately start praising / bonding with Charlie despite the fact that they're being held hostage and their teacher is lying dead on the floor (a fact that almost seems forgotten throughout the book). There's way too much laughter and casual conversation between Charlie and the class. Maybe the issue is that this book hasn't aged well, but the interactions between Charlie and the students seemed incredibly forced and unrealistic.

At the end, the entire classroom turns on Ted, a fellow student, rather than Charlie, who has literally murdered two people and kept them hostage for hours. It seemed very out of the blue that, within a few hours, Ted falls from being extremely popular and loved by everyone to being essentially beaten into a catatonic state just because of a few stories that had been told. While it was unexpected and I felt it was reminiscent of Lord of the Flies (and maybe that's what King was going for), it also seemed too much like King was just writing a revenge fantasy about a high school bully.

I do give this novel credit for being groundbreaking at the time and for how young King was when he wrote it; however, it's definitely not one I'd recommend or one I plan on reading again.

electric_rae's review against another edition

2.25

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

suicidylan_epub's review against another edition

4.0

Me leíste la mente, Stephen King.

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