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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
This is one of King’s earliest books, but it wasn’t published until many years later under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The whole “Bachman Books” and the reason for the pseudonym are very interesting. I’m actually reading the Bachman Books, but will be doing the reviews separately.
Rage is about Charlie, a troubled high school student that one day kills two teachers and takes his class as hostages. Given what this is about, it’s understandable why King himself let the book fall out of print, and even newer versions of the Bachman Books don’t include Rage, just the other three stories. But I gotta say, I expected it to be more brutal, considering all the bans and censoring. Yes, he kills people, but there’s plenty of books about assassins, so I’m guessing it’s the school setting what changes things.
The story is about a troubled kid, and how he finally explodes after all the things he’s been subjected to, by his father, classmates, and teachers. His descriptions are very explicit and raw, whether it’s the current events or something that happened in the past, Charlie doesn’t hold anything back. And this ends up affecting his classmates, while it starts as something frightening for them, as the story goes on and Charlie shares more with them, things start to change. The ending was also pretty good, the reports of the event at the end reminded how in Carrie, King used excerpts from articles and reports throughout the story.
While I wish some things were more developed, like Charlie’s reasons for doing this, what led him to this point, maybe more about the classmates. I do think it’s pretty good, especially if you consider it’s one of his earliest works. Might not be for everyone, again I understand why it’s banned in some places, but if you’ve read King’s other books, this isn’t even the darkest or most messed up book he's written.
The Bachman Books Reviews:
#1 Rage → 3⭐️
#2 The Long Walk → TBR
#3 Roadwork → TBR
#4 The Running Man → TBR
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very early work by Stephen king, and it’s lacking anything that really hooks me. I can tell he was a high school teacher working on this.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At times, it was a chore to get through, so it felt very rewarding to finally finish this book. Regardless, I don't mind this being my first Stephen King's book. Because, I expect an original, riveting setup from King, and that is what I got.
Now that I got the taste of style of King's prose, I will definitely get back to this specific work after some more exploration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think it took it`s time a bit too much, once he killed his professor it was like “oh” but than he kept talking about his childhood later and I get it, it is mainly a character study but I don't think the main character is very redeemable at all he literally broke his house windows for the fun of it maybe is because his parents did not pay attention to him but whatever, hard DNF I might finish it later but I doubt it. Left on chapter 18, 34%.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Let us say this from the off... this is not a good book. However, for me none of the Bachman books have been much good so far (didn't enjoy Long Walk or Running Man). Also, it is not worth the crazy prices people are trying to sell this book for online! (I managed to find an original with teh front cover torn off for £40 so was pretty lucky I think?)
But the story is just weird and feels very much like a teenager has written it as a peice of school work.
King tries to 'act cool' or goes 'off teh wall' a bit too much in this one, and it feels fake.
The whole thing doesn't feel real and all the characters act in very unrealistic ways. The whole class are way too calm and collected, considering they've just witnessed two of their teachers being shot and killed. Then that ending where they all join in at the end was just a head scratching moment.
Like I said, this feels very mich like teh other books from "Bachman". Just odd and pointless, with bad endings. - Read this if you plan on reading all King's work. But if you are just thinking about it to see what it's like, I wouldn't bother. - A two star read at the very most.
But the story is just weird and feels very much like a teenager has written it as a peice of school work.
King tries to 'act cool' or goes 'off teh wall' a bit too much in this one, and it feels fake.
The whole thing doesn't feel real and all the characters act in very unrealistic ways. The whole class are way too calm and collected, considering they've just witnessed two of their teachers being shot and killed. Then that ending where they all join in at the end was just a head scratching moment.
Like I said, this feels very mich like teh other books from "Bachman". Just odd and pointless, with bad endings. - Read this if you plan on reading all King's work. But if you are just thinking about it to see what it's like, I wouldn't bother. - A two star read at the very most.