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A review by sophphh
Rage by Richard Bachman
4.0
This is one of Stephen King's earliest works, written in 1966 under his Richard Bachman pen name (though it was published much later). It's quite hard to find these days, as it was withdrawn from sale after being found in the locker of the teenage perpetrator of a school shooting.
Rage is told from the point of view of a very disturbed teen as he looks back on the events that led to his incarceration when he takes a gun into school and starts shooting. After a history of violence, Charlie is finally expelled from school when he beats a young girl so badly that she is hospitalised. Instead of going straight home after his interview with the headmaster, Charlie walks into his classroom with a gun and shoots the teacher dead. Before he properly realises what he has done, he finds himself in charge of a hostage situation with the power of life and death over his classmates as the police gather outside.
This is a short novel that strangely reminded me of the movie The Breakfast Club, when a group of high school teens find themselves unsupervised together in a classroom and begin to open up to each other about their private lives. Charlie talks about his own difficult home life and we gain an insight into how his mind became so disturbed, but the others in the class also reveal a lot about themselves and form a bond, both with each other and with their captor. We begin to forget all about the murdered teacher and find ourselves rooting for Charlie and wishing that he could somehow escape the terrible situation he's got himself into.
Rage is a book about the darkness within us all, and how easy it is for that darkness to erupt into violence. The ending is quite shocking, brilliantly written and really makes you think. While Rage may not be his best work, it is an intense novel that already bears Stephen King's unique style and shows the beginnings of his huge talent.
Rage is told from the point of view of a very disturbed teen as he looks back on the events that led to his incarceration when he takes a gun into school and starts shooting. After a history of violence, Charlie is finally expelled from school when he beats a young girl so badly that she is hospitalised. Instead of going straight home after his interview with the headmaster, Charlie walks into his classroom with a gun and shoots the teacher dead. Before he properly realises what he has done, he finds himself in charge of a hostage situation with the power of life and death over his classmates as the police gather outside.
This is a short novel that strangely reminded me of the movie The Breakfast Club, when a group of high school teens find themselves unsupervised together in a classroom and begin to open up to each other about their private lives. Charlie talks about his own difficult home life and we gain an insight into how his mind became so disturbed, but the others in the class also reveal a lot about themselves and form a bond, both with each other and with their captor. We begin to forget all about the murdered teacher and find ourselves rooting for Charlie and wishing that he could somehow escape the terrible situation he's got himself into.
Rage is a book about the darkness within us all, and how easy it is for that darkness to erupt into violence. The ending is quite shocking, brilliantly written and really makes you think. While Rage may not be his best work, it is an intense novel that already bears Stephen King's unique style and shows the beginnings of his huge talent.