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A review by mtroeller
Rage by Richard Bachman
5.0
The first novel released by Stephen King under his darker pseudonym of Richard Bachman. This is the one SK removed from print in the 90s after multiple school shooters/mass shooters had this on their person or stated it influenced
Like each of the other “Bachman books”, this is a novel meant to instill one theme/emotion and just hammer that point home. For “The Long Walk” there was pain. For “Roadwork” there was loss of control. For “The Running Man” there was paranoia.
And for Rage the theme I found was justification. The main character (who just killed 2 adults and is holding his class against their will) unintentionally causes the reader and his classmates to gain perspective and empathy for him as he explains his troubled childhood. His classmates in turn share their stories, struggles, and truths to justify their mistakes and trials. And in the end, like the children on the island in “Lord of the Flies”, they (the class minus the killer with the gun) come together to take down the one student who deems himself above them, who doesn’t need to justify his lies and poor choices, to the point that he is in a mental hospital with no chance of recovery.
Not a comfortable read but had to be done to complete my goal of reading all of SK’s books!
Like each of the other “Bachman books”, this is a novel meant to instill one theme/emotion and just hammer that point home. For “The Long Walk” there was pain. For “Roadwork” there was loss of control. For “The Running Man” there was paranoia.
And for Rage the theme I found was justification. The main character (who just killed 2 adults and is holding his class against their will) unintentionally causes the reader and his classmates to gain perspective and empathy for him as he explains his troubled childhood. His classmates in turn share their stories, struggles, and truths to justify their mistakes and trials. And in the end, like the children on the island in “Lord of the Flies”, they (the class minus the killer with the gun) come together to take down the one student who deems himself above them, who doesn’t need to justify his lies and poor choices, to the point that he is in a mental hospital with no chance of recovery.
Not a comfortable read but had to be done to complete my goal of reading all of SK’s books!