A review by shafnut
Christine by Stephen King

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

was not expecting Arnie to die at the end I’ll give you that. I also didn't realize that it was Le Bay and not Christine possessing Arnie until much much later, so that was a really well-written reveal.

I wasn't expecting to fall in love with this book the way that I had, the idea of Christine as this living breathing character was so visual and vivid. The relationship between Arnie and Dennis was so innocent and perfect - their banter really made the two of them characters that I wanted to root for. The relationship Arnie had with his family was also beautifully written, I didn't know whose side I wanted to be on - Arnie's? with his rebelliousness, or Michael who wanted to keep the peace. 
 

“You’re wrong about that. Just as wrong as you can be. She sounds like her, and you sound like her, but I just sound like the guy in charge of some dumb UN peacekeeping force that’s about to get its collective ass shot off.”

There was a lot of focus on the eyes of the characters, which I loved, a lot of moments where characters laughed but the narrator was always noticing how it didn't go up to their eyes.

I think with any Stephen King book it's hard not to compare it with others, and honestly other than The Outsider, this book is a strong second. My biggest surprise is that I enjoyed it more than Misery - Christine also seemed to be peppered with a more light-hearted stream of consciousness writing as well. My biggest complaint was the way King uses racist and sexist undertones to evoke that feeling of horror still doesn't sit right with me - although I feel like with Misery, The Outsider and If It Bleeds, there wasn't so much of that. That aspect of his older writing makes me feel like I shouldn't be supporting his books, but I still want to read Dolores Claiborne.

Some highlights:

" up—I’m okay, you’re okay, I’m a person, you’re a person, we all respect each other to the hilt, and whenever anybody does anything wrong, you’re going to get what amounts to an allergic guilt reaction."

"Love is the old slaughterer. Love is not blind. Love is a cannibal with extremely acute vision. Love is insectile; it is always hungry.” 

"But the mind, that perverse monkey—the mind can conceive of anything and seems to take a perverse delight in doing so."