Thursday 15 August 2013

Devouring Stephen King: Bag of Bones

"The aspiring novelist should understand from the outset that fiction's goals were forever beyond his reach, that the job was an exercise in futility. 'Compared to the dullest human being actively walking about on the face of the earth and casting his shadow there,' Hardy supposedly said, 'the most brilliantly drawn character is but a bag of bones.'"

I always find myself saying that  Bag of Bones is my favourite Stephen King novel that nobody's ever heard of. It's true, but then again, there are SO many Stephen King books that people have heard of that it doesn't really say that much. More accurately, then, at this precise moment it's my second favourite Stephen King book of all time (after It, of course) and I just love it, love it, love it.

I've been trying to decide exactly what I love about it, but trying to think of any specifics just gets tied up in a swirl of love for the book and then I get all dazed and am none the wiser. There are a few things that, structurally, I really appreciate- it's written in the first person, which is rare for King and which makes it SUCH a treat when he does it because he's so good at it. It's also perfect for this book because there's so much Mike (our narrator) doesn't know for so long, which means WE don't know it either which really ramps up the suspense.
I also love the fact that the supernatural is very subtle in this book, but it's also completely integral to the story, so it's there in the background for the whole book UNTIL it becomes THE thing in the last 100 pages or so, at which point you realise just how important it's been the whole time. It's all very clever, and it's also pleasing to know that the book kind of works without the supernatural elements, too.

Now, the actual story (supernatural things that make you reconsider the entirety of the book aside). It's essentially the story of Mike Noonan, a Maine writer (SO ORIGINAL. But I'll let that slide because he lives in Derry which is AWESOME and also, I like the guy) who becomes a widower at the beginning of the story. When he finds out that she was pregnant, his grief is multiplied by at least two, setting him off into a spiral of numbness and writers block that lasts for four years. Thanks to some increasingly creepy dreams, he decides to go to his house at an extremely creepy lake for the summer, where he meets a beautiful young widow (Mattie) who's tied up in a bitter custody battle with her creepy father-in-law (it's all very fairytale like) and he decides to help her because he's a nice guy. And things sort of spiral from there. 

Only, of course, that's really only what's going on on the surface, and underneath that there's the distinct possibility that Mike's house is haunted by more than one ghost, the mystery surrounding what Mike's wife was doing in her final months, the weird dreams that Mike continues to have. The thing is, though, I could tell you about everything that happens in Bag of Bones, and it would be pretty exciting, sure, but none of that explains what I really love about it, because I think that's really in the details, and in the things I've kind of made up in my head about it over the past bazoollion years (seriously, I first read this a looooong time ago). Here are a few of them:
  • It's very literary- Because Mike is a writer, he has also read a lot, and that means this book is filled with references to other books. And it's not that they're really a huge part of this story, but they're definitely noticeable, and they're just thrown in casually like the whole book is basically just having a conversation with a friend who has the same cultural references as you. Which is actually a really nice feeling. Off the top of my head, I can think of references to Rebecca, Bartleby, The Moon and Sixpence and Thomas Hardy.
  • The many meanings of 'Bag of Bones'- This concept is introduced in the story in the quote above, and it does a couple of things- tips a little meta nod to the fact that hey! You're reading a book!, and also describes the emptiness Mike feels after his wife's death. And I like all of that but THEN later in the book (waaay later) there's a whole other meaning to it that kind of rips my heart out. So you're going to want to read that.
  • It feels very personal- This is very much a thing that I've made up in my head, but it feels right so I'm going with it. So Bag of Bones is all about a Maine writer whose wife dies and leaves him with basically just memories and writers block. I'm absolutely just choosing to believe this, but it seems that for a (Maine) writer such as King, who loves his wife very much (it's really well documented), his two biggest fears would be losing his wife and getting writer's block. And I'm not at all saying that Mike Noonan just IS Stephen King, but just that it seems like King would be able to tap into this fears fairly easily to make this book so realistic, and yeah, heartbreaking. And also it makes me feel closer to Stephen King as a human but I know that's only in my brain so shh.
  • Connections to his other works- Ok, I always love these, but this was the first time I've read Bag of Bones having ALSO read the books referenced in it, so it was like reading a whole new book and it was EXCITING! (For the record: Mike has a chat with Ralph Roberts from Insomnia, asks after Sheriff Pangbourne from Needful Things and mentions the grisly end of Thad Beaumont from The Dark Half). Eve more excitingly, I feel like I found a connection to a book he hadn't even written yet- there's this bit during a dream-that-isn't-a-dream where there's clearly an allusion to the aftermath of JFK's shooting, which could just be, y'know, a reference to a historical event BUT King had been trying to write 11.22.63 since the 70s, so. The Jury's out on that one.
And I've managed to reach the end of the review without even mentioning mother-daughter relationships, and just how much I like Mattie (she transcends ALL stereotypes of single-teen-mothers, as well she should) and probably a million other things, but that's fine- you can find all these things out for yourself. To me, Bag of Bones feels in almost no way like a typical Stephen King novel (IF such a thing even exists, which I'm doubting more and more every time I read one) but what this means is, if you've read Stephen King and vetoed him, maybe give this a try, and if you're too scared to read him then this could be your one- it's not NON-scary, but it's definitely a lot more creepy than out and out horrible (unless you're really really scared of ghosts, in which case don't read this one...) And if you're already a Stephen King fan, then what are you even waiting for? Get on that!*

*Yeah, I basically just said 'this book is for everyone!' But seriously, read it read it read it, I love it so much! 

18 comments:

  1. I have heard of this book but had no idea what it was about until reading your review, and you make it sound so awesome! I must get a copy of it for myself :)

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    1. Yesssssssss, my evil plan is working! I mean... My plan of spreading the love for reasons of excellent bookness are working! (That sentence didn't make sense... Oh well!)

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  2. This is one of the Kings that I haven't read! What is wrong with me???

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    1. I don't know, cause this is SO GOOD! But it makes sense that you've never read it because it always feels like no one's even heard of it!

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  3. Aww, well this sounds good. And you know that when you visit America, you basically have to go to Maine, right?

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    1. I do! I do have to go to Maine! Considering the things I love, I basically have to go to Maine and Seattle (ALL YOUR FAULT) and WHUT they are the two furthest apart places, basically. Dammit, America, why you so huge?

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  4. Maaaan, I have a feeling I will totally be scared by the ghosts (It's why I haven't finished Beloved by Toni Morrison ever), but you make it sound so good! I'm probably going to try it, but if I end up terrified I'm blaming you! :)

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    1. It's not tooo... Ok, it's quite ghosty. But not in a fully scary way? I don't know- all I know is that when I go away from it, I really really remember the non-ghosty bits (which I love) but then while I'm reading it I do get a bit creeped out. But not TOO badly? I don't know, cause I don't know your fear threshold! But I don't think it's that bad.

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  5. Alright, fine, I WILL READ THIS.

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  6. It's not my favorite SK book, that is Talisman, but I enjoyed Bag of Bones, a lot. I read it before 11/22/63 but now I need reread and find the part where he refers to it :)

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    1. Ohhh yeah! You'll probably have more of an idea if it's REALLY referring to 11/22/63 or if I'm just imagining things hahaha. Also *whispers* I sort of hated The Talisman. BUT what do I know?! I'm just happy when anyone likes SK :)

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  7. Okay, so I'm not even going to read the rest of this review properly yet because after about two paragraphs I was all like "IMMA GONNA NEED TO READ THAT", but when I HAVE read it I'll come back and read the post again and nod wisely and have proper thoughts. I've sort of packed the rest of my Stephen King books, but I DID just buy Cujo from That Bookshop That's Killing Us across town (oops, bit of an own goal there methinks) so that might have to do for a while.

    Oh, and also, you know how I've been reading these really naff but completely awesome horror books? I FOUND ANOTHER ONE ON OUR 50P SHELF. It's called 'Funeral March of the Marionettes' and I'm ASSUMING the bad guy is going to be a puppet, maybe even a ventriloquist dummy-type affair, which is MY NUMBER ONE PHOBIA EVER. Naturally, I have to read this book. In the daytime, with lots of people around, obviously. It says the first guy gets killed by a model aeroplane, which made me lol so much that I stole the book immediately. Maybe I should save it for the RIP event this October, in case my books aren't unpacked by then?!

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    1. YOU DO NEED TO READ IT! I'm trying to remember how I feel about Cujo, and mostly it's sort of 'meh'? I can take or leave the Castle Rock books, tbh. And NICE ONE buying from your competitors! I mean, really. Nice work. *applauds sarcastically*

      OMG ELLIE I am so scared of ventriloquists dummies too! My scariest goosebumps book was Night of the Living Dummies, and there's this one Buffy episode with a dummy that isn't even scary but IS alive and so it freaks the shit out of me! So basically, this sounds AWESOME in a terrifying way!! Also you should totally save it, and RIP starts in September (so, two weeks. Yessssssssss) so you can read it then! I have already made a list of books I can read for RIP, is how excited I am. Favourite reading thing (I don't even want to say challenge, cause it's not at all challenging) ever!!

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  8. I've only read two Stephen King books and this is one of them. I liked lots of it, and there are scenes that are indelible in my head from it. (I also loved the moving of the refrigerator magnets an awful lot for some reason.) There was one particularly graphic scene that disturbed me for a while. It wasn't an unnecessary scene as it's the event that is the catalyst for everything, but still gut-churning.

    I'm originally from Maine so I guess it's a shame that I haven't read more of his books. Apparently he would occasionally show up at my high school when our school would play Bangor in basketball. (I never went to the basketball games myself.) Once our family picked up someone from the Bangor airport and we decided to drive by his house. You can see pictures online of it, but I thought the wrought-iron gates with the wrought-iron spiders was a nice touch.

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    1. ONLY TWO?! Madness! I do quite enjoy the magnets moving around too (at least when they're nice) it's much more soothing than it is scary. And oh man, I know which scene you're talking about, and YES it's very disturbing. I mean, it's good that it's not at all gratuitous, and it IS the catalyst, but that doesn't stop it from being horrible.

      OH MY GOD if I ever saw him in person (if I even saw his house!) I think I'd die. Or, well, I wouldn't die, but I would literally not know what to do with myself! And I don't really like basketball but I would have sooooo gone to all of those games haha!

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  9. I stay mostly silent on your Stephen King posts, because I've only read Pet Semetary and I always kind of assumed I wasn't a Stephen King person (whatever that means). And then when I realized that I wanted to read more Stephen King, I thought I should start with The Stand. But every time I see it at the library or somewhere, it's HUGE-GANTIC. Like, really unnecessarily large.

    So THIS one? I might be starting with this one.

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    1. Oooooooh, I really think this might be the one- it's like I wrote that whole last paragraph just for youuuuu! But yeah, this is a manageable size (it's still 600 odd pages, but they *are* Stephen King pages so it's like nothing) and it's SO GOOD. Like, good without the supernatural bits, but then EVEN BETTER with them :).

      Also, re: being a Stephen King person: I kind of didn't know I was for sure until I started doing this reading-in-order thing. Like, I'd read quite a few of his books and then I just kept buying them and never reading them (hence why I was like 'I'll read them all in order and then I'll HAVE to read them!) and I liked him plenty but now he's just like my guy. BUT considering everything else I read, he sooooo doesn't fit in with that. So it's a really weird thing, I always think. But I am definitely a Stephen King person, I think it's fair to say hahaha

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