Bag of Bones: A Novel

I am a Stephen King Constant Reader. However, I don't shy from being critical of the authors novels. I like most of them, but there are a few I couldn't finish because of varied disappointments in the story--"Under the Dome" for example. I am slowly making my way through the author's body of work, and I had been meaning to make "Bag of Bones" my next King novel. I am so glad I did so.I can see a clear contrast in the author's early works, when compared to his latter and most recent novels. His later books are a little more tame and character driven. The ghost and goblin effect is still strong, but the newer books have taken on a deeper, richer story texture, and the character development is significantly greater. I think the effect is that these newer stories tend to stay with you much longer. They develop a more lasting kinship with the reader that his earlier works did not evoke. "Bag of Bones" is a good example of the new King relative to the old. Another good example is "Duma Key". I think the notion that King has "slipped a cog" in his ability to tell a story is baseless. Actually he is as good as ever, maybe better--a few duds notwithstanding--eg..."Under the Dome".I highly recommend "Bag of Bones". Great story and a dynamic plot--told in a "first person" style. The many characters all have an interesting place in the story. The seven hundred odd pages are filled with suspense, terror, and romance. I found myself sitting for long readings of the prose, and felt tinges of disappointment when I had to put down the book to do other things--eg..sleep. To me, that is high praise from a reader. I knew from the beginning that I was on a good read. Some days you know from the start if the fish are biting or not. Well, the fish were biting good in this lake. It was a good day of fishing--or week, should I say, and knew from the first chapters that the fishing trip would be a successful one.Don't worry, the book is haunting. It is a very dark story. If you came seeking King's reputation to "scare the livin shit out of ya"...then I think you will be richly rewarded. The author is very long-winded in certain areas of the novel, and these tend to be the darkest and most spooky parts. Again, you won't be disappointed.I am going to put "Bag of Bones" on my short list of favorite King novels....along with: The Dead Zone, 11/22/63, Duma Key, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Shining, Salem's Lot, Lisey's Story, etc.As you can see, I rated 5 stars. Very deserving! ...and I highly recommend this novel to readers.

King's earlier works terrified me so much that I developed chronic night terrors manifested in the form of sleep paralysis (you know, the kind where you feel like you're awake and in imminent mortal danger from some supernatural being -- often accompanied by feeling or sensing something crushing your chest -- and you try to struggle to move or cry out, but you're paralyzed, so you can't). So, I got rid of all my hardback King books (I know, it makes me nauseous, too), and abstained from reading anything by Stephen King for almost twenty years.When I did start reading the King of Horror again (turns out sleeping on your side prevents sleep paralysis -- who knew?), I was underwhelmed and disappointed with some of his works I had not yet devoured (I.e.The Colorado Kid, Insomnia, to name a few). I had also seen the miniseries treatment of this novel, and thought it sucked, so it was only after reading a number of positive reviews on Amazon that I purchased and began BAG OF BONES.I'm glad I gave it a chance. It's not the most frightening King novel I've ever read, but it kept my interest, and is a good yarn. It also seems to be one of King's more thoughtful works, openly exploring the rawness of grief, and the guilt and fear in moving forward, as well as the pain and heartbreak involved in finding love againMy only real problem with the story is that I just could not like the character of Sara, whom I know I was supposed to find intoxicating, entrancing and compelling. Instead, she seemed abrasive, uncouth, and combative. While I developed sympathy and felt compassion for what her character symbolized and suffered, I couldn't imagine wanting to know her or hang out with her. Plus, she terrorized Mike. Not cool.I do not do plot summaries in my reviews, as I believe if you're reading the reviews, you probably have already gotten interested enough in the book to have read the editorial summary and Amazon synopsis. Suffice it to say, this is a book worth reading, and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates a good ghost story.Just remember: sleep on your side, not your back!

Bag of Bones, published in the late ‘90s, ticks all or most of the boxes for recognisable King tropes - including a writer seeking sanctuary at a remote retreat in a sinister, tight-knit community with plenty of dark secrets. The log-built, lakeside house where bestselling author Mike Noonan goes after his wife Jo’s premature death in Derry seems to be the perfect place for him to grieve, but there’s a problem - it’s haunted. Meanwhile, Mike is caught up in a local custody dispute involving an almost comically evil software tycoon desperate to wrest his granddaughter away from her librarian mother after the death of the little girl’s father. At times it reads like Grisham with a supernatural twist. But in its most memorable passages, it’s pure horror, of the heart-pumping kind it’s impossible to stop reading. The momentum is thrilling and relentless as the novel reaches its closing stages. Some of the sections I like most relate not to the ghouls terrorising Mike and other characters, but to more pedestrian scenes where Mike is writing, or talking about writing. King is good at writing about writers, and about his trade - eg Misery and The Dark Half. It’s a long read (with some questionable spectral sex scenes) and at times there’s a slight sag in the narrative pace, but it rapidly picks up again. In the King canon, Bag of Bones is perhaps nothing out of the ordinary - it could be said to be pretty formulaic by his standards. But it works by bringing to life a small community haunted by a horrific past, and the life of the first-person narrator, Mike - level-headed and witty, wise and likeable, even as his entire life is turned on its head… King’s novels are so densely textured that they quickly become immersive and the reader invests heavily in the protagonists, and the plot. The stories go far beyond superficial shock and horror, creating incredibly detailed portraits of people and places. In that sense, Bag of Bones is an important King novel, offering many insights into his views on writing (through Mike’s eyes) while spinning a ghostly yarn that quickly becomes addictive. Mike says at the end that he’s ‘lost his taste for spooks’. But if you’re a King fan, and haven’t already encountered Bag of Bones, you should read it; if you’ve not read any of his work, this is as good a place to start as any - in the darker recesses of New England, in the company of perhaps the greatest storyteller of modern popular literature…

It's my second time reading this book.The first time was during summer, 15 years ago. I was totally absorbed by the book.The characters, the location everything was so new to me and I remembered enjoying every moment of my reading, so a month ago I decided to re read it but in English this time (I read it in French the first time).I must admit I had forgotten the story so it was like ready it for the first time and I loved it as much, maybe even more since I am now older, there is things I can understand better.You get attached to the characters, you hope thinfs are not what they are and you want everyone to be happy, but life catch up with us and we have to face the fact that life is hard, things don't always go the way we want them to. This book is also a great reminder of what is important to us, sometimes it's good to pause and see what really matters.

Very disappointed.This was my first Stephen King novel, and very disappointing.Earlier I read his non-fiction book, ON WRITING. And I was very inspired by the way he looks at the writing.Of course other thing I was wondering was the magic behind his novels' sales numbers.But then again, WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT.I guess his sales numbers are rising on his powerful ordinary, middle class American language , and narrative.Well I do not want to be very prejudged here without reading his other novels, but this side of him is very powerful).Reader would love his books even without a story.When I was learning English, I loved the American accent. And I was wondering how ordinary, middle class American would talk.If you are like that also, then Stephen King is your author.Story of the book is very chaotic, messy, well if there is one.While reading, eventually I started to think that this book was scheduled on demands of publishers, and written without passion.In fact plot is a story of a blocked writer.And writer decides to go to their second house near a lake after the mysterious death of his wife, and starting to feel blocked.And this house is haunted. But he just kept staying there, and goes through the entire thrill, and horror.Maybe, in this book, Stephen King is confessing his psychology and his relations with publishers.Well if you take only this book of his as a reference point, then you can conclude that Stephen King is a big commercial popular writer with very shallow psychological and philosophical fiction.Saying that he is fantastic reflecting the psychology of ordinary, middle class American, sometime, maybe most of the time, moronic ones.He is wonderful at keeping the suspense geared up with his powerful narrative.This is maybe the most powerful thing about him.Suspense.How does he create that?As you read through you start to move into a sphere, a journey that even the author does NOT know where it heads on.Then you start feeling like like you are journeying together with author, or even on your own.In a way, he steals your conscious, and this sucks you into the story.Well saying that quiet often your journey gets smashed, and then you disengage from the story.Why?Because story becomes boring.Take this for example.He starts talking with ghosts in the house, even cooperating with them. And sometimes he faces their terror, horror in a so cool way.And all this happens so naturally ordinarily, then suspense disappears, And it becomes boring, and then you disengage.Yes it is a fiction, but too much of, bad, and a boring one.and then take the number of people in the 150 years of history of house and the surrounding of the lake.Soooo many names,and then I had to look at Internet to recap who is who and who did what.A few words on the nook itself.I loved the fonts of the book. A novel should be written with these fonts and size.Also split of the book into 29 chapters sizing from 15 to 30 pages makes it easier to set milestones for reading.

Let me start by saying I'm a massive King Fan, and love nearly all of his books (having read about 90% of them), however I've found Bag of Bones just awful. I have no idea how it's received such great reviews. I look forward to reading whatever book I'm currently into nearly every night as I winddown for bed, but with Bag of Bones it's more of an arduous task that I have to complete..... and have nearly give up on several times. Kings writing is fabulous as usual but I think the characters are poor (particularly the two main leads). If anything, I'd say the book would be more aimed toward females as it's more of annoyingly and somewhat cheesly romantic story/theme, peppered with the occasional supernatural.As a benchmark of taste though, my personal favourites are Needful Things, Salem's Lot, Duma Key, Outsider, Revival and many more.I'm also a happily married man with 4 girls and hence enough romance/girl stuff to fill a lifetime ;)

This is the most abysmal Steven King book I have ever tried to read - and over the decades I have read most of them, and liked them a lot. I got to page 106 of the most pretentious drivel I have had the displeasure to encounter for years, and gave up. If I could give Mr. King a piece of advice from my Old Granny, it would be - “If you haven’t got anything to say, don’t say it”. I wonder if, like Mike in the story, this wasn’t an old manuscript that Mr. King had hoarded in his sock drawer against hard times and just decided to throw it to his publishers to foist onto an unsuspecting public!!!! Truly awful - no, it’s not quite as good as that.