Customer Reviews

Bag of Bones

5 star:		(646)
4 star:		(286)
3 star:		(107)
2 star:		(98)
1 star:		(79)

 

 

Many longtime King readers consider his early Magnum Opus, The Stand, the author's best work. Until the publication of Bag of Bones, that charge may have been true. No more. In BOB, King leaves cliché (both genre and his own) behind and weaves a classic, sprawling, and wholly satisfying tale of good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate, and the living and the dead.

Mike Noonan's life - and writing career - come to a crashing halt when his wife dies of an aneurysm while watching an automobile accident. For four years, he puts himself on neutral and glides through life, until he abandons his house for Sara Laughs, his summer retreat in Western Maine, on the shores of Dark Score Lake. There, he meets Mattie and Kyla, a single mother and her daughter who happened to get mixed up with the greedy, semi-psychotic computer magnate Max Devore, who wants Kyla, his granddaughter, as his own. Mike is inevitably drawn into the struggle, and at the same time finds that he, too, has a pulse and remnants of life. So too, he discovers, does Sara Laughs, a house that harbors spirits and secrets galore.

Part romance, part meditation on love and life, part legal thriller, and part satire of the writing industry, Bag of Bones is King's only pure ghost story. HP Lovecraft opined that any real ghost story is about love, and it is this, the most basic (and complex) of human emotions, that King explores - love for wives, love for children, and love of place. He keeps his easygoing style and voice, but the subject matter in Bag of Bones is his most contemplative and mature, and while it has elements of horror (some of the ghost scenes are throat-closers), Bag of Bones manages to grow beyond that into a very serious novel.

For a writer as maligned as King by the so-called literary-intellectual field, Bag of Bones could be a thumb-in-the-nose, look-what-I-can-do sort of book, but it escapes pretension and snobbery as well. Many of his books, written almost automatically in the 1980s and early 1990s, are downright formulaic, and there's a hint of that in Bag of Bones, but not much. It is also his best ghost story, as none of the main characters are psychics - just normal people who can experience ghostly phenomenon, making it all the more terrifying for the non-psychic reader. While The Shining pulled that off successfully, and Rose Red failed miserably, Bag of Bones keeps the hauntings grounded in something everyday people experience - that subtle, chill wind on a hot day, and noises in the night that may or may not be quite natural.

It's disappointing that King's retirement looms so immediately on the horizon, but if one book should stand as a tribute to his literary works, that book should be Bag of Bones. It's a wholly different beast from The Stand, the other book for which King will undoubtedly be recognized for hundreds of years in the future, but Bag of Bones hums with a kind of tightness and literary prowess rare in any book, in any time.

Final Grade: A

Bag of Bones was my first Stephen King read in a number of years. About halfway through The Tommyknockers, I felt like I had been there, done that time and again with him. I was fed up.....

Jump forward, 11 years, to the publication of Bag of Bones. The dust jacket makes it look like typical King territory, but inside, there is a wonder to behold.

Mike Noonan, author, widower, and grief-stricken man leaves his home for the cabin he and his wife shared, Sara Laughs. There he is not only haunted by her memory, but seemingly by her voice as well. He laments that there is nowhere to escape the loss he feels, even here, and finds it impossible to resume his writing career, with deadlines looming, and his stockpile of 'backup' stories dwindling fast.

Mike is drawn into a local power-play courtesy of Max Devore, the town's resident wealthy control freak, against the mother of his three year-old granddaughter and the child herself. Mike instantly feels sympathetic and protective to them both, and finds himself biting off more than he thought in extending his friendship to them.

Suddenly, his ability to write returns, but the voices do not cease to come. And the more time Mike spends at Sara Laughs, the further he is drawn into the realm of ghosts there that extend far beyond that of his deceased wife.

Bag of Bones is not a horror novel. Do not read it expecting gremlins, ghouls, or gore...what made King famous in the first place. Do expect a tale of loss, despair, frustration, and chance to begin again after suffering a terrible loss. As I have stated in other King book reviews, the man writes best when he leaves behind the demons that lurk in shadows and under beds, and probes the demons that lie in peoples' minds instead.

This has to be my favorite of all Stephen King novels I have read, and was sufficient enough to make me take a look at some of his more recent, pre-Bones works, such as Rose Madder, and the Long Walk. For anyone who felt as I did all those years ago, that you had read it all before, pick this book up and give King another shot to entertain you.

Stephen King has been called the world's scariest novelist; however, many criticts agree that his work is too violent and his excessive use of adult language is not nesessary in his writing. However, while reading Bag of Bones, I ( having read most of his priveous novels) found that this one was different. The book is open for all readers: mystery, horror, suspence, and even romance. This book focuses on the events that happen to a widowed best selling novelist, Mike Noonan who is grieving from his wife's sudden and unexpected death. He suffers from writer's block; a case when writers fear their computers and are literally in pain when they try to write. He begins having a perpetual, repetative dream focusing on his dead wife appearing at the doorsteps of his Maine summer house he calls Sara Laughs. He packs up his belongings and moves into the old house in hope that he will ease up and begin writing again. Along the way, he meets a young woman, Mattie Devore and her daughter Kyra who are suffering from the death of Mattie's husband. Mike begins to notice supernatural occurrences that occasionally appear around Sara Laughs and realizes that they are there to help him (a) begin writing and get over the loss of his wife, and (b) help Mattie and Kyra escape from the clutches of her father in law, Max Devore who is trying to gain custody of his granddaughter. The book is incredible in that it begins a little unnearving, then towards the middle flattens itself out into a love story, and then wraps back up into King's typical scary ending. Where if you are reading in bed, late at night (as many King fans love to do) you will shutter at every noise you hear, and will be terrified of getting up, even to go the bathroom, because King has predicted this so he sets up his stories of normal people doing normal things like going to the bathroom. King also has experience describing Mike Noonan due to his own personal memoirs of his bestselling story life. This is one of the best books I have every read and you won't regret taking a few hours out of a few nights to read this.

Stephen King is like a breathe of fresh air to modern literature, and yes I said literature. I truly believe that he will still be read a hundred years from now in classrooms as a kind of Dickens of our time, popular and written off by most critics, but endearing. His characterizations by themselves make him better than most writers today, and his imagery makes him one of the best. All through his career he has given us great things, but in this book it's different.

In Bag of Bones he gives us his best work so far, a great story, wonderful characters, and a surreal small town atmosphere that he can create better than any other writer alive today. Take the three parts at once dream sequence for example. This is not the work of a hack writing only for money, this is a riveting and extremely well-written section of a book filled with such parts. The rock- throwing scene by the lake was also especially good, showing the reader pure evil in mind movie realism.

People who have dismissed King should immediatly pick up Bag of Bones, they will find out what they have been missing by skipping him. It was wonderfully written, beautifully plotted, and actually quite creepy as well (the refridgerator magnets, the knocking on the basement wall). But then, who really cares if the critics like him or not, as long as people who know can recieve enjoyment from King's work. Read this book, and you'll be happy that you did.

This is Stephen King's best novel, a master-work that could only be writing after a lifetime of experience and understanding. I was amazed at the complex story King has created here, and the life that he has breathed into it. As we begin, Mike Noonan's young wife Jo falls over dead on a grocery store parking lot - not by murder or supernatural fowl-play, but simple senseless tragedy. For years Mike drifts through the wreckage of his old life, until he decides to move into his old summer home in the backhills of Maine. Once there he runs into a little girl and her lovely mother Mattie, and Mike's chivalrous generosity sweeps him into a custody battle, defending Mattie against her rich father-in-law, Max Devore, a kind of Bill Gates turned Adolf Hitler (which is how most of Silcon Valley feels about Gates). Through his monetary influence, Devore has turned the complex social structure against Mattie, and we see just how uncomfortable life can be in a small town where people don't like you. So many things unfold - Jo's death reveals a strange mystery, Mike & Mattie's friendship turns to romance, the confrontation with Devore explodes into chilling conflict, and all the while, Mike starts hearing things at his house. The magnets on the frig are creating patterns all by themselves, bells are ringing by themselves...

King has painted so many things to perfection in these pages. Mike Noonan is a pulp fiction writer, so immediately this book opens with the authority of a Tom Clancy novel. The world of literary agents and debilitating writer's block is obviously personal experience for King. All the characters are beautiful, complete people, especially that strange mix of almost vicious gossip when these tiny communities eat at each other. Mike has known many of these people for 15 years, and yet he is still an outsider, still a city slicker. You even feel the presense of the people you never meet, those judging eyes that watch you as you drive down the streets of any small town. Max Devore as the resident Bad Guy is especially riveting, and his brief appearance is the best part of the book. King's writing style has always been a little slow, giving his characters time to live and think, and Stephen has created the perfect person to reflect this. Mike Noonan's post-tragedy life moves at that slow Am-I-Dreaming? pace, as does life in general, "on the TR." Having lost someone tragicly as Mike did, I appriciate that King allowed Mike to take his time in his grief, and feel that debilitating confusion of sadness, anger, suspision, and hopelessness. Entire months can slip right by you without so much as a whisper. And yet, there are maybe 6 huge sub-plots going working in such a beautiful web, you'll be amazed at the simple complexity of it all. Only someone working as long as King has can pull off something like Bag of Bones.

Only a few things keep this book from being one of histories greatest. First, King is still a pulp writer at heart, and this novel has some structural problems to show for it, like hardly any transition between sub-plots. The hauntings especially seem to be happening in some story, and not to our main character (the book actually could have done without it, believe it or not). Also, King lapses into lengthy "moral arguments" or explainations of the various legal aspects of the plot. The entire epiloge explains away a huge pile of lose-ends that King couldn't be bothered to wrap up properly in the climax. A more careful revision would have made this book a giant masterpiece. As it is, Bag of Bones is still well worth your time and money.

I don't even know where to begin. Just when I was ready to give up on King (thinking he'd lost "it"), he turns out this masterpiece. A page turner...couldn't put it down....will keep you up all night....these phrases don't begin to describe this book. By the way it is just as good the second time...and the third time...and...well you get the picture. Mike Noonan is an incredible character and his story is gripping beyond words. You can almost feel his sorrow, almost hear the love in his "voice" when he talks of his dead wife. Whether you are looking for an incredible (and yes tradgic) love story or a wonderful classic ghost story this is the book for you. I can't recommend it enough.

As readers of my reviews might notice, I'm an avid Stephen King reader, and an unshakable fan of his writing. Maybe that doesn't qualify me to write an objective review of Bag of Bones, so just accept this as an opinion rather than a critical commentary. In my view, SK reached new heights when he wrote Bag of Bones. In it, he tells the story of author, Mike Noonan's, struggle for equilibrium after his wife's tragic death.

King builds up internal conflict (Noonan getting writer's block), more internal conflict (Noonan's suspicions about his former wife), and even more internal conflict (should Noonan give way to his emotions regarding a young single mother he meets). Then King builds the external conflicts (Noonan versus the 85 year old, wheelchair-bound Max Devore. Noonan versus the residents of Castle Rock on Dark Score Lake). And then supernatural conflicts (Noonan versus the dark spirits that haunt the perimiters of the lake).

Stephen King is much more than just a horror fiction writer and, in Bag of Bones, you will meet face-to-face his intelligence of voice and his craftsmanship (the indelible sense of place, the well-fleshed characters, the unstoppable story line). You will also be struck by the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination.

Bestselling author Mike Noonan, suffering from writer's block and still mourning his wife's untimely death of a few years earlier, returns to their summer home on the coast of Maine. Searching for inspiration and answers, he finds himself regarded with suspicion by most of the town's populace, although he makes the friendship of a young widow who is engaged in a fierce custody battle with her very powerful father-in-law. Cryptic messages left in his home convince him he's not alone, and lead him to uncover a chilling mystery that's far greater than he could have imagined.

BAG OF BONES is by turns a legal drama, a romance, a mystery and a ghost story, and that last takes a back seat for much of the book. King wisely baits us with hints -- a quiet incident here or there, often at the end of a chapter of heavy character and plot development. Those looking for ghouls and gore may be disappointed, but the story is all the more stronger for it. These are hauntings of the fairly typical variety, and it's a testament to King's skill as a writer that they are more frightening than perhaps they should be to the experienced reader. It's only toward the end of the novel, where the supernatural forces come to a head, that it loses some of its credibility. It's a final confrontation that rivals those in "The Library Policeman" or "The Sun Dog" -- not a good thing -- and cheapens what was a high quality read. But this is just a small flaw (it's a big book.) I'm pleased to number BAG OF BONES among King's best.

I hadn't picked up a King book for quite a while, because in my view he had begun cranking 'em out after such stunners as Salem's Lot and The Stand (which for sheer sweep will never be bettered in the genre). This book didn't do much to dispel the notion. "Bag of Bones" seems to be fairly self-indulgent for King, and I found myself skipping over the pages and pages and pages and pages of material in which the narrator philosophizes about himself, his life, his writing, his dead wife, his writing, his lack of writing and, oh yes, did he mention his writing? The three or four contemporary American authors who were NOT mentioned in this book should probably feel left out -- everybody else was. To me the process was pretty much like skipping over the pages and pages and pages of material in Tom Clancy's post-"Patriot Games" ouevre, in which he tries to demonstrate that he knows more about the nuts and bolts and computer chips of modern military technology than anybody in the universe and bores this reader, for one, way past silly.

The story in this book is a gripping one, but I think it could have been told in about two-thirds of the 762 pages. Toward the end of the book there is also a great deal of in-your-face historical political correctness -- so much so that at moments it felt like Rita Mae Brown was standing over King's shoulder as he wrote. And finally, for me there was a problem with one of the key characters in the book -- the three year old heroine who is incapable of pronouncing the word "refrigerator", but is completely capable of having complex philosophical conversations in multi-part, grammatically correct sentences when called upon to do so. Psychic maybe, but Kyra Devore doesn't behave like any three-year-old I've ever seen.

Stephen King writes in the afterword to the book that he hopes that it kept me, the reader, awake at least one night. Nope. "Salem's Lot" kept me sleeping with the lights on for about a week. "Bag of Bones" sure did not.

In writing Bag of Bones, Stephen King has managed something that few successful writers ever accomplish: he has defied popular conception of his work and produced a book that far exceeds any expectations. Termed "evolutionary" by some, Bag of Bones is exactly that: King's aptitude for the supernatural and his ability for human drama fully interwoven and taken to the next level, his already exceptional talent evolved into something even more sweeping and impressive. The protagonist, popular novelist Mike Noonan, is haunted both by the death of his wife and the unassailable writer's block that has descended upon him. Unable to cope with the anguish of the blank page, and unable to lay his questions surrounding his wife's death to rest, he begins to search for answers...and is led back to his summer home, an old cottage on the edge of Darkscore lake called Sara Laughs. There he begins to unravel a mystery buried deep in the past, a mystery that had drawn his wife and possibly killed her and which threatens to consume him as well. The cover declares Bag of Bones a "haunted ghost story" and that is exactly what it is. King's powerful narrative and attention to detail creates a tale that is as much about love, loss and revenge as it is about ghosts. The emotional impact this story contains is surprising - I absolutely fell in love with Mattie, and her daughter Kyra and invariably found myself grinning whenever Kyra exclaimed "Don't taggle your quartermack!". Mattie's desperate fight to keep her daughter away from her vindictive grandfather Max Devore was every bit as engrossing as the mystery of the ghosts of Sara Laughs, and the ending resonated with an unforgettable tone of tragedy and emotional upheaval that left me stunned. To a non-fan I say: forget everything you think you know about Stephen King and read this book. You will begin to appreciate him for the artist he truly is. To regular readers of King I say: this book will totally exceed your expectations, and only serve to deepen your respect for one of the greatest authors of our time