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From a Buick 8
by Stephen King
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Scribner (2002-09-24)
ISBN: 0743211375
EAN: 9780743211376
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Hardcover: 368 pages
Release Date: 2002-09-24
SKU: 03283
Condition: Collectible: Very Go
Comments: First edition with full number line. Hardback with dust jacket in great condition. Still has poster inside.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew immediately that this one was...wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than dangerous -- and that it would be better if John Q. Public never found out about it. Curt's avid curiosity taking the lead, they investigated as best they could, as much as they dared. Over the years the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still life painting that breathes -- inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of whatever world it came from. In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his 18-year-old boy Ned starts coming by the barracks, mowing the lawn, washing windows, shoveling snow. Sandy Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it's the boy's way of holding onto his father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he looks in the window of Shed B and discovers the family secret. Like his father, Ned wants answers, and the secret begins to stir, not only in the minds and hearts of the veteran troopers who surround him, but in Shed B as well.... From a Buick 8 is a novel about our fascination with deadly things, about our insistence on answers when there are none, about terror and courage in the face of the unknowable.
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Amazon.com Review
Stephen King, an evil car, and a teenage boy coming to terms with the fragility and randomness of life.... Wait, haven't we read this before? Diehard King fans, worry not. Aside from the titular car playing a main role in the story, From a Buick 8 could not be less like King's 1983 masterpiece, Christine. If anything, this story resembles King's serial novel The Green Mile, with reminiscing police characters flashing back on bizarre events that took place decades earlier. The book's intriguing plot revolves around the troopers of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D, who come into possession of what at first appears to be a vintage automobile. Closer inspection and experimentation conducted by the troopers reveal that this car's doors (and trunk) sometimes open to another dimension populated by gross-out creatures straight out of ... well, a Stephen King novel. As the plot progresses, the veteran troopers' tales of these visits from interdimensional nasties, and the occasional "lightquakes" put on by the car, are passed on to the son of a fallen comrade whose fascination with the car bordered on dangerous obsession. Unlike earlier King works, there is no active threat here; no monster is stalking the heroes of the story, unless you count the characters' own curiosity. In past books, King has terrorized readers with vampires, werewolves, a killer clown, ghosts, and aliens, but this time around, the bogeyman is a more passive, cerebral threat, and one for which they don't make a ready-to-wear Halloween costume--man's fascination with and fear of the unknown. While some readers may find this tale less exciting than the horror master's earlier works, From a Buick 8 is a wonderful example of how much King's plotting skills and literary finesse have matured over his long career. And, most of all, it's a darn creepy book. --Benjamin Reese
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Customer Reviews
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Worst of King
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-09-23
"I am a huge Stephen King fan - normally.
However, I have to say that this is one of the worst books he has ever written. I must add that, in all fairness, the writing style is vintage King. The story progression was terrific.
It was the ending that was so lacking it left you feeling like you had just fell asleep and missed the ending to a movie that was only going to be shown once in your lifetime. It was as if King came up with this great idea, an idea so epic that he had to create a story around it, but he never did an outline first; he had NO ending, no explanation. It's as if he spent months writing the tale and wracked his brain for meaning or explanation and, in the end, couldn't some up with one, so he just ended it.
He tried this at the end of his Dark Tower series. He tried to tell us that it was just about the story. It is about the story, but the story is a build up to an end. At least with the DT series he did give us an ending. I have heard people say they didn't like the ending, but at least it was and ending.
From a Buick 8 had NO ending.
Don't buy this book. Don't borrow this book and read it. Don't waste your time. Read It, The Stand, Carrie, Pet Semetary, or any of his other terrific books. Skip this one."
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From a Buick 8
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-07-16
What a nightmare this story is! And Stephen King does a breathtakingly adept job of guiding us through it with ease. State Troopers in Pennsylvania encounter a Buick, which is not really a Buick. The horrific and impossible plot is made so incredibly real with King's masterful skill. The plot meanders between the past and the present, as the story of the Buick unravels. The characters, as always in a King novel, are amazingly authentic and readily invoke our compassion. This is one of my favorite King novels of all. I highly recommend it. Just be sure the lights are on!
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A chore.
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-04-29
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
**REVIEW HAS SPOILERS**
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty big King fan, but this book was absolutely terrible. I really only have two complaints about this book:
1. It was too wordy. I know that King is known for this, but in this novel it was out of control. This 500 page book should have been a short story, or maybe a novella at most. Instead of plot, 90% of this book is filled with pointless descriptions and fluff. There were times when I skipped pages at a time without missing anything of significance.
2. The format of the story was unnecessary. Bouncing between the past and present was stupid, and telling the story from different characters' perspectives was even worse. Both of these devices work in the right context, and this book was NOT that context. First of all, the entire book should just be a flashback. Second of all, I didn't feel like I gained any additional insight by switching the first person narration around. It was completely unnecessary and ruined the natural flow of the book. This story should have been told in the standard, third person narration.
There were aspects of the novel that I did like. The overall concept was an interesting one. I also liked the fact that we never really found out much about the car. That was an interesting angle because the reader knew exactly what the characters knew and nothing more. This novel also had a handful of great, quotable statements. I wish I'd written them down, but I remember that one was, "We spoil the grief-stricken have you ever noticed that? And they become used to the treatment."
In a nutshell: Don't. While this novel does have its moments, overall it's slow pace and length make it almost unreadable.
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Middle of the road King; it's still fun.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-03-03
"From a Buick 8" is neither King's best nor his worst. It strikes me as about average for his recent (ie: post-accident) books. Still, it is a fun read. If the story lacks a bit in the substance department, it is more than compensated by King's always reliable story TELLING talents. I swear the man could make a recounting of what he had for breakfast interesting. Bottom line: if you are new to King, there are better titles of his that I'd recommend to cut your teeth on; if you're a King fan, "From a Buick 8" is a worth while notch to add to your belt.
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Spectacular imagery
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-28
This book stays with you for a long while after you put it down. King creates such atmosphere and the characters are all so engaging. I felt as if I were standing in that old dusty shed looking at a run down Buick. Not only will this book cause you to break out in "goose flesh", but it will cause you to feel such empathy for each person and genuinely care about what happens to them. How many authors are capable of this?? I am astonished at the negative reviews on here to be honest. I'm very happy that I don't read book reviews until afer I'm finished w/ the actual product!! Keep on pumping them out Mr. King, I'd read the back of a box of cereal if you wrote it.....
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