I remember reading this when I was 16. My dad bought me the hardcover for my birthday, and I remember reading it on a plane. That's about all that I remember about it, though, other than a vague recollection of liking it, hence my pre-Goodreads rating of 3 stars.



Now, 16 years later (Please don't do the math. It will hurt me in my soul.), and I'm reading it again. I've picked this book up a few times over the past... maybe two years, but each time I put it back down again. It just wasn't the rig

I remember reading this when I was 16. My dad bought me the hardcover for my birthday, and I remember reading it on a plane. That's about all that I remember about it, though, other than a vague recollection of liking it, hence my pre-Goodreads rating of 3 stars.



Now, 16 years later (Please don't do the math. It will hurt me in my soul.), and I'm reading it again. I've picked this book up a few times over the past... maybe two years, but each time I put it back down again. It just wasn't the right time. But I'm glad that I read this now, because I loved it. I didn't love EVERYTHING about it, but the main, overall story, is pretty effing fantastic.



The quick and dirty summary, before we get started: Successful author Mike Noonan's wife, Jo, dies suddenly, and after Mike's suffered 4 years of lonely writer's block, he finds himself drawn to his summer home on Dark Score Lake, where things start to get weird.



Alrighty, let's get the nitpicks out of the way, shall we?



First: I get it. Mike Noonan is a successful author of romantic mystery/thrillers. That's quite clear enough from Noonan's own perspective, and from the conversations he has with his agent. So it's pretty annoying to have nearly every male character that encounters Mike to have to comment on Mike's Successful Author Status, usually in the form of The Husband Of The Fan relaying his hallowed Favorite Author Status on behalf of said wife. And often in a sort of apologetic way, as though she should really be more discerning, but he writes the stuff, and they ARE women, so it's probably OK.



In 732 pages, ONE man is reported to have read one of Mike's books, and that man is his agent. Even his publishers are women, Debra and Phyllis.



I don't really know why this bothered me quite so much. I understand that a romantic aspect being a main component of a book will make that one that appeals to more women than men. But it just seemed to be overkill. Everyone has to mention how much women love his books, even when said woman is not around. The subtext being, I guess, that these are good husbands who would catch hell if their wives poked a head out of the kitchen to ask how their days were and found out that hubby'd talked to THEIR FAVORITE AUTHOR and didn't mention that she was a huge fan. Possibly a rolling-pin to the noggin worthy offense.





Second: The dialogue. There was really some awkward dialogue in this book. I think that's been present in just about all of King's books, but as I get older, I notice it more. It's just little things, things that bother me and feel... forced? Like a 21 year old girl, the daughter of two alcoholics, who practically raised herself, and who quit highschool when she got pregnant, and now reshelves books at the library for $100/week and can barely afford to keep her trailer saying, "I apologize about calling in the first place - it's a presumption."



It's just awkward. Yes, she's smart. Yes, she's a reader of widely varying genres (described as "schizo" by our author/narrators). And yes, she's not the trailer-trash one would expect her to be. But STILL I don't think, in the late 90s, that a girl like her would talk like that. It sounds like it would be coming out of the mouth of a 45 year old WASP, calling on business.



And let's not forget about the "Make it Mike/Mattie/Rommie/George/etc" instructions that everyone has to give anyone else they talk to so that they can feel free to get all personal and call them by their first name. This book was set in 1998, not 1958. Jeez.



Finally: The repetition. This is something of a slow build of a book. Once it gets going, it goes, but... Mike is a bit slow on the uptake with some things, and so it has to kind of be knocked into his head, which takes repetition. Not only for him to get it, but I presume for the reader to get it and understand the importance as well. King often takes his time to make sure the scene is set and the symbolism and symmetry are in place before letting things get good and rockin'. I appreciate that, but I think Mike could have maybe picked up on a few things a bit faster. To me, they were pretty obvious... but then, I'm reading the book and he's living it.



Those are all of the negatives I can think of right now. I'm tired, though, and it's past my bedtime, so I'll get to the good stuff quickly.



I loved the way that this story unfolded. I love how all the little pieces of mystery eventually came together. The picture that they formed was horrible, and ugly, and hateful, and sad... but what it spawned is almost righteously beautiful in its anger and hurt. That seems like such a strange sentence to type, but I don't know how else to describe it. The things that happened should not have and I cannot help but understand the rage and the pain and the sense of betrayal... and the need for vengeance. In a way, I was rooting for her to win. I just couldn't bring myself to call her evil... not after what she'd been put through. My heart broke for her.



One thing that King does exceptionally well is build a community, and in Bag of Bones, I think this is one of his best. Very close-knit, very proud and quiet and... Maine. The way that this community exists is just as creepy and scary for their everydayness as the things that draws Mike to Sara Laughs and keeps him there.



The characters were great, and I loved the way that Mike kept his wife alive in his mind and heart. She died on the first page of the book, and yet she had such an active place in his life, and I loved her character.



I loved so much about this book. I enjoyed even the sections of nothing-much-happening, because even when nothing is happening at the moment, the reader is getting to know the characters or the community, or just taking a little walk down memory lane and getting a feel for the relationship that was so recently lost. This book was such an emotional roller-coaster, and I loved it. It had me in tears right off the bat, because one thing that King does amazingly well is writing characters that I can understand and relate to (even if sometimes they talk funny). And Jo's death right at the start of the book, and Mike's reaction to it, just got me in the feels. I understood his need to know why she had been keeping secrets, and I willingly went along with him to find out. I felt like, by the end, I'd been a silent observer of their lives.



I loved this book, and despite my criticisms, I think it's right up there among King's best. There are a lot of similarities in this book to 2006's Lisey's Story, only told from the other side of the page, if you will. In this, the writer's wife is the one to die, and in Lisey's Story, the writer himself dies. But both stories pick up from there with the coping and grieving, and the quest to understand WHY their loved one died... and what secrets they may have been keeping.



There are also several tie-ins to other novels that King's written - Insomnia, for one, and Needful Things. It's kind of a bridge between the Derry novels and the Castle Rock novels. It's not really set in either one, truly, though it passes through both.



Anyway, it's now after 1:30am and if I don't stop typing, I might just ramble on until dawn. So I'll stop now and just say that I loved this book despite it's occasional awkwardness. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and ruthless and eerie all at the same time. Good stuff. Definitely worth the read.