Book Review: From a Buick 8- Stephen King

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‘From a Buick 8’ is all about a Buick 8-cylinder that turned up at a gas station in Pennsylvania one day. Sounds innocuous enough right? But this is Stephen King and things are rarely as simple as that with him. This particular Buick is highly irregular; it’s exhaust system is made of glass and there is an uneven number of windows on the sides. When it’s driver disappears and abandons it at the gas station, the local police troop carts it off to their station. And that’s where the story really gets going. As it turns out the Buick is a sort of portal to another world, and every so often, it breathes. And when it does, bad things happen to the people nearby.

I don’t think it is one of Stephen’s best books. It just didn’t grab me as much as his others have done. It’s a very interesting concept, but he could have done a lot more with it. I suppose that I’ve been ruined by more satisfying science fiction and horror in the past. ‘From a Buick 8’ doesn’t sit comfortably in either genre and I think that’s a part  of what makes it so odd. I did like the set-up of the story though. The story is being told to us through several narrators and I like that. It moves along slowly, but that adds to it more than anything, it takes place over many years so I think the slow pace works really well.

The ending is highly unsatisfying, as the narrators keep warning us that it will be. It doesn’t answer any of our questions, it just tells us the story of what happened. I like that.

If ever I need to clear some space on my shelves, and the clear out reaches my Stephen King shelf, this will be the first to go. It’s good, it’s worth a read, I’m just not sure if it’s worth paying full price for. It’s one for the library or the charity shop.

Read my reviews of other Stephen King books; The Shining and Doctor Sleep.

Have a lovely day,

Alys.