Bag of Bones - Book Review.

“I was being paid to do what I loved, and there's no gig on earth better than that; it's like a licence to steal.”

One of the admirable aspects of having a physical book is that the ‘Doodle’ side of your creative brain gets activated, at least for a while. Making shapes at the corners of a boring page, annotating with expensive sticky notes, drawing those flowers whose species is not yet comprehend by botanists. But I am limited. Not that it's my creativity is limited, but, I’m just lazy.?

I got a yellow highlighter to mark my favourite quotes and at some point, I felt that the entire book would be soaking with the yellow ink.?

Reading Kindle throughout the past two years has left me bereaved with a couple of lessons to know before I got that ‘Doodle Brain’ out while reading physical books. Moreover, when you are reading Stephen King, you must remember to highlight only the most ‘important’ and ‘necessary’ lines and not everything that felt good to you.

Because, you'll feel better with every line.

The book ‘Bag of Bones’ is one from the foursome bundle that I bought in February 2023 but still couldn't pick even one to read. I still have some books which I bought way past 2 years that I haven't still read. My romantic relationship with Kindle came to a temporary halt (until I go broke) with finishing ‘Malazan - Book of the Fallen’.?

You'd already know, by now, that I love Stephen King. The last three books that I read blew my mind. I still haven't read ‘The Stand’ or ‘IT’. But, the moment I was gliding through the first few pages of the ‘Pet Sematary’, I knew he is going to be my favourite storyteller.?

‘Bag of Bones’ keeps the story simple. That being the biggest pro of the story. A successful writer, who lost his wife due to accidental bursting of her Brain Aneurysm, goes into a writer’s block. The stories that he wrote earlier to his wife’s death saves his ass for the next four years until he runs out of stories to sell and none in his head.?

He loses interest in writing as well as pursuing his career further as a writer, as he already has had his fair share of success with the art. But, a writer, however successful he is, feels a large void inside his soul when he realised that he cannot write any more. It's like a big part of his existence getting drained with a small flood that couldn't even sweep the dry branches of a tree away.

In the pursuit of his desire to lose the block and also with the reasons that you’ll find out in the book, he goes back to his second house in a different town which was empty since last four years. Now you’d start getting all the spooks already. Stephen King has kept most of these parts simple.?

There lived a single lady with her kid in that town who had lost her husband just before, a few months. By this time, I bet you’d be fantasising to read those parts where they roll over each other and fondle but, my friends, get ready to be disappointed.?

?King’s expertise lies majorly in the way he tells a story. He keeps you on the track, allowing you to guess at some parts, but doesn’t give away too much that you start demanding a portion of his brain to stay. He pushes you away where you think you got everything clearly, and pulls you back without letting you wear a mask that says ‘I’m lost, and this writer ditched me’.?

Back to the story, our writer goes to his home ‘Sara Laughs’ where he literally hears her laugh. And someone else is crying. One would just yeet themselves away out of such creepy houses, but our generous protagonist got a girl and her ‘Beautiful’ mother to save.?

His long gone wife starts coming into the picture, is where the story unfolds itself into the history of the town, darker and deeper with villains lurking out across different timelines.?

Now, it's our protagonist Mr. Noonan’s duty to right all those wrongs and save the town and its kids. Let me limit my spoiling capabilities to this or else Max Devoré is going to drown me inside the creepy dark lake !!!

This book carries a similar vibe to the previous King novel that I read, ‘Needful Things’, and almost all of his stories seem to be happening at the same time across some neighbouring towns.? I just jumped out of my revolving chair when I read the name ‘Alan Pangborn’ at the very end of the epilogue. The multiverse is connecting and ‘Derry’ seems to be the epicentre.?

Although not so popularly admired by his fans, this book succeeded to give me chills at some parts and 730 pages felt like just a hundred. They could as well have felt like fifty pages if not for some parts in the middle.?

King uses a simple language to immerse into his American culture, whatever timeline he wants us to get immersed into. Even though one had never visited the country, he’d feel like an American just by reading these books. That's some hell lot of talent mastered by few people on this planet. Taking simple storylines and making spine-chilling stories is his unique expertise. Keep it simple-Keep is scary as hell !!

Although the instances of grief of loss of loved ones and the passage of a person through grief is not heart-wrenching as ‘Pet Sematary’, the Horror side of these books wouldn't fall short in competing with the latter. You would definitely expect that some aspects could be dwelled a little deeper, but you'd not want, so may door stopper all at once at your bookshelf.?

I felt Stephen King perfectly finished the book in 730 pages, neither short nor so long.?

Guys, I would recommend you Stephen King at any given day on any time. He is my favourite. But I rate this book one star short of the five because that is what my brain is telling.

Sometime, heart is not the only thing that speaks and laughs, Sara does too !!

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