Blaze: A Novel by Richard Bachman
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Book Reviews of Blaze: A Novel
Book Review: BLAZE IS GOOD!
Summary: 5 Stars
Blaze was written in the early part of King's career but never published. He dusted it off and released it--and we should be glad. It's top notch; the characters are great and the story is touching, a bit like Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men actually.
So you know, Blaze doesn't read like the first five Bachman books--with a flat mean tone. The writing style is more like Skeleton Crew or Misery; the sentence structure flows smoothly and the story breathes a bit. The story is not horror, nor is it as soft as Hearts in Atlantis or the Green Mile. It sits in the middle somewhere. This is not a bad thing, just saying. It is also a fast-paced read, for those of you that like the story to zip along. I know I do.
If king lost you along the way somewhere, this one could bring you back to the fold.
James Roy Daley, author of The Dead Parade
The Dead Parade
Book Review: Loved this book
Summary: 5 Stars
I wish Stephen King(Richard Bachman) wrote more tales like this that are more on the drama side as oppose to the horror. I also like the flow of the book without a lot of extra pages for the mind processing he sometimes gets into in his books. I prefer the shorter and to the point type stories. I think this one would make a good movie.
Book Review: Fantastic Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Absolutely incredible! It is impossible to put down. It didn't take me any more than three nights to read it. There isn't one boring sentence in the entire book.Book Review: Wonderful book - EXACTLY as described
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful item, this book is exactly as the seller described it. It will be a wonderful gift!! Thanks so much!!Book Review: Simple, Touching Storytelling
Summary: 4 Stars
I read at work, but one day I left my current book at home. A co-worker brought BLAZE in case she'd finished her current book during the night shift, and I was much obliged to borrow it when she offered to have something to read.
From the above paragraph, you can probably tell it was more a matter of circumstance than desire that I set to reading BLAZE. Now I like Mr. King, the book I left was actually a DARK TOWER book, it's just that this looked like another one of King's 'over a weekend' works. Not to call it 'throw away' by any means, but somewhat uninspired work like THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. Compulsively readable mind you, but insubstantial in concept.
Anyway, I was more than pleased to find BLAZE, a 'Trunk Novel', an emotionally sweet and simultaneously heart wrenching story. Sometimes What bothers me most about King is the idiocyncracies of his writing, such as his many parentheses, and his colloquial New England speech. These were fine to me at first, but as I have read close to 30 of King's books, it has begun to mildly detract from my enjoyment. Consider it like a roommate you have lived with too long and who's habits irritate you where you once thought they were charming. You like them just fine, but need a break sometimes so as not to let the annoyances ruin an otherwise good respect for them.
In BLAZE, King attempts to write in a more clipped - read Noirish - style, and consequently left out many of those attributes that I stumble over. It's King, but with an altered style that allows you to rediscover what a gifted and moving writer he can be rather than just trying to scare you.
The Protaginist, Clayton 'Blaze' Blaisdell, who's IQ has been irreparably altered by an abusive father, gets by on sheer luck for most of the novel, in attempting a kidnapping even though the 'brains' behind the operation has died prior. His luck never feels like a lazy plot device, however; Instead it is more like Karma paying back a man who has been dealt a terrible hand by society, if only until luck eventually runs out.
In one chapter, a summer at a farming camp is described with the bittersweet nostalgia of one perfect moment in youth that can never happen again. It actually teared me up, which is something that King rarely does to me. Towards the end, it becomes apparent that 'Blaze' has other forces at work in his brain, and the story takes a dramatic (although believeable) turn as antagonists other than the Police attempt to change Blaze's plans. I won't spoil it, but it's is rather chilling. Thats how I would sum up how this book excells so well at moving the reader; it is from one chapter to the next uplifting, funny, and heart-wrenching. King changes the resonance from one to the other elegantly, and it never clashes.
I would urge anyone who enjoyed King's RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, or THE BODY, to give BLAZE a chance. It is an uncommonly touching and moving story, while never being emotionally exploitative.