Christine – something prehistoric had awakened

There were two main reasons why I decided to read Christine. Firstly, since I began my Stephen King reading journey, I’ve been discussing his books with a colleague at work who has been reading King for literally decades. She recommended Christine and said she just found the concept of an inanimate object becoming possessed fascinating. Secondly, if you’ve read my blog about It, you’ll know how much I love the story – It is probably the best King book I’ve read (so far). Christine makes an appearance in It so this made me intrigued about the book. I am not going to go into detail about the story itself because I want to focus on how this book is connected to King’s other work and his overall cosmology. I have not yet read The Dark Tower series so much of King’s cosmology is still unknown to me however as I am reading his work I am making connections to his key concepts.

So who (or what) is Christine? Christine is a car, a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury to be precise. The year 1958 (1957 – 58) reoccurs in Stephen King’s books and to me the year is a clear connection between Christine and It. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say Christine is the prequel to It but the entity possessing Christine (and LeBay) in my mind is the same as the entity – or certainly a manifestation – of It.

Although Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury, she was actually manufactured in 1957. It, the book, is set in two times periods, 1957 – 58 and 1984 – 85, so Christine’s existence corresponds with Its first time period. If the entity that possesses Christine is the same as It, what is It exactly? It (also referred to as Pennywise and Bob Gray) apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe. It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine. It arrived on earth in prehistoric times and existed before our universe was created by the Turtle who is his natural enemy.

Chronologically, It comes after Christine however I read It first. When I read the passage below from Christine, the connection was confirmed. The passage is the aftermath of when Christine, with the help of the corpse of Lebay, kills Buddy:

“From the far side, Christine’s engine ranked up into an exhaust-crackling bellow of triumph that struck the frowning, snow-covered uplands of Squantic Hills and then echoed back.

“On the far verge of Squantic Lake, some ten miles away as the crow flies, a young man who had gone out for a cross-country ski by starlight heard the sound and suddenly stopped, his hands on his poles and his head cocked.

“Abruptly the skin on his back prickles into bumps, as if a goose had just walked over his grave, and although he knew it was only a car somewhere on the side – sound carried a long way up here on still winter nights – his first thought was that something prehistoric had awakened and had tracked its prey to earth: a great wolf, or perhaps a sabre-toothed tiger.

“The sound was not repeated and he went on his way.” 

 I interpreted this passage to reveal that the young man who heard Christine, intuitively felt that the entity was prehistoric. The young man heard Christine when the entity had just killed Buddy. I am of the opinion that the entity that possessed LeBay and Christine is the same entity as It. I haven’t heard this theory bandied about by other Stephen King readers, I came up with the theory myself so I haven’t fully developed it or worked out its significance.  

Christine was first published in 1983, the film was released the same year, so this year celebrates its 30^th anniversary. Below is a link of an interview Stephen King had with Randy Lofficier in 1984 about Christine:

http://appleworld.ekmdigitalvault.com/DVPublic/appleworld/PAF/CHRISTINE-INTERVIEW.pdf

The interview gives great incite to King’s intentions when wrote Christine. King is asked whether Christine is evil herself, of whether LeBay makes her evil. King replied that this was an issue ‘the film people’ wrestled with and decided that the car itself was the source of evil. In contrast to the film, King stated the book suggests that it’s probably LeBay. As I’ve already stated, I think the source is much bigger and older than LeBay!

 I really enjoyed the film and loved the theme tune! The story is slightly altered, but compared to other King adaptations, it’s not bad. I definitely recommend watching the film after reading the book! The book does drag in parts however it is definitely worth pursuing to the end! I enjoyed Christine, it’s not King’s best book but it’s a must read as Christine plays an iconic role making numerous appearances in the universe of Stephen King.

PROLOGUE: Stumbling across Stephen King

2013: the year I decided to finally read Stephen King. Of course I have always been familiar with his stories and from a very young age I was exposed to the films based on his books – even though I wasn’t supposed to. I’ve always been attracted to material that my evangelical childhood household would certainly not approve of in fact prohibit. The attraction was much more than just the fact that such material was prohibited however, I’ve always felt connected to the dark and the strange. It was only however in 2013 did I finally make the conscious decision to read Stephen King.

It began after listening to a radio 4 discussion about The Shining just before Christmas 2012. In a nutshell, it was commented that the novel simply must be read. I remember watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining when I was about 11 and I just devoured its apparent obscurity. This memory and the radio 4 commentary were persuasive enough for me to decide that The Shining will be the next book I’ll read.

One of my 2012 Christmas presents was a Waterstones’ voucher and knew exactly how I would use it. After Christmas I went to Waterstones to look for The Shining. Stephen King’s books were ‘buy one get the other half price’ so, like a good consumer without necessarily intending to buy a second Stephen King book, I decided it would make sense to see if there was another one that looked enticing. I then came across It.

Picking up It, I remembered the news agent down the road where I had grown up had the iconic film poster of It next to the videos to rent for most of my childhood. I remembered watching the beginning of the film when I was very young, Pennywise talking to Georgie from the drains, but I didn’t actually watch it all the way through for some reason. These familiar memories of It were good enough reasons to buy the book together with The Shining to make good use of the ‘deal’.

Not being an overly cynical person, I do make new year’s resolutions. One of my 2013 new year’s resolutions was to read more. I had my copy of The Shining and my copy of It which would enable me to fulfil this resolution. As I bought It as consequence of buying The Shining, I decided to read The Shining first – also It is 1376 pages long. I have to confess that reading The Shining took me longer than I first imagined. Not because I didn’t enjoy reading it, but because I had been out of the habit of reading and didn’t commit to reading every day.

My birthday is in February: my partner, among other things of course, bought me Carrie and Misery to read. I have to confess initially I wasn’t thrilled. Perhaps it was the guilt of still not finishing The Shining and then having 1376 pages of It to read after that. I do have a track record or starting books but not finishing them. I may have initially been concerned about my growing reading list, but this was indeed crucial to me becoming an avid Stephen King reader – I won’t use the term ‘fan’.

I finished reading The Shining in February 2013 on a Saturday morning. I had recently bought Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining DVD in preparation to watch after I would finish the book. Straight away after finishing the book I put the DVD on – I hadn’t watched the film in about 15 years so it was almost like watching it for the first time. After watching the film, I was completely taken aback at how different the book and the film were. Specifically I was very disappointed with the portrayal of Jack Torrance in the film – criticising the film however I would find out is sacrilege.

Comparing the book and the film of The Shining, I immediately developed a raw appreciation, which would become passion, for Stephen King in book form. I needed to start my second Stephen King book. Although I intended to move on to It, I now had Carrie and Misery. At the beginning of a Hodder and Stoughton Stephen King book, it lists all the books they have published for Stephen King. Reading through this impressive list, I discovered that Carrie was Stephen King’s first published novel. Carrie is a very small book so it made sense to me to make this book my next read. I also remember watching the film as a pre-adolescent so I thought it would be fun to watch the film again after I would finish the book – although my memory of it was very poor.

I started reading Carrie and unsurprisingly it was a page turner. In anticipation that I would read the book quickly, I thought I should buy the DVD. I found and purchased on Amazon a Stephen King box set which consisted of Misery, The Dark Half and Carrie. Perfect. I was unfamiliar with The Dark Half, but when I would read Misery, I would be able to watch the DVD straight away afterwards. I’d finished reading Carrie within a week without much effort and could watch the film straight away.

The differences between the book and the film of Carrie were nowhere near as stark as The Shining, but they were still there – specifically the ending. Of course a book and a film are never going to be the same. I suddenly became fascinated with the process for a screenplay writer to turn a novel into a film. I needed to discuss this with someone, anyone.

Straight away after watching Carrie I moved onto Misery – probably because I was still intimidated by 1376 pages. Again, like The Shining and Carrie, as soon as I finished reading the book I watched the film. As described in Misery, I had well and truly developed the ‘gotta’. I needed an outlet, space to analyse, discuss STEPHEN KING.

2013: a year to be excited about Stephen King. The sequel to The Shining (1977) is set to be released in September. Joyland, Stephen King’s second published novel by Hard Case Crime is set to be released in June. A re-make of the film Carrie is being released in cinemas in time for Halloween.

With my new found obsession in the same year that big upcoming events are taken place led me to conclude that I needed a forum to express all things Stephen King. I know I was attracted to Stephen King because of my natural curiosity and interest in the macabre so I wanted to consolidate my related interests within the same space. This finally gave birth to King of Macabre – a space to analyse, discuss, debate etc. all things King and all things macabre.

I am currently reading It and I am no longer intimidated by the 1376 pages because it is not a chore and I am so glad I made that off-the-cuff decision to purchase It. After reading It, I will watch the film and now I have the forum to write about it! My plan is to then read The Dark Tower series. I am so excited!