I was up until midnight last night finishing off this book, which has taken me ten years since it's original release - but unfortuneatly it was one of King's books that passed me by. However, I recently decided to go through all of King's work again, starting with Carrie, and Bag of Bones was next in line. I think the reason I delayed reading this book, was because it wasn't King's typical early "horror" style of writing - but a more developed of late King style, where he incroporates more of a supernatural, psychadelic thriller atmosphere, rather than going for all out horror and gore. This, however, isn't a bad thing, and to be honest, after reading this book, I have come to realise that King's more developed style is his best--and Bag of Bones, in my oppinion, is also his best.
Never before have I felt so involved with the characters--not to the same degree as I did with this book. It follows the story of Mike Noonan, and Irish writer living in Derry, America, who's mourning the sudden death of his wife Jo. So much so, that he encounters writers block--a writers worst nightmare. After confronting his fears of returning to his holiday home where they shared so many wonderful memories together, Mike encounters a young woman called Mattie, and her three year old daughter Kyra. Ironically enough, Mattie has problems of her own, after the death of her husband, now her extremely wealthy father-in-law is seeking custody of Kyra claiming that Mattie is not fit to be a mother. And so, the story unfolds as Mike gets involved with the case, and eventually finds the two girls irresistable.
Romance, horror, thriller, dark comedy--there's a lot of genres incorporated into one, and although my synopsis of the story makes it sound like a romance story, it's so much more than that. The story is well told, nicely paced, and the ending (although some have stated is a bit of an anti-climax) is superb. I really can't understand any of the complaints with this book, but I guess each to their own. The book leaves you satisfied, with everything that needed to be answered, answered, but leaving just enough questions to make you want to read it all again. I feel quite sad in a way to have finished this book, because the character are so real, that it's easy to get tied up in the problems that surround them. Amazingly enough, the book that surpassed me previously has ended up being possily my favourite book on my shelf. I really couldn't recommend this book enough.
