From a Buick 8

Like all of King's books, this one is about memory and the psychology of the subconscious. It's about getting inside the heads of the characters and seeing what rattles around. This is about a boy who losses his father and finds a new family in the men who had shared a secret with his dad. The decision to use multiple actors fits the style of the book perfectly, and makes the structure of the book easy to follow, even though it has multiple narrators and spans 25 years. To specifically address the complaint that the book doesn't go anywhere, maybe those folks missed one of the main points of the book; the repudiation of the "childish insistence that the story must have an ending, and that the ending must hold some kind of answer." As for lack of action, I disagree strongly. Most of the "action" in any Stephen King book is actually the tension around some event that he's already told you is coming, and he does a masterful job in this, as usual. He does an amazing job of keeping the tension building for long stretches of time, without any break or chance for release. The only reason that I can come up with for why some people didn't like this book is the fact that there are parts that made me truly uncomfortable. And this wasn't the supernatural "horror" stuff, it was some of the harsh realities of police work and life.

I never write reviews of books, but I had to after seeing that only negative reviews have been posted on Buick 8 so far. I guess I can understand why some people found this boring, but I am appalled to see that no one has disagreed yet.

I found Buick 8 to be a very human, very engrossing and unique tale. Yet again King takes a premise that cannot even be described (without sounding stupid) and makes it utterly believable, and at times terrifying. I respectfully disagree with the other reviewers, if you are a Stephen King fan, give Buick 8 a chance.

This is not the classic Steven King horror action story but it has great characters. I think that the narration style is one of the best I have heard. The story is told by several different characters and therefore narrated by several different actors. This makes the story work better than if you read it.

If you're looking for a story that's big on non-stop action, or in which someone dies a gruesome death in the first 10 pages - this AIN'T it. If you're looking for something with great character development - people that you can empathize with: a story basically about how life goes on, regardless of how strange things get some times - this is definitely it. Not typical King, but a great read nonetheless.

I've been a Stephen King reader since 1979 (I was about 9 years old then) and I've enjoyed his books for years. This audiobook was such a pleasure to listen to. I loved hearing the different characters by such talented actors and the story really came alive for me. The overall tone of this story, since it's a "memory" has a nice quality to it, and I loved how Sandy really came to learn something from the experience and the memory of Ned's father - the father and son relationship being a good thing is not something you read about very often. I was not happy when the story ended but I liked everything about the story - the characters, narrative, the relationships and how everyone had come full circle at the end. Worth every penny!

I found myself listening to this story over and over. It keeps getting better and better each I hear it. The details bring it to life. I would never believed that a car story would be more than a another "Christine move". Boy, am I glad that liked the author's name enough to buy this one. What I would have missed! This is money well spent! I am in love with audio books because of this story. I can't wait to buy more books by this arthur!

I am an Over the road truck driver, and had the chance to read this book while home on vacation. I loved the book so much I got it in Audio format and listened while driving from Albany NY to Kent, Wa. I was able to pick up more on the audio format from the book than when I read it.

this is another great book from Stephen King. a good book to listen to and keep you wanting to hear how the story ends.

I almost passed over this little gem after reading some of the other reviews. Yes, it is a bit slower than many of his other books, so if you are looking for trademark King terror, you won't find it here. What you will find is a thought-provoking bit of King philosophy that is both surprising and satisfying. If you can stick around for the last few chapters, you won't be disappointed.

"From a Buick 8" is written in my favorite King style... nostalgic, capturing from page one, and with a story line that has not been done before.

As always, the reader will be in the Stephen King vacuum just minutes after the story begins, and quickly sucked up into his character's world.

I often have read great books, and am sorry when they end. This novel made me wish I hadn't started it yet.

I passed this one by somehow a long time ago. So glad I found my way back to it.

One book I wished had finished 200 pages earlier. The story was told through the eyes of talking-head characters of an extra-dimensional car that ate people or whatever and spit them out in another time and place, or vomited gross things into the garage.

The characters were forgettable. Their job was to tell a young boy everything weird that happened since the Buick 8 was stored in the Sheriff?s garage. This muted any sense of action or progress in the story, making it dull. There was never a sense of urgency, no drama, no plot complications, and no problem to solve. The boy passively listened to the recollections of the deputies and workers who saw things happen.