Authors: Hans-Ake Lilja
Then it was King’s turn. King was supposed to read from
Black House
as well, but changed his mind. Instead he read “The Revenge of Lardass Hogan,” which is part of the short story “The Body,” which can be found in the collection
Different Seasons
. The reason he did this was because Muller had enjoyed recording the story. For those of you who haven’t heard or read this one, I can tell you that it’s hilarious. Personally, I think that King is a great reader and he certainly proves it here. At one point he improvises while reading and you can hear that the audience likes it as much as I do.
Pat Conroy was last out. He is the only one who doesn’t read from one of his books. Instead, he tells the story of how he got his first book published. I haven’t read anything by Conroy and I have never heard him before, but I must say that he steals the show completely! His performance is the one that is the most fun, even if King and Grisham talk about King’s close followers. The way he talks about the first time he hears how much he’s getting for the book made me howl with laughter.
Erica Muller talks, and her and Frank’s daughter keeps interrupting and asking what she is doing. Even though it’s rather funny, it really gives the situation a touching feeling. You really feel that this is a real person and you really feel how Erica is suffering…
Lilja’s final words about
The Wavedancer Benefit (audio)
This is a chance for you to hear four great authors speak and to help Frank Muller, a man who has given us many hours of enjoyment by recording books on tape—don’t miss it! Then, when you have listened in and enjoyed all the performances, you might feel that you want more and start reading works from one or more of the authors you’ve just heard. I know I will. So, you see, buying this audiobook is a win-win situation for everyone: you will get two hours of great entertainment, and Frank Muller will get the help he deserves! Buy it today!
****
From a Buick 8
Posted: August 19, 2002
From a Buick 8
tells the story of a Buick that isn’t from this world, left by a man in a black coat at a gas station in 1979. Pretty soon it’s apparent that there is something really strange about the car.
The Buick ends up in Shed B at the local Pennsylvania State Police headquarters. All the fellows in Troop D become really interested, but trooper Curt Wilcox gets obsessed.
What’s so strange about the car then? Well, for starters, it can’t get dirty. If you put a piece of dirt on its tires it will fall off within a few seconds. Its interior is fake and the car can’t be driven.
Troopers from Troop D tell the story, which mostly consists of narrations from Sandy, Eddie, Shirley, Huddie and the Swedish janitor, Arky Arkanian. Both they and Wilcox’s son, Curt, tell us what happened from the day the car was abandoned up until today.
After a while it becomes apparent that the Buick is some sort of gateway to another world that goes both ways. During the years it sits in the shed out at Troop D, several people go missing (who are taken by the Buick) and unidentifiable things get out from the Buick’s trunk.
Every time there is something or someone coming out of the trunk of the Buick it’s preceeded by purple lightning. At first all of the troopers are afraid that the lightning is something really dangerous, but it proves harmless…as long as you don’t enter the shed.
Curt, the one who takes charge when it comes to the Buick, puts two gerbils, Jimmy and Roslyn, in the car when it’s time for one of its lightning episodes. Only one of them returns.
In
From a Buick 8
, King tells the story in a rather slow and nice pace. He uses “NOW” and “THEN” to tell what time the chapters are set in. The mix of the present and the past is, as usual, greatly handled by King. One difference between
From a Buick 8
and most other books by King is the conclusion. In
From a Buick 8
, we don’t get an explanation as to what the Buick is, where it came from, where its driver went or what will become of the Buick. It’s all up to us, the Constant Readers, to figure it out for ourselves, which is quite nice.
There aren’t many connections to King’s other works in
From a Buick 8
. The only one that I found is the mention of Inside View (the same magazine that appears in
The Dead Zone
and “The Night Flier”). Another connection is the mention of Cynthia Garris. In the book she is a waitress, but in reality she is the wife of Mick Garris, the same man who directed King’s
The Shining
and
The Stand
, to name a few.
It took King two years to finish
From a Buick 8
. King started it in 1999 and finished it in 2001. This wasn’t because King was writing slowly; it was because of the accident he was in. King had written a first draft before the accident, but felt that he needed to get more information about both Pennsylvania and the Troop. This wasn’t possible with his injuries though. If the accident hadn’t happened, we probably would have seen this one before
Dreamcatcher
(released in 2001).
Lilja’s final words about
From a Buick 8
From a Buick 8
is a really good book. It’s an easy read and it’s a great story. Many people have raised the concern that it would be too much like
Christine
…let me tell you this: don’t worry.
From a Buick 8
is nothing like
Christine
apart from the fact that they are both about cars.
This might be King’s last “normal” book (not counting the upcoming
Dark Tower
books)—he has hinted that it might be.
From a Buick 8
is a great last book. It shows King’s ability to tell a really good story. Go get it now!
****
From a Buick 8 (audio)
Posted: October 20, 2002
I just finished the audio version of
From a Buick 8
and I’m really happy I did! Some years ago I really didn’t like audiobooks very much. I thought that you had to read the book yourself to fully appreciate it. Was I wrong or was I wrong? When I listened to
From a Buick 8
I had read the book about a month before, so I had it fresh in my mind. I could really compare the two versions and the impression I had of the story afterwards.
Even though I don’t think you should stop reading the book (that would be a mistake), I don’t think you should skip the audio either—especially not
From a Buick 8
. What is different with
From a Buick 8
, you might ask? Well, the biggest difference is the number of narrators. It doesn’t have one reader like most audiobooks have; it has no fewer than six.
When I first heard that six people would share the task of reading
From a Buick 8
, I thought it would be a difficult dramatization to make successful. There have been some good ones, but they are really hard to make work, especially with such a long book as
From a Buick 8
. Then, when I heard that it would be a “regular” audiobook but with different narrators for different characters, I was really eager to hear the finished result. I wasn’t disappointed.
All the readers do a great job, but my favorite is Becky Ann Baker as Shirley. You may remember Becky from
Storm of the Century
,
where she plays Ursula Godsoe. She will also be reading “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” on the second audio collection from
Everything’s Eventual
,
The Man in the Black Suit
, so if you like her, we have a lot to look forward to.
Her interpretation of Shirley gives the character a depth that wasn’t there when I read the book myself. I especially like her comments on men. They are hilarious!
Another voice that is interesting is Stephen Tobolowsky as Arky. Unfortunately, the two Stephens (King and Tobolowsky) don’t know how a Swedish accent sounds. You see, Arky (who is often referred to as “That dumb Swede”) is supposed to be of Swedish descent and have a heavy Swedish accent. Now, I am Swedish and I have never heard anyone here speak English with such an accent. It could be that this is the accent a Swede gets after living in the U.S. for a long time, but I’m still skeptical. This, however, has nothing to do with the story itself and is probably only interesting to people in Sweden, but I felt I wanted to mention it here. After all, I am a Swede. There is one time when they get it right, though. At the end (I think it’s on disc eleven) he says “Jesus,” and that sounds exactly like Swedish!
Besides reading the role of Arky, Tobolowsky also reads Huddie’s part and does so very well. If you don’t know that, you won’t realize that it’s the same man reading both roles. He really does a great job!
The narrator of the story (who actually does a better job than Tobolowsky speaking Swedish) is James Rebhorn. He has one of the best-suited voices for reading audiobooks I have ever heard. It’s like he was born to do it. Unfortunately, it’s a bit frustrating in the beginning. [You see, Rebhorn is the narrator and in the beginning most of the things are told in Sandy’s perspective.] This makes it sound like it’s Rebhorn who is reading the role of Sandy. Then, when Bruce Davison comes along, who actually reads the part of Sandy, it becomes a bit confusing to know who is who. This all straightens out as the story moves along though.
The two last readers are Peter Gerety (Phil) and Fred Sanders (Eddie). They both do a great job reading their parts (but don’t really have that much read-time, which is sad). They both do a great job with what they have. But hey, what can they do? They can’t read more lines than King wrote for them, right?
Another thing I want to make you aware of is when Rebhorn (in the first half of the book) reads the part of Bibi. I really liked that. It was a great interpretation of the character and just as I imagined him when I read the book.
Lilja’s final words about
From a Buick 8 (audio)
If you miss this audio you are making a big mistake! As I said in the beginning of this review, I wasn’t a big fan of audiobooks at first, but after hearing quite a few of King’s books on audio I have changed my mind. I might not have come as far as replacing the real book with the audio, but I do feel the audio is a really great complement to the book.
From a Buick 8
is a really good example of what a good audiobook should be!
So, what are you waiting for? Run out and get the audio edition of
From a Buick 8
now!
****
The Man in the Black Suit (audio)
Posted: November 17, 2002
The Man in the Black Suit - 4 Dark Tales
is just as the title says—a collection of four dark tales. This audio completes the release of all of the stories in
Everything’s Eventual
. The other stories are available in
Everything’s Eventual
,
Blood and Smoke
,
L.T.’s Theory of Pets
and
Riding the Bullet
.
The stories that can be found on
The Man in the Black Suit
are “The Man in the Black Suit” (read by John Cullum), “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” (read by Peter Gerety), “The Death of Jack Hamilton” (read by Arliss Howard) and “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” (read by my favorite, Becky Ann Baker).
When I wrote the review for the book
Everything’s Eventual
, I said that “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” was one of the weaker stories in the book. The same goes here. Though it’s far from bad, “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” is this collection’s weakest story. Peter Gerety does a really good job portraying the suicidal Alfi, but the story itself is rather weak, if you ask me. Peter Gerety also reads one of the roles on the audio edition of
From a Buick 8
.
The same goes for my favorite audiobook reader, Becky Ann Baker. In
From a Buick 8
, she reads the role of Shirley. Here she reads the story “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” and she can’t go wrong. Not only is it a good story, but Becky Ann reads it with just the right empathy and feeling. It’s the collection’s best story!