Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well! Today I’m back with another King read in my Stephen King Project – Christine, my 9th novel in this project.

I read this from June 11, 2023 – August 20, 2023 (2 1/2 months)

The Book (1983)

• This had a a good start – it wasn’t too fast or slow. We meet Christine the car, we see who buys her and we get a glimpse of what is potentially to come. All we know is this car is special, possessed in a way and the reader can’t wait to find out how.
• This is slowly building up well. We’re seeing Arnie falling in love with his new car as Dennis sees his friend slowly drift away. Dennis relates Arnie’s relationship to the car as to a friend getting married and it’s not far off. Intrigued to see how this progresses.
• Things are heating up, phew! We get a whole backstory on the guy who sold Arine the car, LeBay, what a sad story that was – but also good build up. We also get more on the car… it’s starting to regenerate itself… creepy. Plus the added backstory on Darnell is adding a nice spice to the mix.
• We’re getting to see Arnie and Dennis in their normal high school lives. We meet a new character, Leigh, Arnie’s girlfriend and that’s definitely going to change things up the reader feels. We’re also getting small bits of the car turning on Dennis, which is really interesting. Where will this story go?!
• Now into part 2 and we’re seeing more from the other people in his life (his parents, girlfriend) about how they feel about the car – and boy do they not like it. They can even feel that there’s something spooky about the car. This is written so well, we’re in constant suspense of what could happen next. It’s just little things but they’re starting to add up!
• We’re brought back to Dennis and his accident – that the reader almost forgot about – when Arnie goes to visit him, Dennis can see the changes, they are so slight that it’s chilling. Then some guys completely destroy Christine and Arnie is beside himself; this obsession he has over her is only getting deeper and deeper and it feels like we’ve only just begun.
• Boy, has the plot thickened. Christine has claimed her first victim, although the way King wrote it, we’re not completely sure if she’s possessed or that she possessed Arnie and now the reader can’t wait to see where this goes! We also get a scene with Leigh almost coming to the same fate as LeBray’s daughter, which was super chilling. This has been so good!
• Christine is on the rampage and has claimed more victims… all of them who have tried to do harm to her (the car). Arnie has gotten himself a tight alibi, but no one is really believing them. It’s fascinating to watch Arnie’s character progression because he keeps taking these hard turns. Also really liking the way LaBray is tying into the story too.
• At first this started to read like filler but Christine has struck again and this time the reader is wondering if she’s taking specific people out to cover up what she’s doing. This also started to confirm who’s behind it all and it’s been so haunting to read. King has created such a freaky environment and it’s been so spooky to read, yet a lot of fun.
• The characters are starting to put together what the reader already knows, so it was a little tedious to read, but we’re really digging in with who’s behind Christine’s possession and it’s been super fascinating. Now, is Dennis going to be able to break the cycle or will he just make her angrier? The end looms with many questions, the reader can’t wait to find out.
• What. An. Ending. We knew going in, it would be either Christine or Dennis, but we forgot to place Arnie in the mix. We finally got to understand completely how Arnie, LeBay and Christine were all intertwined with each other and it was so well done. There was just enough push and pull that it wasn’t overdone nor was it too quick – it had our attention perfectly. One of King’s best endings.

Final thoughts: This novel was so well done, from the plot, the pacing and the characters; it all fit together so seamlessly. King didn’t spend time boring us, like he’s prone to doing in past novels with inconsequential background or story. This stuck to our main plot and our main characters, and each character added was added because they served a purpose, even if it was just a small role. For the most part, these characters were unlikable (minus Dennis and Leigh probably) and they were purposefully made that way and again, King did a great job of creating them. It might have taken a bit too long to completely understand Christine, her possession and her motives, but in the end it worked out and left us with an ending that was unexpected and really well done. The reader is surprised by the open ended-ness of the epilogue that a sequel was never made. It probably would never be as good as this is, but it was set up perfectly for a new revenge story to come out of it. Overall, a great story that had the reader on their toes the entire time and had them fully engaged from start to finish.

The Movie:

Christine (1983)

• The film adaption started off just as good as the book. Things didn’t happen exactly as they did in the book, but you could see the elements were all there and everything was being set up nicely. There were some cheesy, cringy moments (like that whole fight scene in shop class, also the guys beating Arnie up looked like 25-year-olds, not high school students, but also the fighting was super cringy). The film really gives us a feel for who Arnie is and his daily life, we really see how this car is his ticket out of the life he’s living and into the one he wants as it begins to change him. 
• They added a scene in the very beginning, we get this small little backstory on Christine, that wasn’t in the book, to show she’s always been possessed – it was interesting. 
• Leigh, who’s name has been changed to Lee, has a significantly smaller role in this, like if you haven’t read the book you’re kinda left picking up the pieces as to how she fits in. First Dennis tries to get with her, but then all of a sudden she’s with Arnie… there’s no indication how that happens, nor how ‘Lee’ goes back to Dennis. Everything felt so sliced together that not having the background or context, felt like it could be a confusing watch. 
• Then there’s the last 20 – 30 minutes of the movie where they completely changed how everything happens. Sure it’s similar, but it also felt really rushed. Like they took their time setting up everything, only to fly right through the ending. Also, we don’t get the same fear of Christine in the film as we did in the book; through the characters thoughts we can feel the fear, but in the film it was harder to show, they tried but it just wasn’t the same. 
• It was interesting how they chose to make Arnie’s parents very present in the first half of the film, then drop them by the end, as if their son becoming a different person meant he no longer needed them. In the book, his parents have a much bigger role in the end, and it’s one of the main reasons the ending works so well. In the movie, everything was done so simply, there was no complexity to it; it felt like just get it done and that’s what kinda killed it. 
• The other reason was the fact that Arnie wasn’t in Christine in the final moments and that really worked for the book, so having him show up in the film took away from the climatic and complex ending. 
• Lastly, it’s interesting because it was only alluded to who was possessing Christine/Arnie in the movie and you’re not given much to put everything together. It just felt like there needed to be more dialogue to fully grasp the nuances of the book.
• Overall, this was still a really good movie, it holds your attention, much like the book does, and you still get to see Arnie’s downfall. If only the ending wasn’t so rushed and we had more context. It’s still a movie that was very entertaining and was a pretty good adaption. 

I also filmed my thoughts on the book if you’d like to check that out:

Up Next: Pet Sematary