By: Richard Bachman Publisher: Scribner Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Format: Bargain Price Label: Scribner Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: June 12, 2007 Release Date: June 12, 2007
Product Description: The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.
A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published.
Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.
He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
Exceeds expectations. It's hard to expect much from a book when it opens with the author telling you he felt so little for his own creation he didn't even keep the original typed copy.
But "Blaze," in my opinion, is a great read. It hooks you instantly with its sympathetically slow main character and rumbles along to its inevitable finale.
Stephen King always knows best what does and does not work in his novels, and he's correct that the flashbacks in this book are its highlight. Even though they occasionally veer into near Upton Sinclair-esque melodrama, they have a clean sentimentality that I loved. They may even be a little cliche, if we're being honest, but King has always been a master of the little details of spirit and humanity. That is on strong display here.
What King does brilliantly in this novel is take someone doing something absolutely horrible and make you love him. Blaze, a smart boy who had his brain scrambled by a drunk, abusive father, who now stands a massive 6'7", is the ultimate pulling-on-your-heartstrings "big dumb guy" -- he's the original John Coffey, really. Blaze is a small-time con artist whose partner dies right before their big final score can happen, and Blaze goes about it alone (along with the help of his partner's ghost). You almost have to shake your head in sympathy as Blaze imagines he's outsmarting everyone but is clearly laying down a trail that will easily lead right back to him. The unraveling of his crime is as obvious as how he will react to what he has taken.
Blaze's sad growing affection for the baby he kidnaps is so overly melodramatic it's almost comedic, but you can't stop it from affecting you. That's fully because of King's ability to take such a scenario and make you care.
"Blaze" is a straightforward, almost sappy, story from Stephen King -- and I definitely loved every sentimental moment of it.
Fantastic Book Absolutely incredible! It is impossible to put down. It didn't take me any more than three nights to read it. There isn't one boring sentence in the entire book.
What a writer!!! Steven King is the absolute best writer that ever was. He stands right next to Edgar Allen Poe!!! If you want a book that you can't put down I recommend that you purchase any one of the many books that Steven King wrote!!!
Simple, Touching Storytelling I read at work, but one day I left my current book at home. A co-worker brought BLAZE in case she'd finished her current book during the night shift, and I was much obliged to borrow it when she offered to have something to read.
From the above paragraph, you can probably tell it was more a matter of circumstance than desire that I set to reading BLAZE. Now I like Mr. King, the book I left was actually a DARK TOWER book, it's just that this looked like another one of King's 'over a weekend' works. Not to call it 'throw away' by any means, but somewhat uninspired work like THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. Compulsively readable mind you, but insubstantial in concept.
Anyway, I was more than pleased to find BLAZE, a 'Trunk Novel', an emotionally sweet and simultaneously heart wrenching story. Sometimes What bothers me most about King is the idiocyncracies of his writing, such as his many parentheses, and his colloquial New England speech. These were fine to me at first, but as I have read close to 30 of King's books, it has begun to mildly detract from my enjoyment. Consider it like a roommate you have lived with too long and who's habits irritate you where you once thought they were charming. You like them just fine, but need a break sometimes so as not to let the annoyances ruin an otherwise good respect for them.
In BLAZE, King attempts to write in a more clipped - read Noirish - style, and consequently left out many of those attributes that I stumble over. It's King, but with an altered style that allows you to rediscover what a gifted and moving writer he can be rather than just trying to scare you.
The Protaginist, Clayton 'Blaze' Blaisdell, who's IQ has been irreparably altered by an abusive father, gets by on sheer luck for most of the novel, in attempting a kidnapping even though the 'brains' behind the operation has died prior. His luck never feels like a lazy plot device, however; Instead it is more like Karma paying back a man who has been dealt a terrible hand by society, if only until luck eventually runs out.
In one chapter, a summer at a farming camp is described with the bittersweet nostalgia of one perfect moment in youth that can never happen again. It actually teared me up, which is something that King rarely does to me. Towards the end, it becomes apparent that 'Blaze' has other forces at work in his brain, and the story takes a dramatic (although believeable) turn as antagonists other than the Police attempt to change Blaze's plans. I won't spoil it, but it's is rather chilling. Thats how I would sum up how this book excells so well at moving the reader; it is from one chapter to the next uplifting, funny, and heart-wrenching. King changes the resonance from one to the other elegantly, and it never clashes.
I would urge anyone who enjoyed King's RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, or THE BODY, to give BLAZE a chance. It is an uncommonly touching and moving story, while never being emotionally exploitative.
blaze Blaze arrive in a timely manner, and was in excellant condition. It was packaged very good. I really enjoyed this book I recommend it to all Stephan KING FANS.
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