Cherry Popper

**Mr. Palmer** · August 2nd, 2009

It was the summer of 1985. I was 13 years old. And my grandmother (rest her soul) gave me a hardback of CHRISTINE that she'd bought at a yard sale.

I'd heard of Stephen King, sure, but had never read one of his books. I opened the book up with trepidation. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to find from the master of the macabre.

Holy heck!

CHRISTINE floored me. And it's remained my favorite Stephen King outing all these years later. I now read the book annually without fail.

What does everyone else think of this book?

**JohnDalglish** · August 2nd, 2009

Hi,

I think it's great too (and I feel a re-read coming on as we speak!).

And the movie was OK, if not as good as the book, it was still cool to see Christine.

Long days and pleasant nights

**michal** · August 3rd, 2009

I read it when I was 20 or so and was enchanted by the "love threesome" - well, foursome now that you think of it

, and the way the car gradually takes power over everything.

Fantastic story, and now you made me itch to reread it. ***m it! I'm going to the book store.

**aptpupil** · August 3rd, 2009

Quite agree, Christine was an excellent novel, certainly one of my "SK Top Ten".

The movie, however, was, in comparison, a disappointment, IMO.

**ginapenn** · August 3rd, 2009

My Christine story is similar to yours: I was a young girl of about 8 or 9 and I saw Christine in a Woolworth's not far from my house. It was the first book I read by him and loved it. To this day it's still one of my favorites and I re-read it about once a year. It has some of the best internal dialogue EVER! When he's focusing on Arnie, you can really tell when he's LeBay and when he's Arnie again. It is positively a masterpiece, IMHO. I think it's one of King's more underappreciated books.

**wally wonder** · August 3rd, 2009

one of my favorites, mr. palmer. there was a '57 chevy wagon in my youth, green and yellow. a station wagon. saw it all over the place. don't know what came of it. maybe petunia got it, i don't know. we knew it was wrong, but not why. i don't think they make cars like christine anymore, do they?

**ItaliaQueen** · August 5th, 2009

its such a gripping book!!!! i could hardly put the dam thing down lol

**Hans** · September 14th, 2009

Originally Posted by Mr. Palmer

It was the summer of 1985. I was 13 years old. And my grandmother (rest her soul) gave me a hardback of CHRISTINE that she'd bought at a yard sale.

I'd heard of Stephen King, sure, but had never read one of his books. I opened the book up with trepidation. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to find from the master of the macabre.

Holy heck!

CHRISTINE floored me. And it's remained my favorite Stephen King outing all these years later. I now read the book annually without fail.

What does everyone else think of this book?

In general discussion there is a thread called "what was your first S.K. book and how old where you" and I replied:

Christine in 1985 at age 13....a friend gave it to me and I was fascinated and decided to get a Plymouth Fury when grown up

Sounds familiar to you? ... so basically we did the same thing in the summer of 85 at age 13

**Bob Ross** · September 17th, 2009

I love the book. In many ways I look at it as a great companion piece of Carrie (only from the geeky boy's POV). The one thing I must say however, is I prefer the way the movie stays ambiguous as to the origins of Christine. In many ways I wish the book had done the same thing. Not that I didn't enjoy the ghost of LeBay, but I wish he were a separate entity to the car.

**Mr. Palmer** · September 20th, 2009

Hans: That's too cool! What a 1985 summer it was. And I still want one of those darn cars. I've been looking for years, but am still empty-handed. Ah! But one day...