Good, but flawed.

[Mr. Sir]

I've just finished Christine. The first itme I've read it. I put it off for a very long time. I'm glad I read it. It's a really good book, yet flawed as well.

I really liked the dynamic between the two male leads, Arnie and Dennis. Two well drawn charcters. I felt really sorry for the charcter of Arnie, a kid down on his luck who has the unfortunate luck of meeting the wrong person with the wrong car. I felt really sad at his death. I'm not sure if it completely works, the fact that we only learn about his death as a story recounted by a police officer at the end. The narrative by dennis in the first third of the book is really the best part of the story. It builds up this great picture of life in Libertyville, and in particular, high school life. I found some of the things he described as quite insightful. Especially reflections on friendships diminishing over time.

Problems:
The change in the narrative voice was problematic. Tonally, it just doesn't seem to work. It goes from being this personal, confessional voice to an impersonal third person, losing some of the impact and emotional resonance.

I didn't like the epilogue. It feels tacked on at the end. I thought the character of Leigh just drops out of sight (unjustifiably so) without having had any opportunity to see the effects of the experiences with Christine on her. dennis also seems to have become a morose figure which does't really follow his personality in the story, although I suppose it could be argued this is caused by the impact of his experinces with Christine.

[GNTLGNT]

Good, but flawed?

Aren't most of us?????

[friend of Oye]

I personally feel flawed but good. Dunno if that fits er not.

[omm poppa mow mow]

Maybe the telling reflected the story? Dennis and Arnie drift apart. Christine saw to that.

Paging through it again here now after reading your post, and yeah, I can see that there is the Dennis, the eye-narrator early on and throughout much of the 1st half of the story. Later chapters, paging through, I can see things like "Dennis said" or such.

Did that change in narration...was that necessary so that the scenes w/Arnie could be told? I'm not sure. Trying to get a handle on what you said, trying to figure out why you think what you do. I can see it, somewhat. Or does the narration simply change with the various parts of the story? Part 1: Dennis Part 2: Arnie. Part 3: Christine...but then, that 3rd part opens w/Leigh showing at Dennis's place, and he is the eye-narrator again there.

Dennis's old man says, I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine...heh heh! I just read in Red Herrings and White Elephants that that phrase came about from when sailors...I think it was...whipped each other w/a cat o nine tails, and if so-and-so went easy on the one, then maybe when his time came, the other'n would go easy on him. I dunno...that section starts our personable enough, seems like.

I'll make a post-it note for next time I read the story.

[Mr. Sir]

Yeah, I do think it shifts back to Dennis for the final third of the book. My main problem was i felt, as a reader, to be really connected with the charcter of Dennis. There was a truthfulness, an honesty in the narrative at the start. I suppose it did have to change, the pov, in order to understand events surrounding Arnie and Will Darnell. But the story loses emotional impact from that point on. Dennis cared about his friend and there was a real sadness imbued in his realisation tthat he was losing him.

[fushingfeef]

I agree, I never liked the shift in perspective/narrative either. It's just too much of a jolt. I do like this story but I agree this is a flaw, at least for me.