17th April, 2007
Firestarter by Stephen King
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Who’s the firestarter in this book? Why, it’s only a little girl! So young and innocent and yet she is able to start fires that could burn you to death.
Firestarter by Stephen King is one of the many interesting and thought-provoking books that I’ve read. The little firestarter’s name is Charlene McGee or just Charlie. Her parents, Andy and Vicky, once needed 200 dollars when they were young and they had participated in some weird drug experiment to get the money.
Andy felt uncomfortable during the experiment and saw some gory incidents but was told later that he was merely hallucinating, part of the side effects of the experimental drug called Lot Six, which was injected into him. However, after the day of the experiment and after getting his 200 bucks, he discovered that he had the ability to ‘push’ other people into doing things he wanted them to do. Vicky, who eventually became his wife, had telekinetic abilities, too like turning off the TV even though she’s nowhere near it.
Then, they had a daughter, Charlie. Charlie would unintentionally light fires when she’s agitated, angry or just feeling extremely emotional. It was dangerous when she was a baby because if her bottle of milk was late, then there would be fire burning somewhere. That’s why her parents kept fire extinguishers all around the house.
Vicky and Andy did not know that they were being watched by a secret government agency, The Shop. The Shop is actually a scientific department and now, they want to get hold of Charlie to study her ability to start fires just by thinking about doing it. Her talent is called pyrokinesis.
However, they are being merciless towards the McGee family. They will do anything just to have Charlie. Therefore, Andy and Charlie are on the run, away from the agents of The Shop. Andy knew they were in serious trouble when he came home one day to find his wife dead.
Nonetheless, this book has lots of unimportant parts that were relatively boring to me. I enjoyed reading the ending though. ‘Scary’, ‘frightening’, and ‘terrifying’ were among the words used to describe the book. Hmmm, well, I guess a part or two was chilling enough. I would call this book entertaining and it made me feel tremendously sad for Charlie. No 7-year-old deserves to live such a terrifying life.
The story was adapted into a movie in 1984 with Drew Barrymore acting as Charlie! This is getting even more interesting. Looks like I’m going to be on a hunt for the movie now.
Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Erin
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Posted in Authors K, Horror, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction, Titles F at 12:10 pm |
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On April 22, 2007 at 12:55 pm Arukiyomi said:
not the best Stephen King I thought when I read this long ago in my teens. You seem to agree. It wasn’t anywhere near as terrifying as the Shining the only book I’ve ever read which I had to put down and stop reading I was so scared. That was many years ago too though
On April 24, 2007 at 4:38 am Josette said:
Haha! The Shining’s that frightening??? I haven’t read it yet but I saw the cover of the movie and it looked pretty scary to me. The guy looks creepy! Well, maybe you could try reading it again and see if it still gives you the shivers!
On July 11, 2007 at 8:04 pm Erin said:
I thought this one was great
I love his older stuff. The movie is very good as well. Wouldn’t it be nice to have this power? I’d prefer the telekinesis first, but combined??? Bwahahahahaha
On July 14, 2007 at 5:08 am Josette said:
I would like to watch its movie, too! Yup, it’s exciting to have such extraordinary but extremely dangerous powers. Wouldn’t the world be a chaotic place if everyone had them?
On October 25, 2008 at 11:27 am Erin said:
Thank you so much for linking to my review, and also for commenting on it. I am glad to see you enjoyed the book, but I agree on some of the boring parts.
On October 27, 2008 at 10:11 pm Josette said:
Erin: Hey there, no problem!
Well, can’t complain much about the boring parts…Stephen King is indeed a super-talented writer!
On October 28, 2008 at 11:57 pm KittyCat said:
Ooh…this is definitely ONE of my favourite Stephen King books! Which parts did you find boring??? I can read this book cover-to-cover 10x times over LOL
On October 29, 2008 at 8:31 am Josette said:
KittyCat: I did find some pages boring…too long-winded for me I guess. Wow, you will practically memorize every word if you read the book so many times! Haha!