A Bag of Bones by Stephen King Short Review!

Summary

Michael Noonan is a novelist who, when his wife Johana dies, finds himself in a bottomless pit where he believes he has lost everything, his muse, his inspiration, and his mental health. He enters a deep depression and begins to have nightmares with his late wife, four years later, without having overcome the death of his beloved, he decides to go to his house in a lake called Sarah Risa.

Near the cabin, he meets a woman named Mattie and her young 3-year-old daughter Kyra, with whom he befriends.. They suffer from the harassment of Max Devore, his father-in-law, who is a very powerful man in the village; This man wants custody of his granddaughter at all costs, but with perverse and dark intentions.

Almost immediately, Michael he feels more inspired than ever, but he notices that some strange things are happening in the house. Along with his new inspiration, he begins to feel a very strong presence in the house, which tries to tell him something important.

At first he thinks they are hallucinations, but these become more frequent, which makes him think about his mental stability, until he realizes that this presence is real, which has been calling him and leaving clues.

Johana's spirit tries to tell him that there is some kind of curse in the town that he must stop. When this happens, Michael becomes more involved in Mattie's case., from the clues that Johana has given him.

As Michael finds out what happened in this town, he realizes something abysmal is happening to the girls at the lake, allowing him to piece together the puzzle and determine Max's intentions with his granddaughter.

Characters

The characters throughout the novel were thought and described in a way that the reader could imagine them, this contributes to making it a more interesting and entertaining novel for many readers. Next, we will tell you what they are:

• Michael Noona: A successful writer who, at the age of forty, is at the peak of his career and a happy life with his wife, but then everything takes a very unexpected turn.
• Johanna Noonan: Michael's wife who dies in a serious accident. But seeing that her spirit is present, she calls Michael to communicate with him and tell him something important.
• Max Devor: A powerful and selfish man, who is Mattie's father-in-law., who intends to keep custody of his granddaughter.
• Mattie Devore: A widowed mother who meets Michael in the village. She tries to protect her daughter from her selfish father-in-law.
• Kyra Devor: An innocent 3-year-old girl, Mattie's daughter, who finds herself in the middle of a legal fight over her custody.
• Sarah Tidwell: A woman who came to the town in 1900, was a singer in the place until her sudden disappearance. The summer house is called Sarah Risa, because when she lived in the area she was always seen smiling.
• Lance Devore: Mattie's late husband, who falls to his death from the roof of a caravan where he, his wife, and their newborn daughter lived.

Review

A Bag of Bones was not oriented to the fear or terror that Stephen King accustomed us to, which is why some people do not take this book as one of his best works, since the writer stimulates with his exciting and concrete descriptions that lead to the quick point. .

This is not to say that the novel is bland, what makes it interesting is the way the situations are meticulously described. The author's way of writing takes us directly to the image in our minds in a very detailed way and specifies that it even manages to transmit the sensations of the protagonist to the reader.

The novel intertwines the paranormal mystery in a vacation home, where a writer tries to find his lost inspiration with a story of family conflict full of hate and selfishness, which in the middle, has a legal fight for the custody of a girl.

The name of this novel A Bag of Bones, makes us doubt, since many do not find the meaning compared to the content of the story, although it is noted in the narrations as a very disturbing expression.

This expression is used to describe the protagonist's feelings in situations, to the grandfather of kira, and the characters of the novel that noonan wrote. Even at the end of the novel, the protagonist states that "we are all bags of bones."

There are several theories regarding this, but nothing is yet confirmed as correct. On the other hand, what gives it an enigmatic air is that humor that Stephen King sometimes baffles, but enchants and satisfies, be it political or social.

King fills us with these humorous clues throughout the novel, which are not easy to ignore, sometimes these situations are like a ladder that eventually leads to suspense and mystery.

Michael Noonan tells us his story in the first person throughout the novel, but King's thoughts can be perceived in the narrations, which becomes somewhat confusing at some point in the story, especially when talking about Michael's work. The characters in the story are very well established and you can clearly distinguish their intentions in the story, the descriptions of them give us a specific image of them.

If you want to hear another review, we invite you to watch the following video:

Adaptations

On December 11, a two-part "miniseries" based on the writer's book, which has a horror genre, premiered in the United States. Stephen King, "A Bag of Bones". It stars the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan and directed by Mike Garris.

It was brought to the television screen through the A&E Network in two parts, but in England it was released in one. This is taken to English screens the year after the premiere in the United States.

Then on February 23 it was released in Spain where they called it "The Curse of Dark Lake" and later it was taken to Latin America, with the original name of the book, "a bag of bones".

Phrases

Some lines highlighted during this novel have enormous meaning and importance, which are worth mentioning. We hope that, through these, your interest in reading this book will increase:

• "Compared with the most common man who walks the face of the earth and casts his shadow there, the most brilliant of the characters in the novel is nothing more than a bag of bones." –Michael Noona.
• “A writer is a man who has taught his mind to misbehave” – Michael Noona.
• “I believe that things live in their own life, in a different time dimension from the one in which their occupants float, a slower time. In a house, especially in an old house, the past is closer” – Mattie Devore.
• “The pain of grief is like a drunken guest: when it seems that he has left, he returns to give you one last hug” – Michael Noona.
• "Every good marriage is secret territory, a necessarily blank space on the map of society. What others don't know about him is what makes him yours." - Michael Noona.
• "Watching alcohol grab your parents in its clutches can be one of the most painful experiences in the world" - Mattie Devore.

A Bag of Bones reviews

Being a somewhat different book from the ones that Stephen King has accustomed his readers to, the reception of this book could be said to have been low compared to his other works where he takes terror and suspense to another level. Critics rated this book as “Boring with unnecessary long descriptions” which I fail to catch the majority of those who often read the works of this great author.

Many statements are also made that the characters are not as endearing to the reader, since they do not feel that connection of emotions in relation to the characters in the story. It is considered that the end was not as expected as thought, because it left several important issues unresolved, which generated many doubts for the consumer, in the same way situations within the plot felt very forced.

The book at first can be a bit heavy for some people, since the author takes the first hundred pages to describe the life of the protagonist in detail, before his unexpected tragedy.

However, there are people who described this book as one of the most captivating paranormal dramas they have ever read, where the feelings of the characters and the context go hand in hand.

The characters are very well established within the story, but there are some that do not seem to take a very important role in the middle of the development, since the reader is taken by the hand of Mike, who shows what happens before his eyes, which It allows us to discover new things about the characters and take our own opinions about the situation.

Michael is shown as a funny and sarcastic person, which makes the reader cheer up and laugh, but can also feel the pain. It is interesting the fact of discovering the mysteries with the protagonist and apart from feeling his reaction to them.

It may be disconcerting that the situations of each person at the beginning do not have much to do with it, but as the story takes shape, we find a very well-structured plot, in which King allows us to see how the characters gradually get hooked on little with each other.

The book connects surrealism with reality through Michael's dreams, which can confuse us at times, but once you continue reading everything can make sense in an instant, no matter how confused you are at first with the dreams. changes of reality and fiction.

There are controversial topics that are interesting to read, such as legal proceedings, custody of a minor, the death of a loved one and grief, new feelings, fear of something new after painful experiences, selfishness and obsessions. All this can be reflected in the reading.

The book can become interesting for those who dedicate time to it, it is easy to read with a light narration that teaches how to fight each other's demons without falling into selfishness.

If you are interested in reading another review, we invite you to visit the following article: The soul of the world by Alejandro Palomas Short review!.