A review by beeboisourgod
Firestarter, by Stephen King
3.0
I went back and forth on whether or not to give this book 3 or 4 stars and eventually settled on 3.5 rounded down because giving it the full 4 would almost seem like a betrayal to other books that I've given 4 stars to and enjoyed a whole lot more.
That's not to say this was a bad book or anything, it had it's moments, it's just- I honestly don't know what to say about Firestarter... it's a tough one to review because first of all: I had originally started reading it when I was 15, then for some reason or another, I set it down and never picked it back up for 6 years. There was just something about Stephen King's writing that didn't click for me and felt weird or off-putting, not even subject-matter wise at first, just generally style wise. I made it to page 150 or something and then a part of me just said nope, no way was I going to read 400 more pages of this. The jumps in point of view in early chapters were especially jarring at the time, though not as bad as I remember upon restarting it. Some questionable and uncomfortable passages and pieces of dialogue also became the tipping factor to me leaving it on a shelf to gather dust for over half a decade. But maybe, I'll admit, just maybe, I was being unfair and a little too hasty to give up. Of course, I always planned on coming back to it, I just hadn't planned on it taking so long. I had to psych myself up to read it again, I was going to finish it whether I wanted to or not, one day, one day! And finally that day came this year when a craving for media and literature similar to Stranger Things hit me like a bus, and being older and having read more adult books since then, I think it did change my perspective, it did make me appreciate the story and the writing more than I would have had I continued reading at 15. While there will still parts I didn't like, there were many I did.
The premise of Firestarter is intriguing, it's the type of thing I tend to adore: shady government experiments giving people psychic or psyionic or whatever else kind of powers and those powers having consequences; I live for that trope and I can see Firestarter's influence on the likes of Stranger Things and other things I enjoy, like this is the OG, well maybe not that far, but you know it's certainly a big one of its kind of story. And it does deliver big moments. Suspenseful moments. Dramatic and exciting moments and quiet and thoughtful moments. It also delivers horrifying moments. Disgusting moments and weird as hell (in a bad way) moments. It's a fifty-fifty thrill ride delivering great writing one second that makes me rethink my bias against Stephen King (hammered in by my friend's grand hatred of Dreamcatcher) and then bad writing another second that makes me question whether my initial not so great impression of him was right all along.
Needless to say, this was nowhere near my favourite book. It's also nowhere near a bad book though. I liked seeing the relationship between Charlie and her father, and between each of them and their powers. I liked seeing the way both of them used their powers and the consequences it meant for themselves personally, rather than those they used them against even. I liked seeing moments of triumph for them, and I liked seeing part of their strength coming from each other, and I liked the rare moments of humanity slipped in with small side characters you grow to care about even in such a short period of time. I did not like, however, reading about toilet training metaphors, weird sexual thoughts/backgrounds or descriptions, approximately 100-200 pages of extra padding and repetitive information or thought processes. And while I suppose I must make some concessions for the book's age, there were a lot of uncomfortably racist and homophobic remarks or tropes in this among other things. Plus, I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like this book just didn't have much to say, you know? In the end, it was fairly basic if I'm being honest.
Also, not sure how I feel about the actual ending. I'm not particularly surprised by it, I'm not particularly happy, though I'm also not particularly upset, I'm just kind of neutral so... make of that what you will, but I've been rambling. Overall, solid, if at times uncomfortable read. I'll probably give Stephen King another shot, so that's saying something, seeing as my first book by him hasn't scared me off just yet. But I have a feeling he's going to remain a 3 star read/author for me. So uh, yeah.
That's not to say this was a bad book or anything, it had it's moments, it's just- I honestly don't know what to say about Firestarter... it's a tough one to review because first of all: I had originally started reading it when I was 15, then for some reason or another, I set it down and never picked it back up for 6 years. There was just something about Stephen King's writing that didn't click for me and felt weird or off-putting, not even subject-matter wise at first, just generally style wise. I made it to page 150 or something and then a part of me just said nope, no way was I going to read 400 more pages of this. The jumps in point of view in early chapters were especially jarring at the time, though not as bad as I remember upon restarting it. Some questionable and uncomfortable passages and pieces of dialogue also became the tipping factor to me leaving it on a shelf to gather dust for over half a decade. But maybe, I'll admit, just maybe, I was being unfair and a little too hasty to give up. Of course, I always planned on coming back to it, I just hadn't planned on it taking so long. I had to psych myself up to read it again, I was going to finish it whether I wanted to or not, one day, one day! And finally that day came this year when a craving for media and literature similar to Stranger Things hit me like a bus, and being older and having read more adult books since then, I think it did change my perspective, it did make me appreciate the story and the writing more than I would have had I continued reading at 15. While there will still parts I didn't like, there were many I did.
The premise of Firestarter is intriguing, it's the type of thing I tend to adore: shady government experiments giving people psychic or psyionic or whatever else kind of powers and those powers having consequences; I live for that trope and I can see Firestarter's influence on the likes of Stranger Things and other things I enjoy, like this is the OG, well maybe not that far, but you know it's certainly a big one of its kind of story. And it does deliver big moments. Suspenseful moments. Dramatic and exciting moments and quiet and thoughtful moments. It also delivers horrifying moments. Disgusting moments and weird as hell (in a bad way) moments. It's a fifty-fifty thrill ride delivering great writing one second that makes me rethink my bias against Stephen King (hammered in by my friend's grand hatred of Dreamcatcher) and then bad writing another second that makes me question whether my initial not so great impression of him was right all along.
Needless to say, this was nowhere near my favourite book. It's also nowhere near a bad book though. I liked seeing the relationship between Charlie and her father, and between each of them and their powers. I liked seeing the way both of them used their powers and the consequences it meant for themselves personally, rather than those they used them against even. I liked seeing moments of triumph for them, and I liked seeing part of their strength coming from each other, and I liked the rare moments of humanity slipped in with small side characters you grow to care about even in such a short period of time. I did not like, however, reading about toilet training metaphors, weird sexual thoughts/backgrounds or descriptions, approximately 100-200 pages of extra padding and repetitive information or thought processes. And while I suppose I must make some concessions for the book's age, there were a lot of uncomfortably racist and homophobic remarks or tropes in this among other things. Plus, I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like this book just didn't have much to say, you know? In the end, it was fairly basic if I'm being honest.
Also, not sure how I feel about the actual ending. I'm not particularly surprised by it, I'm not particularly happy, though I'm also not particularly upset, I'm just kind of neutral so... make of that what you will, but I've been rambling. Overall, solid, if at times uncomfortable read. I'll probably give Stephen King another shot, so that's saying something, seeing as my first book by him hasn't scared me off just yet. But I have a feeling he's going to remain a 3 star read/author for me. So uh, yeah.