Rage (1977) - Review

Well, as I said in my previous post, it was bound to happen.

I didn't like Rage.  I didn't hate it, ultimately, as there were some interesting ideas, but for the most part, it seems like the work of an angry kid who scrawled his thoughts down on a bloody napkin after getting beat up on the playground...again.

It lacks the purposeful focus and confident voice that I first noticed in 'Salem's Lot and really noticed in The Shining.  A novel written from this angry perspective could have been cool if that anger had been focused, but it isn't.

Then again, maybe that was the point.  Perhaps King was well aware that a novel like this could never be published by Stephen King: best selling novelist, but would fly under the radar if written by an unknown paperback novelist, such as Richard Bachman.  The fatalistic ending also seems to be something that King (at least from the sample size I've seen so far) might not have attempted.  Maybe.

Lending credence to that theory is the fact that, while this novel has been "connected" with various real world school shootings, it should be noted that none of those events happened until 1988.  Stephen King was very publicly revealed to be writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1985 and The Bachman Books was published under King's name later that year.

I'm not particularly squeamish, so the idea of a novel centering around the perpetrator of a school shooting that left two teachers dead of gunshot wounds didn't deter me.  I just didn't particularly care for the main character.  And reading page after page about somebody you don't care about can become an exercise in tedium.

I do have a thought however, even if it isn't terribly clever or original.  King was apparently invested in Richard Bachman for the long haul.  He had intended to continue to use the moniker indefinitely, possibly for the rest of his career and was quite upset when he was discovered.  Add that to the fact that he wasn't particularly happy when Thinner, which was out when the King/Bachman connection was made, went from selling 40,000 copies to 400,000.  He took pleasure in his little secret side project.  And it was likely an outlet for him.

So my thought is...is Stephen King still writing under a secret pseudonym?  A new one?  He's publicly stated that he would never do it again.  But you would expect him to say that, after having been recently "outed", especially if he was planning to do it again.  Can't have people looking too closely.

That said, I find it highly unlikely that,  if he were writing under a different, unknown, name, that he wouldn't have been discovered.  He somehow managed to go undetected as Bachman for nearly eight years before being discovered.  Mainly because the writing styles and settings (Maine, Maine and more Maine) were so similar.  I'm actually surprised it took that long.  While, (as I wrote in my previous post) the voice of this book seems different than King's usual, the actual writing style is so similar it almost screams "HEY EVERYBODY!  I'M STEPHEN KING".

Certain phrases and habits I've noticed King uses frequently.  Such as, at least one character peeing themselves.  Maine.  The repetitive habit that becomes almost a mantra such as Jack Torrance's wiping of the lips in The Shining. Weird metaphors and similes that I've only ever seen King use: "jackstraws in the wind", and comparing people's skin color to "milk".

So maybe in this Twitter world, it would be impossible for King to write under a secret identity again and remain secret.

But hey, a fella can dream.

So, not my favorite.  Didn't like it.  But I wouldn't say I hated it either.  But I could definitely use a really good palate cleanser.  Hopefully, Night Shift won't disappoint.