| Title | : | Rage |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0451076451 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780451076458 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 149 |
| Publication | : | First published September 6, 1977 |
Rage Reviews
-
I just don´t get how people can be hypocritical enough to give video games, TV, drugs, or this book the fault for school shootings.
The moral guardians can already be heard moaning, bickering, and ranting about why, oh why, of course not comparing, let´s say Northern Europe, or Europe in general, with the US. Not thinking and talking about why a mobbing culture of unknown dimensions, mixed with income inequality, in stark contrast most other democratic countries, has forced young humans to be so desperate that they become mass murderers and why teens have weapons just military personnel and police forces are allowed to have in most other nations of the world.
The element of dealing with Stockholm syndrome and the extra psychological warfare between the killer and his victims gives it an extra surprise element and it´s one of the very rare King novels that has no supernatural extra, except one deems mental illness as such.
How King takes critical and controversial topics, death penalty, dictatorships, racism, social injustice, etc. and uses them as driving forces of his novels is the sign of an enlightened and open mind, because not being able to talk about such topics out of conservative evilness makes all that madness possible by opposing prevention through strong, public social worker nets, mediators, and, why not, it has never been tried, less perpetrator protection, big bang for everyone, and downplaying of mobbing.
Not to speak of the victims that don´t go on killing sprees, but suffer as a consequence from substance abuse, depression, anxiety disorders, other mental illnesses, traumas, PTSD, career problems, can´t be as great parents as they would wish to be, and commit suicide.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... -
"It has been conclusively proved that there is no gravity; the earth just sucks."
Rage was a book before it's time. One of King's earliest books and the first released under the Bachman pseudonym. It's a look into the troubled mind of a teenager; a story that is really close to home for many now, but was very far fetched when it first came out. Now, due to the rash of school shootings and calls to end bullying over the past couple of decades, the story sounds eerily familiar.
I have heard that after a few school shootings a copy of this book was found in the lockers of the shooters. Because of this, the book is no longer in print per King's request. If you want to read it, your best chance is to find and early copy of the collected Bachman Books at your library or a used book store. I am guessing that finding a copy of this book by itself would require a trip to eBay and cost a pretty penny!
This was my second time reading it. The first time must have been over twenty years ago. It was definitely before gun violence in schools became a frequent part of of the news. When I joined Goodreads and was running through all the books I had already read and was trying to rate them, I gave this book 2 stars. I am not sure why I remembered it as 2 stars, I think it is more of a 4 star book.
Reading this is like reading a cautionary history lesson. Much of the language and many of the elements are dated to the late 70s. But, with the subject matter being so relevant and disturbing, it does endure through today. This is a horror story not of supernatural monsters or mischevious poltergeists. This is real horror that could exist in your community right now waiting to be unleashed, and that is truly terrifying!
Based on subject matter, I suggest proceeding with caution if you are troubled by stories of teen violence. -
RAGE…we’ve all experienced it, whether bumper to bumper on the roads, interacting with ass stains at work, or railing against the evils of beachfront development.
Here, Stephen King explores the darkest aspect of this emotion, and strikes a chord that can be felt by anyone who remembers the awkwardness, the insecurity, the anger-inducing turbulence of being a teenager. King taps a mighty strong vein in this one.
Originally entitled Getting It On, this early effort of the master, while less polished and containing more technical flaws than his later work, is one of his most visceral and striking psychological stories. This is Catcher in the Rye meets American Psycho, and it is made all the more eerie by the echoes and reflections of real life high school shootings that this story is sure to conjure in the mind of the reader.
PLOT SUMMARY:
A deeply troubled high school senior, Charlie Decker, shoots and kills two teachers and takes his Algebra class hostage. This all happens faster than you can say “Holy Shit, Stephen King wrote this gripping, evocative story while he was in High School…High School…that over-abundantly talented bastard.” This just sets the stage for the real drama to come.
While the police surround the building and make unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with Charlie, the classroom becomes a tense, angry crucible, in which dark secrets and memories of betrayals and painful persecutions are shared by Charlie and his hostages. See Charlie believes that everyone has bad secrets that build up and gnaw at you until you eventually decide to “get it on.”And all that weirdness isn’t just going on outside. It’s in you too, right now, growing in the dark like magic mushrooms. Call it the Thing in the Cellar. Call it the Blow Lunch Factor. Call it the Loony Tunes File. I think of it as my private dinosaur, huge, slimy, and mindless, stumbling around in the stinking swamp of my subconscious, never finding a tarpit big enough to hold it.
Initially, the confessions of Charlie’s classmates are only partially voluntary. However, as the day goes on, the atmosphere thickens and morphs until a form of group mind takes hold. Suddenly the classroom is a like a dark “after hours” episode of Dr. Phil and the confession begin to come fast and furious…and the rage builds.
For his part, Charlie, through a series of flashback, tells the reader and his classmates, about the events that led to him standing before them a violent, rage-filled double murderer. All of this leads up to an exceptional ending that will stick with you.
THOUGHTS:
This is tough stuff, full of raw, unfiltered anger, and descriptions of the kinds of casual ruthlessness that teenagers are subjected to from their parents, their peers and even themselves. Charlie is a “hold nothing back” narrator and his descriptions of events are unvarnished and somewhat bizarre since he is explaining events as he saw them, not necessarily as the actually occurred.
This is a portrait of a troubled child exploding against the injustices, both real and imagined, to which he feels he’s been subjected.
It is also, like all of King’s novels, addictively readable. Despite being one of his first works, King’s natural, effortless storytelling ability is on full display. It’s amazing to me that a high school student could so easily engage readers and keep them turning the pages in need of knowing what happens next.
The man is gifted like few others in that department.
Finally, the ending. If I had one gripe about some of King’s novels, it’s that his endings are letdowns from the slow, creeping horror of the set up. There’s a sense of letdown and even disappointment. Not so here. The ending of this story is sublime and, I would argue, its best feature. The last 20 pages are positively haunting and reminded me of a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Wicker Man.
I’m going to leave you with a quote that I think expresses the tone of the story very well, and also provides insight into Charlie’s character. The school psychiatrist, who Charlie hates, is coming to try and “talk him down” and Charlie gives you his thoughts on the man's profession.A man with a headful of sharp, prying instruments. A mind-fucker, a head-stud. That’s what a shrink is for, my friends and neighbors; their job is to fuck the mentally disturbed and make them pregnant with sanity. It’s a bull’s job, and they go to school to learn how, and all their courses are variations on a theme: Slipping It to the Psychos for Fun and Profit, Mostly Profit. And if you find yourself someday lying on that great analyst’s couch where so many have lain before you, I’d ask you to remember one thing: When you get sanity by stud, the child always looks like the father. And they have a very high suicide rate.
4.0 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
But they get you lonely, and ready to cry, they get you ready to toss it all over if they will just promise to go away for a while. What do we have? What do we really have? Minds like terrified fat men, begging the eyes that look up in the bus terminal or the restaurant and threaten to meet ours to look back down, uninterested. We lie awake and picture ourselves in white hats of varying shapes. There’s no maidenhead too tough to withstand the seasoned dork of modern psychiatry. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe now they would play my game, all those shysters and whores.
-
The author-withdrawn / banned
Stephen King /
Richard Bachman book that is more notorious for no longer being published than - the 'student loses it at school, kills, and takes a class hostage' story. Still a story very much ahead of its time when it was written. 6 out of 12
I believe I am member of a pretty small group of people who own both the UK and USA First Editions... and the French and German First Editions!
2017 read -
“It's only a little secret, but having a secret makes me feel better. Like a human being again.”
King’s worst? For me, yes. I hated this book from start to finish.
Rage tells the story of Charlie Decker. One day Charlie goes into his school, shoots his algebra teacher and holds the rest of his classmates hostage. This book was released back in 1977 under King’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman. However following a number of school shootings where the perpetrators had Rage in their possession, King made the decision to cease publication. Thank heavens - I still don’t understand why King would ever want this published in the first place.
There were many reasons why I didn’t like this book, but first and foremost, it was boring as hell - not at all what I expected. Essentially it’s a bunch of teenagers sitting around talking. And although that does sound pretty frickin’ dull, look at what King was able to achieve with books like Gerald’s Game... The characters are flat and interchangeable, particularly the females who are assessed on their virginity, or lack thereof, and sexual activities. Oh, apart from “ugly Irma”, who is somewhat an anomaly due to the fact she is too ugly for anyone to want her...
Charlie is a despicable character, an utter arsehole. His use of the phrase “getting it on” made me roll my eyes so hard I almost went blind (this was actually a working title for Rage, I’m forever thankful it didn’t stick). The way the teenagers converse with each other just didn’t feel natural or realistic to me. Oh, and how Bachman was not outted as King right away is shocking given the multiple mentions of Maine and chambray workshirts!
All in all, I found very little to enjoy when reading Rage. Writing this review was a cathartic experience that I enjoyed more than the book itself.
(I still love you, King, but this was trash.) 1 star. -
DOBBIAMO PARLARE DI CHARLIE
Ezra Miller è il giovane protagonista del bel film di Lynne Ramsay “We Need To Talk About Kevin - …E ora parliamo di Kevin” (2011). Sullo sfondo Tilda Swinton, la madre di Kevin.
Il mio primo Stephen King.
Ne è seguito solo un altro, Il gioco di Gerald, così deludente da tenermi da allora lontano da questo più che prolifico scrittore, saccheggiato dal cinema, anche con magnifici risultati.
Ma anche questo non è che mi abbia fatto tremare i polsi. Vero che King lo scrisse in epoca “non sospetta”, quando ancora i fatti come quelli qui raccontati non erano esplosi ricorrenti, e lo fece uscire sotto lo pseudonimo di Richard Bachman. Leggo che King non ama molto questa sua creatura, che è contento sia fuori catalogo, anzi pare sia stato lui stesso a chiedere che venisse ritirata dal mercato per evitare che diventasse ispirazione a delinquere.
Gus Van Sant: “Elephant”, magistrale film del 2003.
Qui si racconta di un liceale che per motivi vari si arma e fa fuoco nella scuola uccidendo qualche persona, perlopiù insegnanti.
E quindi, sì. Fatti così sono noti: se ne sono occupati sia la letteratura che il cinema (di nuovo, a volte con esito eccellente).
Mi pare interessante che l’attenzione di King si concentri sia sui fatti antecedenti, quelli che spingono il giovane ad armarsi, far fuoco e ammazzare, e forse ancor più su quanto segue, le ore dell’assedio, il rapporto con i compagni di scuola tenuti come ostaggi che si trasforma in una specie di terapia di gruppo.
Ma a parte confermarmi che negli Stati Uniti circolano troppe armi, io oltre le tre stelle non riesco ad andare, sono rimasto lettore tiepido.
Denis Villeneuve al suo inizio, prima di diventare il regista affermato che è adesso: “Polytechnique”, del 2009. -
Charlie Decker takes a room full of his classmates hostage. Will any of them walk out alive?
In this Bachman book, Holden Caulfield takes the Breakfast Club hostage with a pistol. At least, that's what the book feels like to me.
Rage is a really quick read, short and to the point. It's also not that great. King can say he wanted it out of print because of all the school shootings in the last couple decades but I have to wonder if quality wasn't also a contributing factor.
Charlie Decker is a bit of a outcast and has a whole dresser drawer full of issues. His classmates, seemingly normal, aren't without problems themselves. John Hughes at gunpoint is a good way to describe most of what goes on in the book. If snipers were watching the windows of the library in the Breakfast Club, Rage is probably what the result would be like.
I don't have a lot to say about this one. The ending was unexpected. I'll give Bachman/King that. Other than that, I'm glad it was short. 2 stars. I hope this doesn't lead to Stephen King rejecting my friend request. -
Find all of my reviews at:
http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
This was a super shorty so there isn’t a whole lot to say without giving the entire thing away. I’ll just leave it as . . .
“This,” I said pleasantly, “is known as getting it on.”
Yep. Ol’ Charlie’s having a bit of a shit day and to top it all off . . .
It probably says something for the state of the universe (or at least the state of my psyche) that this book left me with such a “meh” reaction. I’d blame it on the fact that it was written by “Richard Bachman” and not King, but that argument doesn’t fly since
The Long Walk is one of my favorite stories. For Rage being a book that was pulled from printing by King due to its disturbing nature I didn’t find it to be all that disturbing. I appreciated (horrible choice of words there, so forgive me) the spin on the “deranged student,” but for me the execution was a failure. I wasn’t invested in Charlie or in any of his classmates, and when you’re dealing with a hostage situation it’s kind of important to route for someone - be it the bad guy or the “good” guys. Bottom line is I was left feeling like this . . .
“You are disturbed, Charlie.”
And more like this . . .
My friend
Councillor does a much better job explaining why this story didn’t quite live up to expectations and even uses words instead of pictures to do the talking! -
Lately I've been wondering about why violence seems to breed so freely in the United States (I don't have an answer by the way). Everywhere I seem to look there is something violent being portrayed: books, movies, music, art, heck, even CNN is going to do a new segment on Cold Cases that they have deemed so interesting that further exploration is needed--Tupac and Biggie, here's your chance to spin a few more rhymes...Anyway, I was sitting in my basement, perusing my collection of books, wondering what to read next, when The Bachman Books caught my eye. I took it down from the shelf and flipped through the pages, wafting to my nostrils old dust motes caught within the yellowed pages that have traveled with me from place to place over the years, then I started to read the first story: Rage.
The title alone was enough to get me hyped. I mean, c'mon, it's not like I didn't know that this was going to be a story I would be affected by one way or another. I kept reading. Pretty soon, my freshman year in college came back to me. I had just finished a geology test, before heading into the week of finals, and was meandering my way across campus in that whimsical manner one does after spilling their brains out on some problem or essay, when one of my friends intercepted me. She was talking a mile a minute, telling me that there was a shooting at a high school named Columbine. I can honestly tell you I was little affected by her words. I didn't have any family or friends in Colorado, and I still didn't have any idea as to what all happened. Back in my dorm, before turning on the television, the hallways to my room buzzed with the news. Smalls groups of huddled conspirators whispered to each other as if talking aloud about what happened would doom their high school, or, worse, our university. When I finally sat and listened to the news report, the information about the two killers washed over me as if I was in some weird dream. Why did they do this? How could they do this? The answers were provided by Talking Heads and their belief that the youth of the day had checked out and given the finger to all and every authority, including the one connected to the sanctity of life.
Time has passed. School shootings still continue. And I realize that those Talking Heads didn't understand one damn thing about being young, confused, or scared about making a mistake. All they wanted to do was place the blame on Marilyn Manson and Stephen King and video games.
BULLSHIT!
Their remarks are too convenient, nestled with too pretty of a bow. I understand for the first time since walking across campus that fateful day, that one can only choose what to do when exposed to violence. This may not be physical violence; it might be emotional or mental or spiritual. And that’s what King was saying in this short novella. We have a choice with every act of violence committed against us. (Pardon my soapbox for a bit.) Take Christianity for instance—those of you who are not Christians please feel free to insert your choice of religion, deity, or belief—we are taught that to err is human, but to forgive is divine. We are expected to live by the New Testament, not the Old one. When lashed out against, it is imperative to check one's emotions. To answer with more violence is just plain silly. Okay, I’m rambling….the point is, things can’t take the place of personal responsibility. Art doesn’t make a suitable excuse. Music doesn't hypnotize you to place a baby in an oven. Video games can't make you go out and rob a 7-11 or kill hookers. That is all FAKE!! What aren't fake are the emotions and insecurities of our youth. If you are a parent, hug your child, kiss them, and tell them you love them. But most of all, LISTEN TO THEM. If you don’t have kids, but know of young ones that need help, HELP THEM. This is a fucked up world we live in. But it can also be a wonderful place. I’m not saying we all need to hold hands and sing kumbaya (that would be even a more fucked up world), but we can stop the precipitation of violence. Think about it. Maybe I made a point. Maybe not. Regardless, this is for you Mr. King, I think it a shame that you took this novella out of print. It’s not your job to be a parent to others’ kids. Your job is to be a storyteller. And that you have done wonderfully.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -
........Sad and Frightening
........RAGE is the story of a disturbed child....who becomes a disturbed teen....who acts out on his frustrations by taking a hand gun to school his senior year, taking the life of his algebra teacher, and holding his class hostage for several hours. (no spoiler here)
........In the midst of all the chaos, keeping school officials and police at bay, Charlie shares a few tales of his abusive home life, his encounters with bullies, a sex episode, and strongly requests his captives disclose embarrassing secrets about themselves too. All are cooperative....except one.
........A good portion of this short read is dedicated to Charlie discussing his feelings and regrets, but be prepared for a few shockers along the way.
........RAGE is one of Stephen King's earliest novels written under pen name Richard Bachman, a work he has pulled from the market due to real time events 'somewhat' resembling the storyline. He has also excluded RAGE from new editions of The Bachman Books. Highly recommend reading GUNS as a follow-up to RAGE as it fully details the reasoning behind his decision.
-
After thinking a lot about how to rate and review "Rage", the first novel Stephen King published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, I still have no clue what to think of this (really short) novel. "Rage" is not available anymore as King decided to take it off the market since it was feared the novel would inspire people to run amok, and due to the socially relevant and interesting subject this novel deals with, I was very interested in reading the actual text. But after finishing it this morning, all the impressions the novel leaves in my thoughts consist of disappointment. The more I think about it, the more does the opinion that King utterly failed to depict the novel's core in his work become manifest in my considerations.
It's about Charlie Decker, the spree killer himself, who kills his teacher in school and then takes several hostages in the aftermath of this escalation. King spends a lot of time inside Charlie's head, exploring his thoughts, his inner turmoil and his plagued past. Although his character is well-developed, his deeds themselves remain unexplained, which may be the most significant factor for why I wasn't able to get into the story. Spree killers may have been victims in their past, but they become perpetrators the moment they commit their crimes, and Charlie's crime is a horrible one - however, King depicts him as the victim during the entire course of the story, not only by telling the book from his first-person point of view, but also by making the hostage-taking feel like an afternoon coffee party. Some scenes appeared dubious and unrealistic to me, while - in addition - King's writing talents are not performed at their best in this novel. Apart from that, I thought "Rage" shares a lot of similarities with "Carrie", King's first published novel, which was interesting to investigate.
Finally, what is left to be said about "Rage"? It is no huge loss to the world of literature that it isn't officially available anymore, and although it deals with a socially important subject, King leads the story into absurdism. 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars for the lack of explanations of the protagonist's actions.
(Why is this book shelved as 'horror' by 412 users? Had it been written by any random author, it would have been shelved anything but that. In my opinion, "Rage" is a thriller with dramatic components, but does not belong into the section of King books meant to be horror novels.) -
In this case the GR bug that says I read this twice is correct. The first time was over 20+ years ago, so the story seemed new to me.
In light of all the school shootings that have occurred since this book was written, I understand why King pulled it from publication in later editions of The Bachman Books.
That said, I do not think this is a good example of King's work. I've always thought that it was King's characters that made his stories so great, but I didn't find the characters in this story to have much depth. I didn't care about any of them and other than the novelty of being inside the school shooter's head, I didn't find anything special about this tale, other than that I did need to see it through to the end.
I re-read RAGE so that I could take part in a local Stephen King book group, and I'm glad that I did. (Though I'm still waffling about actually attending the group meeting, as my introvert alarm is sounding.) I say that I'm glad because this story reminded me that King hasn't always been the master of storytelling that he is today, he stumbled now and then. But hey, even when he stumbles he gets 3/5 stars from me because RAGE is a compelling tale. -
I read this book when I still went to school myself and thought it very disturbing but extremely well written. Bachman/King really knows the mind of his protagonist and let's him act in a brilliant way. As the other Bachman books, a clear recommendation. It's a classic even though its content is regarded a bit critical with all the shootings and violence at school.
-
Finally, I've read this elusive novel!
The first thought I had after reading this was: It's a shame this book is no longer in print.
The reason it was removed from print, by request from Stephen King himself, is because the novel was found in the locker of Michael Carneal, a bullied boy who opened fire on students at Heath High School in 1997. Under the assumption that the book partly inspired the school shooting, the book was pulled from print.
Given the sensitive nature of the novel, I can certainly understand King's decision to stop its print. However, after I read the novel I was very surprised to find it was nothing I had expected it to be. In all honesty, I've read a lot fiction that remains in print that has more violent depictions of gun violence in schools than was displayed in Rage. Forgive me if that comes off as insensitive; I in no way want to play down the sheer terror and trauma that comes from any violence in a school. I simply mean that Rage doesn't deal with as much forward and utterly gruesome violence as some other books out there. In fact, many of King's characters in his other novels have been far more violent than Charlie was in Rage.
What I read was a book that dissects a troubled teenage boy's mind. The entire novel is a psychoanalysis into what caused this boy to hold his entire class hostage at gunpoint. And what we are told by the characters (but mainly by Charlie himself) is that he grew up in a violent home and was bullied at school. Textbook...
What really troubled me (not in a bothersome way, but in such a way that I knew this book was hitting an emotional chord in me) was the way the kids reacted to being held hostage. They were, for want of a better word, blasé about the situation. At times they were quite well-humoured and seemed almost to enjoy being there. Only in a few instances did they become jumpy or frightened. This is a curious juxtaposition from what we often see in real life hostage situations, where the hostages are extremely frightened to the point of hysteria, begging for their lives, or screaming and trembling uncontrollably. It creates this gigantic spotlight on the children in that classroom and forces us to observe their behaviour. And I think this contrast is why the novel is so powerful. It draws a clear line between Charlie and the other children, between troubled young man and the people who didn't ask to be held hostage. But interestingly enough, I found myself wondering, who exactly is the victim in all this...?
This novel is short, and in true King (Bachman) fashion, you can't help but keep turning the pages until the end. I know this book is hard to come by, but it was well worth my months-long search for a copy. From a purely entertainment standpoint, this is a must read if you're a King fan.
I think there is a lot that can be learned from Rage (and books of a similar nature) in why violence in schools happens. Or, to look at it more broadly, we can learn why and how violent behaviour in adolescents develops in the first place. It gives us a window into the mental health of youth, in particular youth that have been bullied. And it may provide us with answers on how to act before it is too late for everyone.
In defence of Richard Bachman and Rage, I don't think the book created a monster in Carneal in 1997. I think the tendencies were there in a boy who had gone through the ringer, and Rage may have been the final straw for him in a overlong, delayed cry for help.
To sum up: this book deserves to be back in print, I think it's particularly important to have in bookstores at this day and age. This is a fantastic novel.
Onward. -
I know a lot of people have very polarizing feelings about King’s work as Bachman and Rage in particular but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My first time around I gave it five stars but after reading it a second time it lost a tad bit of its sparkle because part of what made it so good was the not knowing and it went down to four stars. Which might I add, is still good for a book that generates SO much hate. It isn’t my favourite out of the gang of Bachman books but it was excellent nonetheless! I really enjoy the rawness that you get when King writes as Bachman, it draws me in every time. I find this story particularly raw and heartbreaking for so many reasons that I won’t go into depth on because spoilers. And of course I in no way sympathize with Charlie and his actions, this story just really strikes a nerve with me and makes my heart hurt because this horror story is all too real.
-
2 stars
Rage is Stephen King's first work under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. I didn't really know what to expect from this. Mostly I was curious because I know of this book's problematic past. If you are unaware, this book is currently out of print at King's request because it may have incited violent behaviour similar to that seen in the story. This book follows a school shooting/occupation by Charlie Decker.
Honestly, for most of this I was just bored. Although usually I am a character-driven reader, I just could not sympathize or appreciate Charlie. He was problematic and the narrative is written in a way that the reader is encouraged to sympathize with him. Bachman/King gives this sense of him being a victim, don't get me wrong, he kind of is (what with his traumatic childhood), but I just can't get past the vibe that he is right for shooting up a school!
I guess the theme that was supposed to be portrayed here was that we are what our backgrounds make us. I think that this theme can be done much differently/better. Again, Decker was an issue. The problem with the classmates was that they weren't compelling. Since a lot of the novel is spent exploring the dynamics/backgrounds of these people, not being invested in them really hindered my like of this novel.
The best way I can describe Rage is "problematic + meh". Not my cup of tea. It made me feel uncomfortable. When I started reading it, I wanted to see why it caused an uproar. Now I understand. -
Given this book's chilling history and King's subsequent decision to remove it from his list of publications, it's almost impossible to get hold of a copy. All this combined to heighten my intrigue.
The tale provided a chilling and unforgettable insight into a chaotic and psychotic mind and details the tragedy of a school shooting in almost unbearable detail. The abused becomes the abuser and the reader becomes privy to secrets only ever before realised in the dark. -
Rage is the first book Stephen King wrote under his pseudonym Richard Bachman back in 1977 and which he let fall out of print after the book was associated with some High school shootings.
I had felt that perhaps us SK fans were missing out on this pulled book but thanks to the internet I managed to get hold of this novella and honestly, we are not missing much. I mean it's a good decent 3 star read but from SK my expectations are higher.
At 130 pages is a fast read in which we spend 4 hours with Charlie, in his classroom, with a loaded gun.
I've read worst fiction books with this trope so it's a shame SK felt uncomfortable and responsible for other peoples actions and had the book pulled but SK is the man so I shall respect his decision.
3 stars. -
Metto le mani avanti: Ossessione lo potete trovare (se siete baciati dalla dea Fortuna) per pochi euro ai mercatini dell’usato, o magari qualche anima gentile che ce l’ha a casa e non se ne fa niente decide di regalarvelo (io rientro tra questi fortunati), altrimenti per acquistare Ossessione dovete spendere parecchio visto che è stato tolto dal mercato. Perché? Perché il libro viene associato a due fatti di cronaca nera avvenuti dopo la sua pubblicazione (in particolare nell’armadietto di scuola di un ragazzo che nel 1997 uccise tre studenti, fu ritrovata una copia di questo libro). Si è deciso così di bloccare la stampa del libro, e di ritirare dalle librerie le copie già stampate.
Prima di leggere Ossessione comprendevo la scelta di Stephen King, ma non la condividevo. Ora che ho letto il libro posso dire che non la comprendo nemmeno visto che sul mercato ci sono libri molto più violenti di Ossessione e che possono essere emulati tanto quanto questo libro.
Il protagonista è Charlie, un ragazzo all’apparenza come tanti, ma che dentro di sé soffre come non mai. È un ragazzo che ha bisogno di aiuto, ma non sa come chiederlo, non vuole chiederlo e preferisce urlare al mondo, a modo suo, la sofferenza che prova. Le vittime saranno due insegnanti, ma Charlie renderà partecipi della sua follia anche i suoi compagni di classe.
Resteremo in loro compagnia per alcune ore, ore dove verranno a galla segreti e soprattutto odio. Odio per i propri genitori, odio per alcuni compagni. Sarà Charlie ad avere sempre la pistola in pugno, ma sembrano essere i suoi compagni quelli pronti a premere il grilletto.
Se Charlie si presenta come un pazzo carnefice, ben presto scopriremo che i suoi compagni non sono da meno. Verremo trasportati in un vortice di delirio e di follia quasi senza fine. E alla fine sapete una cosa? Ho empatizzato con Charlie, ma non con i suoi compagni. È vero, Charlie ha ucciso due insegnanti, ma i suoi compagni sembrano più malati di lui, più sadici, più vendicativi, pieni di odio e di gelosia, e sono loro che faranno impazzire un altro ragazzo presente in quell’aula, loro, non Charlie.
Ossessione, scritto in realtà con lo pseudonimo di Richard Bachman, mette su carta le tragedie di alcuni adolescenti, la loro vera natura, i pensieri più oscuri e profondi. E Stephen King è stato davvero bravo a entrare nel corpo e nell’animo di Charlie, il narratore, perché l’impressione che ho avuto leggendo Ossessione è che in quel momento Charlie fosse nella stanza con me, mi sembrava di sentire la sua voce, di vedere il suo viso, mi sembrava che fosse lui in carne e ossa a raccontarmi la sua storia, non uno scrittore.
È davvero un peccato che questo libro non sia più in commercio, e non lo dico da semplice fan di Stephen King. Semplicemente è un buon libro, con una bella (passatemi il termine) storia, narrata molto bene.
Se lo trovate, non fatevelo scappare perché merita. E se lo avete a casa e non ne fate nulla, regalatelo a chi lo desidera veramente, non lucrateci sopra. -
This was a weird one. I was warned, certainly, but that still didn't prepare me. Apparently, there is a reason Stephen King wrote and published this under a pseudonym. *lol*
The set-up is simple: Charlie snapps (for very good reasons), brings a gun to school, kills a teacher or two and then takes a few students hostage. Why (especially the latter)? Well ... it's twisted to say the least.
I hear that people get their panties in a twist about this story. Have since its publication and don't seem to be stopping. I guess I can see why, to some degree. Though I bet it's actually for a different reason (see, I think they object to him having used a school shooting at all since it's a sensitive topic).
Anyway, instead of a boy just losing his marbles and shooting, he engages his fellow students in a little game to reveal their "dark sides" while he also somewhat challenges the "authority figures" by confronting them with their supposed demons. Whether he's actually as spot on about their secrets or not remains for the reader to decide.
Personally, I don't mind him setting up this kind of scene. I mean, true horror is in the every day, which SK has proven time and time again.
And why should there not be anything horriffic about teenagers when we all know that there is a bloody good reason why there are so many small children in horror movies (they have to grow up eventually and why/how should they get better)?! ;P
That being said, some elements in this story just didn't work for me. However, I believe that especially in America, then and sadly even nowadays, .
The writing, to mention that shortly as well, was typical King which is to say that it was really extremely good.
So this was a slightly uneven reading experience but by no means bad and I think it's an interesting angle for this topic and actually a very important story. -
Otro libro corto, pero que trata de una tema que casi no se ve, y por ello es bastante valioso.
Rabia nos narra la historia de un chico que ha sufrido acoso escolar, y lo peor es que no solo sucede en la escuela, sino en su propia casa y de su padre.
Las emociones del muchacho son duras, y leer como tiene que sobrellevar toda esta situación y encontrar de algún modo una salida, son claves que nos guiarán entre sus páginas.
Sé que es un libro con una disponibilidad baja, e incluso prohibido en algunos países, debido a su temática, pero por ello es una joya, que nos habla de algo que pocos abordan y que nos puede dejar una lección importante. -
Though a reasonably good piece for a teenager to have written (apparently King started writing this as a teenager), a lot of immaturity still shows through.
Despite the fact that I could not manage to build up any empathy with the main character (the killer) Charlie Decker, Charlie simply seemed too normal in his general thought processes to appear phsychotic. He simply came across as a spoilt, extremely immature kid - a product of the typical syndrome of the military father and over-indulgent mother. Many families function like this, though very few of the kids from such families actually pick up guns and go around shooting people, or clobber people over the head with wrenches; indeed - most kids show some resilience - so basically this is a person with no phsychological reserves.
He doesn't seem to quite fit 100% into a pshychopath mold either; - so I'm not sure where King was going (or trying to go) with this character.
In fact, it would seem that King is trying to talk out against discipline, and at the same time condoning hooliganism and destructive behaviour, not to mention murder and violence.
I felt a lot more empathy for the real victim in the story, Ted Jones. The way he is tortured and victimised by the mob on both a psychological and a physical level, left me a with an extremely bad taste in the mouth - was this supposed to be a modern version of aspects of Lord of the Flies?
A lot of the dialogue came across as pretty unrealistic of how people would talk in a crisis situation like this one. Especially the story that Decker recounts of his sexual misadventure while under the influence of marijuana, seemed like a streamlined and polished retelling of an event by a professional writer - and not what must have been a painful recollection of a relatively traumatic (or frustrating and embarassing at the least) event by a teenage boy.
All in all, although the book was an easy read due to King's very accessible style, (and definitely an infinitely more gripping read than Catcher in the Rye), I'm giving it only 2 stars due to the plain mean-spiritedness of character that shines through on every page, not to mention the trivialisation of (and even glimmers of glorification of) cruelty and violence.
EDIT: I've slept on it, and I think I need to downgrade my rating to a 1. The more I think of the callous way that the subject of the death of 2 teachers and torture of an already beleaugered boy is treated, the more I want to give the book a zero. -
I found this story to be a whole load of MEH. Charlie did not come across as sympathetic to me, the writing felt overdone and tried too hard to be sharp and philosophical at times (‘But my arms were too tired to pull down temples. I was never cut out to be Samson’ - lol okay), and the situation was unrealistic and disturbing. The ending... ugh.
First one in the Bachman collection down. Things can only get better, right? -
„Гняв“ е първата книга на Стивън Кинг излязла под псевдонима му Ричард Бакман. И тя донякъде следва модела на „Кери“ само че без каквито и да било елементи на фантастика у себе си. Тук също главните действащи лица са ученици и се разглежда друга проблемна ситуация, която настъпва една обикновена сутрин в училището. Сюжетът в книгата не е някаква екзотика, а е нещо което съвсем не е изключено да се случи на когото и да било, в което и да било училище по света. И подобни ескалации се отразяват в новините почти ежегодно от различни места. Темата, която Стивън Кинг разгръща (за общуването между учениците и общуването им с родителите, агресията, която се поражда от неразбиране) и към днешен ден продължава да е изключително актуална.
И тук е много важна ролята и на училищния психолог и неговата адекватна намеса и помощ около проблемите на учениците или конкретно лице. В книгата имаме един крайно сбъркан и неадекватен училищен психиатър, който е абсолютен нагледен пример как един специалист никога не трябва да се държи в критична ситуация и да губи силата си над контрола на разговора. (В момента, в който съответния терапевт изгуби самообладание и позволи на клиента или пациента да вземе нещата в свой ръце и започне той да направлява посоката, работата отива на много зле). В книгата много точно е показано именно сбърканото поведение на психиатъра. И в случая Чарли Декър изглежда много по на място. Забелязах, че и някои от идеите на Фройд са заложени в книгата.
Като цяло добре свършена работа от Стивън Кинг и този път. По-ниската ми оценка сега се дължи на това, че в сравнение с другите му книги тази ми донесе с една идея по-малко емоционално въздействие, но в никакъв случай не я намирам за лоша. -
I was going to talk about why Rage was taken out of print, but I think plenty has been said on that subject. I side with King on the decision to pull the plug. Stephen King has stated, "The Carneal incident was enough for me. I asked my publisher to take the damned thing out of print. They concurred."
Rage is about a deeply disturbed high school student who basically has gone through the ringer of life, short as it has been, and came out broken. Charles Decker is the possibly brilliant young man who takes the left turn towards horror town, when all the others would choose the right turn of sanity. At the end of his road lies a gun in one hand, two teachers in his path, and a surreal Lord of the Flies few hours with his fellow students in a classroom.
In Rage, there is some crazy good writing that I did not expect, being one of King’s earliest works. The best parts of the novel were those brief stories told by Charlie and the other students because they were like synapses bridging time, explaining so much in so few words. It’s not only that the stories are interesting, but the way they are worded. Granted, the finale did not capture me as did the earlier scenes. Still, this is good stuff. “Getting it on”, as Decker would say.
Finally, my 1985 copy of
The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels includes an intro by Stephen King titled, “Why I was Bachman”. This is one of the many things all King fans find fascinating. I want to include a bit of this with each Bachman book I review. Rage, begun in 1966 was almost published 2 years before Carrie, and was initially called Getting It On. Five novels were actually written before Carrie. King considered The Long Walk to be the other only good book of these five. He had also started writing it as a senior in high school, in 1966. “Being Stephen King in 1977: there is almost nothing to bitch about”. It seems that both the Beatles and Elvis Presley desired a different persona at times. -
“Lunacy is when you can’t see the seams where they stitched the world together anymore.”
Book 4 in my project of reading/re-reading the whole Stephen King bibliography
Oh heck leave it to Stephen King to make me sympathise with my most hated category of people. -
Hmmmmmm...... I have very mixed thoughts on this one.
-
This book is the first that Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1977. It deals with a high school student's descent into mental illness. Charlie Decker has inner demons...and when they break to the surface he takes a gun to school. There were warning signs.....he had behavior issues, trouble at home with his overbearing father, and assaulted a teacher so badly the man almost died. As he faces expulsion from high school and being sent to a reform school, Charlie breaks. He kills two teachers and takes an entire classroom hostage.
Stephen King has let this book fall out of print. The only way to read it is to find an old copy. I found an omnibus of four Bachman books from the 1980s called The Bachman Books. Newer editions of this collection do not include Rage. King had the book removed from the collection in 1997 following a school shooting in Kentucky. The Bachman Books was found in the shooter's locker after the incident. King is quite outspoken about gun control these days. I almost stopped reading the book out of respect for King's wishes to let this particular story disappear (and because as the mom of a teenage boy this was a really really hard book to read)....but I felt it was important to finish. I wanted to see inside the mind of a teenager who reached a point where he believed a gun was the answer to his problems.
Rage is not really about school shooters or the mental break that sends loners down that sort of violent path. For me it was more of a statement on the cruelty humans show to one another on a daily basis and how that can have lasting, horrible effects. Charlie starts his slide into mental instability as a young child witnessing his parent's toxic relationship. By the time he reaches high school, he just can't handle a world that makes him feel so small. We all endure high school....that little microcosm of society where any weakness, difference or mistake is exploited. It's a wonderful time and a horrible experience at the same time. As Charlie sits in a classroom with a gun pointed at 25 of his fellow students, we get a peek into The Truth. The real emotions, feelings and predatory behavior that they are all feeling. The gun is just the catalyst that pushes the situation into hard, cold reality.
This story was a very emotional and difficult one for me to read. As the parent of a teenage boy, I wonder sometimes about the safety of public school and the world my son will have to navigate as an adult. It's scary. I think Rage is somewhat dated. Charlie is portrayed as a sort of anti-hero....a misunderstood, abused and confused boy who needs mental help. This version of the school shooter is a bit different than the one seen today....loners who want to take out people they are jealous of or who they feel victimized them. Loners who crave instant attention or notoriety. Internet fame. Followers. A lasting infamy. A yearning to be important. The reality seems a lot more bleak and sad than fictional Charlie Decker from 1977.
I totally understand why Stephen King wants this book to just fade away. It's too real and seems to give an excuse for violence. I'm glad I finished it. I will have to mull it over in my head a bit longer to fully decide what I think about the story though. -
Ah, King's infamous out-of-print book, the first released under his then-secret
Richard Bachman nom de plume, and much later removed from publication at King's behest after it it was associated with various unbalanced nutjobs who took it as inspiration to commmit violence in schools. Somehow, for reasons no one in America can explain, school shootings have continued.
Written earlier than
Carrie, it shows its immaturity. Not in the quality of the writing, which even then included classic King-isms, such as the recurrence of phrases as shorthand for a character's philosophy, in this instance "getting it on", but in the content, character behavior and plot.
The protagonist, a violent teenager who in a more recent decade would never under any circumstances have been allowed back onto school grounds, ends up holding a classroom of his peers as semi-willing hostages while they "get it on". This means that they try to do away with phonies and reject societal judgment of their class and behaviors. For example, highlighting the contrast between how a girl who "puts out" is thought of compared to the boys who were equally involved. The fact that the class is willing to engage in this conversation with a boy who just murdered their teacher in cold blood is, well, interesting. Eventually, in some kind of turn-around groupthink, the adolescents' titular rage is turned on the adults who attempt to negotiate for the hostages and ultimately on a classmate who embodies the phoniness they consider themselves to be rebelling against.
Silly tropes abound, the most notable being the "pocket protector" device, wherein an object in a breast pocket by happenstance stops a bullet from a police sniper, and another the idea that certain emotional events drive a person to a permanent catatonic or psychotic state.
This title need not be sought out except by King scholars and the obsessive completionist. I unfortunately fall into the latter category. I recently began a no-timeframe Stephen King publication-order re-read and so was compelled to seek this story out. I read it as a teenager and somehow never subsequently brought a gun to school in order to "get it on". For this re-read I did not score the paperback stand-alone version, but it was not difficult to find an old edition of
The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King that contained this short novel. -
Leí este libro en un día, me resultó fluido y casi sin darme cuenta había llegado a la mitad. Luego de un té, me leí la otra mitad porque no tenía interés en dejarlo para otro día.
Me reí en varias ocasiones, algunos de los diálogos son hilarantes. Si uno lo piensa con seriedad es grave lo que ocurre, pero te metes en la historia y te envuelve.
No me gustó el principió ni el final. No termina de convencerme la idea que después del primer ataque de locura en el que el protagonista daña a un profesor al punto que tienen que operarlo para salvarle la vida (esto lo dice en la sinopsis y las primeras páginas, por tanto no lo considero spoiler) haya retomado su vida “normal”.
El final, lo que ocurre cuando se bajan las persianas (digo así para no hacer spoiler), no lo termino de entender. La reacción de los alumnos, lo que hacen, no tiene suficiente fundamento para mí, no al menos en ese momento. Si hubiera ocurrido antes, tras algo provocativo quizás tendría más sentido.
Los agregados finales de lo que ocurrió posteriormente son innecesarios, hubiera quedado mejor que no estuvieran y que fuera un final abierto (como en muchos libros de King).
