Christine opened innocuously enough of two friends on a summer break, one a geek (Arnie) who is a misfit but handy with machines/tools and another the everyday average Joe (Dennis) who does well in sports, is protective towards his charge . reasonably does well in studies. What happens when someone or something comes in between and alters the lives of everyone concerned, alters in a way that none can imagine. What if the change is due to elements beyond their control, due to supernatural horror- imagine the terror and fear.
It is this fear & terror that King manages to transcribe successfully onto the reader. A quiet, uneventful summer turns into a endless nightmare when Arnie falls in love with a CAR !
Arnie, A young, nerdy boy espies a rusting, dilapidated car and is besotted by it, He buys it from a retired Army Man Roland Lebay overriding the protestations of his bestie Dennis. Soon, changes begin in Arnie from being a meek, docile and good humored boy, Arnie turns into a obsessed rebel whose outlook and attitude and language degrades, on closer observation, we realize that Arnie is mimicking the now dead Roland Lebay right down to the back ache that Roland had.Events take a terrifying turn when Arnie is bullied at school by the local school bullies gang. They beat up Arnie and in turn are expelled from school. As revenge, The School bullies headed by Buddy vandalize Arnie's car, lovingly named Christine ! Arnie is heart broken but is determined to rebuild Christine BUT Christine has other ideas , She wants revenge and oh!! boy, she extracts her pound of flesh with glee.
Just when you begin to think, this is going to be a slasher kind of book, King throws up a googly..we are given a background sketch of Christine. Christine was bought by Roland who loved the car with a single minded devotion that he did not even reserve for his wife and daughter, As a way of placating his love Christine, he even offers human sacrifices in the form of his daughter & wife to the car. We wonder whether Christine influenced Roland or vice versa but in the end I believe both mutually fed and reinforced the baser qualities in one another.
Cut to Arnie:
Christine has ushered in unforeseen changes in Arnie, from a shy guy, Arnie has become a boy with lewd thoughts and rough tongue mirroring R.Lebay , He has also got himself the school trophy , Leigh ! Leigh who likes Arnie for his simplicity, his shyness begins to notice the changes in him and realizes that Christine is influencing his deviant behavior. A short confrontation and a snappy breakup throws Leigh into the arms of Dennis who is recuperating from an injury and who is utterly puzzled by the rash of accidents/murders happening in their community. He is convinced that Christine is involved in the murder spree but has not evidence whatsoever. It is at this point that Arnie discovers the hookup between Leigh & Dennis and the wrath of Arnie & Christine falls on Dennis, realizing the danger, Dennis begins to take evasive actions to save himself and his innocent family bt is he able to save the family or himself ?
As a horror book, Christine begins slowly but pretty soon you are caught in its grips , the evilness of Roland horrifying and repulsing you while there is just a sense of evil emanating from Christine , the vibes chilling you as you begin to dread Christine every time she comes alive. Believe me, No reader of Christine will look at a car as a benevolent entity once he/she reads Christine. This is a book that changes the way you look at a car especially if it is a red colored one. Its a book that has a lingering effect on you for days together
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