This entire chapter is a "dream" sequence in which Mike and Kyra travel back in time to the 1900 county fair. I will describe this chapter as "real" because that's the way Mike describes it and at the end of the dream he has a ribbon and pine sap that he picked up from his travels back in time.
The first thing he notices as he wakes up by Dark Score lake is that there is Royce Merrill's gold tip cane laying in the bottom of the pond and by this he knows that Royce has just died. Mike keeps walking until he gets to the county fairgrounds and he hears Sara Tidwell singing and once he enters the fairgrounds everything becomes much more vivid to him and he knows that this is no dream. He walks around the grounds and sees everyone dressed in 19th century attire (including himself). He goes up to the bandstand to see Sara playing and notices that while everyone is dressed in the period, Sara is dressed in Mattie's dress. Kyra appears and she runs to him and it's clear that both of them are asleep but have somehow been transported back in time. Everyone Mike sees he can identify as an ancestor of one of the current townspeople.
Here introduces something that maybe I missed or hadn't been brought up before, that Sara is an evil spirit . Mike gets chills from her and she laughs at him. He tries to leave with Kyra but Devore (we're assuming Max Devore's grandfather although he isn't given a first name) appears with six other people, two of them who appear to Mike to be ghosts, and try to block his way. Mike notices one of the men with Devore looks a lot like him (Mike) and he thinks that this might be the person Max was referring to when he said that his grandfather was from the TR. Perhaps his grandfather was a henchman for the evil Devore. After they get closer to the group, Mike realizes that they are all walking corpses.
Mike and Kyra run away into the Haunted House that's at the fair and after walking through it, they get away from the bad guys and Kyra takes one door back to her house and Mike takes another. Mike awakens with the ribbon and pine sap from the "dream."
A big plot point from this is that the Sara Laughs or Sara Tidwell's spirit is torturing Jo's spirit in the house. At the end of the chapter Mike hears Jo's spirit screaming and Mike implores the other spirits to leave her alone.
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I suppose this will be another plot added to the book. Jo's spirit being trapped in Sara Laughs and Mike trying to free her.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Bag of Bones: Chapter 20 (pages 331-355)
It looks as though this chapter is the start of Part II in this book. Max Devore and the custody battle seem to be gone. In this part it looks as though Sara Laughs will be the new focus of the novel, but who knows for sure?
Mike goes to the park to meet Mattie and Kyra for lunch. Mattie discusses with Mike that the magnets on her refrigerator have been spelling out words. They've even given a crossword clue, "ninety-two down" which is different from Mike's clue, nineteen down. Mattie says that most of the words are names and one of them is Carla. Mike goes in for this kiss after lunch and Mattie reciprocates and invites him over for (presumably) sex later on that night after Kyra goes to bed. Mike hesitates and "needs some time."
Mike goes home and takes a cold shower (literally) and calls Jo's brother, Frank, for information on what Jo was working on when she came up to Sara Laughs. Frank tells Mike that he was the man Jo was with at the softball game in 1994. Mike is relieved that she wasn't having an affair. Frank also tells him that she took him up to the Sara Laughs but wouldn't let him in because the house was "dangerous." Frank wants to know what's going on but Jo can't tell him. Frank asks if she has told Mike but Jo says that Mike's working on a book and needs to focus on his work. But if he finds out on his own then it's "meant to be." Jo goes into the house, presumably to confront the spirits somehow and after a little while she comes back out looking very relieved. That's when her and Frank go to the softball game. She mentions to Frank that she's been talking to the town's people and mentions Royce Merrill (who is a 95 year old, portrayed as evil by King, who saw Mike with Kyra when they first encountered each other on the highway then went telling the whole town about the incident). Jo says Mike shouldn't talk to him because Royce, "might let the cat out of the bag." Mike thinks this refers to what Max Devore said when he said that Mike's family came from around the TR. Jo also told Frank that Mike had picked out Sara Laughs, that it, "called to him." This "demolished one of the basic assumptions I'd made about my married life." (page 351). Mike always thought that Jo had picked out Sara Laughs and is shocked to remember that he had been one who saw it first and liked it.
Mike gets off the phone with Frank and calls Royce Merrill but he doesn't answer. He finds on the refrigerator the words "Lye still" and associates them with old tombstone sayings. Then proceeds to write until bedtime.
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As I said before, I think this chapter represents the second part of this novel. A number of the plot points have been resolved (seemingly), evil Max and the custody battle and Mike and Mattie's growing affection that they can't express (will they or won't they?) seemed to be cleared up. And Mike's suspicion that Jo was having an affair seems to be explained. What's left? The haunted house, Sara Laughs and the mysteries surrounding the town and it's people (including whether or not Mike's family is from the TR, meaning he might have a different father or grandfather from the one he knows) seem to be what the rest of the book will be about but we'll see as we read along.
Mike goes to the park to meet Mattie and Kyra for lunch. Mattie discusses with Mike that the magnets on her refrigerator have been spelling out words. They've even given a crossword clue, "ninety-two down" which is different from Mike's clue, nineteen down. Mattie says that most of the words are names and one of them is Carla. Mike goes in for this kiss after lunch and Mattie reciprocates and invites him over for (presumably) sex later on that night after Kyra goes to bed. Mike hesitates and "needs some time."
Mike goes home and takes a cold shower (literally) and calls Jo's brother, Frank, for information on what Jo was working on when she came up to Sara Laughs. Frank tells Mike that he was the man Jo was with at the softball game in 1994. Mike is relieved that she wasn't having an affair. Frank also tells him that she took him up to the Sara Laughs but wouldn't let him in because the house was "dangerous." Frank wants to know what's going on but Jo can't tell him. Frank asks if she has told Mike but Jo says that Mike's working on a book and needs to focus on his work. But if he finds out on his own then it's "meant to be." Jo goes into the house, presumably to confront the spirits somehow and after a little while she comes back out looking very relieved. That's when her and Frank go to the softball game. She mentions to Frank that she's been talking to the town's people and mentions Royce Merrill (who is a 95 year old, portrayed as evil by King, who saw Mike with Kyra when they first encountered each other on the highway then went telling the whole town about the incident). Jo says Mike shouldn't talk to him because Royce, "might let the cat out of the bag." Mike thinks this refers to what Max Devore said when he said that Mike's family came from around the TR. Jo also told Frank that Mike had picked out Sara Laughs, that it, "called to him." This "demolished one of the basic assumptions I'd made about my married life." (page 351). Mike always thought that Jo had picked out Sara Laughs and is shocked to remember that he had been one who saw it first and liked it.
Mike gets off the phone with Frank and calls Royce Merrill but he doesn't answer. He finds on the refrigerator the words "Lye still" and associates them with old tombstone sayings. Then proceeds to write until bedtime.
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As I said before, I think this chapter represents the second part of this novel. A number of the plot points have been resolved (seemingly), evil Max and the custody battle and Mike and Mattie's growing affection that they can't express (will they or won't they?) seemed to be cleared up. And Mike's suspicion that Jo was having an affair seems to be explained. What's left? The haunted house, Sara Laughs and the mysteries surrounding the town and it's people (including whether or not Mike's family is from the TR, meaning he might have a different father or grandfather from the one he knows) seem to be what the rest of the book will be about but we'll see as we read along.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bag of Bones: Chapter 19 (pages 318-330)
The big news of this chapter is that Max Devore has supposedly committed suicide right after Mike called and agreed to Max's terms about not asking questions about him. Early in the morning Bill Dean calls him up with the news that he has heard on the six a.m. television news.
Rogette Whitmore had called a 2 am press conference, per Devore's orders, to give the world the news of his death. Devore had carefully planned everything out and Mike comes to the conclusion that the letter Max had sent to him was a veiled suicide note because it contained phrases like, "let me rest in peace" and "urgent business I need to take care of."
Mike is relieved and glad that Max is dead but is concerned that the local townspeople might blame him and Mattie. That their custody battle drove him to kill himself.
Bill again warns Mike, but in a friendlier way, to leave town. He says the local townspeople think he is, "shacking up with Mattie" (why this is such a big issue in this book bothers me. I'm not sure what the objection the townspeople would have for them being together. The age difference? They don't like Mattie in the first place. Mattie should never be allowed to be in a relationship again? King should explain the reasoning behind this if it is going to be a huge plot point. I feel like I'm reading The Scarlet Letter here and New England Puritanism is back.)
Mike hangs up the phone and thinks that he and Bill Dean are back on better terms but not really friends again. That had changed when he, "realized what he (Bill) had almost called Sara and the Red-Tops." (Page 323). This again brings up Mike's new psychic ability. He had no way of knowing what Bill was going to say but somehow he has a psychic flash telling him what Bill was thinking.
He calls Mattie and of course Mattie is relieved and upset about Max's death all at the same time. They agree to meet the next day for lunch in the common green so everyone can still see them.
Mike's brother, Sid, then calls. It had been so long since his brother was introduced I forgot he existed. Mike asks him about their father and where he came from and their grandfather etc. A large plot point emerging is that Max said that Mike and his father came from the same background, and since Mike is a different generation than Max, Mike assumes that Max means his grandfather. But Mike's father and grandfather were fishermen, while Max's was a logger so Mike is still wondering. He doesn't get any answers from Sid. Mike ends the conversation and goes back to the kitchen and finds that the magnets have spelled out CARLADEAN. Mike thinks it means Carla Dean, but Mike doesn't know anyone related to Bill Dean named Carla. He only glimpses this for a second before the letters are scattered away. Mike hears the "Oh Mike, Oh Mike" he heard from the tape recorder earlier and now he knows it's Jo's ghost who put the name there but he thinks a different ghosts knocked the letters off because that ghost didn't want Mike to see what was on the fridge.
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Since this is only page 330 of a 530 page book, I doubt we've seen the last of Max Devore. This is probably where the supernatural elements start ramping up. So far this book has been very "normal." We get a nice little 75 pages or so of a man grieving for his dead wife, which was very well done. Then the next 125 pages we deal with Mike getting to know Mattie and her daughter Kyra. Another 100 pages of larger than life (and most decidedly not normal) Max Devore. Mike seems like a nice and decent human being except for his constant obsession of sex with Mattie. Which after a while, does get to be just a little bit creepy. He seems pampered and self-obsessed and maybe throughout the books he'll learn to be a more giving and caring person, who knows?
Rogette Whitmore had called a 2 am press conference, per Devore's orders, to give the world the news of his death. Devore had carefully planned everything out and Mike comes to the conclusion that the letter Max had sent to him was a veiled suicide note because it contained phrases like, "let me rest in peace" and "urgent business I need to take care of."
Mike is relieved and glad that Max is dead but is concerned that the local townspeople might blame him and Mattie. That their custody battle drove him to kill himself.
Bill again warns Mike, but in a friendlier way, to leave town. He says the local townspeople think he is, "shacking up with Mattie" (why this is such a big issue in this book bothers me. I'm not sure what the objection the townspeople would have for them being together. The age difference? They don't like Mattie in the first place. Mattie should never be allowed to be in a relationship again? King should explain the reasoning behind this if it is going to be a huge plot point. I feel like I'm reading The Scarlet Letter here and New England Puritanism is back.)
Mike hangs up the phone and thinks that he and Bill Dean are back on better terms but not really friends again. That had changed when he, "realized what he (Bill) had almost called Sara and the Red-Tops." (Page 323). This again brings up Mike's new psychic ability. He had no way of knowing what Bill was going to say but somehow he has a psychic flash telling him what Bill was thinking.
He calls Mattie and of course Mattie is relieved and upset about Max's death all at the same time. They agree to meet the next day for lunch in the common green so everyone can still see them.
Mike's brother, Sid, then calls. It had been so long since his brother was introduced I forgot he existed. Mike asks him about their father and where he came from and their grandfather etc. A large plot point emerging is that Max said that Mike and his father came from the same background, and since Mike is a different generation than Max, Mike assumes that Max means his grandfather. But Mike's father and grandfather were fishermen, while Max's was a logger so Mike is still wondering. He doesn't get any answers from Sid. Mike ends the conversation and goes back to the kitchen and finds that the magnets have spelled out CARLADEAN. Mike thinks it means Carla Dean, but Mike doesn't know anyone related to Bill Dean named Carla. He only glimpses this for a second before the letters are scattered away. Mike hears the "Oh Mike, Oh Mike" he heard from the tape recorder earlier and now he knows it's Jo's ghost who put the name there but he thinks a different ghosts knocked the letters off because that ghost didn't want Mike to see what was on the fridge.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Since this is only page 330 of a 530 page book, I doubt we've seen the last of Max Devore. This is probably where the supernatural elements start ramping up. So far this book has been very "normal." We get a nice little 75 pages or so of a man grieving for his dead wife, which was very well done. Then the next 125 pages we deal with Mike getting to know Mattie and her daughter Kyra. Another 100 pages of larger than life (and most decidedly not normal) Max Devore. Mike seems like a nice and decent human being except for his constant obsession of sex with Mattie. Which after a while, does get to be just a little bit creepy. He seems pampered and self-obsessed and maybe throughout the books he'll learn to be a more giving and caring person, who knows?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Bag of Bones: Chapter 18 (pages 302-317)
We now have the aftermath of Mike Noonan's little adventure in the lake with Max Devore. Mike stumbles into his house, wondering what to do about the attack that Max launched on him. His first instinct is to call the authorities but after a minute he thinks better of it. He knows that there were no witnesses and it would be hard for most people (especially the reader) to believe that two elderly people almost killed a healthy middle-aged man by pelting him with rocks.
Mike also takes into consideration his "celebrity status" and we get a couple of paragraphs of thought about his feelings about the media. King has always had a pretty decent relationship with the press and a few years ago you could always find him in the front section of Fenway Park watching the Red Sox games. But writers are very small on the celebrity scale and King is one of the biggest authors around. I wonder if he would even get top billing on the Tonight Show over, say, Mathew Broderick? King gives the same old celebrity cliches that just because people are famous that doesn't give the public a right to know every detail of their private lives. King gives the argument very briefly and I think even he doesn't buy it.
Noonan then tries to call his lawyer but his lawyer is away so he leaves a message. He then calls Mattie and is saddened to hear her sound sad and resigned because she was fired from her librarian job. The official explanation was layoff but she knew that Max Devore used the threat of withholding money from the library to get her fired. Mike automatically thinks of making her his private mistress as long as she, "never says no." But thinks better of it. He then tells Mattie that he will take care of her and thinks that, "You'll never take your clothes off when I'm with you. That's a promise." Another instance of Mike lying to himself, all he thinks about with Mattie is having sex with her.
Mattie tells Mike that John called her and they are going to have lunch together soon. Mike immediately invites himself, and Mattie is very excited. Oh, Mike when will you let the girl go?
Mike stares at the refrigerator with the alphabet magnets on it and begins rearranging them, in a trance. I wonder how many thoughts King has while rearranging his fridge magnets? He gets a delivery from Max Devore saying that Max will drop the custody case if Mike, "ceases to ask questions about him, and if you promise to stop all legal maneuvering." A pretty easy deal since, to my knowledge, Mike is not asking any questions about Max Devore except when it comes to Mattie and Kyra. Mike quickly calls Max and gets his assistant, Rogette, and agrees to the deal. At the end of the chapter, Mike goes to the refrigerator and sees that the magnets are rearranged into a message that he thinks means 19 down. Mike then goes to look through his old crossword puzzle books but can find none with any 19 down clues that might apply to him or his current situation.
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Analysis:
This is simple chapter with a quick setup for the next chapter (which I will talk about in the next post). The man delivering Max Devore's message is characterized very weakly and I'm not sure how King wants us to see him. Mike sees that he looks like Woody Allen and is dressed like Woody Allen but then Mike quickly realizes he is just another man, "who sold his soul to the devil." And so can't be Woody Allen at all. The character description falls into one of two categories in this novel. A) You're either totally with Mike Noonan and Mattie or B) You're not with him and are in the pocket of Max Devore and therefore barely human. The only character with any kind gray area is Bill Dean, who we'll see in the next chapter. I thought earlier, when he warned Mike to get out of town, King was putting him simply in the evil category but it looks like he's going to fall into at least a little bit of middle ground and be back on Mike's side somewhat. But we'll discuss that in the next chapter.
Noonan then tries to call his lawyer but his lawyer is away so he leaves a message. He then calls Mattie and is saddened to hear her sound sad and resigned because she was fired from her librarian job. The official explanation was layoff but she knew that Max Devore used the threat of withholding money from the library to get her fired. Mike automatically thinks of making her his private mistress as long as she, "never says no." But thinks better of it. He then tells Mattie that he will take care of her and thinks that, "You'll never take your clothes off when I'm with you. That's a promise." Another instance of Mike lying to himself, all he thinks about with Mattie is having sex with her.
Mattie tells Mike that John called her and they are going to have lunch together soon. Mike immediately invites himself, and Mattie is very excited. Oh, Mike when will you let the girl go?
Mike stares at the refrigerator with the alphabet magnets on it and begins rearranging them, in a trance. I wonder how many thoughts King has while rearranging his fridge magnets? He gets a delivery from Max Devore saying that Max will drop the custody case if Mike, "ceases to ask questions about him, and if you promise to stop all legal maneuvering." A pretty easy deal since, to my knowledge, Mike is not asking any questions about Max Devore except when it comes to Mattie and Kyra. Mike quickly calls Max and gets his assistant, Rogette, and agrees to the deal. At the end of the chapter, Mike goes to the refrigerator and sees that the magnets are rearranged into a message that he thinks means 19 down. Mike then goes to look through his old crossword puzzle books but can find none with any 19 down clues that might apply to him or his current situation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Analysis:
This is simple chapter with a quick setup for the next chapter (which I will talk about in the next post). The man delivering Max Devore's message is characterized very weakly and I'm not sure how King wants us to see him. Mike sees that he looks like Woody Allen and is dressed like Woody Allen but then Mike quickly realizes he is just another man, "who sold his soul to the devil." And so can't be Woody Allen at all. The character description falls into one of two categories in this novel. A) You're either totally with Mike Noonan and Mattie or B) You're not with him and are in the pocket of Max Devore and therefore barely human. The only character with any kind gray area is Bill Dean, who we'll see in the next chapter. I thought earlier, when he warned Mike to get out of town, King was putting him simply in the evil category but it looks like he's going to fall into at least a little bit of middle ground and be back on Mike's side somewhat. But we'll discuss that in the next chapter.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Bag of Bones: Chapter 17 (pages 284-301)
The greatest chapter in an otherwise so-so book. The chapter is devoted to our "hero" Mike Noonan being pelted with rocks by Max Devore and his secretary the elderly Rogette Whitmore. In chapter 17, Mike says that, "Michael Noonan, Max Devore, and Rogette played out their horrible little comedy scene Friday evening." (page 272). This would lead me to believe that King knows this upcoming chapter is funny (I would say hilarious).
Mike takes a walk by the lake and is overtaken with spirits entering his body. His mouth fills with water from the lake (this is used throughout the book to mark when the spirits are entering him) but when he goes to spit it out nothing comes out. His head is filled with multiple spirits all shouting at once.
While he is going through this spell of demon possession, Max Devore comes up behind him and says, "Whore master, where's your whore at?" Max is in some kind of motorized cart and Rogette Whitmore is beside him. In this section, King has left any kind of reality based characterization behind and Max is a mix of Ross Perot and the grandfather on "King of the Hill." He taunts Mike about Mattie and Mike tells him to go to hell. Max tries to run him down with his cart and to avoid this, Mike jumps off the embankment into Dark Score lake.
This is where the chapter really takes off. Max's assistant, who has been described as being about seventy, starts to throw rocks at Mike as he tries to swim away to home. King does a very good job of describing what it's like to have rocks thrown at you while you're swimming. King (like most popular writers) is quite adept at describing action sequences. Mike tries to come up for air, down comes another rock. He looks up to see Rogette standing at the cliff with more rocks and Max egging her on and laughing. It's all very funny and I bet King had a good time writing this chapter.
The fact is, that Mike Noonan is a pretty unlikable protagonist. He does nothing but think about himself and while he appears to have feelings for Mattie all the forty something thinks of when he's with the twenty year-old Mattie is just straight-up sex.
There's a part in an earlier chapter where he's telling Mattie the meaning of the short story, "Bartleby," by Mellville. Noonan says that Bartleby is the first "existentialist protagonist" in American literature. This is because he has no family or community affiliation. Work is his only connection with human society. When he stops working, "he floats away like a balloon." King inserts this little bit of wisdom, and while it's an OK interpretation of Bartelby it doesn't fit Mike Noonan at all. Bartleby refuses to do work, even though he is capable of it. Therefore voluntarily cutting those ties. Mike cannot perform his chosen task and therein lies the difference. No other line of work is even discussed in the novel for him and Mike also serves on a number of volunteer boards and such. Mike's no existentialist hero, just an asshole. Believe me, he takes no joy in anything but his writing and the thought of sex with Mattie. I loved seeing him pelted with rocks for ten pages.
At the end of the chapter he struggles to get to his floating deck in the middle of the lake, out of range from the rocks. He tries to climb the ladder then clearly feels a hand helping him up onto the deck. He knows this is Jo's ghost helping him in a physical way.
Wonderful chapter.
Mike takes a walk by the lake and is overtaken with spirits entering his body. His mouth fills with water from the lake (this is used throughout the book to mark when the spirits are entering him) but when he goes to spit it out nothing comes out. His head is filled with multiple spirits all shouting at once.
While he is going through this spell of demon possession, Max Devore comes up behind him and says, "Whore master, where's your whore at?" Max is in some kind of motorized cart and Rogette Whitmore is beside him. In this section, King has left any kind of reality based characterization behind and Max is a mix of Ross Perot and the grandfather on "King of the Hill." He taunts Mike about Mattie and Mike tells him to go to hell. Max tries to run him down with his cart and to avoid this, Mike jumps off the embankment into Dark Score lake.
This is where the chapter really takes off. Max's assistant, who has been described as being about seventy, starts to throw rocks at Mike as he tries to swim away to home. King does a very good job of describing what it's like to have rocks thrown at you while you're swimming. King (like most popular writers) is quite adept at describing action sequences. Mike tries to come up for air, down comes another rock. He looks up to see Rogette standing at the cliff with more rocks and Max egging her on and laughing. It's all very funny and I bet King had a good time writing this chapter.
The fact is, that Mike Noonan is a pretty unlikable protagonist. He does nothing but think about himself and while he appears to have feelings for Mattie all the forty something thinks of when he's with the twenty year-old Mattie is just straight-up sex.
There's a part in an earlier chapter where he's telling Mattie the meaning of the short story, "Bartleby," by Mellville. Noonan says that Bartleby is the first "existentialist protagonist" in American literature. This is because he has no family or community affiliation. Work is his only connection with human society. When he stops working, "he floats away like a balloon." King inserts this little bit of wisdom, and while it's an OK interpretation of Bartelby it doesn't fit Mike Noonan at all. Bartleby refuses to do work, even though he is capable of it. Therefore voluntarily cutting those ties. Mike cannot perform his chosen task and therein lies the difference. No other line of work is even discussed in the novel for him and Mike also serves on a number of volunteer boards and such. Mike's no existentialist hero, just an asshole. Believe me, he takes no joy in anything but his writing and the thought of sex with Mattie. I loved seeing him pelted with rocks for ten pages.
At the end of the chapter he struggles to get to his floating deck in the middle of the lake, out of range from the rocks. He tries to climb the ladder then clearly feels a hand helping him up onto the deck. He knows this is Jo's ghost helping him in a physical way.
Wonderful chapter.
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