Here is Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel -- a tale of grief and lost love's enduring bonds, of haunting secrets of the past, an...
read full description
reviews
Dec 17, 2009
Dale
rated it: 
I am a Stephen King junkie. I started reading him in high school and quickly tore through just about everything he'd ever written, and then started buying every new book he put out. Being a Stephen King fan is kind of like being a geek for Dragonlance or comic books - reviewing his work seems borderline pointless because non-fans will usually dismiss him out of hand and be hard to convince of any intrinsic value, and fans are already pretty hardcore about him.
Nevertheless, I want More...
Nevertheless, I want More...
10 comments
like
(36 people liked it)
Jun 13, 2011
Autumn
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Dec 16, 2009
Wordsmith
rated it:
Easily my favorite Stephen King novel ever, and I've read a wide cross section of different eras of his stuff. This is a ghost story...it's about being haunted, both by spirits and by memories. It's a book about loss and grief, but also a suspenseful mystery with a super spooky atmosphere, set in a creepy, unincorporated and sparesely populated fading resort community with a dark historic past. The mystery and the hauntings are linked in with a child custody battle, complete with a nefarious
More...
Nov 02, 2010
Bunga Mawar
rated it: 
Buku ini menyeramkan.
Curhat bagian 1: 28 Oktober 2010.
(Ditujukan untuk Ibu Dokter Iyut dan saudara Rauf).
Saya sudah tahu sejak SMA, bahwa Stephen King memang nama jaminan untuk kisah2 menegangkan yang berbau hantua2an. Namun kontak saya dengan karya King pertama malah baru tahun 2009 lalu lewat film "1408", yang jujur saja saya beli karena pemeran utamanya adalah John Cusack, hehe... Film itu, yang DVD-nya sendirian saya tonton di kamar (untungnya sore2!) memb More...
Curhat bagian 1: 28 Oktober 2010.
(Ditujukan untuk Ibu Dokter Iyut dan saudara Rauf).
Saya sudah tahu sejak SMA, bahwa Stephen King memang nama jaminan untuk kisah2 menegangkan yang berbau hantua2an. Namun kontak saya dengan karya King pertama malah baru tahun 2009 lalu lewat film "1408", yang jujur saja saya beli karena pemeran utamanya adalah John Cusack, hehe... Film itu, yang DVD-nya sendirian saya tonton di kamar (untungnya sore2!) memb More...
28 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 11, 2012
Erin (PT)
rated it:
Here's the thing about me and Stephen King: no matter how problematic and/or angry-making I find some of his work to be, the man knows how to tell a good story.
I had read Bag of Bones before, when it was first published, but all I really remembered about it was that I found it an enjoyable enough story, but not one that was excellent enough to be particularly memorable. And, indeed, I found myself remembering very little of the story while rereading it this time around. Which, on More...
I had read Bag of Bones before, when it was first published, but all I really remembered about it was that I found it an enjoyable enough story, but not one that was excellent enough to be particularly memorable. And, indeed, I found myself remembering very little of the story while rereading it this time around. Which, on More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 04, 2009
Jamieson
rated it:
I am enjoying what I think is perhaps Stephen King’s best novel, ever.
The opinion on Stephen King’s best work differs depending on who you talk to; but for me, it will always be Bag of Bones.
It’s the one novel of Kings that I’ve read more than any other (nine times) and each time it’s just as wonderful and beautiful and engaging as it was the first time I opened up my hardcover copy ten years ago.
I think it was the beginning of King moving away from horror and More...
The opinion on Stephen King’s best work differs depending on who you talk to; but for me, it will always be Bag of Bones.
It’s the one novel of Kings that I’ve read more than any other (nine times) and each time it’s just as wonderful and beautiful and engaging as it was the first time I opened up my hardcover copy ten years ago.
I think it was the beginning of King moving away from horror and More...
Dec 02, 2008
Nicholas
rated it:
Where to begin?
This is my favorite King book so far. And that's really saying a lot, because I like a lot of King stuff.
The strength of Bag of Bones (a completely appropriate title on so many levels once you get through it), lies in its completely realistic starting point. King manages to capture the loss and pain of a loved one in such stark terms that I found myself with nightmares of my own. Not supernatural ones, the kind that go away as soon as you push the cover More...
This is my favorite King book so far. And that's really saying a lot, because I like a lot of King stuff.
The strength of Bag of Bones (a completely appropriate title on so many levels once you get through it), lies in its completely realistic starting point. King manages to capture the loss and pain of a loved one in such stark terms that I found myself with nightmares of my own. Not supernatural ones, the kind that go away as soon as you push the cover More...
11 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jul 29, 2008
Amanda
rated it:
Like many Stephen King books, the characters he creates seem almost real. Throughout Bag od Bones, the central character, Mike Noonan, obviously parallels King's life. You come to think of Mike as someone who really existed. Of course if Mike really existed, then the Sara Laughs story must be real-and threin lies the horror.
At first I didn't think that this story was very scary. I thought it was a very touching account about loss and a quirky writer who was trying to cope. I loved th More...
At first I didn't think that this story was very scary. I thought it was a very touching account about loss and a quirky writer who was trying to cope. I loved th More...
5 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Oct 27, 2007
Caroline
rated it: 
Slow moving. I quit halfway through, switched to an action novel which cleared my head and allowed me to continue the laborious trudge.
The best thing about this novel, aside from reaching the end (660 pages… it could have been pared back to 450 and I would have been happy), was its intricacy. Almost everything tied in to the end. Of course, for a novelist like Stephen King, I would expect nothing less. However, I found the protag’s involvement left me feeling uneasy. Could Mike have More...
The best thing about this novel, aside from reaching the end (660 pages… it could have been pared back to 450 and I would have been happy), was its intricacy. Almost everything tied in to the end. Of course, for a novelist like Stephen King, I would expect nothing less. However, I found the protag’s involvement left me feeling uneasy. Could Mike have More...
0 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
Oct 12, 2007
Jessica
rated it:
Summery: Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. There, he finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, whose vindictive purpose is to take his three-year-old granddaughter, Kyra, away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 15, 2008
Juan
rated it:
Stephen King remains my favorite author, even though almost nothing I have read after Bag of Bones --which he published in 1998--, although I have loved, has quite thrilled me as much as this masterpiece, which I am now reading with the same grip for the third time. Mike Noonan's slow descent from mourning to horror and then ascention to love is one of the best trips King has given me yet.
Mike Noonan is a best-selling author who must deal with his young wife's sudden death, paired wi More...
Mike Noonan is a best-selling author who must deal with his young wife's sudden death, paired wi More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
May 01, 2008
Shae
rated it:
I LOVE this book! I think the thing that makes Stephen King one of my favorite writers isn't that his books make me lose sleep but that they usually involve great flawed heroes. Like most Kings novels the first quarter of the book is calm set up and the end is a roller coaster of calamity. Well the book has all the horror elements of a proper haunting it also is a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. The evil in Sara Laughs is driven by a revenge that you want to end but also can'
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Feb 04, 2009
Eric_W
rated it:
I guess it was bound to happen. I read a Stephen King. I have to admit that much of the reason lay behind his decision to leave Viking for Scribner's, Viking having decided that $17,000,000 for Bag of Bones was a little too hefty. After reading the novel, I suspect the decision was as much his agent's as his own.
The book is an uncomfortable mix of supernatural and psychological terror. One of the reasons I've delayed reading King is that I have difficulty turning a car into a killer More...
The book is an uncomfortable mix of supernatural and psychological terror. One of the reasons I've delayed reading King is that I have difficulty turning a car into a killer More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 26, 2012
C.S.
rated it: 
dear reader,
I NEVER READ HORROR, but...
this was a present from a dear friend (who apparently doesn't know about my literary tastes). *shrugs* just saying.
This is my first Stephen King’s book. Usually, I try to steer away from them because I am not a fan of the horror genre, but since it was a birthday present (from of a friend who obviously isn’t aware of my literary tastes), I decided to give it a go. I didn’t find it as “horrific” as I thought I would. In fa More...
I NEVER READ HORROR, but...
this was a present from a dear friend (who apparently doesn't know about my literary tastes). *shrugs* just saying.
This is my first Stephen King’s book. Usually, I try to steer away from them because I am not a fan of the horror genre, but since it was a birthday present (from of a friend who obviously isn’t aware of my literary tastes), I decided to give it a go. I didn’t find it as “horrific” as I thought I would. In fa More...
Jan 24, 2012
Katie
rated it:
So this is my first Steven King novel. There are others on my list that I want to read, but somehow this one was first. For 25% of the book I thought he rambled on forever, getting no where fast. Then the last portions of the book really got me. I did enjoy it. Did I think it was 5 star worthy? No. First let me say, I LOVE paranormal books. And as far as the paranormal portion of the book went, I thought that was excellent. I could see what was happening, I could feel the chills. I lo
More...
Jan 02, 2012
Benjamin
rated it:
I'm beginning to believe that Stephen King is incapable of writing a story that isn't at least somewhat compelling. There were several points in this one that left me feeling as if I should dislike it - and yet something kept me reading through all 700-plus pages.
In the early pages, this novel seems to be driven largely by references to King's other works. I have often appreciated the interrelationships among his various stories, but this time it felt gimmicky. IT was almost as if he k More...
In the early pages, this novel seems to be driven largely by references to King's other works. I have often appreciated the interrelationships among his various stories, but this time it felt gimmicky. IT was almost as if he k More...
Dec 19, 2011
Steven
rated it:
Some quick thoughts after having seen Stephen King's Bag of Bones (or, Stephen King's Bag of Bones) on A&E last night, just after I finished reading it:
--First, let's start off by saying that the movie was really bad, okay? Especially as compared to the book, which, in some spots, is among his best. I just finished the part now where he had the fever and the triple dream of being with Jo, Mattie and Sara Tidwell at the same time. The feelings, the descriptions, the skeletons and cor More...
--First, let's start off by saying that the movie was really bad, okay? Especially as compared to the book, which, in some spots, is among his best. I just finished the part now where he had the fever and the triple dream of being with Jo, Mattie and Sara Tidwell at the same time. The feelings, the descriptions, the skeletons and cor More...
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 25, 2011
Donna
rated it:
I haven't read a Stephen King book in a long, long time, and then I saw an ad for the movie based on this book "Bag of Bones" and thought: I should read this and I did. The book ran 732 pages so it was a long one for me, and I have to say:IT WAS TOO LONG! I liked the characters, and the main character was a writer of novels, so I found that intriguing, and he was going through grief when he lost his wife unexpectedly, but it went on, and on and on --- what made it even worse is that
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 15, 2011
Roberta
rated it:
In rilettura con il gruppo N&D dal 18 maggio 2010.
"I lettori sono dotati di una fedeltà che non ha confronti in nessun'altra arte creativa, la qual cosa spiega come mai tanti scrittori rimasti senza carburante riescono a navigare ancora, sospinti nelle classifiche dalle parole magiche AUTORE DI sulla copertina dei loro libri." (31)
""A confronto del più insignificante essere umano che posi effettivamente il piede sulla faccia della terra e vi proietti More...
"I lettori sono dotati di una fedeltà che non ha confronti in nessun'altra arte creativa, la qual cosa spiega come mai tanti scrittori rimasti senza carburante riescono a navigare ancora, sospinti nelle classifiche dalle parole magiche AUTORE DI sulla copertina dei loro libri." (31)
""A confronto del più insignificante essere umano che posi effettivamente il piede sulla faccia della terra e vi proietti More...
Sep 10, 2011
John
rated it:
Bag of Bones
by Stephen King
Hodder & Stoughton, 516 pages, hardback, 1998
Jo, the wife of successful thriller writer Mike Noonan, dies
suddenly and still quite young from a brain aneurysm. In grief,
he suffers a dramatic case of writer's block, but is able to get
by for a few years by covertly publishing novels he'd written
earlier but never told his publisher about. But then the "spares"
run out, and he must, somehow, get his act together to More...
Sep 08, 2011
Cherie
rated it:
I love this book. I love how easily I got scared, horrified, nauseated, bitter, betrayed and shattered.
So if you strip the story of its thrilling supernatural component, the story itself seems quite common and the reason behind the title as terrible as it is, is also common and it's this that makes the book awesome for me. Stephen King puts you in the moment because you can somewhat relate. You have seen or heard the story in real life before, so you find yourself easily imagining what the chara More...
So if you strip the story of its thrilling supernatural component, the story itself seems quite common and the reason behind the title as terrible as it is, is also common and it's this that makes the book awesome for me. Stephen King puts you in the moment because you can somewhat relate. You have seen or heard the story in real life before, so you find yourself easily imagining what the chara More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 25, 2011
Tiaburn
rated it:
Эта книга была не первой и не последней прочитанной мной книгой Стивена Кинга. Конечно же, понятно, что его как и многих авторов беспокоит вопрос потерянного вдохновения, когда слова уже не связываются в предложения и тяжело продолжать делать то, чем занимался всю жизнь. Эта не первая книга Кинга о писателях, вспомнить того же "Мужчину в красной рубашке" () или "Мизери" (Misery). Однако в этом произведении, Кинг отвечает не на вопрос, как пишутся книги, а как пережить то, что
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 17, 2011
Gossymotto
rated it:
This story jumps out to a quick start but then it slows down just as quickly. For a while there I thought is going to go in the same direction as Lisey's Story, and that had me concerned. I am a great fan of Stephen King and although I liked Lisey's story, I didn't really like reading the book (if that makes any sense). Bag of Bones, however, hits the gas again and quickly takes off in another direction. I really has no idea where the story was going to take me and that made it a lot of fun to r
More...
Feb 11, 2011
Janet
rated it:
This is absolutely my favorite Stephen King book - which in his case is a bit like saying it is my favorite chip in the bag. Yes, he has written a lot of books, and for some reason 'serious readers' seem to believe that he is not a 'serious writer' because he is so prolific. There was a time when I avoided all things King myself. Fortunately my son convinced me to read one of his books maybe 15 years ago and from then on I have been a fan. There is no convincing King's non-fans that he is no
More...
Sep 10, 2010
Someonefromthesky
rated it:
Dimuat di: http://www.kitareview.com/Buku/Novel/Bag...
Stephen King adalah pengarang yang seringkali dijuluki sebagai “Raja Thriller” Amerika, berbagai penghargaan telah didapatkannya, berbagai karyanya pun telah banyak diangkat ke layar lebar. Namun di balik kehebatannya dalam meramu cerita, ia juga seringkali dituduh kerap melakukan overwriting atau menulis secara berlebih-lebihan. Novel setebal 560 halaman ini memiliki kepadatan tulisan (ukuran huruf dan spasi) yang lumayan rapat. A More...
Stephen King adalah pengarang yang seringkali dijuluki sebagai “Raja Thriller” Amerika, berbagai penghargaan telah didapatkannya, berbagai karyanya pun telah banyak diangkat ke layar lebar. Namun di balik kehebatannya dalam meramu cerita, ia juga seringkali dituduh kerap melakukan overwriting atau menulis secara berlebih-lebihan. Novel setebal 560 halaman ini memiliki kepadatan tulisan (ukuran huruf dan spasi) yang lumayan rapat. A More...
Apr 11, 2010
Leisha
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Dec 18, 2009
Rose
rated it:
This book is eleven years old, but reading it, I was reminded of King's recent literary horror works from the past few years, "Lisey's Story" and "Duma Key." On the surface, this book is about a haunted summer house, but it's really about loss, grief, healing, mystery, hope, and horror -- not to mention the strange way life has of coming full-circle. I had gotten a copy of it from our booksale, and I picked it up -- to be completely honest -- because the promise of a tale abo
More...
Nov 10, 2009
Katie
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 20, 2009
Jessica
rated it:
Another author who's main character is an author. I wonder why author's do that?
At any rate, this book had some freaky moments, and some "huh?" moments, and was just sad from start to finish.
Mike is reeling after the unexpected and sudden death of his wife. He questions how well he knew her, and why she'd keep a secret from him. The reader sees Mike struggling to remain sane in his grief, and unable to pen another novel. The reader then sees Mike's extremely viv More...
At any rate, this book had some freaky moments, and some "huh?" moments, and was just sad from start to finish.
Mike is reeling after the unexpected and sudden death of his wife. He questions how well he knew her, and why she'd keep a secret from him. The reader sees Mike struggling to remain sane in his grief, and unable to pen another novel. The reader then sees Mike's extremely viv More...
Apr 14, 2009
Mike
rated it:
Engaging, page-turning ghostly yarn, and thankfully a quickish read, as it weighs in at 732 pgs Pocket Book edition. It took more than my beach vacation to finish. Mike Noonan is frozen in grief and mired in writer's block after his young wife's tragic death. He seeks sanctuary of sorts at their lakehouse, but confronts anything but rest. Besides King's usual ascension of terror as the story progresses, I thought he did a great job with characters. The fiendish old Max Devore and his horrid
More...
