Blaze. A Novel :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Exceeds expectations.

2008-10-11
It's hard to expect much from a book when it opens with the author telling you he felt so little for his own creation he didn't even keep the original typed copy.

But "Blaze," in my opinion, is a great read. It hooks you instantly with its sympathetically slow main character and rumbles along to its inevitable finale.

Stephen King always knows best what does and does not work in his novels, and he's correct that the flashbacks in this book are its highlight. Even though they occasionally veer into near Upton Sinclair-esque melodrama, they have a clean sentimentality that I loved. They may even be a little cliche, if we're being honest, but King has always been a master of the little details of spirit and humanity. That is on strong display here.

What King does brilliantly in this novel is take someone doing something absolutely horrible and make you love him. Blaze, a smart boy who had his brain scrambled by a drunk, abusive father, who now stands a massive 6'7", is the ultimate pulling-on-your-heartstrings "big dumb guy" -- he's the original John Coffey, really. Blaze is a small-time con artist whose partner dies right before their big final score can happen, and Blaze goes about it alone (along with the help of his partner's ghost). You almost have to shake your head in sympathy as Blaze imagines he's outsmarting everyone but is clearly laying down a trail that will easily lead right back to him. The unraveling of his crime is as obvious as how he will react to what he has taken.

Blaze's sad growing affection for the baby he kidnaps is so overly melodramatic it's almost comedic, but you can't stop it from affecting you. That's fully because of King's ability to take such a scenario and make you care.

"Blaze" is a straightforward, almost sappy, story from Stephen King -- and I definitely loved every sentimental moment of it.

Fantastic Book

2008-10-01
Absolutely incredible! It is impossible to put down. It didn't take me any more than three nights to read it. There isn't one boring sentence in the entire book.

What a writer!!!

2008-09-26
Steven King is the absolute best writer that ever was. He stands right next to Edgar Allen Poe!!! If you want a book that you can't put down I recommend that you purchase any one of the many books that Steven King wrote!!!

Simple, Touching Storytelling

2008-09-12
I read at work, but one day I left my current book at home. A co-worker brought BLAZE in case she'd finished her current book during the night shift, and I was much obliged to borrow it when she offered to have something to read.

From the above paragraph, you can probably tell it was more a matter of circumstance than desire that I set to reading BLAZE. Now I like Mr. King, the book I left was actually a DARK TOWER book, it's just that this looked like another one of King's 'over a weekend' works. Not to call it 'throw away' by any means, but somewhat uninspired work like THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. Compulsively readable mind you, but insubstantial in concept.

Anyway, I was more than pleased to find BLAZE, a 'Trunk Novel', an emotionally sweet and simultaneously heart wrenching story. Sometimes What bothers me most about King is the idiocyncracies of his writing, such as his many parentheses, and his colloquial New England speech. These were fine to me at first, but as I have read close to 30 of King's books, it has begun to mildly detract from my enjoyment. Consider it like a roommate you have lived with too long and who's habits irritate you where you once thought they were charming. You like them just fine, but need a break sometimes so as not to let the annoyances ruin an otherwise good respect for them.

In BLAZE, King attempts to write in a more clipped - read Noirish - style, and consequently left out many of those attributes that I stumble over. It's King, but with an altered style that allows you to rediscover what a gifted and moving writer he can be rather than just trying to scare you.

The Protaginist, Clayton 'Blaze' Blaisdell, who's IQ has been irreparably altered by an abusive father, gets by on sheer luck for most of the novel, in attempting a kidnapping even though the 'brains' behind the operation has died prior. His luck never feels like a lazy plot device, however; Instead it is more like Karma paying back a man who has been dealt a terrible hand by society, if only until luck eventually runs out.

In one chapter, a summer at a farming camp is described with the bittersweet nostalgia of one perfect moment in youth that can never happen again. It actually teared me up, which is something that King rarely does to me. Towards the end, it becomes apparent that 'Blaze' has other forces at work in his brain, and the story takes a dramatic (although believeable) turn as antagonists other than the Police attempt to change Blaze's plans. I won't spoil it, but it's is rather chilling. Thats how I would sum up how this book excells so well at moving the reader; it is from one chapter to the next uplifting, funny, and heart-wrenching. King changes the resonance from one to the other elegantly, and it never clashes.

I would urge anyone who enjoyed King's RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, or THE BODY, to give BLAZE a chance. It is an uncommonly touching and moving story, while never being emotionally exploitative.

blaze

2008-08-26
Blaze arrive in a timely manner, and was in excellant condition. It was packaged very good. I really enjoyed this book I recommend it to all Stephan KING FANS.

Dusting off an old tale for the pleasure of his readers

2008-08-14
The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.

A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published.

Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.

He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Good for fans of King 2008-08-06
Blaze was a decent, short novel by King, though not his best work by a long shot (he says so in the forward). You can't help feeling a little sorry for the lead character "Blaze". His troubled past was really the cause of his present, and you can't help but wonder what could have been.....

poignant 2008-07-17
I really wasnt expecting to like this book too much but I was happily mistaken. The character, Blaze, although on the wrong path, elicited my sympathy and I liked him and wished he could have been raised differently. All in all it was a good book.

A King by any other name ... well, you know ... Bachman! 2008-07-15
On the fourth day in my new home, unpacking was going smoothly: I was busy placing my books in bookshelves--"their" new home--when I came across Blaze, a novel written by Stephen King under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. This is the last book from Bachman's "early period"; King says Bachman died in 1985 from "pseudonym cancer." While Bachman was writing slow-selling novels, King was building his reputation writing and selling short horror stories. (As you probably know, after retiring Bachman, King's very first book under his real name was Carrie ... and the rest is history.)

Although King/Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973--King calls Bachman his "younger/smart-assier self"--it wasn't published until 2006 after one of King's assistants found the original typescript among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library. This review is written from a 2007 hardcover edition with a foreword by King; this book and the one I'm posting it under are hard to find, except on the secondary market.

Although nothing Bachman wrote seemed to please King's more mature self, he started reading Blaze and thought it was better than most of Bachman's published novels. He decided to revise and publish it, donating proceeds to the Haven Foundation which supports freelance artists.

And am I glad King published this book! As he hoped readers would, I "came for a good story" and got much more than that. This is a gripping story; a sad tale that grabbed me by the lapels from the first page and never let go. In fact, in between unpacking and a multitude of "moving woes," I finished this exciting book in two days

I'm mesmerized by the main character, Clayton Blaisdell, Jr.--Blaze for short. He's a complex, sympathetic character for whom I rooted from the "get-go." After his mother dies when he's only three years old, poor little Blaze's father does something so horrendous to him that he ends up being a "slow thinker" and is made a ward of the state.

Blaze grows into a "Big Mother" whose appearance is intimidating, but he has a gentle soul, only harming those who mistreat small, defenseless people and his friends. He is loved by all who really know him, but once again suffers abuse by authorities in the boys' institution.

What happens to him in the institution that accelerates his rage, honing his hard edges? What happens to his best friend John? What does Blaze do to avenge John? How does he meet his new friend George who takes him under his wing and indoctrinates him into a life of petty crime? After George is killed, how does he help Blaze pull off the "big, final" crime they had always dreamed of? Why does he end up kidnapping a small, defenseless baby, son of a wealthy family? How could "the bull-simple dummy" do it alone? What happens when little Joe steals his heart? And why, with the cops closing in, is Blaze clutching the baby to his chest as he plunges deeper into the white hell of a powerful snowstorm in the Maine woods?

In Blaze, Bachman/King answers those questions in a series of clever twists and turns, skillfully maneuvering from present to past by masterful use of exciting flashbacks.

In response to King's foreword: Yes, Stephen, I "misted up" ... more than a little; there's nothing in this novel to make people laugh at you. You painted such an accurate portrait of Blaze's character and background that, although I could not condone what he did, I understand the reasoning behind his actions. My heart broke each time Blaze's did. This is a real tear-jerker, a psychological thriller that could be a blockbuster movie.

Knowing full well that you and Richard Bachman are the same person, dare I say I enjoyed this book as much as any you've written under your true name ... and better than some?

It seems that, like a rose, "a King by any other name is still a King." Stephen, you had "IT" then and failed to recognize it.

There are life lessons to be learned from this book ... a book that will linger in your mind long after the last page has been read. Highly recommended with great enthusiasm.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008
Author of: Millennium Babe: The Prophecy

Excellent!!! 2008-07-13
Stephen King writes best as Richard Bachman. This story was a page-turner and I read it all in one weekend.