NOS4A2: A Novel

Wow, this reminded me so much of something Stephen King would have written—then I remembered that Joe Hill is his son!Beginning of the book was great, super scary and suspenseful. The middle dragged for a bit, and I actually ended up putting it aside and reading something else before coming back to it, but upon coming back for a second try it did pick up and had a rousing finish.Characters were very good—the bad guy was appropriately creepy (and hey, who doesn't want to hate a guy that kidnaps children?). Lou, the father of Vic's child, is an unlikely hero. He is obese and sweaty and hairy, but strong and gentle and loves Vic and their son Wayne. Vic, the main character, is also flawed. She is purposeful and willing to do whatever it takes to rescue her son, even risking her life—but she is a substance abuser and may have mental problems. Although, her mental issues are what let her have even a chance against Charlie Manx, the seemingly immortal man who takes children back to his place, Christmasland. Christmasland exists in another dimension, and Charlie has the ability to cross to it. Vic is one of the few other people who can cross—and she can only do it on a bike and over an old covered bridge that appears when necessary.I loved the part about the bridge being able to be seen by others, but only being “there” for Vic to cross.I would recommend this book to all Stephen King readers, it is so similar to his stuff. This is the second book I've read now by Joe Hill, I have to say that I enjoyed Horns more than this one, but still recommend this author.

Ha, ha. What a trip NOS4A2 is, in the karmic, uh, make that carmic sense.This campy little story is an uplifting tale of the road, um make that bridge, all 685 pages of it. It features the victorious Victoria, who while mounted on her triumphant Triumph, takes on the metaphysical vampire Charlie Manx, and his 1938 Wraith (Charlie: "I am the car and the car is me"). It is the worthy quest to annihilate Christmasland where all is amusement at the expense of suffering and unhappiness that ultimately makes it possible to be empathetic and human.Our heroine, Vic to her friends, is one three characters whose minds have the ability to create vehicles that allow their consciousness (and in Vic's and Charlie's cases their corporeal beings as well) to travel through time and space. For Vic, the vehicle is a bridge (between lost & found over what was possible). For her friend Maggie, it's Scrabble tiles that convey clairvoyant answers to questions, and Charlie gets the 1938 Wraith Rolls Royce. Each vehicle is an extension of the character's mind.Lou, Vic's love, plays no small role himself. He is the picture of compassion (caring more for the other than one's self, the highest kind of empathy) and his business, Carmody's Car Carmas, specializes in pulling vehicles driven by the mundane back onto the path, er, road, after driver errors send the conveyances into the ditch, or worse.What does any of this have to do with karma? Well, first, karma is a Sanskrit word translated as action, which has three parts: cause & effect, but most importantly motivation. Of the three, motivation is the element that completes karma. In this story, each character's motivations complete their karmic ends. I won't get into those for fear of spoiling the book for any who got this far in my review.This is also a book of the mind, obviously, not just mind trips through time & space, but it also alludes to a specifically Buddhist understanding of psychology. Buddhism (which translates "awakened mind") re-cognizes that we, and all phenomena, are manifestations of mental consciousness, which is frequently defined as the white noise, or static noise, from which all phenomena manifest.Under the surface of events in NOS4A2, lurks the same white noise, especially when the three gifted characters use their "magical" powers.Vic's & Charlie's powers to convey themselves over space and time bear a remarkable resemblance to pohwa, or transfer of consciousness. While the body does not travel, the meditator's consciousness does and they are able to enter other bodies upon their destination. Given the references in the text to those who travel metaphysical highways, along with many other references to Buddhism salted away in the text, I couldn't help by think of pohwa.Charlie Manx, the metaphysical bad guy, may be a guy whose good intentions ultimately have gone off the rails a long time ago. (I agree with the review that suggests the book would benefit from filling in Charlie's back story as in the case of other main characters.) Charlie has created a place called Christmasland, in his eyes devoid of unhappiness, full of entertainment, in the pursuit of happiness in the guise of Christmas year round. But without unhappiness and suffering, what Charlie has really created is a place where the characters (it's difficult to call them people) lack empathy, the defining human characteristic. This lack of empathy leads them to delight in the suffering of others.All of the characters instilled with empathy experience great unhappiness, even severe suffering, along their various paths, but reap their empathetic humanity as their karmic reward."Love and fun are not the same," warns the ghost of Vic's mother from the other side.It's funny how so many regard this as a horror novel. I see delightful campiness. Charlie Manx is a hugely entertaining character and I'm going to guess is metaphorically very close to many of us. Charlie's lack of empathy is probably what defines the public's limited tolerance for witnessing the suffering of others. I suspect Charlie's version of Christmasland is a fantasy that has crossed many a mind. Charlie is happiest locked in his car, barreling down the highway at high speed. There once was a survey where 70% of respondents from the American public said they were most at peace while driving their cars 70 mph down the highway. No worries about those in need under those conditions.I also see a lot of Count Olaf from the Baudelaire series in Charlie. Manx could easily be the smarter, more complex brother of the count.I don't think readers are wrong to see shades of Lizabeth from the Millennium trilogy in Victoria.Hill also weaves in allusions to many other sources, including the magic at Hogwarts, to great effect, and as other reviews mention the works of his father, and even his mother.All in all, for this son of a minister's daughter who wouldn't allow him to read comics growing up, a most satisfying summer read.

There's a lot to love about this novel. Vic McQueen 'The Brat' for one. She's flawed and brave and utterly fascinating. I fell totally in love with Lou Carmody and anyone who doesn't like Maggie Leigh needs to reread this book and see what you missed. Charlie Manx is horrifying and yet, throughout it all, it's clear that his level of insanity prevents him from actually believing he is doing any wrong, his utter lack of empathy and emotion literally gave me nightmares, as did Bing Partridge, a sociopathic coward who carries out much of Charlie Manx's dirty work.The thing I love most about all Joe Hill's novels is that at the point where most authors would be rounding the corner of the story's climax, Hill is still just getting started. NOS4A2 traces Vic McQueen through her childhood and into a troubled adulthood, not sure what's real and what's not, clouded by stories she's told so many times that they have become a sort of truth. ***Spoilers Ahead*** the idea of a Christmas horror land inhabited by child vampires wielding serrated knives and chains sparks horror on so many levels that it's hard to articulate exactly how brilliant it all is. Maggie Leigh, sitting in a collapsed library with her rotting bag of scrabble tiles was even better than Vic McQueen herself, deliberately self-destructing, hearing voices, pushing her family as far away as possible. Loved the character development, loved the slow plot arch and loved the imagery.The missing star is for the ending. I think sometimes that authors get an image in their head and in their rush to get to that place, will bulldoze their characters through forced scenarios and forgo logic. ***BIG Spoiler Alert*** There's no reason for Vic to go to Christmasland. It's already been established that the Wraith is the source of Manx's energy. Destroy the car, destroy the man. If I was going to blow something up, it would be the car, not the nebulous dreamland incapable of sustaining any lasting damage. Also, Maggie Leigh had already told Vic how to free the children. Lou got the message (although we're never quite told how). Vic could have saved herself a lot of time and perhaps changed her own fate if she'd just destroyed the ornaments and then blown up the car.I know, easy for me to say. If she had done that, I never would have seen Christmasland and had the image of a chocolate fountain with decapitated doll heads and a giant tree full of ghost children. The gaps in logic are forgivable. I'm not crazy about the continued message throughout the end that only through the voice of her father and Lou (in her head) is she able to carry on and figure out her situation. Hill states a few times in the final bit of the book that the men in her life, despite having been pushed away, are the only reason she makes it away from the cops, and the only reason she ultimately succeeds. Meh, I would have liked to see a strong female protagonist that figures out this stuff on her own. But again, I'll forgive this minor annoyance in turn for the fascinatingly horrific running commentary in Wayne's head as he falls under Charlie Manx's spell.Ultimately, there is more to love about this book than there is to complain about.

El libro llegó en muy buen estado, ningún problema con las páginas.

Sem comentários

I don’t know why some words are missing from the end of the chapters? Is it supposed to be like that or is there a problem with my kindle?

What an amazing story teller Joe Hill is. It's not very good to compare him with his father but when I started to read this unconsciously I was comparing both of them. But honestly say, after few chapters it's all gone and uniqueness of his writing pretty visible.In this story we see Victoria McQueen has a ability to find lost things by using her cover bridge. And this ability is actually become her curse of life. At teenage when she was distributed for her mom and dad's separation she rode her bike for trouble and her cover bridge take her to Charlie Manx's slaidge house. Manx has his own ability. He drove a classic wraith and abduct children to a place called Christmasland, where those kids become different (say evil). Like a vampire Manx suck them and gain his lifeline. Victoria McQueen not only escaped but able to comprehend him to law.Now after 12 years when vic has a son, Charlie Manx has returns to take her son and avenge her. How will she save her son and bring her back from Christmasland?All character development is just fantastic. Victoria McQueen is one bad ass women who struggling her life from very childhood but she is unbreakable. Lou is a sweetheart who always stood by her at any cost. The character of Maggie touch me the most. Bing the gas mask man, the most creepy psychopath ever read. And last but not the least Charlie Manx the main villain is the notorious and evil man who can gives you a nightmare. A big thumbs up to this book which have fantasy, tragedy, love and horror altogether.

Hey boys and girls, want to go for a ride to Christmastown? Mr. Manx has a fancy car and he would love to take you there.In my personal opinion, NOS4A2 was completely flawless. The thought process to pull everything together is something that is rarely seen in a book of this size. The characters are so well developed, I feel like I know them personally and am connected to them. Joe Hill has done an excellent job of pulling everything together to create a masterpiece of fiction. He has taken that old expression, “the truth is stranger than fiction”, stomped on it, spat in its face, and said, “Oh yeah, I’ll show you strange!”This is one of those books that I can see some crazy producer turning into a feature film, but leaving much of the details out and not doing the story justice. Although I would go to see it, to see Vic, Lou, Manx, Bruce Wayne and Christmastown brought to life.