Firejournal 4

The middle section of Fire Starter slows down significantly. The book started with an intense chase, culminating in an awesome battle at a farmhouse. We're talking, fireballs and burned agents of the shop. It was sweet. Then, after a brief description of their life on the run, Andy and Charlie are captured by the shop and brought into custody.
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Character Building
For hours I've listened as King builds his characters. In particular, he is working to build a relationship between Rainbird and Charlie, while Andy is dulled out on drugs.
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While the energy of the early story certainly slows, King's writing remains strong and engaging. Reading King's earlier work shows me how much stronger he's gotten as a writer. Fire Starter is good -- really good -- and King is even better today. Books like Under The Dome, while huge and full of characters with depth, never slow or drag while building those characters. It's as if King has learned to refuel in flight!
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You can do that?
The narration itself is interesting. Often King does things I didn't know were allowed. I've always liked it that King doesn't feel a need to obey every rule. For instance, in narration he says something like: after about 3 or 4 days. . . wait a minute! Isn't he writing in the all knowing third person? And this wasn't said from someones head, this was the narrator speaking. Is the narrator allowed to be unsure? Well, in this scene it helped the story along because it gave the reader a sense of confusion that the characters were experiencing.
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1984
King makes several references to George Orwell. Specifically, to Orwell's famed novel 1984. Also to Orwell's lead character, Winston Smith. In the novel, Smith quietly rebels against his State, represented by Big Brother. In Orwell's London, people are always watched on tele-screens, drugged when necessary, and put to work like drones.
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Of course, in Fire Starter, Andy McGee quickly connects the dots. Once he decides to no longer take the drugs that the shop is giving him, he is essentially rebelling against Big Brother. He feels euphoria, like Winston did, at his quiet disobedience.