Christine Journal 6: Everything changes

Mid novel everything changes. Things get darker and the death toll starts climbing. The narration makes a shift from first person to third. It's painful at first. I was used to Dennis' outlook. King effectively took us inside the head of a high school student. It was great! But after a football accident lays Dennis up in the hospital, King takes over the narration in 3rd person. And it is certainly Mr. King speaking now, not Dennis. The narration definitely becomes more ominous.

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Things that will spook you out in Christine:

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1. Dreams: I can't think of many King books where dreams play such a vital role in building the suspense. The Stand has a lot of dreams, but they serve primarily to advance the plot and get everyone headed the same direction. But dreams in Christine are darker. Dennis and Leigh have some pretty vivid dreams about the car.

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2. Loss of time: The car has a hypnotic effect over Arnie. He loses sense of time and place while driving alone. He ends up at home, but can't remember where he's been.

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3. Car repairs: Christine has the ability to -- heal. That's right! The car can repair its own damages. Of course, Arnie pours love into the thing, but the machine itself does the hard work. Glass goes from being broken to whole again. Dents just pop right out. (Where do I buy myself one of these things?!)

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4. Arnie repairs: Probably the spookiest thing about Christine is the changes it effects on Arnie. As he works on the car, he begins to transform. First for the positive; his acne disappears and his looks get better. But then as the novel goes on, he begins to look more and more like Lebay. This is first spotted by Dennis.

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5. The radio: The radio is set for a 50's oldies station. When Arnie or Leah try to change it, it always goes back to the 50's music. Stranger, as Arnie drives he begins to hear news casts from the 50's. Warnings about Russian build up and a response from Ike. Retro news, Arnie wonders. But the reader is pretty sure -- this isn't a rebroadcast! Christine is somehow drawing the radio station up out of time.

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Revised DEATH COUNT:
1 by Suicide.
1 by choking.

1 by running running over. (3x forward, 3x backward. Nice job, Christine.)

--attempted murder: 1 by choking. Creepy!