The Cutprice Guignol

It’s September, which means it’s spooky season, which means it’s time for another Christine recap. Actually, the penultimate Christine recap, for that matter – so let us waste no time in getting back to the Creepy Car Cavalcade! Catch up on the last recap here, and let’s jump into it, with some Mark Kinning:

We move in to the climax of the book, as Dennis begins to piece together the pattern of murders at the hands of Christine. He initially rejects the idea that the car could be responsible, and we get a line that I find really interesting – 

“…there are no such things as ghost or revenants or demons preserved in Quaker State Oil. 

Believe in one, believe in all, I thought, and shuddered.”

This lends an additional layer to how serious the matter of Christine’s nature is to him – not just because it’s profoundly disturbing and horrifying in its own right, but because it would utterly shatter his understanding of the world and what is possible in it. However, he ends up accepting there’s something bizarre going on, and resolves to reach out to George, Roland’s cousin, again in the hopes of finding a better understanding of what’s going on with that damn car. 

What finally pushes him to take further action is the thought of Arnie going through with his resolution to marry Leigh; he pictures them on their wedding night, a “rotting, grinning corpse” looming over her in bed, and Christine, or “the terrible female force that animated her”, waiting outside to dispose of her rival and claim Arnie once more. Sex and desire has been a major driving (excuse the pun) force of this book so far, and, in some ways, it makes sense that it’s this image that would nudge Dennis to do what finally needs to be done – this notion of Christine as a jealous lover, the other woman, is evocative and does a really good job humanizing and contextualizing Christine without relying on direct anthropomorphizing. We also get the first of several Shakespeare references in this section, as Dennis considers the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that age a vehicle, a quote from Hamlet’s iconic “To Be or Not To Be” speech.

Dennis reaches out to Roland’s brother George, who is initially reluctant to discuss the matter of his brother with Dennis any further – but, when Dennis pushes for more, he eventually concedes and calls his sister to discuss a matter that the two of them have been avoiding for a long time. When he calls Dennis back, he delves into some more of their childhood, and we get some more Shakespeare – their mother, he explains, said that Roland (“Rollie”, as his family nickname him) was abducted by Puck (a character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and replaced with a changeling. George lists a series of violent deaths surrounding Roland as he grew up – at thirteen, the house of his bully burned down with his family inside, killing them all, and he returned home late that night with a warning to George (or Georgie, as he calls him – which can’t help but invoke images of a certain unfortunate be-rain-slickered boy) not to tell anyone he had been out. Then, a kid he clashes with during hockey plunges through thin ice and drowns. And then, of course, George moves on to the matter of his wife and daughter’s respective deaths:

“Later, Veronica wrote Marcia a letter and hinted that Rollie had made no real effort to save their daughter. And that, at the very end, he put her back in the car. So she would be out of the sun, he said. But in her letter, Veronica said she thought Rollie wanted her to die in the car.”

Let me tell you, this line sent a proper chill down my spine. The notion of Roland allowing his daughter to die and placing her into Christine like on some kind of altar is all kinds of disturbing – there’s something about the idea that Roland couldn’t even bring himself to do it himself, but rather took the opportunity to allow his daughter to die and offered her to Christine is so, so twisted, in the best way possible. This had already been hinted at for Roland before, but here, it hits as a perfect escalation as we move into the final act. 

Dennis expresses his intent to save Arnie from Christine’s clutches –

“You may destroy your friend.”

George’s warnings will prove themselves pretty accurate in the coming pages, but anyway, that’s the end of this chapter. Next up, some good ol’ Springsteen:

And a chapter that opens with Dennis and Leigh making out in Dennis’ car, his first time driving since the accident. The two have become involved without Arnie’s knowledge; while he and Leigh are not officially involved, they’re keeping their relationship from him in fear that it would turn Christine’s wrath on Dennis, though Leigh expresses her concern that they’re cheating. Dennis, for his part, mentions that he feels like Hamlet “delaying and delaying” what needs to be done, another Shakespeare reference and the second to Hamlet, for those keeping count. I’m genuinely not sure if it’s just a coincidence, but if I had to guess why it’s being invoked here, the throughlines of betrayal and the death of a close friend echo some of the themes in this last act.

And this is because of Leigh, because of his growing love for her and their mutual twisted enjoyment of the secrecy of their romance – “that constant sense of betrayal, though…it was a snakelike thing, both a shame and a crazy sort of goad.” And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this – the first time Dennis really considers himself to have fallen for a girl – in some ways parallels Christine and Arnie, the secrecy and obsession and danger adding to their passion for each other. 

Nearly two weeks pass after Dennis’ conversation with George, and he distracts himself with Leigh – “love slows reaction”, as he claims, and his plans to do something about Christine soon fall by the wayside. His relationship with Arnie cools but does not initially sour, as Arnie begins to show interest in the same colleges Leigh is thinking about attending – but soon, Dennis and Leigh grow indiscreet in the parking lot of a local restaurant, and get themselves spotted.

In a “grisly, hideous coincidence”, Arnie and Christine turn up in the same parking lot and forces a confrontation. He goes to confront Dennis and Leigh – “You shitter! Have her! You deserve her! She’s shit! You’re both shit!” – but things take a turn when he climbs back into Christine. 

“Christine’s headlights came on and her engine screamed, the glaring white eyes of my dream…behind the glass was Arnie’s terrible face, a devil sick of sin…then the face was gone, replaced by a grinning death’s head.”

I just love these descriptions, the way Arnie and Christine’s inhuman natures start to blur into one as his rage overtakes him and she seems to egg him on. They drive at Dennis, who falls back inside the car and barely escapes; Leigh is terrified, and Dennis informs her that she just met Roland for the first time. They both decide that they have to end it – that they have to “kill it”. And Dennis, finally, figures out his plan. 

The next chapter begins with the Doors – 

-and preparations for their plan to end Christine’s hold over Arnie. He returns Leigh home, and assures her that they will be safe for the time being as Arnie and Christine will be in another town. Secretly, though, he fears for the lives of his family, and insists on driving his sister to and from the local grocery store for fear that Christine might do something to her. He then makes a few calls – most notably to Michael, Arnie’s father, who has been drinking heavily and expresses his relief to Dennis that his son is applying for college. Dennis asks Michael to inform him if Arnie goes anywhere, and Michael agrees to tell him, sensing that it is to do with the car. He hits Dennis with a devastating question – 

“Do you think I’ll ever have my son back?”

Dennis doesn’t pull punches, admitting that he doesn’t know – and this is a really sad place to leave off with Michael, who is, spoiler alert. Not About to Have a Good Time in the final chapters of the book. 

He makes a call to an ex-employee of Darnells and talks his way into getting in on the premise that he’s picking up tools for Arnie. With that access secured, he talks to Leigh to cap off the night, and she agrees to do what needs to be done in order to take out “that bitch” Christine. 

And the chapter closes on Dennis reflecting on his relationship with Arnie, which has, for so long, been the centrepoint of this novel – 

“The times I had kept him from getting killed in all the ways the kids like to kill the outsider…times when I had wondered if my life wouldn’t have been easier if I let him go, let him drown. But it wouldn’t have been better. I had needed Arnie to make me better, and he had. We had traded fair all down the line, and oh shit, this was very fucking bitter indeed.”

And that’s where we lead in to the final stand-off between Dennis and Arnie and Christine, which we’ll get into in the next and final recap. Till then, catch up on the rest of the series here, and I’ll be back to run you over in my haunted car soon!