Book Price Comparisons
|
| ||||||||||||
 One of Stephen King's best Yes, it's scary. Yes, it's long. But this new novel is more than just another Stephen King book. With a streamlined style and a plot that's never predictable, it's King at his crisp, clear, page-turning best. Before you read further, let me acknowledge I'm incredibly biased here. Not only have I been a Stephen King fan ever since 1975's 'Salem's Lot, I live on a small island off the west coast of Florida, exactly where this story takes place. Evenings filled with great sunsets, a beach lined with huge rental homes, a populace of "the newly wed and the living dead," neighbors who are artists both aspiring and famous.... they're all part and parcel to this story, and around me as I sit here typing on my laptop on my little porch. Beyond the colorful setting, "Duma Key" combines the concepts of bodies gone bad and creativity gone wild -- typical King material -- with the everlasting powers of friendship and love. It's a great beach read, an outstanding character study, a terrific horror story and, eventually, an uplifting tale of moral redemption. That's plenty of raw material, of course, and King masters it all, with a writing style that's better than ever. As always, his imagery is simply stated yet memorably vivid -- waves, for example, crash on the beach with the sound of "the breath of some large sleeping creature" -- and even the most basic sentences and paragraphs have such a perfect mix of energy, grace and wit that they don't even seem written. But this time King really takes his time to let his story develop. The slow pace allows for plenty of character development and story detail. Lead character Edgar Freemantle is a bit edgier than the standard King protagonist (he loses his arm in a freak accident, and has trouble controlling his rage) and I was especially riveted by the portrayal of the old woman Elizabeth Eastlake, a creepy lifelong islander with Alzheimer's disease. Some of the best moments occur when nothing much is happening, such as when Edgar argues with his wife or the many times he struggles with his sanity. Eventually, of course, the plot takes off with a vengeance, and soon the pace winds so tight that by the time terror knocks at the door, you shiver, shudder, and just know it's coming in. I don't know if I've ever pored through so many pages so fast. A Personal Vision This is one of the best books ever from one of the best American writers. Stephen King knows what scares us, and he's been proving it for thirty years, but this new novel adds a layer of humanity to the fantasy that makes it all the more surprising. Though the protagonist of DUMA KEY is ostensibly a divorced construction engineer with a latent talent for drawing, he is also clearly a stand-in for the author himself, making this arguably his most personal narrative. I won't reveal the hypnotically readable plot--it must be experienced to be appreciated--but I will say that Edgar Freemantle's living nightmare plainly echoes events in Mr. King's recent history. A life-threatening accident, like an illness or the loss of a loved one, puts many things in perspective, and DUMA KEY sometimes seems like a personal statement, a portrait of the artist that is as thrilling as it is vivid. For all its entertaining terrors, it is ultimately a celebration of life itself. I urge you to read it. Highly, highly recommended. The Magician A long time ago, trying to read "bestsellers" (what a snob I was), I bought every paperback that looked halfway interesting off a local bookrack. One of those books was a Stephen King. I can't recall the rest of them (and for good and lasting reasons; for one thing, this is my life and I only have so much of it), but from about page two I became a Stephen King fan and I remain a Stephen King fan...even through his lesser efforts when I felt the old boy really ought to rest on his laurels. But here he is again with all powers intact. And what powers! He is a phenomenon. If we were all back in those caves we once called home, he'd have been the shaman who sat each night after we'd thrown all our gnawed bones over our shoulders, taking us wide-eyed, barely breathing, into story. King is that shaman. The invention never seems to fail him, nor does his ability to gather us up into nets of words so that we're helplessly caught until he finally lets us go. Who else can do this, time after time after time? Dickens in his day. Dickens is gone. King is still here. He's really here. And I thank the stars for that. A Shivery Delight Duma Key is loaded with shivery delights that appear unexpectedly on the page before you. As in all of his best works, in Duma Key, King builds characters and setting slowly, allowing the reader to fully enter the minds of his characters, to feel the atmosphere of the places they inhabit, and to lose themselves fully in the dream of the story. And this is one long, satisfying dream of a story. You won't want it to end, even though you'll be anxious to learn the fate of the characters you've come to care about. Edgar Freemantle (the main character) for example: He "used to be a big deal", but life has knocked him down--hard. And you just want to see him get up again, and STAY up. Will he make it? Seems he will, but there are...forces...that may just keep him from ever finding normalcy again. I really don't want to include spoilers of any kind in this review, so I'll just say READ THIS ONE! It's vintage King, yet loaded with shivery surprises. Vintage Stephen King.... I don't know about you, but ever since I heard that Stephen King was retiring from the writing game, I receive each new novel with both a since of joy and a sense of woe. Will this be the last? If it is, then King will be going out on a high note. Duma Key is pure Stephen King magic through and through. King allows the story in Duma Key to develop slowly. Some will say the story drags or that King is too wordy. Not so. King uses the slow pace to develop the sense of atmosphere that readers have come to expect. Vivid writing, with wonderful descriptive sentences, and deep, three dimensional characters, Duma Key will hold your attention. Edgar Freemantle is not really your typical King character. He is sympatheic but with an edge. Injured in a very freaky (are there any other kinds in any book written by Stephen King?) accident at a construction site he finds that life has changed for him; really changed. Severly disabled, his wife eventually deserts him and he retires to Duma Key. The story winds on and the script gets tighter and tighter. I will tell you that as the story winds on you'll see a number of plot surprises. Typical Stephen King. Finally, is Duma Key just a little autobiographical? I don't know and Stephen King is the only one that can answer that. Going through the pain of his near fatal accident I am sure has given him material to draw on. I suspect that his experiences as a result of his accident had made Duma Key a richer novel. Duma Key is a long read but it passes quickly. Give it a try. Peace to all | |||||||||||||
