Lisey's Story A Novel

What frustrates me SO MUCH about Stephen King is this: he writes so effortlessly well that, with a little more effort, he could write really good books. But, he doesn't seem to test his limits, nor does he seem to edit much. This book displays all that I love and hate about Stephen King. Lisey and her late husband, along with several peripheral characters, are well developed and interesting. Revealing inner dialogue, vivid scenes and tense moments are all over the place. But. In most of King's books the main character is a goddamned writer who lives in Maine. This time, the main character is the WIFE of a goddamned writer who lives in Maine, and much of the book is made up of flashbacks to times she had with her husband, and details of what it was like for this Maine writer. Umm, yes, Stephen King is a writer who lives in Maine, if you were curious. Lisey's Story has all the elements necessary to make a brilliant story about a woman coping with the loss of her husband, and finding her new identity after this loss. There's added complexity here because she's also coping with how the public eye has treated her throughout her husband's fame. That aspect of the book is pure gold. But, King keeps adding supernatural and corny plots that distract from this dramatic aspect of the story, stealing some ideas almost directly from "Secret Window, Secret Garden," and adding people who aren't quite human, an alternate reality, a lackluster stalker, and other Stephen King stand-by's, and you end up with a clusterfuck of plot elements that just don't jive. Like much of King's catalogue, he shows promise, and then gets too cheesy. The first hundred pages are terrific. The end of the book is surprising and very strong. But, much of the middle feels unsurprising and rerun-ish.

"Reality is Ralph"   This book had a lot of great moments with takeaways that feel fairly profound while maintaining an exciting story arc. There are a few moments that feel like it could've wrapped up early but I think the way it comes around by filling out the story in a way I didn't expect was rewarding.

Ninety-eight percent of what goes on in people’s heads is none of their smucking business. It’s the pool where we all go down to drink, to swim, to catch a little fish from the edge of the shore; it’s also the pool where some hardy souls go out in their flimsy wooden boats after the big ones. It is the pool of life, the cup of imagination, and she has an idea that different people see different versions of it, but with two things ever in common: it’s always about a mile deep in the Fairy Forest, and it’s always sad. Because imagination isn’t the only thing this place is about. It’s also about (giving in) waiting. Just sitting…and looking out over those dreamy waters…and waiting. It’s coming, you think. It’s coming soon, I know it is. But you don’t know exactly what and so the years pass. I think most kids have a place they go to when they’re scared or lonely or just plain bored. They call it NeverLand or the Shire, Boo’ya Moon if they’ve got big imaginations and make it up for themselves. Most of them forget. She had come to believe that the very things the practical world dismissed as ephemera—things like songs and moonlight and kisses—were sometimes the things that lasted the longest. They might be foolish, but they defied forgetting. And that was good. That was good. So many long nights when the mind of something…other…might turn to a person, if that person could not keep her mind from turning to it. And how, exactly, did you keep from doing that? How did you not think of somethin?

Holy Catburger, Stephen King writes a strong female lead. Some of the fantasy-horror elements here fall flat, but the portrait of a woman experiencing grief and loss is very well done.

This is definitely one of my favorite of King’s so far. I really prefer his female narrators. I easily could have done without the end of this. I didn’t care about Scott enough to need the rest of his story, so it did bore me in parts, but the voice isn’t that different from Lisey’s since most of her thoughts seem to have been formed around Scott’s way of thinking.