Zero
12-22-2006, 04:16 AM
Just finished Lisey's Story - its not so much horror (though there are brief snippets of the supernatural and a psychopath stalker and one implied scene of torture. . . otherwise, its mainly an example of King writing at his very best.
Our protagonist is Lisey Landon - widow of uber-famous and multiple prize winning author Scott Landon. Through the story Lisey is beginning to come to grips with her husband's death two years earlier and just starting to recover memories of some of their stranger secrets (including a strange supernatural world her husband inhabited at times). Her trip down memory lane is sped up by the appearance of a psychopath who threatens to torture her mercilessly unless she gives her late husband's papers to the University of Pittsburgh (boy King must have a bone to pick with Pitt). All roads lead back to her husband's troubled childhood and the strange otherworld he would visit.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought it was well-written. The main downside, at least in my mind, was the sense that Lisey, our main character, was totally defined by her late husband. We do get to meet her sisters and get some sense of her own family - but for the most part almost all of her life, and certainly all of her adventures in this book, are completely driven by her husband. This seemed an unfortunate limitation on a character who could have been much more three-dimensional.
Otherwise, while horror fans might find this book tame and slow to the scares (and those scares are VERY tame compared to other King books) - fans of good writing and characterization will find this one of King's most accomplished book in years.
Our protagonist is Lisey Landon - widow of uber-famous and multiple prize winning author Scott Landon. Through the story Lisey is beginning to come to grips with her husband's death two years earlier and just starting to recover memories of some of their stranger secrets (including a strange supernatural world her husband inhabited at times). Her trip down memory lane is sped up by the appearance of a psychopath who threatens to torture her mercilessly unless she gives her late husband's papers to the University of Pittsburgh (boy King must have a bone to pick with Pitt). All roads lead back to her husband's troubled childhood and the strange otherworld he would visit.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought it was well-written. The main downside, at least in my mind, was the sense that Lisey, our main character, was totally defined by her late husband. We do get to meet her sisters and get some sense of her own family - but for the most part almost all of her life, and certainly all of her adventures in this book, are completely driven by her husband. This seemed an unfortunate limitation on a character who could have been much more three-dimensional.
Otherwise, while horror fans might find this book tame and slow to the scares (and those scares are VERY tame compared to other King books) - fans of good writing and characterization will find this one of King's most accomplished book in years.