Bibliomusings: Lisey's Story--Stephen King

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Lisey's Story--Stephen King

Genre: Fiction/Horror
Year Published: 2006
Pages: 688
Rating: 4

Sometimes, Stephen King has an amazing knack for combining the horror of reality with the horror of fantasy. This is apparent in Lisey's Story--although, in this novel, the horror and beauty of reality mix with the horror and beauty of fantasy. From the horror/beauty of her grieving her long-time husband's sudden death, to the horror/beauty of her late husband's childhood, this novel is certainly not one-sided. Even the fantasy portion of the novel--a world outside of our own--contains that which is most beautiful and healing and that which is most horrific and poisonous.

Lisey's husband has been dead for several years when a psychotic fan of his begins threatening her. It becomes quickly apparent that this is no benign threat; at the same time Lisey realizes that her late husband has left a series of clues--a riddle hunt, of sorts--that may save her life. But to get that far she must confront the secrets of her past with her husband, secrets which she has kept hidden even from herself for years. What follows is a sad, suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant adventure on which Lisey must embark to save her own life.

Like many of King's books, this one started slow. It took me about 100 pages to finally get caught up in it. Once I was caught, however, I was firmly enmeshed. The suspense was intense, and I was very, very frightened. (Some King scares me more than others. The Tommyknockers scared me so much I could never reread it. This book, too, scared me a lot). As per most King the writing is fantastic and the characters are developed with precision and authenticity. And the ending is satisfactory--unlike some of King's books, which frustrate me with their unfinished feel. For better or for worse, Lisey's story ends with finality. In many ways, that is the whole point of the novel.

Book-a-week # 44
R.I.P. III Challenge, Naming Conventions Challenge

1 comment:

Mari said...: I haven't read a Stephen King book in years. I think it is about time I picked one up. This sounds like a good choice.

Thanks for the great review.; September 9, 2008 at 8:52 PM

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Great Quotes

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." (Atticus, To Kill a Mockingbird; Harper Lee)

"But maybe the last part of the symphony was the music she loved the best--glad and like the greatest people in the world running and springing up in a hard, free way. Wonderful music like this was the worst hurt there could be. The whole world was this symphony, and there was not enough of her to listen." (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers)

"Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp." (The Road; Cormac McCarthy)

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Douglas Adams)

"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

And he continued his confidences: "The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her..." (The Little Prince; Anton de Saint-Exupery)

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. (Betting on the Muse; Charles Bukowski)

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business. (Tom Robbins)

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. (The Prophet; Kahlil Gibran)

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. (C.S. Lewis)

"For in a swift radiance of illumination he saw a glimpse of human struggle and of valor. Of the endless fluid passage of humanity through endless time. And of those who labor and of those who--one word--love." (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers)