Duma Key: A Novel
by Stephen King
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.00 You Save: $25.00 (89%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Duma Key: A Novel
Book Review: Disappointingly inconsistent
Summary: 2 Stars
In "Lisey's Story", King's oftentimes precious dialogue became overwritten to the point of annoyance; in "Duma Key", his long-awaited new novel, the dialogue's just soooo verrry precious it sometimes makes you want to close the book firmly and forget all about it.
Which would be a shame, considering that in the main, this is a very solid story.
Edgar Freemantle discovers an uncanny gift for art that reaches far beyond mere creativity, when he moves to Florida in the wake of a life-altering accident. Renting a house he nicknames "Big Pink", he befriends young Jack Cantori, old Wireman and the ancient Miss Elizabeth Eastlake, a wealthy octogenarian with a sad, haunting past. As Freemantle's fame as an artist grows, so does the sequence of events surrounding Duma Key that will ultimately force Freemantle to confront the supernatural head-on.
This synopsis sounds pretty straightforward (I am not going to write any spoilers, in case you've not read "Duma Key" just yet), and the opening chapters are solid - if sometimes ponderous - introductions to the character of Edgar Freemantle, newly crippled and newly-divorced. King's power to create compelling characters is very much alive and well - as with Lisey Debusher Landon in the novel before him, Edgar Freemantle comes across as a whole and plausible man, and we're willing to accept the ramblings and rants simply as part of a well-written protagonist. His backstory and various friends and family members in Minnesota also ring true - even the more minor characters, such as his elder daughter, his psychotherapist and so forth - all have the same sense of completeness as King's hero.
As a painter myself, I didn't find myself questioning the veracity of any of Edgar's experiences as an artist, which also underlines King's chameleon-like talent to inhabit and exploit for our benefit - and the initial supernatural goings-on, while slow to start, are rewardingly chilling.
My major problem with "Duma" is the dialogue: Wireman's constant and affected use of Spanish is explained away in a manner that doesn't ring half as true as, say, Edgar's persistent mental and verbal confusion, and this ultimately divorces the reader from this most important of secondary characters. Similarly, the character of Elizabeth Eastlake is left largely unexplored, both in her past and Edgar's present, and what we're left with by page 300 is a cheesy sort of Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn pairing of Wireman & Freemantle with the frankly more interesting secondary characters, like Miss Eastlake, providing mere narrative fodder. These two older gentlemen interact and speak with each other in a way that makes you feel that, unless you're a sixtysomething year old man yourself, you've been left out of the joke. Their bonds of friendship come across as two-dimensional convenience, rather than real or believable - and, since this friendship is a very important part of the latter chapters, when Wireman becomes a more visible character, this creates a real sense of implausibility that's very difficult to ignore.
And the second big problem with "Duma" is that the plot reneges on some very big promises made in the novel's first two-thirds: the ending is flat and clichéd, with many of the genuinely scary possibilities of Elizabeth Eastlake's life left to rot on the vine. It feels rushed: certain scenes with Ilse Freemantle towards the novel's end don't match up with the intensely real nature of the earlier father-daughter relationship, and the novel's penultimate events waste the brilliant potential of the evil characters so subtly and gracefully introduced in the beginning.
This is a real novel of two halves: while it's got plenty of the great points that make King such a tremendous writer, it's also got plenty of the awful ones, too: for my money I enjoyed "Bag of Bones" andf "Lisey's Story" far more than I did "Duma Key". Still, if you're a forgiving King fan, you may well enjoy the good bits - just don't expect consistency.
Book Review: Duma Key
Summary: 5 Stars
DUMA KEY BY STEPHEN KING: Most Stephen King fans will admit that the last couple of novels by the international bestselling author, while selling well, have been somewhat lacking coming from the renowned horror writer; one might even go so far as to use the term "mediocre," and don't get me started on Cell. Thankfully, with the arrival of Duma Key, the slate has been wiped clean and the master of horror is back! King's first novel set in his alternate home of Florida weighs in at over six hundred pages, and while it reveals a more laid-back and matured author, with the terrifying days of The Tommyknockers and It perhaps over; Duma Key is nevertheless an incredibly well written novel with some wonderfully deep and complex characters, and a world that is just as complicated but in many more ways real.
Enter Edgar Freemantle. An entrepreneur who started a construction company and developed it into a multi-million dollar business; loving husband of two adult daughters; until he is involved in a freak on-site accident that should've killed him, but leaves him missing his right arm, a couple of slowly healing broken ribs, and a damaged mind that results in outbursts of anger and violence. The strain becomes too great and Freemantle's marriage falls apart, leaving him an angry, empty shell. Seeking escape, he leases a beautiful house on the island of Duma Key. While watching the breathtaking sunsets, Freemantle decides to try his hand at some artwork, having sketched a little throughout his life. He discovers the more he works, the better he gets, soon switching to paints and canvasses; he also discovers that painting satisfies the seemingly insatiable itch in his missing right arm. Freemantle's work is of the sunsets and the beautiful coastline, along with the occasional abstract object added in to offset it; he is eventually tagged as an American Primitive, but as more and more people discover his work, they are amazed by it and at his first gallery showing all works listed for sale are sold.
But beneath the art, there is a sinister plot at work, because this is after all a Stephen King novel. Freemantle discovers a psychic ability in his work, painting items he should know nothing about, as well as the eventual power to paint events that come to fruition: whether it be the restoring of blindness, or the forced suicide of a serial killer. And then there's something wrong with the sold paintings: death follows them. The plot thickens, deepens, and becomes darker as the enigmatic history of Duma Key is discovered. It seems Freemantle isn't the only person in its history to come to the island with a fragile mind and a special ability expressed through art. Then there's the south side of the island which has become an overgrown and seemingly impenetrable jungle. The last time Freemantle and his daughter, Ilse, took a trip headed in that direction, Ilse immediately felt nauseous and horrible sick, while Freemantle felt the insatiable familiar itch that grew to an unstoppable buzzing; upon driving back north, they mysteriously found their ailments disappearing. Clearly something evil and powerful doesn't want them getting to the south of the island.
Duma Key is not just a novel for the fans, but a cathartic response from King over his near-death accident in 1999; no doubt he relived his agonizing recovery while writing about Freemantle, and yet it is because of this firsthand experience, that Duma Key feels much more personal and empathetic. Also being King's first foray into his new sometime Florida home, one might think his fellow Floridians a little unhappy on this introduction, or being Stephen King, they may feel the opposite and expect this. Regardless, Duma Key is a welcome return of the great horror writer, with an extra development of character and setting that King seems to have discovered in his later years, making this book one of his best, and one of my personal favorites.
For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com
Book Review: Stephen King has returned.
Summary: 4 Stars
Stephen King, Duma Key (Scribner, 2008)
Once a decade or so, Stephen King goes through a terrible writing slump, and I inevitably find myself wondering if King is finally past it. It happened in the early eighties (Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, et al.), the early nineties (culminating in the grandly awful Insomnia), and the late nineties (in which he went from the brilliant The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the... not at all brilliant... Bag of Bones). In the midst of this last batch came the accident, a couple of announcements of retirement, and a bunch of mediocre writing-- but then came "Blind Willie", perhaps the best story King has written, and the final two Dark Tower novels, which heralded a possible return to form. Now, there is Duma Key, and it looks like King is back on his feet. Not that Duma Key is one of King's deathless novels like The Stand or Misery, stuff that should be pressed on visiting alien races as examples of what we do down here, but something that is solid and worth reading. In other words, it's King's best standalone novel since The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
The story centers on Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor from Minnesota who loses his arm in an accident with a crane, and soon after loses his marriage. His therapist suggests a change of venue as a possible cure, and he resettles on Duma Key, an isolated island off the Florida coast, where he discovers a previously unknown talent for art and some rather odd characters. Soon he realizes, with the help of the island's doyenne, that his art may be something more than he had at first taken it for...
One thing that King always does well, even in his bad periods, is characterization. King is one of the modern masters of drawing a character in a few broad strokes and having the reader know as much about the character as is necessary (and, frequently, a great deal more). When he's on his game, his characters are some of the best to be found in modern fiction. And while Edgar Freemantle himself is, surprisingly, a pretty stock character from the King arsenal-- you could pick him up and drop him whole into any number of King novels and he's be right at home-- it's the supporting cast who really make this book tick. Freemantle's younger daughter Ilse is fantastic, as is Elizabeth Eastlake, the senile landlady who, in her moments of clarity, gives Freemantle and his (equally wonderful) friend Wireman all the necessary clues to figure out what's going on with Freemantle's blossoming talent. They alone would make the book worthwhile. And there are times when they have to carry it-- King's depiction of Freemantle and his ex-wife's fumbling in the dark toward some sort of post-marriage understanding comes off as, at worst, horribly manipulative (and at best nothing more than a demon loosed to advance the plot)-- but when the book is on, it's on. King is also fantastic (when he's not dropping the ball, as in the relationship above) at setting things up without the reader realizing those things are being set up, and much of the book works in this vein; King, who has repeatedly stated in interviews that he starts his books without much idea of where they're going, has either changed the way he writes or has allowed his subconscious total control when writing, because the setup starts in the first few pages and never lets up; half the fun of reading any King novel is in getting through a big revelation and saying "hey, that scene back on page twenty-six...". You know the drill.
I liked this one a bunch. It's good to see that Mr. King is back again and firing on all cylinders, even if one or two miss now and again. ****
Book Review: Leaves you wanting more.
Summary: 5 Stars
~SPOILERS MAYBE~
Well, I wrote spoilers there because I have no idea what I am about to write. I may touch on a subject that some may view as a spoiler. So readers beware :)
I loved the book first off. But, I am a huge King fan. I base all my reviews on the book being able to capture my imagination and show me something that I couldn't have just thought up myself. King in this book definitely does that.
As you have probably read in many reviews - the book is extremely slow moving. Well, anything good is usually worth waiting for. For me, it was the overgrown part of the island. I read mostly fantasy novels, so I love a good adventure through the jungle. Well, he mentions that part of the island, and from then on that's all I could think about. He practically rubs it in your face how scary/awesome/mysterious that part of the island is. But, does he take you there right away? Well, he tries, but something happens and the party has to return to the safe part of the island. And so, you the reader have to return as well, and you spend the whole book wondering if you will ever get to go back. So, for me, I was practically drooling over what kind of monsters or treasure was over there waiting to be found. But, King, in his usual pattern, laid the bait out for the reader and, I, in my usual pattern, took it.
King did things like this throughout the book. He will mention something, and you will think, "Wow, that is so interesting, I hope that he talks about that now." And then he won't. He will go on talking about some other topic and leave that one in the dust. BUT THEN, 200 pages later he will bring that subject up, and you will be like, "Ahhhh, it all makes sense now. I'm glad he waited to tell me about that."
My point here is this: A couple reviews said that the book: 'it's not King's best', 'left loose ends', or even 'I couldn't finish because it was too slow.' Well, you know what: It is not King's best(Not every book can be "The Dark Tower." And yes, there were loose ends, but the book would have been longer than the Bible if he went into detail about every subject he crosses. (He mentions monsters in that jungle - I for one would have loved to see every single one of them - But, I got over it). And yes again, this book is slow. Nothing 'super action filled' happened until the last fourth of the book. But, was it all worth the wait? Of course. The last part of the book was what brought the whole thing together.
This book is a good read - I don't care who you are. It is not super vulgar, and not super weird, as some King books are. So if those things are scaring you off, don't let them.
I have read hundreds of books. I collect books even. But this book. This very book. As I read, I started folding down page corners. I folded down a page corner every time I read something, and thought to myself, "Wow, that was a very clever line." And, by the end of the book, there were a lot of those folded down pages. Most of them were lines by the character Wireman. In the book I pictured him as the actor, Morgan Freeman. If you have read the book, or still haven't, try picturing him as the character Wireman. I think it's dead-on. Except for the fact that I don't think Wireman is an African American. But, that is irrelevant to the story anyways. But, anyways, I folded down the pages where there were a lot of good quotes. And this is the first book that I have ever done that with - That should say something in itself to you.
And my last point -this book is too good not to read. Stop wasting your time on other books people, and read this one. Period
Book Review: Putting The "Pain" In "Painter"
Summary: 2 Stars
DUMA KEY begins beautifully. King's writing is in top form, and his ability to create powerful characters dealing with powerful themes propels the backstory with just as much juice as any literary king-pin you might find shelved in parts of the bookstore more respected than HORROR. Edgar Freemantle, after a devastating crane accident, loses an arm and his ability to think straight. During his convalescence, his wife, (a bitter and selfish woman named Pam) divorces him. Edgar, in an attempt to rebuild his life and body, moves to Duma Key, Florida, where he begins to draw some strange pictures.
Edgar's struggles with memory, the deep and protracted lessons that King draws from that struggle, and his staling relationship with reality are top-notch stuff. Even after Freemantle meets and befriends the Spanglish-spouting Wireman and his charge, the archaic Elizabeth Eastlake, things are set up for some of your typically tense, King-ish horror. In this case, the supernatural thrills come from Freemantle's increasingly uncanny ability to draw and paint soulfully disturbing images, images that may be prescient, or transportive, or signs of something larger at work.
King is a patient writer, and in many ways, this ends up killing the book. It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but King seems to think they're worth at least twice as much as that. Also, when the spiritual gears begin to slip and the ominous (and always unclear) forces of darkness begin to invade Freemantle's life, the reader is treated to no more than a sideways glance of it. Because King decided to tell the tale from Freemantle's 3rd person point of view, scenes that could have been very disturbing and moving take place off-stage. At least 90% of the book's darkest moments are explained by someone else over the phone. And the most interesting (and suspenseful) part of the climax happens outside of Freemantle's perspective. The moment is conveyed by a sort of color commentary by another character as Freemantle struggles with his own, less-engaging dilemma.
There are moving parts to the book, but (in what I am coming to believe is ever more the case with King), the rest of the novel is overfat and water-logged. By the time the plot comes around to his trademark weirdness, it's hard to keep up much interest. And that weirdness, at the last minute, is delivered with as much orchestration and panache as a role-playing Game Master. The final row of dominos falls with clean, convenient, and unremarkable precision. In fact, the trippy ending seems tacked on, out of place, hackneyed.
I was sorely disappointed because I found the beginning of the novel to be so engaging. I humbly submit that this novel would've been a hundred times better if King had simply left out the all-too-clean battle of Good vs. Evil and gone for the murkier battle of What's-Good?-And-What's-Evil? I sorta thought he was setting the book up for that -- "This is my novel about divorce," he told his editor, and divorce is nothing if not a battle over blame and control. If King had ignored the Evil Villain premise, if he'd kept the focus on Freemantle's dismantled memory, his new awareness of the power of his art, his crumbling personal relationships, he could've made a seriously powerful book, possibly even a work of art itself.
If I were you, I'd download and read the short story upon which this novel was based. It has all of the emotional power he wanted with DUMA KEY, but none of the drawn-out dramatics.