By: Stephen King Publisher: Pocket Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Pocket Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 688 Publication Date: June 19, 2007 Release Date: June 19, 2007
Every marriage has two hearts, one light and one dark . . .
Lisey Landon shared a profound and sometimes frightening intimacy with her husband, Scott, a celebrated bestselling novelist -- and a man with many secrets. One was the place where his gifts of imagination came from, a place that could heal or destroy him. Now, two years after his death, it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons on a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. . . .
Amazon.com Review: Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Lisey's Story, once again King is trying something different. Lisey's Story is as much a romance as it is a supernatural thriller--but don't let us convince you. Who better to tell readers if King has written a romantic thriller than Nora Roberts? We asked Nora to read Lisey's Story and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is the author of way too many bestselling books to name here (over 150!), but some of our favorites include: Angels Fall, Born in Death, Blue Smoke, and The Reef.
Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover.
But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart.
Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man.
Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy.
Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance.
Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems.
A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth. --Nora Roberts
A Rich Read I see many people complaining about the language. I think the use of the personal intermarriage lexicon is a further rebuttal of the modern shallow manner in which people interact just as Cell was a comment on what he deemed to be the detrimental impact of the ubiquitous gadget phone on public life. Mr King embraces characters who are in touch with visceral experiences rather than carefully packaged prefab interaction. The wry humor and worldly wisdom throughout the novel is a fitting antidote to the mundane spiritless outlook espoused by modern corporate culture. The point of the novel is to celebrate imagination as much as love. I didn't think this was a perfect story by any means. I question whether anyone could really convince themselves that they intend to permanently turn their back on a fairy world with a magic healing pool. But this tale had a LOT of heart.
Lisey's A Dud Stephen King is the master of characterization with contemporary American characters. I read his books for that, I don't buy the supernatural part, but enjoy them anyway. Not LISEY'S STORY. Lisey is a dud. Even though she is reliving her life with her dead husband, Scott, two years after he died, she displays no other interests in her entire life BUT Scott. This is not normal or believable, and makes her irretrievably dull. King skillfully peels back petal after petal of flashbacks about their lives together, naturally still vivid as she grieves. But other than having a family saturated with mental illness she must come to the rescue of regularly, she's not a fully rounded character. And what is with the baby talk? Smucking for Pete's sake. Along with other silly and annoying terms supposedly coined by Scott. Everyone knows what she means by smucking, so King should have her use the "f" word or nothing--as most adults born after the 1950s often do, especially in books; and forget this dopey made-up language. Scott also has a family shot through with mental illness, maybe Scott, too, depending on whether you believe his little excursions into cookoo land, though that is supposed to be the supernatural part. I gave up on the book maybe a quarter through and skimmed the ending. Disappointing from such a consummately skilled writer.
Steven King Steven King is the absolute best writer that ever was. He stands right next to Edgar Allen Poe!!! If you want a book that you can't put down I recommend that you purchase any one of the many books that Steven King wrote!!!
It should have been better I thought I would never get to the good part and there had to be a good part because its Stephen King after all. Well, I struggled through the not so bad part finally realizing it was a really great book. It turns out to be one of those books you have to stop 3/4 the way through and think about what you have just read. When I did that I realized no matter what he said it is quite a bit of biography. He usually tells us that what ever we are reading is not biographical but this book has quite a bit of his past life in it.Not as dreadful as the book but if you follow this with "On Writing" as I did you see the joining.I think this was a paen to his wife. She has been a great help to him in his writing, talking about it, editing, just listening. This was the book to her, for her. Then the final part zipped back to the King we are familiar with.Terror, sweat in the dark of the night, even "it was a dark and stormy night". lol To me, it's one of those books I might have to read again, at least the first part since I took it so slightingly. My strong suggestion is do not give up just because nothing jumps out at you for many,many pages. He is making the setting for the last half. The husband in the book is a very sad man with a horrible past. He shares it with her because he knows she is strong enough to take it. She doesn't think she is but finds the strenth he knew was there all along. It's a love story with a background in Stephen and Tabitha King's life. She had to be a strong woman to put up with the child in Stephen. But he describes her as a joy in his life and enjoying going along with whatever he wanted except for the bad parts. But I digress into "On Wrinting". I have to recommend that as a quick follow up to appreciate "lisey's Story". It is a strong love story that will not disappoint.
Old King is in there in places. There are moments in this book, like when the husband dies, when Lisey's confronted in the study, and also in the flashback scenes, where the old King seems to be writing and its thrilling to read because he puts you right there in the moment...3 stars for those pieces. But then there are moments when the story just treads water and it seems like he's trying to stretch the book and is stopping to smell the roses and describe thunderstorms...very romantic. Its a far cry from the books he wrote in the past where things pick up about a 1/4 of the way through and the story just picks up speed and its all guts, death, gore and glory by the end. Love in those old stories was a tool used to conquer evil in the most desperate moments.
Lets face it King is writing for a different audience now, some who wouldn't like the rawness of IT or Tommyknockers, and they seem to like it. Hey, SOWISA Stephen, good luck.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
