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Title: Duma Key: A Novel
ISBN: 1416552510
Author:
Stephen King
Publicate Date: 2008-01-22
Publish: 2008-01-22
List Price: $28.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.41
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.48
Amazon Merchant Price: $18.48
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A Great Read
I just finished reading Stephen King's Duma Key and it's the best book he's written since "The Dark Tower". The characters are as rich as you would expect in a Stephen King novel. The story is clear and direct with a strong ending - unusual for most King novels, his endings are usually disappointing. It's a great ghost story, good and scary in the latter half of the book. Cynics might find it a bit long winded but with King's clear writing I found myself falling into the story and enjoying every page. I highly recommend it.
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2: Scariest in a long time!
We all know Mr. King's been writing for a long time and it seems his later post-accident stories have been successful on many levels (creepy, surreal and imaginative), but they just haven't been delivering the goods (you know, King is supposed to be a "horror" author - but don't tell him). Well, reader fear no more, or rather, be prepared to fear. I haven't been this spooked by a book in a while. This is an honest to god "read at home alone in bed at night and be prepared to jump at every creak and groan of the house" book. I dare say, King hasn't been this scary since "The Shining". And King seems to be showing off a lot of his Horror influences. The book starts off as a kind of Edgar Allan Poe story of paranoia (things real or imagined under the floorboards) and moves in to H.P. Lovecraft territory (I won't spoil with any plot points) and towards the end feels like a classic Robert Bloch/Richard Matheson pot-boiler thriller, with the cynical wise-cracking first person narrative. As a long-time reader of King (since "The Shining"), I can recommend this one heartily (uh oh, another Poe-reference!).
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3: Haunts for months...in a good way
A long-time King fan, I couldn't wait for Duma Key to be released. I was not disappointed. Probably my favorite King novel since the Dark Tower Series, this book has all the well-loved classic King elements: colorful, hysterical language, dead-on descriptions, creepy toys, voices in the night, child ghosts, mysterious visions, a witty sidekick, tormented main character, and cursed ground. I know a great King book when I have to read late into the night so that I can get past the scary parts so I can turn off the light...when I laugh out loud at the character's choice of words...when I can't stop thinking about it for days, weeks, months afterwards...when a place comes alive in my mind and I feel like I've been there myself and know the people intimately. Duma Key delivers again and again. Bravo, Mr. King!
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4: Hooray!
Stephen King's Duma Key is one of the more enjoyable books he has written in a while. With likeable characters, a steady pace slowly unfolding the events, and a nice tilt toward unexplained phenomenon, Stephen King weaves a story I got lost in completely (and that hasn't happened with his books recently).
Edgar Freemantle loses an arm and damages some memory portions of his brain in a freak accident. As a result he loses his "old life" and must start redefining himself again in a "new life" and in a new location: Duma Key, FL. Along the way he discovers new friends, new memories and a new talent that enables a sleeping evilness to take residence again on Duma Key, and into both Edgar's "old" and "new" lives.
Memory is the books central theme. Of things left behind and lost due to the passage of time. "It was like being given back your memory, and a person's memory is everything, really. Memory is identity. It's you." Memories shape our future, but sometimes they are gone forever and sometimes they come back whether we want them or not. Both Edgar and Wireman overcame past accidents that set their destinies together in motion, and Elizabeth's past is what they need to battle together. When Edgar loses his memory after the accident, mostly over words and trivial matters, it is the catalyst for his life change. However, for the rest of the novel he is searching those memories trying to bring them back. Memories of Melinda and Ilse, sleeping "like the old days" with Pam, and of course the feelings in his missing arm. "Speak, memories, that I may once more taste the green cup of the sea", Elizabeth reads to Edgar at one point. Some memories are worth keeping, but some should be forgotten and never brought out again, as Edgar realizes during his stay on Duma Key
Although I really enjoyed the first ?? of the book an awful lot, the last ?? seemed like a rush job to resolve the story. I would have been just as pleased if King did not feel the need to give us a charged-up carnival ride at the end. The slower paced style utilized during the majority of the book would have been sufficient for this reader. Let the conclusion slowly roll onto the beach like a lazy wave, instead of crashing like a powerful breaker.
There were a few things left unresolved, but should we expect anything less from King? Life is unresolved so why should his stories be tied-up nice and neat. Unique characters, a welcomed supernatural element, sustained creepy atmosphere and a very enjoyable read.
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5: It's Hard Not To Like A Story About The Keys
Two things stick out when I reflect on Stephen King's work. The first is that he is the ultimate "destroyer of worlds". In his stories, he creates the real world just as well as he creates the bizarre world, and sends them together in an explosion, where you can't see the seams and you don't want to, because you are enjoying the ride.
Anybody can write about monsters, but the stories just about monsters aren't always the stories we want to read because the first world, the real one, hasn't been built, so it makes the bizarre world unbelievable and trite.
Stephen King's worlds are built with care and precision, and it is fun to watch them crumble, seeing who survives the carnage.
Secondly, King is able to create monsters or evilness that aren't easy to define. If "It" had been solely about a killer clown, as many of us thought it was going to be when we first heard the clown described, would it have the lasting impact that still resonates in that child like part of our brain? I think not. King is able to make an evil which is not omnipresent, but can take many forms, leaving for a storyline that isn't one dimensional and characters that are rich in development.
In Duma Key, the evil again is something that isn't easy to define and both the worlds, the bizarre and the real one, are sketched out and allowed to crash beautifully.
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