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Lisey’s Story

 By: Stephen King.  Pt. 1

It only seems fitting that the first book I talk about is one by Stephen King.  King after all introduced me to my addiction and helped me locate my Tower, not ascend, not even approach, but I know where it is, and one day I’ll take that journey, but that’s for another time.  I don’t read Stephen King as much as I once did, mostly because I devoured his books like a Great White eating a skinned cow in a 20’ swimming pool.  Through King’s writing, if you pay attention, he recommends many, many authors, so of course I’ve delved into his recommendations, hence taking me away from his collections.  And before start, I will say, I mean no offense, that ever since that smucking white van crossed our paths, King has changed, become more - human, a little softer, not as, I don’t know, keen.

 

I will be brief, I know you’re busy and don’t worry, this will be spoiler free.

 

Lisey’s Story is about, you guessed it Lisey and her discovery of who (or what) her late husband really was.  It’s a rich and very personal story by the most prolific writer of our time, Stephen King.

 

My father bought me this beautiful 1^sted. of Lisey’s Story that sat in my unread station for a few months.  It wasn’t Lisey’s turn, but like any addict, I needed my fix.  To my great dismay, the first forty pages were terrible.  I couldn’t understand what King was trying to accomplish, so I put it back (very frustrated, I’ll add) and ate me up some Cormac McCarthy (side note, “The Road” is in pre-production). 

 

Now, I do say I felt a little bad about not giving Lisey a fair chance, as Ted Brautigan told Bobby Garfield, you got to give a book 100 pages, if it doesn’t get you by then, it’s not going to.  So I picked Lisey back up.  And I’m happy I did.

 

Keep in mind, this is not a review, this is a conversation and I am not finished with Lisey’s Story (Feb 20^th, 08).  I have arrived at part 2 of Lisey’s Story and (only 35 pages past my 100 pg cut off)  and have a much better understanding of what King was trying to achieve with the first part of the story.  I said the beginning was terrible and I’ll tell you why.  He was all over the place, no direction; the story shot off on so many tangents I would forget where it was going and what King was talking about.  I’m talking about pages of side notes.  I longed for the present in these parts, because that was what was interesting, I swear (didn’t count, don’t hold me to this) it took Lisey 3 pages to swing the spade.  Even the flash-backs had side notes; it was a little crazy for me.

 

King turned me into a fan of Lisey and her Story by showing me why she cared so much for Scott Landon and why I should care so much for her story.  By the time I reached part two, I felt her loss, felt her (growing) love for her (late) husband.  Once past the set up of Scott Landon, King’s painting of the coolest person alive (or dead), the book started moving along and progressively got creepier and creepier.   Let me quickly add that the set up of Scott was a bit much, we get it; Landon was a genius and everything he said, he had his own words for, and his words were cooler than our words (sorry Steve had to toss that out there).  Once the introductions were over, and we understood Scott and Lisey Landon the story really got rolling.  Think of the first part of Lisey’s Story like a great movie you’ve been dying to see, you have to get through the commercials (such crap to play commercials at the beginning of movies) the trailers (which sometimes are my favorite part) and the credits (which can really drag in big budget movies, i.e. Spider Man).  In my humble opinion it’s a small price to pay to be reading some really good Stephen King.   

King had a lot to cover in the first part of the book, several characters to address, foreshadowing, action, a new language (seriously), back story of Lisey’s sisters, a barn conversion, phone numbers, etc…You get my point, it’s Stephen King and his stories are as complex as they are long. 

 

I’m excited to get back into this book and my daughter is napping.  I will let you go here so I can get some pages read before she wakes.  Remember this is a conversation, not a review, if your done, that’s great, I’d love to hear what you thought of the book, but not yet.  Keep all comments spoiler free for the rest of us slow burners. 

 

Doug-