Duma Key: A Novel by Stephen King
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Book Reviews of Duma Key: A Novel
Book Review: Fresh and heartfelt
Summary: 5 Stars
Edgar Freemantle is a millionaire, having made his fortune in construction. He has a happy marriage and two lovely grown daughters. But his contentment changes in one moment when a 12-story crane crushes his truck, along with himself, at a job site. The accident shatters his hip, breaks his ribs, damages his vision and costs him his right arm. Edgar's head injury impairs his brain to the point where he doesn't know his own family members, scrambles his speech and is unable to remember what happened. His frustration fuels his rage, and he turns abusive toward those trying to help him, including his wife Pam. His psychiatrist, Dr. Kamen, gives the angry, depressed, drug-addicted patient an unusual treatment: a Lucille Ball look-alike doll for him to vent his fury upon, but the cure is insufficient.
When Pam informs Edgar that she's leaving him, he retorts, "Get out, you quitting birch." Yet that last pain in a chain of horrors comes close to totally destroying him. He contemplates suicide. But how can he do it without his life insurance company contesting the settlement? Even more importantly, how can he kill himself in a way that won't hurt his daughters, especially his sensitive favorite, Ilse? Dr. Kamen intervenes, suggesting that he move away for at least a year. Although he (and Kamen himself) is skeptical that leaving the area will help his despair, Edgar feels something that almost resembles hope. And when Kamen asks him if anything besides his work and family has ever made him happy, Edgar remembers that he loved to draw when he was a child.
Edgar proceeds to rent a huge pink house on Florida's Duma Key. Before he moves, though, he has an experience in which his (amputated) right arm seems to put a suffering dog out of its misery by choking it to death. Or did it? He also dreams a terrifying nightmare, in which Reba, his anger management doll, grown to the size of a real child and with her mouth smeared with blood, tells him, "The bad frog chased us!" (At this point, the reader experiences a sudden urge to flip on another light or three in a night-darkened house.)
Settled into "Big Pink," Edgar sketches and then paints, sometimes in a frenzy and with the sure knowledge that his missing right arm is, at the very least, guiding him. Those dream-fever art attacks result in incredible paintings, some of which are beautiful while others are ominous. Edgar repeatedly paints a ship he has not physically seen in the ocean outside his window. When Ilse plans to visit him with good news, his right arm tingles and itches until he draws the person he somehow knows is connected with Ilse's coming announcement: a young man in jeans and a Minnesota Twins shirt.
As he sketches, Edgar knows not only that the subject of his portrait has given his daughter a ring, but also where it was bought. When she arrives, he discovers that his drawing is eerily psychic, down to the tiniest details. The story's atmosphere turns darker with foreshadowing as Edgar and Ilse attempt to explore the jungly deserted end of the island. However, they are unable to enter it, partly due to the vegetation but mostly because Ilse becomes deathly ill.
Meanwhile, Edgar meets his neighbors. The elderly Elizabeth Eastlake owns the houses on the island, including Big Pink. Her caretaker, Wireman, is both damaged and wise. Their fates are inextricably linked with Edgar's. A mystery threads through the plot: what exactly happened to Elizabeth's twin sisters decades ago? Some lives are rebuilt while others are damaged beyond repair when frail human beings battle a mysterious presence.
DUMA KEY pulls readers in on the first page, not releasing them until the very end of this hefty spellbinder. Of course, that's nothing new for Stephen King, that fine teller of tales. Yet this story feels fresh and heartfelt. (King survived a horrendous accident himself; parts of the novel feel like a "What if?" alternative reality to his recovery.) There is a poignant sweetness to Edgar's resurrection, especially in his connections with family and friends, with accompanying joy, unbearable sorrow and a distinct upwelling of hope.
We also encounter a goodly amount of King's trademark creepy heeby jeebies. But by the time things get really crazy, we've related to Edgar so long that we fight the monsters shoulder to shoulder with him. DUMA KEY is King at his yarn-spinning best; it's no wonder that his "Constant Reader" population continues to grow as the years roll by.
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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.
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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: Very creepy and atmospheric
Summary: 5 Stars
Any New England snowbird can empathize with Edgar Freemantle's instant fascination with the west coast Florida sunset.
"As that light skied upward, orange faded to a breathless Maxfield Parrish blue-green that I had never seen before with my own eyes...and yet I had a sense of déjà vu, as if maybe I had seen it, in my dreams."
Whether it's the novelty of a sunset over water or being closer to the equator or further west in the time zone, there's no denying the light really is different in Florida and King perfectly captures the newcomer's wonder. It doesn't seem the least strange or foreboding that Edgar runs for his colored pencils and works feverishly to capture the color.
Edgar has come to Duma Key from Michigan to revitalize himself after a horrific accident in which he lost an arm, badly damaged a leg and suffered a head trauma which months later still causes aphasia, headaches and bouts of depression and anger. He had nearly died and often wishes he had. His marriage is over and he feels suicidal and out of control. A self-made man who is used to propelling the world in the direction he wants it to go, Edgar hates his new helplessness.
But Duma Key almost instantly works its magic. Every day Edgar walks the beach, growing stronger, and every evening he attempts to capture the sunset on paper, though it's a while before he succeeds as well as he did on his first night.
Although he hasn't done more than doodle in 20 years - too busy building the contracting business which has made him a wealthy man - Edgar's artistic ability grows in leaps and bounds, keeping pace with his insatiable drive.
But this is Stephen King and while the reader enjoys, even participates in Edgar's renewal, we know there's a worm somewhere in paradise. The first inkling Edgar gets is after an email from his favorite daughter, Ilse. Seized by the drawing urge that grips his right arm (the missing one), Edgar draws the boyfriend he's never met and the heartache that awaits his daughter.
Other psychic pictures begin to come to him, scarier ones. The tension builds like a slow drumbeat in the distance, insistent but far away. Then Edgar learns that he's not the only one on the island with special gifts and the island itself may have secrets it doesn't intend to share. At least not until it's good and ready.
Bouts of drawing, and later painting, leave him ravenous, as if he's been emptied of what fuels him. His productivity rockets in tandem with the talent that bowls over everyone who sees his work; from the local caretaker to the respected art critic and knowledgeable gallery owner.
Edgar is a bit bemused by the wow factor but he takes his new talent in stride. He is a powerful, determined character with a big, healthy ego. Edgar comes across as just the sort of driven, self-made man he's supposed to be, dropped in his tracks, but not out, more active than introspective, making a start on a whole new life.
The Duma setting, crucial to the plot's success, essential to the scare factor, is so vivid you can smell the brine and see those mesmerizing sunsets. It's beautiful, exotic, wild and sinister. "Overhead a heron glided across the darkening sky, a silent long-neck projectile."
It's a place with dark secrets and darker plans and Edgar may not be as in control of his gift as he thinks he is. King has another big winner.
Book Review: BROKE MY HEART AND SCARED ME TO DEATH
Summary: 5 Stars
Since my first encounter with SK decades ago (I believe it was Salem's Lot) I have followed him ever since, greedily snatching up any and all of his books, and I have had many joyous moments (Night Shift, It, The Shining) and some where I truly did not care for the book at all (Cell comes to mind) but the latter are extremely rare.
In this latest book, I was truly stunned and surprised because while I was expecting an excellent read, I was literally overwhelmed by this story which has so much going on in it and touches so many aspects of the human condition I was speechless, and moved to tears more than once and scared witless as well.
SK not only excels at writing, he KNOWS people, he KNOWS us and what makes us tick and uses that knowledge to the maximum. He paints with words, sorry for the cliche, but in this particular book, it is very apropos.
I have been sketching since I was old enough to hold a pencil and his descriptions of his painting and the colors, how they looked to others, the reactions, etc absolutely fascinated me. I wanted to SEE them for myself and kept looking at the dust jacket wishing there had been more of Mr Freemantle's artist's eye represented.
The characters were richer and more believable and touching than in any of the previous books; Wireman was a joy as was the old lady, who reminded me very much of a lady I knew here in Florida some years ago. His descriptions are dead on and how the characters interact with each other are beyond my poor abilities to describe; suffice to say this is the most HUMAN book I have ever read from this author and it (sorry again, my cliches want out) made my soul sing to read them.
We read SK because we want to be scared out of our minds and in this respect the author does not disappoint; but here we have for the first time, people we care passionately about and situations which are frighteningly real, a combination which makes for a most unusual and wholly satifying read.
I wanted so much to savor this book and take my time, but was unable to stop myself from devouring it at record speed and now am going through it again at a more leisurely pace, because it is so good and so worth reading again so as not to miss anything.
I envy those who have not yet had the good fortune to read this book, and strongly urge any and all to do so at the earliest opportunity. You will NOT be disappointed.
As always, when reading Mr King's work, I had strong, vivid visuals throughout but in this book, it was like watching my own private DVD of the book as the pictures never left my mind and I never thought I was reading, but rather, watching an incredible story unfold.
I can't remember any other book I have ever read touching so many different emotions, from fascination to fear/dread and humor and sorrow so great it made me cry, whch is a very rare event for me.
How Mr King thought of this or how closely it follows certain events in his own life, I don't know, but he certainly brought me along for the ride, and one ride I am looking forward to repeating again and again and again.
I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart (yes, I know, another one, forgive me) and kudos for a novel which is truly brilliant from every aspect and on every level.