Duma Key: A Novel by Stephen King
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Book Reviews of Duma Key: A Novel
Book Review: I HATE Stephen King
Summary: 5 Stars
Now hold on there, Constant Readers - I don't mean that how you think I mean it. The reason for my 'hate' is simple; Stephen King creates fantastic characters, ones that you can identify with and get to be friends with. You root for them, you want them to succeed and be happy, but you know that King is going to do something to them that we don't want to happen.
I write this about Duma Key because this is by far one of his top novels. Someone earlier mentioned Bag of Bones, and I consider that another of his top novels...a very underrated one I believe. Same deal there as here; we're introduced to Edgar, who has suffered through a horrible accident, and we're there, with him, intimately involved in his recovery and his struggles against rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide.
King paints him so honestly that you can't help but love the guy. I'm not going to give away any plot points, but each step he takes in his new life is so believable, because it's not perfect. Every time it goes wrong, you're rooting him on.
And, with this being a King novel, you know there's something out there that's going to upset his applecart, and scare the crap out of him and us in process. And that's why I 'hate' Stephen King - he makes us love his characters, then he hurts them, and all we want is them to have the Hollywood ending.
Since I've already prattled on so long anyway, I'd also like to say that I love King's first-person novels the best; they are more confessional and open to me, and I think King writes his best that way.
If you think that King has been phoning it in lately, and honestly, he's had some not so great novels lately, you will be definitely pleased with Duma Key. Again, one of his top works, period.
Book Review: Stephen King's Breakout Novel?
Summary: 5 Stars
"Duma Key" is King at the top of his form. For someone who's been one of the best in the business for over thirty years, it's difficult to imagine new territory to chart...but that's exactly what King does here in his first novel set in Florida. Make no mistake: This is a classic King novel with all of the supernatural bells-and-whistles. But there's an added emotional depth that will touch more readers than past King books, I think.
The first 100 pages are a moving feat even for King, who draws upon his own accident as well recalling the horrific events in Abigail Thomas's memoir A Three Dog Life. King has been flirting with critical acclaim to match his commercial success for years, and this may finally be the book that elevates his status to another level in literary circles. Don't call it a comeback, though, because we all know that he never really left his Constant Readers.
Edgar Freemantle, the narrator, is in an accident that leaves him without an arm and with a shifting memory. But the story doesn't stop there. I could summarize the plot, but that would take some of the mystery away. So here's what King has to say about the basis of the novel: "[Edgar] discovers that, after this injury, that he is really a very talented painter and he moves to Florida and he starts to paint these pictures and then strange things start to happen with the pictures... And there is something going on, on this island, this Duma Key that is actually amping that talent up and making it stronger because there is something wrong there." (Lilja's Library interview, 01/17/07.)
Book Review: The best thing he's written in years
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best novel Stephen King has written since "The Shining" (perhaps even since "Salem's Lot"), which is saying quite a lot considering how many books he's had published since then. It's a gothic horror novel - gothic for Stephen King, that is.
Edgar Freemantle was involved in a hideous accident that cost him his right arm. His doctors recommend that he leave his native Minnesota and do something that makes him happy. The "something" Edgar chooses to do is to sketch (and eventually paint), and to do it he travels as far away from home as possible - to a small island in the Florida Keys called Duma, whose only other permanent residents are Elizabeth Eastlake, an old woman slowly succumbing to the effects of Alzheimer's; and her caretaker, a gruff but jolly former lawyer by the name of Wireman.
It soon becomes apparent, however, that there is more to Elizabeth's senility than meets the eye, and that Edgar might not have come to Duma Key entirely of his own free will. Someone - or someTHING - may have influenced his choice of location, and has other plans for him as well.
And thus begins another journey into the mind of the greatest modern American horror novelist. King is at the top of his form, with fully developed characters, and just enough scary stuff to keep the chills going down your spine (minus the blood and gore he included in junk such as "Cujo"). The eventual revelation of the source of all the evil is a bit anticlimactic (and a bit silly), but it still fits seamlessly into the story and doesn't spoil it at all.
If King can keep his writing at this level I'm definitely looking forward to his next novel.
Book Review: Thank you, Mr. King
Summary: 5 Stars
If I should die before I wake, I would be very unhappy to not have thanked Mr.King for this book. How ominous. LOL
It is an adventure into the art world trite and true and the world of
the human need to heal. (Even if you haven't lost a body part.)
This book doesn't show off it's skill or craft of writing. It's all
about Elizabeth and Edger. People create messes for generations and
people live through everyday horrors. Both things are true and both things always, ALWAYS come back.
I adore Wireman and I think Edgar is the most basically human person
I've ever read. Mr. King actually "draws" people. And I'm fascinated,
almost enthralled that he actually transversed his world of writing
with the skills of the visual artist. And he got it right!
I had not one idea what it is to be permanently physically handicapped.
Now I have a human hint.
There is nothing more clear to me than this: I have become an adult
along with Mr. King. (I'm a tad younger, thank the Universe!) But
there is this constant. His writing always makes makes me feel more
ALIVE. And Edger, Jake, Elizabeth, Wireman, even Pam, Linnie, Iles
and all the past folk are now a part of my Memory. I have a pretty
"adventurous" life, but somehow Mr. King always and has done
again, put the Zazz in PiZazz.
I have not read the last 25 pages. There is a reason for this. No matter
what happens in the end, there is what they are. And with any grace,
Memory will treat these people kindly........
Thanks for the Memories, Mr. King
Book Review: King at his best!
Summary: 5 Stars
Scary, long, fun, and more than just another Stephen King book. I've read Stephen King for years and I am always amazed at his story lines. His style made me feel as if I was 'in the story,' truly a treat. From Carrie to Duma Key it has been a good ride and I hope it continues for years to come.
In Duma Key, Edgar Freemantle had proven that the American dream works. As a building contractor in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, he made a lot of money and received plenty of acclaim. He and his beloved wife Pam were worth at least forty million by the time he turned 50. They had two children. The end of his "Golden Age" began when he experienced a basic law of physics that being a pickup truck has no chance against a twelve-story crane.
Edgar came out of that crash with a cracked skull, and a fractured left side with broken ribs, a broken right hip and loss vision and his right arm was lost. He was fortunate to have survived. Twenty-five years of marriage ended when a constantly raging Edgar became verbally abusive to Pam who visited everyday as he recuperated. Edgar also suddenly displayed a talent as an artist.
Needing to leave behind people, he flees to Duma Key, Florida where only two other trauma survivors reside. Edgar finds out his new artistic skills enables him to see and change the future life and death of others even as he investigates the tragic history of his new island home.
Readers will sense the rage inside Edgar even as he calmly tells his tale. This is Stephen King at his best as he uses the theme of a person feeling isolated ready to strike out at others even loved ones.