Finally! Last night I finished reading Stephen King's Lisey's Story. Now "finally" doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. On the contrary there were many aspects about it I truly admired. Lisey, the POV character, was married to a writer of horror books who escaped into another place which was beautiful but, except for one area surrounding a pond, lethally dangerous after dark. Scott, the writer, visited this place during his abusive childhood and, even as an adult, finds himself there. Not a bad story premise at all. Lots of things happen to Lisey in her own life—both its past and its present—and when she visits Scott's place. So why "finally"? Truthfully, Stephen King's books are simply too long for me now. I was a huge fan when his career began. The first I read was 'Salem's Lot. I was hooked and remained so for several years. My enthusiasm faded with the Dark Tower series, and I remember having trouble with the length of a book called It—I think that was its title. It (It?) had scary clowns and a phrase ("You can't be careful on a skateboard," perhaps) that was clever at first but way too overused by the end. I ploughed through another long one that had an evil antique dealer and quit after 100 pages or so one where some characters had balloons floating above their heads. Now after 653 pages of Lisey's Story, I'm swearing off King again. Oh, I may reread 'Salem's Lot and read any book he writes that's under 400 pages and not linked to the Dark Tower, but that makes me sad. His early books gave me lots of pleasure and his love of writing jumps off the now-all-too-many pages, but the truth is there are too many books I want to read to spend over a week with a single Stephen King novel.
So read faster, you might suggest. But with King I can't—and that leads into the other thing in Lisey's Story that blew me away. The man's use of words amazes me. Oh, Pat Conroy has him beat for description, but King can hang an idea on some set of words—even parts of words—like no other writer I've read. Hell. If he wrote poetry, I'd probably read it. And I'm far from a poetry fan. Some examples:*
1) Dialogue. "I would't've." (page 10) Yep, it's what we say—even if Word just underlined it in red—but King is the first writer I've noticed spelling it that way. How observant of him.
2) Scott is to speak at a ceremony marking the start of a library being built. One of the people who invited him says nothing is planned, Scott will have to play it by ear. King remarks, "For Scott Landon, ear was a way of life." (page 40) And how much those six words convey about Scott Landon and, I bet, Stephen King. IMHO.
3) In a hospital's emergency room, a teenage girl enters and announces "that her stepmom was gonna murdalize her." (page 127) Wow! Though King is probably totally unaware of murdalize's effects, to me the word summons up teenage lingo, step relationships and even the laxity of our current education. It's also an example of why I can't/won't slow down with King.
4) "She awoke in the deepest ditch of the night, when the moon is down and the hour is none." (page 135) Nights can have ditches? There's a none o'clock? Why not? If only I had such an imagination.
5) He attributes "Never-NeverLand" to a character because we all know it's really NeverLand—even if some of us only found that out a couple years ago.
6) The delivery of a new sofa surprises Lisey. Scott says they discussed it. Lisey thinks, "She was sure he'd discussed it with her in his head; he just sometimes forgot to vocalize those discussions." (page 190) OMG! I do that. Someone please tell me you do, too.
7) Did any of you know lave was a word? "…lave her face…" (page 439) I didn't—until 3 seconds ago. How 'bout larruping? (page 463)
8) And I've saved the best, IMHO, for last. "It was suddenly half past August." (page 600) And why not? There's half past two. "Half past August" is so much more imaginative than, say, midway through August.
Oh, Mr. King, I don't know if I can give you up.
*of King at his phrasing best, not of poetry that turns me off.
