Review - Lisey's Story by Stephen King

Lisey's Story by Stephen King
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hardcover, 513 pages

Published October 24th 2006 by Scribner Book Company 

Source: Own copy

 

Synopsis:

'Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, "Lisey's Story" is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.'

 

My Thoughts: 

It's been a long time since I read a King book that confused me and disappointed me as much as this one did.

I feel so dirty saying this (being the huge King fan that I am!) but I just couldn't get into Lisey's Story and felt such a huge sense of relief once I'd finally turned the last page.

Firstly, the constant swapping between past and present tense did my head in. I found it really hard to follow sometimes whether the story was going along in it's current state or whether I was getting told some more of the backstory yet again.

Also, I just couldn't get a feeling of closeness to Lisey or her plight. Her character seemed very distant and a bit cold to me and it wasn't until the end that I felt some real emotion came out. Maybe this was on purpose to try and show how she managed to move on with life after her husband died but it made it very hard for me to connect to her character throughout the whole story.

I also started to get a bit annoyed with the childish, made-up language used constantly through the book. It was like a children's book mixed up with an adult book. I know it was most likely to try and show the bond between Lisey and Scott and to highlight that most married couples have their own language and 'thing' that goes on behind closed doors that no-one else would understand, but I just didn't buy into it.

All in all I think the story itself could have had so much more potential, especially when you think of the personal comparisons between King and his wife against the main characters Lisey and Scott.

Oh well, I'm just glad it's another King book I can cross off my list.