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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
I have been a Stephen King fan for many years. I think I was 15 when I read my first King, It, followed by Misery. I then read his full back catalogue at the time. I have to admit that the only books of his that don't work for me at all are The Dark Tower ones. They never clicked, but I still intend to try again, eventually.
In recent years, I always felt the quality of his work decline. Some of his least favorites for me are From a Buick 8, The Girl who loved Tom Gordon and Dreamcatcher. The last book I truly loved was Hearts of Atlantis. But enough of my King backstory.
Duma Key is written from the first person view of Edgar Freemantle, a man in his 50s who had a terrible accident. His car was crushed by a crane on one of his construction sites, causing him to lose his right arm, some of his memory and his temper. In order to recover and find himself again, he moves to Florida, to a small island called Duma Key, where he discovers art. Until his art turns sinister.
That's about the plot. It builds slowly, and from the start King uses heavy amounts of foreshadowing that just keep you reading. Everything seems idyllic, and yet at the same time not. You know bad shit's about to happen, and it does. The book very closely reminded me of The Shining in its way. A similarly deserted setting, though not quite as deserted as the Overlook Hotel, and the protagonist discovers his calling. There are dead people and mysteries of the past to be solved, to find out what really happened on the island of Duma Key. It was also vaguely reminiscent of Pet Sematary at the end of the book.
The pacing seems off a bit, there are long stretches where nothing but character building and exposure happen, and then the last part turns a bit frantic.
Ultimately, I thought it was great entertainment. I enjoyed the characters, though I sometimes thought Wireman was irritating, and Jack seemed a bit of a pale cardboard sidekick. It's no second The Shining, despite my earlier comparison, but if you enjoy Stephen King, you might enjoy this book of his as a return to old form.
In recent years, I always felt the quality of his work decline. Some of his least favorites for me are From a Buick 8, The Girl who loved Tom Gordon and Dreamcatcher. The last book I truly loved was Hearts of Atlantis. But enough of my King backstory.
Duma Key is written from the first person view of Edgar Freemantle, a man in his 50s who had a terrible accident. His car was crushed by a crane on one of his construction sites, causing him to lose his right arm, some of his memory and his temper. In order to recover and find himself again, he moves to Florida, to a small island called Duma Key, where he discovers art. Until his art turns sinister.
That's about the plot. It builds slowly, and from the start King uses heavy amounts of foreshadowing that just keep you reading. Everything seems idyllic, and yet at the same time not. You know bad shit's about to happen, and it does. The book very closely reminded me of The Shining in its way. A similarly deserted setting, though not quite as deserted as the Overlook Hotel, and the protagonist discovers his calling. There are dead people and mysteries of the past to be solved, to find out what really happened on the island of Duma Key. It was also vaguely reminiscent of Pet Sematary at the end of the book.
The pacing seems off a bit, there are long stretches where nothing but character building and exposure happen, and then the last part turns a bit frantic.
Ultimately, I thought it was great entertainment. I enjoyed the characters, though I sometimes thought Wireman was irritating, and Jack seemed a bit of a pale cardboard sidekick. It's no second The Shining, despite my earlier comparison, but if you enjoy Stephen King, you might enjoy this book of his as a return to old form.
1 Part Shining. 1 Part IT. 2 Parts Stephen King's Kingisms. The result is a bit of a long-winded novel written in elegant prose with a strong, but complex plot and interesting characters. King brings the creepy vibes in spades.
Some time ago I finished the unabridged audiobook of Duma Key. I must admit, I really enjoyed this one.
I am have become a fan of later day King. Many find his lack of monsters (Cell aside) to be off putting. I like the more literary King and found this book to be very good.
Edgar Freemantle is an owner of a construction company who has suffered a massive injury which resulted in the loss of his right arm and months and months of rehabilitation. This loss, and his anger from it, results in he and his wife separating. Edgar takes his therapists advise and moves to Florida, Duma Key to be precise. On Duma Key he lives in a large house he names “Big Pink”. The whole of the key has six houses on it, all owned by one woman, Elizabeth Eastlake, and elderly woman who lives down the beach. Under the advice of his therapist he decides to try his hand at painting, something he had left behind in his youth. He begins to work and discovers that he is creating works far beyond his capability, he is “unbottling” and soon it is an obsession. This leads to a series of revelations about the past, and about his future.
The writing in this book reminds me of both Lisey’s Story and Bag of Bones. There is a tale of a person and love, be it lost or taken, and the after effects. The plot starts off almost slowly, but I would rather say folksy. We do not have any real action until a good half way through the book, but the emotional and character build to this point is very rich. The ending was full of action, though it was similar to Bag of Bones in my opinion.
John Slattery does the narration, and at first, I was not thrilled with his read. It felt meter-wise like Stephen King doing the reading. I am not a big fan of King reading his own books. He is nasally. But Slattery grew on me. Quite a bit. His everyman delivery really helped define the characters and his slight voice inflections were super consistent through out.
I am have become a fan of later day King. Many find his lack of monsters (Cell aside) to be off putting. I like the more literary King and found this book to be very good.
Edgar Freemantle is an owner of a construction company who has suffered a massive injury which resulted in the loss of his right arm and months and months of rehabilitation. This loss, and his anger from it, results in he and his wife separating. Edgar takes his therapists advise and moves to Florida, Duma Key to be precise. On Duma Key he lives in a large house he names “Big Pink”. The whole of the key has six houses on it, all owned by one woman, Elizabeth Eastlake, and elderly woman who lives down the beach. Under the advice of his therapist he decides to try his hand at painting, something he had left behind in his youth. He begins to work and discovers that he is creating works far beyond his capability, he is “unbottling” and soon it is an obsession. This leads to a series of revelations about the past, and about his future.
The writing in this book reminds me of both Lisey’s Story and Bag of Bones. There is a tale of a person and love, be it lost or taken, and the after effects. The plot starts off almost slowly, but I would rather say folksy. We do not have any real action until a good half way through the book, but the emotional and character build to this point is very rich. The ending was full of action, though it was similar to Bag of Bones in my opinion.
John Slattery does the narration, and at first, I was not thrilled with his read. It felt meter-wise like Stephen King doing the reading. I am not a big fan of King reading his own books. He is nasally. But Slattery grew on me. Quite a bit. His everyman delivery really helped define the characters and his slight voice inflections were super consistent through out.
This book made me want to pick up a paintbrush and start painting immediately. I’m not a painter, nor do I ever paint for fun. But still. There was something deeply vivid about that urge and thirst to paint that poured through the pages and had me questioning whether maybe I’ve secretly been a painter without knowing. I loved this book. I’m not much of a supernatural horror fan, but this book was so human and emotional, that both the supernatural and horror elements sprinkled throughout were mere backdrops to the story.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow burn, creepy, but rounded characters and compelling plot crumbs scattered to collect.
I got to 200 pages in to this and it’s so boring. I don’t think I can read 500 more pages.
This book was so good. I loved the idea of a phantom limb and ghost ship!
And Stephen King's late period roll continues. Fan's know that after his accident, King's books where well not at their best Dreamcatcher, A Buick 8, and side projects like Kindom Hospital seemed muddled and confused, but I think finishing The Dark Tower series cleared out some cobwebs for him and since then he's been playing ball, I know I'm in the minority but I thought Cell was a great bit of old school, Salem's Lot style, bit of no holds bar horror, and Lisey's Story is quite possibly his best and certainly his most tender and mature work, Duma Key stands up well with both of them.
Creepy as hell, dark, poignant, and perhaps the saddest book King has ever wrote it's as good as anything he's ever done. It's the first book in a long long time that actually deprived me of a good night's sleep when a passage made me very aware of just how close my bed was to my staircase. I'm sure most people will say this particular visitation is just a rehash of a very famous bit of The Shining (and to be fair King has never been one to use a good gag once when he can take it out for a drive three or four times) but it struck a cord, a big one.
There is one touch that I thought was interesting, one of King's tricks has always been to fill his books with malapropisms, miss placed words, and mangled spellings, so it's interesting and a bit stupefying that he didn't use it before, that he here his main character can't help but speak and think that way. It makes for a good device as well as a creepy barometer in some scenes when the language starts to go you know the rest of the sane world can't be far behind.
King is always going to have a special place in my heart, he was after all my first "favorite" author, the one who taught me to love and seek out an author's voice (and what a great voice it is funny, smart assed, and ferocious I've always thought it'd sound like James Cagney if it could talk). Ever since I snuck into the adult section of the library on a fourth grade field trip and grabbed The Dead Zone, I've been a loyal fan, and the fact that he can produce something like this so late in his career has made that fandom a very rewarding thing indeed. I can't wait to see what he does next.
Creepy as hell, dark, poignant, and perhaps the saddest book King has ever wrote it's as good as anything he's ever done. It's the first book in a long long time that actually deprived me of a good night's sleep when a passage made me very aware of just how close my bed was to my staircase. I'm sure most people will say this particular visitation is just a rehash of a very famous bit of The Shining (and to be fair King has never been one to use a good gag once when he can take it out for a drive three or four times) but it struck a cord, a big one.
There is one touch that I thought was interesting, one of King's tricks has always been to fill his books with malapropisms, miss placed words, and mangled spellings, so it's interesting and a bit stupefying that he didn't use it before, that he here his main character can't help but speak and think that way. It makes for a good device as well as a creepy barometer in some scenes when the language starts to go you know the rest of the sane world can't be far behind.
King is always going to have a special place in my heart, he was after all my first "favorite" author, the one who taught me to love and seek out an author's voice (and what a great voice it is funny, smart assed, and ferocious I've always thought it'd sound like James Cagney if it could talk). Ever since I snuck into the adult section of the library on a fourth grade field trip and grabbed The Dead Zone, I've been a loyal fan, and the fact that he can produce something like this so late in his career has made that fandom a very rewarding thing indeed. I can't wait to see what he does next.