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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This story was very touching. It actually made me pretty emotional, as did the short story about the old man and the dog that was at the end of the audiobook.
I was disappointed by the lack of character development and the overall lack of substance behind the plot. While there were a lot of excellent and eloquent lines, plenty of imagery, and connection to current American politics, the story was rather basic.
Please read this review *after* you've read this book for yourself. For some brief, non spoilerly thoughts, I did a mini review on my Instagram.
SPOILERS & PLOT DETAILS BELOW
I'm always excited when I hear of a new Stephen King book (of any length, genre, collaboration, collection) hitting the market. I like to wait until the day it releases to go to my local bookstore and find it--this time I went to the University of Washington, Tacoma campus bookstore to buy it. Exciting times. I was surprised by its cute, compact size and attractive cover design. Sidenote: It's a bitch to photograph with its very shiny dust jacket.
Also surprising is that somehow I managed to avoid reading any plot summaries for this one. I knew it was a novella but I wasn't temped to read more about it.
I read the inside flap in the car on the way home from the bookstore and my heart sank a little.
"but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble."
Oh no.
To be perfectly honest, I've grown a bit weary of Stephen King and Joe Hill's political commentary in their stories. It's not because I don't want to hear it or that I believe we should keep our real lives and fiction separate (although reading is a break from it all and a necessary reprieve so it is an intrusion when I desire to unplug from the negativity) but it's because I don't find Hill or King to be very good at mixing their fiction and politics. They lack finesse. It's too obvious and too cliched. *Super* heavy handed.
ELEVATION, for example is stuffed with ridiculous cliches and stereotypes.
Vegetarian, jogging lesbian couple where one partner is "icy cold" and the other one is "fragile"?
Close-minded "Trumpians" who won't support a restaurant because a gay married couple own it?
Bad blood between neighbors because of dogs pooping on the lawn?
A kindly retired doctor with savory advice? A do-gooder with a mysterious illness and an agenda to save his town from homophobia--can't we all just get along??! It's this nice man's dying wish!!
Barf.
Yawn.
This story was so thin the politics stuck out like a sore thumb. Literally zero backstory of any of the characters. I didn't care about anyone to the point of investing or caring about what would happen.
(For a better horror story celebrating gay marriage-read A CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Paul Tremblay. Tremblay perfectly painted a beautiful family with loving, meticulous detail and really approached the subject with normative subtlety so that it felt authentic and real not a poster gay couple to preach the author's politics-but REAL PEOPLE)
Another pet peeve of mine was how many times the main character ogled the physical attributes of the lesbian couple-their legs, their form fitting clothes, their short shorts, their hair, their eyes...ALWAYS THEIR LEGS. Really annoying and unnecessary. It was as if King didn't know how to describe the women's looks without doing it through the eyes of a man who is attracted to them. Lame.
It was so lame I began marking in my book every time I saw it.
Anyways, this was a huge disappointment. King is very vocal about his political opinions, which is fine, I just wish he'd save it for his Twitter and write in his wheelhouse.
PS. NOT HORROR. I have no idea why it was nominated for best horror.
SPOILERS & PLOT DETAILS BELOW
I'm always excited when I hear of a new Stephen King book (of any length, genre, collaboration, collection) hitting the market. I like to wait until the day it releases to go to my local bookstore and find it--this time I went to the University of Washington, Tacoma campus bookstore to buy it. Exciting times. I was surprised by its cute, compact size and attractive cover design. Sidenote: It's a bitch to photograph with its very shiny dust jacket.
Also surprising is that somehow I managed to avoid reading any plot summaries for this one. I knew it was a novella but I wasn't temped to read more about it.
I read the inside flap in the car on the way home from the bookstore and my heart sank a little.
"but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble."
Oh no.
To be perfectly honest, I've grown a bit weary of Stephen King and Joe Hill's political commentary in their stories. It's not because I don't want to hear it or that I believe we should keep our real lives and fiction separate (although reading is a break from it all and a necessary reprieve so it is an intrusion when I desire to unplug from the negativity) but it's because I don't find Hill or King to be very good at mixing their fiction and politics. They lack finesse. It's too obvious and too cliched. *Super* heavy handed.
ELEVATION, for example is stuffed with ridiculous cliches and stereotypes.
Vegetarian, jogging lesbian couple where one partner is "icy cold" and the other one is "fragile"?
Close-minded "Trumpians" who won't support a restaurant because a gay married couple own it?
Bad blood between neighbors because of dogs pooping on the lawn?
A kindly retired doctor with savory advice? A do-gooder with a mysterious illness and an agenda to save his town from homophobia--can't we all just get along??! It's this nice man's dying wish!!
Barf.
Yawn.
This story was so thin the politics stuck out like a sore thumb. Literally zero backstory of any of the characters. I didn't care about anyone to the point of investing or caring about what would happen.
(For a better horror story celebrating gay marriage-read A CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Paul Tremblay. Tremblay perfectly painted a beautiful family with loving, meticulous detail and really approached the subject with normative subtlety so that it felt authentic and real not a poster gay couple to preach the author's politics-but REAL PEOPLE)
Another pet peeve of mine was how many times the main character ogled the physical attributes of the lesbian couple-their legs, their form fitting clothes, their short shorts, their hair, their eyes...ALWAYS THEIR LEGS. Really annoying and unnecessary. It was as if King didn't know how to describe the women's looks without doing it through the eyes of a man who is attracted to them. Lame.
It was so lame I began marking in my book every time I saw it.
Anyways, this was a huge disappointment. King is very vocal about his political opinions, which is fine, I just wish he'd save it for his Twitter and write in his wheelhouse.
PS. NOT HORROR. I have no idea why it was nominated for best horror.
It's a fine enough story and even Stephen King shouldn't be pigeonholed, but where did this come from? Why is it published as a novel? I feel like there's a well-known backstory to this being written that I haven't heard. It feels like he punched up something a teenaged relative wrote.
But story-wise, it's a decent, Twilight Zone-y short that will make a cozy read during the fall-winter holidays.
But story-wise, it's a decent, Twilight Zone-y short that will make a cozy read during the fall-winter holidays.
In typical King fashion we get to read another great story. No horror or things that don’t bump in the night but rather an interesting tale of a man on a fantastic journey. Wonderful cast of characters along with a plot that keeps you so intrigued you just can’t put this down book makes this an awesome read.
Not bad, but ultimately just kind of fluff stories. A few warm fuzziest, but otherwise just okay.
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Full of the things Stephen King is the worst at writing - relationships between men and women - stereotypes, inappropriate comments about women’s bodies, and fat shaming. My curious it’s about what was going on was finally outweighed by my hatred of everything else in this novella so I stopped reading.
Scott Ellis has a problem. He's losing weight - a lot of it - and it doesn't seem to be...going anywhere. In his small, conservative town, he knows this isn't the sort of thing you share with just anyway, but luckily he's got a doctor friend he can trust with this...problem? Issue? Completely freaky "thing?" Another thread of this story is the two lesbian women down the street who have a restaurant and how all this connects is really all there is to this short novel.
Truth: I only read this because for a book challenge I had to read a Stephen King book.
Truth: It was sorta lame. The plot, the writing, I was expecting more, so much more. I figured - if the guy can make people be engaged for like EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES (which I knew I just couldn't do right now) then surely he'll be amazing at 200, right? Wrong.
I finished it thinking surely, there will be an epilogue or something that will freak me out, but no. How in the WORLD this one a Goodreads choice award for HORROR is completely beyond me. There is no horror at all. I got nothing.
Truth: I only read this because for a book challenge I had to read a Stephen King book.
Truth: It was sorta lame. The plot, the writing, I was expecting more, so much more. I figured - if the guy can make people be engaged for like EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES (which I knew I just couldn't do right now) then surely he'll be amazing at 200, right? Wrong.
I finished it thinking surely, there will be an epilogue or something that will freak me out, but no. How in the WORLD this one a Goodreads choice award for HORROR is completely beyond me. There is no horror at all. I got nothing.
I absolutely loved this book. Wonderfully written characters. Full of heart. It is not horror, but it fits snuggly into Castle Rock lore, next to Gwendy. I didn’t find the politics to be a hurdle or a barrier in reading it. I felt it cast a human light on all sides, that maybe if we just take the time, maybe we can find the common ground.