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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
stephen king’s novella, “elevation” is a book filled with kingisms and white male centering. this new england set, end of life, sci-fi has good intentions and feels good on the surface. however, it’s desperation to create depth, instead creates a sense of performative allyship.
faced to reconcile with his own impending mortality, scott carey is suddenly determined to help the new lesbian vegetarian couple find their space in a small and conservative maine town. and of course, as with most things straight white men want, it works. but at what cost for the novella?
this book is a quick read and quite enjoyable at parts, but once you realize how heavy handed king is being with his anti-conservative rhetoric, the notes of allyship seem shallow. the queer couple becomes a tool for scott carey to show how “elevated” he is, and, as a literary reflection, how “elevated” stephen king is.
it has good intentions. it truly does. but i don’t think this book needed to be written, as much as i think the author wanted it to be read. i expected more from stephen king, but honestly i’m not sure why.
this book is: “a man called ove” meets “the help” meets “thinner,” but in a good way?
i give this book a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
faced to reconcile with his own impending mortality, scott carey is suddenly determined to help the new lesbian vegetarian couple find their space in a small and conservative maine town. and of course, as with most things straight white men want, it works. but at what cost for the novella?
this book is a quick read and quite enjoyable at parts, but once you realize how heavy handed king is being with his anti-conservative rhetoric, the notes of allyship seem shallow. the queer couple becomes a tool for scott carey to show how “elevated” he is, and, as a literary reflection, how “elevated” stephen king is.
it has good intentions. it truly does. but i don’t think this book needed to be written, as much as i think the author wanted it to be read. i expected more from stephen king, but honestly i’m not sure why.
this book is: “a man called ove” meets “the help” meets “thinner,” but in a good way?
i give this book a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
The whole 'guy becomes weightless' storyline was kinda cool but the 'straight cis boomer cures homophobia' storyline was 😑🙄😒
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was an easy read. I didn’t see the need to add a second story after Elevation. It had nothing to do with the original story. I’ve always been a Stephen King fan but if you’re looking for horror this is not it.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. This is definitely not a horror story, but it is most surely a beautiful tale about a man coming to terms with his own death. The 'white savior'ness of the story was an odd choice, but not one I was really mad about. All in all everything said in this book made me feel sad but happy at the same time, and I think that's what King must have wanted - seeing Scott himself feels that way.
How this won the Goodreads Choice Award for Horror is beyond me. Since it's, you know, not Horror?
So. I don't think this would have gotten published if it wasn't Stephen King.
A stereotypical "what would you do if time was running out" kind of story. Kind of cute here and there. A little alarming that the straight man saved the gay couple by giving them a hug...oh what we would all do without white straight men?
Then the other little short story at the end was just fine...not noteworthy.
Both of them kind of felt more like writing exercises.
A stereotypical "what would you do if time was running out" kind of story. Kind of cute here and there. A little alarming that the straight man saved the gay couple by giving them a hug...oh what we would all do without white straight men?
Then the other little short story at the end was just fine...not noteworthy.
Both of them kind of felt more like writing exercises.
I liked this. It was not a horror story, but definitely something odd was going on. Makes you think about life, prejudices and perceptions, and what kind of legacy you want to leave.