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Duma Key, redux
Feb. 10th, 2008 01:47 pm Duma Key rocks. Big time. It's first person (told the entire way through) and like Dolores Claiborne, King's other first person novel, is really really good. It's about a lot of things; recovering from injuries of the mind as well as body; reaching out; and mingled in with that, how a family in the past recovered (or didn't) from traumatic incidents of a supernatural nature (or are they?). It's not vague like Haunting of Hill House, where you're never sure if the main character is crazy, if the house is crazy, or what - but it owes a fair amount of its atmosphere to Shirley Jackson's famous haunted house tale.
The walking wounded abound in this story - about the only person who isn't, is Edgar (Allan Poe's) daughter. Edgar shares his last name with Abigail Freemantle, of The Stand, and it's apparent that in a slight, narrow way, this novel is connected with The Dark Tower series, although not directly. King has said in interviews that this book is his version of Divorce. In a way it is. Divorce from your old life, your wife, your former way of being, and into another stage where you might change, but perhaps not altogether willingly.
Yeah, I highly recommend this one. Even if you're not a King fan. He avoids a fair number of his worst tropes (the Wise Black Man/Woman) for the most part, and the pay off at the end is worth it. And if you're the least bit creative with art, writing, photography, I think you can understand what he gets at when Edgar, the main character, talks about what it feels like to be in the midst of a creative rush.
The walking wounded abound in this story - about the only person who isn't, is Edgar (Allan Poe's) daughter. Edgar shares his last name with Abigail Freemantle, of The Stand, and it's apparent that in a slight, narrow way, this novel is connected with The Dark Tower series, although not directly. King has said in interviews that this book is his version of Divorce. In a way it is. Divorce from your old life, your wife, your former way of being, and into another stage where you might change, but perhaps not altogether willingly.
Yeah, I highly recommend this one. Even if you're not a King fan. He avoids a fair number of his worst tropes (the Wise Black Man/Woman) for the most part, and the pay off at the end is worth it. And if you're the least bit creative with art, writing, photography, I think you can understand what he gets at when Edgar, the main character, talks about what it feels like to be in the midst of a creative rush.
