FOLLY (Mys/Novel-Rae Newborn-Washington State-Cont) – ExKing, Laurie R. – StandaloneBantam, 2001, US Hardcover – ISBN: 0553111035First Sentence: The gray-haired woman stood with her boots planted on the rocky promontory and watched what was left of her family pull away.Rae Newborn is a woodworker whose work appears in galleries and museums. She is also a woman who has known tragedy, severe depression and attempted suicide more than once. Working to put her life back on track, Rae has come to Salvation Island to rebuild the house, known as Folly, built by her great-uncle and by fire. She is dealing with her fears after having been viciously attacked and a feeling of being watched. Things don’t improve when she finds a footprint that’s not hers, learns her house in Los Angeles has been broken into and discovered a skeleton still containing the killing bullet.This was a re-read for me and I found it as good the second time. Rae is a powerful character. In spite of her problems and past, you feel her strength and admire her self-awareness. Since the story is told in first-person, you have a real feel for her emotions and fears. There is an interesting assortment of supporting character, including dead great-uncle Desmond, who are interesting in themselves but also act as a foil for Rae in demonstrating her determination. I loved King’s attention to detail and powers of description. Even if you’ve never worked with wood, anyone with a craft they love and recognition for the importance of the tools of that craft, will appreciate the descriptions of the wood her awareness of her tools. The mystery isn’t a traditional one. There is the present day mystery of whom, if anyone, is after Rae and the secondary mystery of Desmond, who came to the island with his own need to recover from shell shock after WWI. Folly is a wonderful, emotional story and my favorite of anything King has written thus far.
I'll admit that it took me a little while to get fully absorbed into this story about a woman who removes herself to a remote island to rebuild a house originally built by a secret uncle, the dark sheep of the family, over one hundred years before. Rae Newborn has had a roller coaster of a life. She has suffered greatly from depression which started as post partum depression after her first daughter was born. She grew estranged from her husband and daughter and fought through bouts of suicide and institutional therapy. She remarries a wonderful man and they have a daughter. They have a great life. But then in a tragic accident she loses both of them and she once again is in a dark place. Almost two years later, she goes to this island, owned by family but trusted over to the state as a bird sanctuary. Always intrigued by the uncle her grandfather refused to talk about, she decides to rebuild the house on the island of Folly. In doing so, she hopes to rebuild herself. But she is paranoid and terrified of the watchers. And not without reason, she has been attacked once shortly after her husband and young daughter died, and even now, the police seem to thing she could be in danger. During her self-imposed exile from society, she makes many discoveries about her family, herself and her island. She is a master wood worker craftsman and artist and the details of trees and wood in the descriptions of her work were very enjoyable. I got hooked on this while on vacation, and just happened to be near a Folly Beach (opposite side of the country) while reading this. I got hooked and loved it!
What do You think about Folly (2015)?
This is a spellbinding tale about a fascinating women and her unique way of putting back the broken pieces of herself. Two different mysteries are presented, intertwined and solved. I 'read' the audio book performed by Frank Muller. My sister thought the book should have been read by a woman, because it is mostly about a women, but I disagree in this case. Frank is excellent at telling a tale in a tense & suspenseful way and this is a tense and suspenseful story.WARNING-One reader I know said once she got about midway through, she could not put the book down and go to sleep, so she stayed up all night reading it through to the end.
—WK
I am not sure how to describe my feelings on this book. On one hand, I liked it. The story keep me listening and wanting to find out the truth. On the other hand, I found it a little hard to get into, and up until about 2/3 of the way through the book, I wondered why I kept listening.There were a few scenes where I felt like the characters involved were contrived simply to resolve someting, but that they didn't really do all that much to move the stor along.I did enjoy the book. I might listen to something else by her, but I simply can't rave about this one.I can tell you that the narrator annoyed the hell out of me. He has a soft "whispery" voice that kinda hung on every word, or at the least on the end of every paragraph. At first I considered stopping reading, but then remembered that I actually paid for the book and set my sights on the end. I made it.Not a bad story, just not stellar.
—Karen Syed
I was nearly a quarter of the way into the book before I began to enjoy it. I read it because it was chosen for a virtual book club and because I like King's Mary Russell novels. I finally finished it book last night and can say that I enjoyed it except for the identity of the bad guy. It seemed that King pulled him out of a hat. Rae, one of the protagonists, along with her great-uncle Desmond, is rebuilding Desmond's home on an island as a therapeutic device as she recovers from the loss of her husband and daughter. The characters, both those she encounters along the way, and from her past, are well-drawn, the setting is satisfying, and the plot lines- the house building, Rae's recovery, and the antagonists', are nicely interwoven.
—Antoinette
