I gotta be honest with ya, I had a difficult time putting Lisey's Story down.I believe Stephen King himself said that LS is his attempt at romance writing- (and I clearly am paraphrasing here!) The thing is, while it is a love story and there is indeed a happily ever after ending- though certainly not in true Cinderella fashion- this is not just a story about the love between a hero and heroine, or even man and wife, as Scott and Lisey Landon were for 25 years. No, this is also a love story between a writer/reader and the writing craft. Muliti-faceted, layered, textured and chock full of the love of intimate language, this book will appeal to anyone who thirsts for, as King describes in his book, "the pool"- the "word" pool, the "myth" pool; "…the pool of life, the cup of imagination …" a place where the narrator tells us of artists who set sail out to the middle "in their flimsy wooden boats, after the big ones." (And who should he include in these artist? God bless the King- Jane Austen. :::sigh::: )In LS, "the pool" is an actual place in a world that the eccentric-tortured-obscenely talented-critically acclaimed-popular novelist Scott Landon visits in an alternate reality he calls, "Boo'ya Moon". Of course the pool is a not so subtle metaphor for the creative unconscious mind- one can never accuse King of being less than obvious- but then, sometimes I like having it spelled out for me. Sometimes it's just nice to not have to puzzle through it and think "could it be" But blessedly, there's no "could it be?" about this shining metaphor! It's out there for all to see.Oh, there is another intriguing metaphor playing out in LS as well:Scott's past is less than heartening. A brilliant child born into a family of "gomers" (Scott's words) and lunatics- those who suffered the "bad-gunkys"- he endured much abuse at the hands of his father. It was during this time he and his equally brilliant brother- who meets a less then brilliant demonically horrifying end- create the "bool hunts". A way of entertaining each other after their Dad's self-cutting episodes- episodes that sometimes bled onto the boys- a bool hunt is, on the surface, a scavenger hunt. But what really is a bool hunt? Well, that's for the reader to decide. (I loved the flashes of possibilities on that one!)King also writes LS with a style I've never quite seen before. Much of the background to the story is narrated through Lisey's memories- but when she actually "goes into" the memories, King switches to an almost 1st person narrative- while still retaining the third person pronouns- It works well. The sensation is quite like focusing a lens or being rapidly drawn closer and it pulls you into the intimacy of Lisey and Scott's life together.Although I found this book to be very entertaining, it does have it’s flaws. The point of view or shifting of narrative might drive some people crazy as well as the secret language of Lisey and Scott’s marriage one must decipher. But those things in and of itself are important layers to the story. In addition, through most of LS, Lisey is on a "bool hunt" that Scott left behind for her. If she makes it through- she gets a prize. The prize is rather anti-climatic considering all she went through (King’s horror lovers will find there own prize there), but, in the end, it’s as much hers and it is his- “the two that are one”. For me it fit well with the rest of the story.
Lisey's Story will probably be viewed in years to come as one of King's more important books, if for no other reason than it is his most personal one. King accomplishes this, interestingly, primarily through the memories and voice of Lisey Landon, the wife of recently deceased literary icon. Lisey is of course a fictional character, but it's not too far a stretch to see Lisey as something of a stand-in for King's own wife (and her sisters - as the author concedes in an endnote to the novel), and that the book operates at least on one level (and it has many levels) as a Valentine to his beloved.As a result, Lisey's Story is being called by many a love story, with some elements of horror (or more accurately, dark fantasy). And that is true, but I think King meant it to be something more than that. Lisey's Story is also the author's meditation on Life, his life. And under that umbrella you will find further meditations on the writing life, celebrityhood (and its dangers ), love, grief, and family. King has called himself a romantic, and Lisey's Story is an elaboration on that sentiment.But King is also a rebel, and for some time now King has been insisting that the walls between genre fiction and "serious fiction" are artificial, and that authors such as Elmore Leonard, Peter Straub, and others, be considered when it comes to the various book awards. I feel he has an argument. Just look at Cormac McCarthy, who has just penned a couple of genre-like efforts (the drug war holocaust, No Country for Old Men, and the end of the world masterpiece, The Road). To underscore this, King utilizes a modernist literary device - stream of consciousness - as Lisey relives her past with her husband Scott, in reveries that emerge, seamlessly, with the present. I think King handles this very well, but it will not make for an easy read, at least initially, but be patient. The fantastic side of the story also mixes well. In fact, King's deliberate pace seems to earn the appearance of Scott Landon's imaginative haven Booýa Moon (which reminded me, more than a bit, of Arthur Machen's nightmarish dreamscape in “The White People”). By the time we as readers enter this sometime terrifying Eden, a context has been established, through character development and personal history. There is of course a significant thread of darkness throughout the novel, but ultimately Lisey's Story is about a life, filled with both light and dark, that in proves to be a well-lived one. I've been reading King since the late 70s (Salem's Lot being my first), and after all these years, he seems like an old friend. With Lisey's Story, I can say quite comfortably, well done, old friend.
What do You think about Lisey's Story (2006)?
Cada vez que quiero leer algo que sepa que me va a gustar recurro a Stephen King por que sus libros no me decepcionan, puede que prefiera a unos mas que otros pero al final siempre me gustan por una razón o por otra. De este libro en particular no tenía buenas referencias, las opiniones que había leído no lo ponían tan bien pero decidí empezarlo con las mejores expectativas. Las primeras 100 páginas me parecieron eternas, estuve a punto de abandonar la lectura pero tengo una voluntad bastante fuerte jaja así que seguí y fue la mejor decisión de todas. Lisey perdió a su esposo Scott dos años atrás pero hasta ahora a recogido el valor suficiente para ordenar las cosas de su difunto marido y pensar que hacer con ellas; tiene muchas opciones puesto que él era un escritor bastante famoso así que hay varias personas rondando, pidiendo y hasta exigiendo que los valiosos archivos sean donados a ellos. La razón por la que las primeras páginas son tan increíblemente densas es por que se centran en la profunda devoción que sentía Lisey por su esposo, los dos se llevaban muy bien la mayor parte del tiempo y leer como ella recuerda los momentos que pasaron juntos en conferencias y en habitaciones de hotel, además de eso todas las palabras que tenían significados ocultos para ellos dos es tan tierno pero mas que eso es muy pero muy triste por que el autor nos muestra el dolor de la perdida repentina y la impotencia que se siente al no poder dejar ir a esa persona que significa tanto para nosotros. RESEÑA COMPLETA: http://b-excessive.blogspot.com/2015/...
—Johana J
I went on a bool hunt that covered 513 pages of typewritten text and when I came out to the other side, the one where one does not eat fruits after dark, I was not afraid of anything.Interestingly enough, I was ten, the same age as Scott when he lost both Paul and his dad, when I read my first Stephen King novel. I'll never forget the experience of reading Salem's Lot. It took me two days to consume what would become the portal to all things King for the next 25 years. My love affair with Mr. King's novels hasn't always been steady. There were hiccups along the way such as Cujo but there were highs such as Bag of Bones. Highs so high, that they always beckoned me back to the way the man can spin a yarn.Then... there was Lisey's Story. The morphine like quality of the storytelling was there. In the beginning stages of the book it was more like a drip and then it felt like an overdose. However, the book didn't end where it was supposed to. The book, much like the third installment of Lord of the Rings, ended about 40 pages too late. His magic waned and I walked away feeling disenchanted.In the comment section at the back, King mentions that people wonder where his editor was during this novel and just how much material he actually did give his editor to work with. I shall apologize but I feel like the editor was asleep at the wheel or hanging with the shrouded figures on the bench looking out into the pool where we all go to drink. Some tough love via a red pen would have possibly saved this book... or perhaps, it wouldn't have. We shall never know now.What I did absolutely love was the clear transmission of the secret language of marriage. The language that is shared by two people who are in long committed relationships that only the two of them speak. Very few books, articles, blogs are written of this phenomenon but King managed to do it justice. I didn't care for all the babyluv junk or the bad gunky of it all. I felt a connection to the way Scott spoke to his wife and how Lisey could still hear him, reaching her, beyond Boo'yah Moon, beyond death, because the secret language of marriage is not governed by the same laws. It is a world onto its own and one where only two people can ever reside.There is some magic in this book. Not much, but some. It glimmers but it never fully enraptures and for that, I am sorry. I read King to be whisked away to a world that is not my own. This world wasn't for me, but it may be for some people.
—Blanca Hindle
I truly wanted to like this book. I'd never read King's fiction before, but I did love his On Writing and I can tell how much he wants to be accepted by the literary establishment and this seemed his ticket out of the Steele-Patterson-Evanovich crew. He even got a female editor to make his female protagonist more credible. I keep on hearing how great his stories are and the select movies that I'd seen based on his writing suggest he does have much to offer ("Shawshank Redemption," "Stand by Me," "Misery"--no, not "Pet Cemetery" or Cujo"). But, but, the writing was so sludgy and muddled. Where was the articulate voice from "On Writing"? Where did his train of thought go? Where did his coherence go? Is that a sin only reserved for non-fiction? Even if this is supposedly better than his other novels, does that make it worth my time? Because I can't believe this is worth anything and it's unfortunate because I wanted to believe he could do it.
—Yulia
