Sunday, April 13, 2008

Book 21 of 2008: Duma Key by Stephen King



Book Description:

NO MORE THAN A DARK PENCIL LINE ON A BLANK PAGE. A HORIZON LINE, MAYBE.

BUT ALSO A SLOT FOR BLACKNESS TO POUR THROUGH...

A terrible accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. When his marriage suddenly ends, Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived his injuries. He wants out. His psychologist suggests a new life distant from the Twin Cities, along with something else:

"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"

"I used to sketch."

"Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves for Duma Key, an eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico calls out to him, and Edgar draws. Once he meets Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman with roots tangled deep in Duma Key, Edgar begins to paint, sometimes feverishly; many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural -- Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

My Opinion:

This book took me forever to read, but not because it wasn't a good book, but because it was a hardback book and rather large/heavy/bulky. I actually enjoyed the book quite a lot especially as the book came to a climax a bit into the second half of the book. The story took a major turn in the book, which made it quite exciting and fast-paced. I did have to laugh at the obvious "advertisements" for his son's book HEART-SHAPED BOX by King using a heart-shaped box as an object in the book several times near the end. I am glad to be done reading this though as I was really tired of lugging that monster around, but I'm definitely glad that I have had the opportunity to read the story though.

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