Goodreads | Duma Key

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Is SK back?	27	06/10/2008 01:55PM

Lisa rated it:

03/03/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: Just about anyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I suppose firstly, I should admit that Stephen King is the man who has shared my bed the most after my husband. That got to the point where, right around "Black House" hubby made a complaint about having to share me in bed with Mr. King and I never brought a book to bed again unless I was all by my onesies. Since I was a preteen Mr. King has always been there for me in his own weird existential way. Through marriages, births, deaths, moving, depression, great highs of life and every...more I suppose firstly, I should admit that Stephen King is the man who has shared my bed the most after my husband. That got to the point where, right around "Black House" hubby made a complaint about having to share me in bed with Mr. King and I never brought a book to bed again unless I was all by my onesies. Since I was a preteen Mr. King has always been there for me in his own weird existential way. Through marriages, births, deaths, moving, depression, great highs of life and everything in between he's been right there sitting on the shelf or on my lap. The silent witness to everything I've ever experienced. Always ready and willing to offer me an escape when I needed it just like a good pal should.

The title of the book; for those of you wondering what kind of a key that is….it's one off the coast of Florida. As in the Florida Keys. Not a special key to a spooky door or something like that. It's the masterfully told story of Edgar Freemantle, one-time construction company owner turned artiste. It's also the story of Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, two very wonderful characters. Edgar and Jerome have more than just a shading of Red and Andy in them and I love that.

If you've never read a Stephen King book before start with this one, if you've read them all get this one because you'll love it even more. It's not King at his terrifying horrifying best. Not the King that keeps you up all night wondering what's going to happen and worst of all, what's that moving in the corner of the bedroom? As I said, more like the King who wrote "Shawkshank Redemption", "Green Mile" and "Stand by Me" (a/k/a "The Body" original short story title). That's not to say it doesn't have its creepy parts, most of it is pretty creepy/odd/weird but not overly so not like, say, Pennywise or Cujo. This is a really good Camp Fire Story—not that I'd know, I've never been camping, but had I at least once sat around a camp fire and heard a tale spun out for me, I imagine it would be a lot like this one…but shorter. It's like…it's like…it's like walking out a local convenience store and seeing someone you haven't seen in years sitting there smiling at you, as though they knew you were there and they were waiting for you to come out. When you do he slings an arm around your shoulders and says; hey, long time no see. How the hell are ya? I know it's been a while but look, I got something to show ya. You're gonna love it. C'mon walk with for a little bit, it's just up the road, right up there and around the corner…in the dark.

I have to say that I love him most when he tells a story that involves one of two things or both; 1- an creative person as the central character; a writer or as in Edgar's case a budding painter and 2- a child/children as main player(s). He's always good for having kids in his stories and I think he uses them masterfully because no matter how bad it gets, how scary or creepy or outright gross! That underlying air of innocence always remains it is there just as surely as the crazy clown, rabid dog, and pets raised from the dead are there. The juxtaposition is genius and he uses it better than anyone I've ever read.

Back to that first one; the writer, the artist, the creative individual. I love those characters best because I identify with them and not just because they're a writer but because he puts so much of himself and the Creative Process into the character. Only someone who truly gets way far into the Zone can know what that's like. Only they know the hunger, the absolute ravenous hunger that comes after. Only they know the bone tiredness of it that settles over you with the crash. He talks about them openly. Sort of like I do here from time to time. The Truth, my friends and neighbors, the Truth. Above everything else, no matter how hard it gets or how ugly it becomes always tell the Truth of the story or paint the Truth of the picture. You will be greatly rewarded in the end. This is a major lesson I have learned from him over the years and which was reinforced in this latest novel with such ferocity and tenderness that it often brought a tear to my eye as I read or I found myself nodding my head saying; yep, you got it, Steve, you got it. Over the years there have been many times when I swore he looked into my head, plucked something out, said; that looks interesting, and put it into a story. Then I realize I'm not unique and neither is whatever the experience was, it's probably just something we've all gone through in one way or another, something that binds us all together as human beings. Good old Common Ground. That's another he's great at finding and weaving into the tale he's telling.

There are a few things that are hard for the Reader to take in this book but then again Life is full of bitter little pills that we have to swallow, like it or not. It seems that no one is more acutely aware of this than my old buddy, my pal. With most he does a very good job of preparing the Reader beforehand…kudos, Steve especially where a certain daughter is concerned. Even though you know its coming and you don't have to experience it.—he's kind enough to spare you that and just tell you about it after it happens—it still stings, a lot. I kept hoping he was going to find a way to reverse it even though after all these years I know that's not really his style.

Hope is a dangerous thing, so sayeth Red, so sayeth we all.

Then, of course, there's the last little twist of the knife. It's only about six words long but I bawled my eyes out at the end of this story and I'm misting up now just thinking about it. Ah, the hallmark of a well told tale; the emotion lingers long after the second cover has been closed. I sat there with it, hugging it tightly for a while and thinking about all the characters I'd just met and the things I'd gone through with them.

As with most King stories there is also that last little ray of hope, that glimmer, that shimmer, in the dark that tells you no matter what happens, no matter how hard or how bad it gets it will get better, the sun will shine again eventually and we'll all be ok in the end.

I learned a new saying with this story and I kinda like it. Do the day and let the day do you. I might adopt that as my new attitude.

What more can I say except….read this book! Don't wait for the paperback. Go. Now. Get it. Read it. What are you waiting for?...less

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Alex rated it:

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-of-2008

Read in January, 2008

DUMA KEY BY STEPHEN KING: Most Stephen King fans will admit that the last couple of novels by the international bestselling author, while selling well, have been somewhat lacking coming from the renowned horror writer; one might even go so far as to use the term “mediocre,” and don’t get me started on Cell. Thankfully, with the arrival of Duma Key, the slate has been wiped clean and the master of horror is back! King’s first novel set in his alternate home of Florida weighs in at over ...more DUMA KEY BY STEPHEN KING: Most Stephen King fans will admit that the last couple of novels by the international bestselling author, while selling well, have been somewhat lacking coming from the renowned horror writer; one might even go so far as to use the term “mediocre,” and don’t get me started on Cell. Thankfully, with the arrival of Duma Key, the slate has been wiped clean and the master of horror is back! King’s first novel set in his alternate home of Florida weighs in at over six hundred pages, and while it reveals a more laid-back and matured author, with the terrifying days of The Tommyknockers and It perhaps over; Duma Key is nevertheless an incredibly well written novel with some wonderfully deep and complex characters, and a world that is just as complicated but in many more ways real.

Enter Edgar Freemantle. An entrepreneur who started a construction company and developed it into a multi-million dollar business; loving husband of two adult daughters; until he is involved in a freak on-site accident that should’ve killed him, but leaves him missing his right arm, a couple of slowly healing broken ribs, and a damaged mind that results in outbursts of anger and violence. The strain becomes too great and Freemantle’s marriage falls apart, leaving him an angry, empty shell. Seeking escape, he leases a beautiful house on the island of Duma Key. While watching the breathtaking sunsets, Freemantle decides to try his hand at some artwork, having sketched a little throughout his life. He discovers the more he works, the better he gets, soon switching to paints and canvasses; he also discovers that painting satisfies the seemingly insatiable itch in his missing right arm. Freemantle’s work is of the sunsets and the beautiful coastline, along with the occasional abstract object added in to offset it; he is eventually tagged as an American Primitive, but as more and more people discover his work, they are amazed by it and at his first gallery showing all works listed for sale are sold.

But beneath the art, there is a sinister plot at work, because this is after all a Stephen King novel. Freemantle discovers a psychic ability in his work, painting items he should know nothing about, as well as the eventual power to paint events that come to fruition: whether it be the restoring of blindness, or the forced suicide of a serial killer. And then there’s something wrong with the sold paintings: death follows them. The plot thickens, deepens, and becomes darker as the enigmatic history of Duma Key is discovered. It seems Freemantle isn’t the only person in its history to come to the island with a fragile mind and a special ability expressed through art. Then there’s the south side of the island which has become an overgrown and seemingly impenetrable jungle. The last time Freemantle and his daughter, Ilse, took a trip headed in that direction, Ilse immediately felt nauseous and horrible sick, while Freemantle felt the insatiable familiar itch that grew to an unstoppable buzzing; upon driving back north, they mysteriously found their ailments disappearing. Clearly something evil and powerful doesn’t want them getting to the south of the island.

Duma Key is not just a novel for the fans, but a cathartic response from King over his near-death accident in 1999; no doubt he relived his agonizing recovery while writing about Freemantle, and yet it is because of this firsthand experience, that Duma Key feels much more personal and empathetic. Also being King’s first foray into his new sometime Florida home, one might think his fellow Floridians a little unhappy on this introduction, or being Stephen King, they may feel the opposite and expect this. Regardless, Duma Key is a welcome return of the great horror writer, with an extra development of character and setting that King seems to have discovered in his later years, making this book one of his best, and one of my personal favorites.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Robert rated it:

03/19/08

bookshelves: cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Read in March, 2008

Stephen King, Duma Key (Scribner, 2008)

Once a decade or so, Stephen King goes through a terrible writing slump, and I inevitably find myself wondering if King is finally past it. It happened in the early eighties (Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, et al.), the early nineties (culminating in the grandly awful Insomnia), and the late nineties (in which he went from the brilliant The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the... not at all brilliant... Bag of Bones). In the midst of this last batch came the ...more Stephen King, Duma Key (Scribner, 2008)

Once a decade or so, Stephen King goes through a terrible writing slump, and I inevitably find myself wondering if King is finally past it. It happened in the early eighties (Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, et al.), the early nineties (culminating in the grandly awful Insomnia), and the late nineties (in which he went from the brilliant The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the... not at all brilliant... Bag of Bones). In the midst of this last batch came the accident, a couple of announcements of retirement, and a bunch of mediocre writing-- but then came “Blind Willie”, perhaps the best story King has written, and the final two Dark Tower novels, which heralded a possible return to form. Now, there is Duma Key, and it looks like King is back on his feet. Not that Duma Key is one of King's deathless novels like The Stand or Misery, stuff that should be pressed on visiting alien races as examples of what we do down here, but something that is solid and worth reading. In other words, it's King's best standalone novel since The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

The story centers on Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor from Minnesota who loses his arm in an accident with a crane, and soon after loses his marriage. His therapist suggests a change of venue as a possible cure, and he resettles on Duma Key, an isolated island off the Florida coast, where he discovers a previously unknown talent for art and some rather odd characters. Soon he realizes, with the help of the island's doyenne, that his art may be something more than he had at first taken it for...

One thing that King always does well, even in his bad periods, is characterization. King is one of the modern masters of drawing a character in a few broad strokes and having the reader know as much about the character as is necessary (and, frequently, a great deal more). When he's on his game, his characters are some of the best to be found in modern fiction. And while Edgar Freemantle himself is, surprisingly, a pretty stock character from the King arsenal-- you could pick him up and drop him whole into any number of King novels and he's be right at home-- it's the supporting cast who really make this book tick. Freemantle's younger daughter Ilse is fantastic, as is Elizabeth Eastlake, the senile landlady who, in her moments of clarity, gives Freemantle and his (equally wonderful) friend Wireman all the necessary clues to figure out what's going on with Freemantle's blossoming talent. They alone would make the book worthwhile. And there are times when they have to carry it-- King's depiction of Freemantle and his ex-wife's fumbling in the dark toward some sort of post-marriage understanding comes off as, at worst, horribly manipulative (and at best nothing more than a demon loosed to advance the plot)-- but when the book is on, it's on. King is also fantastic (when he's not dropping the ball, as in the relationship above) at setting things up without the reader realizing those things are being set up, and much of the book works in this vein; King, who has repeatedly stated in interviews that he starts his books without much idea of where they're going, has either changed the way he writes or has allowed his subconscious total control when writing, because the setup starts in the first few pages and never lets up; half the fun of reading any King novel is in getting through a big revelation and saying “hey, that scene back on page twenty-six...”. You know the drill.

I liked this one a bunch. It's good to see that Mr. King is back again and firing on all cylinders, even if one or two miss now and again. ****
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Jake rated it:

02/10/08

bookshelves: fantasy, favorites

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who's ever been broken.

Every single page is like a lover touching my cheek...sometimes it's a caress, and sometimes it's a slap...but every page, every word, has a profound impact upon me. I'm in the middle of the book, and I'm terrified to finish it, but I can't stop turning the pages...

...Just finished it. I heard one reviewer state that it was the best book King had ever written. While reviewers have short memories and liberal use of hyperbole, I must admit that this was one of his best he's wr...more Every single page is like a lover touching my cheek...sometimes it's a caress, and sometimes it's a slap...but every page, every word, has a profound impact upon me. I'm in the middle of the book, and I'm terrified to finish it, but I can't stop turning the pages...

...Just finished it. I heard one reviewer state that it was the best book King had ever written. While reviewers have short memories and liberal use of hyperbole, I must admit that this was one of his best he's written. While not epic like The Stand, It, or The Dark Tower, it is powerful, insightful, and terrifying. Also, the fact that the book is not epic is one of its greatest strengths. One of King's self-indulgences in the past couple of decades has been his ability to use 1000 pages to write a 500 page story. Remember that Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body were both just novellas. In Duma Key, King uses each of the 607 pages with power and efficiency.

Another of King's self-indulgences has been his treatment of Bryan Smith, the man who hit him during his walk and nearly killed him. That same man died a year later from a prescription drug overdose. I remember being especially uncomfortable of King's incorporation and depiction of the accident as a key element in one of his stories. (I HATE spoilers, so either you know what I'm talking about or you don't.) It got to the point where I really started to dislike the man, Stephen King. I mean, c'mon, let the dead rest.

But in this book, King delves into the aftermath of being broken and how being broken made him act and say things that simply were not of his character. Noticeably in this story, King only refers to the crane that causes the accident that crushes Edgar Freemantle and sets everything in motion, and he never once speaks of the driver. Later in the story as Edgar tests his newfound talents, the test results in the death of a child molester. Now, while the bastard certainly had it coming to him, Edgar is overwhelmed with a sense of power, horror, fear, and guilt. In this narrative, I believe that King is trying to work through the aftermath of his own brokenness and how it changed him, most noticeably in his treatment of Bryan Smith. And an interesting thing happened...I found that I had forgiven King's spite and nastiness during this period of pain and healing.

Finally, King puts to words so well what it is like to be broken...what it's like to not be yourself and be the monster and victim at the same time...and what it's like to look back on the wake of relationships that will never be the same again. Having gone through this myself (and I'm not out of the woods yet) I found myself weeping in sections where King's script perfectly put to words the hopelessness, frustration, and loneliness of a broken person. In this book, I found a bit of my own healing realizing that I'm not the only one to have dealt with this and coming to terms with the fact that it's not my fault.

Was this Stephen King's best book? I honestly don't have an answer. All I know is that it has had a bigger impact on me than any other work of fiction I've ever experienced....less

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Erik rated it:

02/18/08

Read in February, 2008

Not quite good enough to be entirely interesting and not quite scary enough to be... well, all that scary, Duma Key is a weird book. For its overly long first half, we get little more than the vaguely ominous story of Edgar Freemantle, a "genuine American-boy success" whose life has gone to shit. After being crushed inside a Dodge Ram, Edgar's missing his right arm and is unable to speak coherently; within months, his wife's divorced him and he's planning his suicide. Edgar's sh...more Not quite good enough to be entirely interesting and not quite scary enough to be... well, all that scary, Duma Key is a weird book. For its overly long first half, we get little more than the vaguely ominous story of Edgar Freemantle, a "genuine American-boy success" whose life has gone to shit. After being crushed inside a Dodge Ram, Edgar's missing his right arm and is unable to speak coherently; within months, his wife's divorced him and he's planning his suicide. Edgar's shrink recommends he leaves his Minnesota home to start over, and he's mysteriously drawn to Florida's Duma Key--a suspiciously quiet island where he begins painting, meets a few locals, and starts having the occasional blackout or hallucination.

Later rather than sooner, we see the bigger picture: There's some creeeeepy historical shit in Duma's past, and Edgar's two new pals--a senile old biddy named Elizabeth Eastlake and her likeable caretaker, Wireman--know more than they're telling. As Edgar's painting career inexplicably takes off (seriously, dude's paintings sound terrible), the lurking shadows grow more distinct—by the time King's milking the phrase "phantom limb" for all it's worth, we're in full-on ghost story territory. (Strangely, the pulpier Duma Key gets, the better it reads: Edgar's mopey navel-gazing is a trial, but by the time he observes, "There was a larger wet patch where the demon sailor had been only a moment before" or duels a "whirling sand-devil," the book boasts a goofy charm.)

King's at his best when he's teasing elements of the surreal into everyday life (Misery, Carrie, the first half of The Stand), or when he totally immerses us in surreal, alien worlds (The Gunslinger). With Duma Key, King does neither; more disappointingly, none of it's surprising. Duma Key's plot is reminiscent of several previous King novels; its backstory reads like a haunted The Great Gatsby (King even drops F. Scott Fitzgerald's name once or twice); and there are some Creative Writing 101 bits of foreshadowing. "This is about memory," Edgar narrates at one point, and fair enough: Duma Key follows a man attempting to build a new life, yet he's unable to escape the past. But even so: There's no need for any book, and especially for one featuring demon sailors, to feel this familiar....less

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El rated it:

02/20/08

bookshelves: 21st-centurylit

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: Belinda

Edgar Freemantle is the King persona of this novel who is broken by an accident and has to try to recreate his life as something entirely new. On his own Edgar moves to Duma Key where he discovers a new-found passion for creating art - it begins as a source of therapy only to turn into something appropriately sinister. With the help of a neighbor and a caretaker Edgar discovers the long-hidden secrets of Duma Key and at the risk of losing all those dearest to him, Edgar uses his art and his co...more Edgar Freemantle is the King persona of this novel who is broken by an accident and has to try to recreate his life as something entirely new. On his own Edgar moves to Duma Key where he discovers a new-found passion for creating art - it begins as a source of therapy only to turn into something appropriately sinister. With the help of a neighbor and a caretaker Edgar discovers the long-hidden secrets of Duma Key and at the risk of losing all those dearest to him, Edgar uses his art and his connection to the beach to solve the biggest mystery of all.

I have purposely avoided a lot of King's newer novels as each I would pick up would leave me disappointed. I always said that after he stopped doing drugs back in the day, his stories were never the same. But the man has demons which can not be denied and he has an incredible skill at using his writing as a way to battle/befriend those demons. Whether the end product is successful from a "Constant Reader's" point-of-view, I ultimately feel that the book was more of him than for any other purpose; on the same token, however, it did not convince me to run right out and pick up each book immediately - instead I would wait until the timing seemed right, and pooh on him for continuously saying he was going to retire from writing books anyhow.

I knew Duma Key was coming out, but I did not read into the story. Instead I put a hold on it at the library and picked it up the first opportunity I had. It's classic King - I would say possibly the most similar to early King than has been out in a long time. There are familiar themes that are inherently King - a broken man, a gentle tenderness towards loved ones, spookiness in average objects, etc. - but a difference in those same things. The broken man learns to live broken and is better for it, his relationship with his wife is not fluffy, etc. In many ways I think King battled his biggest demon of all through the course of writing this one, and he may just be a different person now because of it. I could be giving the man too much credit, but that's easy to do when one person can become so accessible through his writing based solely on his 100% honesty. He has not retired because he knows that he can not. There are too many stories, too many demons - he reminds the average person that there might be demons, but they are not permanent. And that, to many, is the most important thing to discover....less

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Megan rated it:

01/25/08

bookshelves: 52booksin52weeks-07-08

Read in January, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I powered through this in just under 3 days, and MAN. I was all, "one last chapter" last night, and I literally had to keep a light on when I was going to sleep because I was actually really creeped out. AWESOME. When I was describing it to one of my customers, I called it a slow burn of a ghost story, and it is in a way. Stuff builds and builds and builds and then King takes the top of the pressure cooker and the last 175 pages or so is a whirlwind of awesome. The thing is, in th...more I powered through this in just under 3 days, and MAN. I was all, "one last chapter" last night, and I literally had to keep a light on when I was going to sleep because I was actually really creeped out. AWESOME. When I was describing it to one of my customers, I called it a slow burn of a ghost story, and it is in a way. Stuff builds and builds and builds and then King takes the top of the pressure cooker and the last 175 pages or so is a whirlwind of awesome. The thing is, in those first 400+ pages, King is also doing some really excellent stuff with his characters. He's got 4 main characters or so, but a pretty large cast of people that are important to Edgar in some way, and King never short changes them. His 4 biggies though, Edgar, Wireman, Jack, and Elizabeth are all fantastic, and my love for them reminds me of how I felt reading Cell.

And a bit of space before the spoilers:

**

**

**

**

**

Here be spoilers:

* Dude, I am so excited Jack got to live. I was SO not expecting him to make it out.
* According to Bookgasm, there's something around 450 pages in that you'll either accept or you won't. It's right around the time that Tom has been taken over by Perse and is on his way to kill Pam... is that what is hard to accept? I totally buy that Edgar's paintings/sketches have a certain sort of sway, or rather, act as a conduit for Perse. I *really* liked that Mary Ire was the one to kill Ilse.
* As much as I didn't like the lead-up to Edgar walking in the house when the twins and the brother-in-law have appeared and left footprints and YEAH THIS PART WAS SO CREEPY AND AWESOME, when I turned the page and saw that scrawled "where our sister" I literally stuck my bookmark in, turned on 3 more lights, and then went back to reading. I'm not sure what it was about this one scene, because I think King has written scarier stuff, but it freaked me out and I loved it.

To sum up: It might not end up as part of the "canon" like Salem's Lot and The Shining and The Stand, but it holds up to his earlier work and it's about 8 million times better than Lisey's Story. So: A++, you go Stephen King, you go....less

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Brandy rated it:

02/18/08

bookshelves: 2008reads, family-drama, speculative-fiction

Read in February, 2008

Eleven thousand "literary" books waiting and I pick up the latest Stephen King tome. Eh, c'est la vie.

Irony alert: in this lengthy review, I accuse King of writing far more than necessary!

On balance, this is a pretty good book. I'm not sure I'd give it a full 4 stars if it weren't Stephen King--this is a 4-star book for him, definitely, but I'd probably be a little more harsh about its flaws if it were (say) an unknown, or someone whose style I didn't enjoy. As a King book, ...more Eleven thousand "literary" books waiting and I pick up the latest Stephen King tome. Eh, c'est la vie.

Irony alert: in this lengthy review, I accuse King of writing far more than necessary!

On balance, this is a pretty good book. I'm not sure I'd give it a full 4 stars if it weren't Stephen King--this is a 4-star book for him, definitely, but I'd probably be a little more harsh about its flaws if it were (say) an unknown, or someone whose style I didn't enjoy. As a King book, this suffers his usual flaws (overwriting) but still has his usual flairs (character- and scene-building).

The overwriting is the biggest problem I have: if all the extraneous sentences were taken out, all the little details that never come back to mean anything (in many cases I can see the parallels he was drawing but he never bothered explore them, really), we could probably trim this book a good 150 pages. But even with all that extra writing, none of it feels like clutter. For someone so verbose, he writes reasonably tightly--all the extra narrative sets up characters and scenes, really pulls readers into the world he's created. The words don't feel wasted.

Because this is Stephen King, and it does eventually turn into a ghost story (more or less), I'm flagging this as speculative fiction--but he could have easily chopped out the whole ghost portion, the memories of the past and supernaturally-guided painting, and turned this into a 350-page family drama. (I was more interested in that part, anyway.)

Lastly, King has been in pretty good form lately. Lisey's Story was still better than this, but this is on par with Bag of Bones. Arguably, it's a very similar book--a man escapes to a deserted beach area to come to terms with the sudden life changes (death of a spouse/accident + divorce), is haunted by ghosts and the weight of local history, and has to come to terms with what that history means to him. King isn't blazing any new ground here, but he's still doing better work than I'd have ever expected in the Rose Madder days. Thank god those days are behind him, and let's hope they stay that way....less

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Joe rated it:

04/22/08

bookshelves: stephen-king, top-20

Read in February, 2008

This has become my personal favorite.
Many of King's fans have been upset with some of his later work because of the lack of true terror. Others were pleased because there was a bit more variety or literary quality. Me, I feel that I can't say his books ever got better or worse.

Stephen King writes so many different kinds of stories that everyone is going to be happy with some and disappointed with others. For me this has had very little to do with when he wrote them. It was all about ...more This has become my personal favorite.
Many of King's fans have been upset with some of his later work because of the lack of true terror. Others were pleased because there was a bit more variety or literary quality. Me, I feel that I can't say his books ever got better or worse.

Stephen King writes so many different kinds of stories that everyone is going to be happy with some and disappointed with others. For me this has had very little to do with when he wrote them. It was all about how he gained more and more fans over the years. What makes Duma Key one of those few that works for almost all of King's fans is that it had more of a balance instead of focussing on one end of the spectrum. And he was also able to keep both sides of the coin well polished in this one. The characters, plot, terror, themes, haunting scenes, etc. all had a unique, slightly different twist to them.

Duma Key could seem slow at times. Some people could complain about how slow the first half of the story is. However, it is not constant. There are many places where the pace picks up for a little bit to keep the reader interested.

The other complaint that I have heard is that it gets too weird at the end. Yes, I usually don't like King's weirder stories as much as the others, but in Duma Key the bizarre is never allowed to go too far. It had to go somewhere because of how the whole story was slowly building up to it. So give me a way King could have ended it without bringing a little more paranormal into the equation, and you will probably give me an entirely new book.

In the end, I found it to be amazing because of the characters. I've heard many say that they're more developed. I felt that the difference was in how well the reader got to know the protagonist. Most of King's characters are very complex or well developed, but it's when the reader truly gets to know the character that it stands out. For me, the one thing that puts it as my all time favorite is how personally I felt connected and similar to the characters and how closely I could compare the story to my life. This is not something that I can say everyone, or anyone, else will see, but that is when literature will be most significant.

...less

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Evil_Dead_Junkie rated it:

02/10/08

bookshelves: horror

And Stephen King's late period roll continues. Fan's know that after his accident, King's books where well not at their best Dreamcatcher, A Buick 8, and side projects like Kindom Hospital seemed muddled and confused, but I think finishing The Dark Tower series cleared out some cobwebs for him and since then he's been playing ball, I know I'm in the minority but I thought Cell was a great bit of old school, Salem's Lot style, bit of no holds bar horror, and Lisey's Story is quite possibly his be...more And Stephen King's late period roll continues. Fan's know that after his accident, King's books where well not at their best Dreamcatcher, A Buick 8, and side projects like Kindom Hospital seemed muddled and confused, but I think finishing The Dark Tower series cleared out some cobwebs for him and since then he's been playing ball, I know I'm in the minority but I thought Cell was a great bit of old school, Salem's Lot style, bit of no holds bar horror, and Lisey's Story is quite possibly his best and certainly his most tender and mature work, Duma Key stands up well with both of them.

Creepy as hell, dark, poignant, and perhaps the saddest book King has ever wrote it's as good as anything he's ever done. It's the first book in a long long time that actually deprived me of a good night's sleep when a passage made me very aware of just how close my bed was to my staircase. I'm sure most people will say this particular visitation is just a rehash of a very famous bit of The Shining (and to be fair King has never been one to use a good gag once when he can take it out for a drive three or four times) but it struck a cord, a big one.

There is one touch that I thought was interesting, one of King's tricks has always been to fill his books with malapropisms, miss placed words, and mangled spellings, so it's interesting and a bit stupefying that he didn't use it before, that he here his main character can't help but speak and think that way. It makes for a good device as well as a creepy barometer in some scenes when the language starts to go you know the rest of the sane world can't be far behind.

King is always going to have a special place in my heart, he was after all my first "favorite" author, the one who taught me to love and seek out an author's voice (and what a great voice it is funny, smart assed, and ferocious I've always thought it'd sound like James Cagney if it could talk). Ever since I snuck into the adult section of the library on a fourth grade field trip and grabbed The Dead Zone, I've been a loyal fan, and the fact that he can produce something like this so late in his career has made that fandom a very rewarding thing indeed. I can't wait to see what he does next. ...less

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Kealan rated it:

02/19/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: Stephen King fans

In many circles, Stephen King's last novel LISEY'S STORY is considered his masterpiece. I couldn't get past the 50 page mark, the gauge by which I judge the readability of a book. This is not to say that it isn't a classic. We've all put down books with a snort of disgust only to try again sometime later and realize them for the great works that they are (or, in some cases, are not.)

Before LISEY'S STORY came CELL, and while I found it entertaining and worth reading, I didn't consider it a g...more

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JG rated it:

07/13/08

bookshelves: fiction, horror

Read in July, 2008

Edgar Freemantle is a building contractor in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Then he is involved in a terrible workplace accident that leaves him with a brain injury and an amputated right arm. His therapist suggests that Edgar should get away from everything and get a fresh start. He tells Edgar to do something that makes him happy because he "[needs] hedges against the night." Edgar moves to Duma Key on the Gulf coast of Florida and takes up sketching. His only neighbors are an ol...more Edgar Freemantle is a building contractor in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Then he is involved in a terrible workplace accident that leaves him with a brain injury and an amputated right arm. His therapist suggests that Edgar should get away from everything and get a fresh start. He tells Edgar to do something that makes him happy because he "[needs] hedges against the night." Edgar moves to Duma Key on the Gulf coast of Florida and takes up sketching. His only neighbors are an old lady and an eccentric ex-lawyer. Edgar takes up sketching and with amazing rapidity becomes a painter. The therapy is good for him, but strange things are happening on Duma Key. Do Edgar's paintings hold a clue to Duma Key's past and present?

Really, this was 3 and a half stars. I tore through it, just like I tear through every Stephen King book I read. I liked the characters, especially Wireman, but it felt weird to read a Stephen King novel set in Florida. I'm no expert, but it seems like--if they're set in this world at all--his novels are always in Maine, or at least New England. Also, I sort of felt like this had been done before. The plot wasn't the same, but the same sorts of ideas show up in Charles de Lint's Memory and Dream (which I prefer to this one, by the way).

I really hate to write this, but I'll be glad when Stephen King gets his accident written out of his system. I know, I know! That's easy for me to say. That's a life-changing, maybe even a life-shattering, event and I'm pretty much wishing that the guy would just "Get over it, already!" I feel heartless. But there it is. I do wish it would stop showing up in his books.

As for the scare factor--eh. I spooked myself pretty good a few times, but that was more because I stopped reading at a bad place than because it was truly scary. Stephen King's short stories scare me half to death, I think because he doesn't allow himself the luxury of explaining things. My imagination takes hold and I scare myself. In this novel, he explained everything and I never worked up a good scare. ...less

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Gordon added it

02/16/08

Read in February, 2008

Stephen King's output over the recent years has been a bit uneven. "Cell" was not great. "Lisey's Story was very good but got caught up in King's fallback psycho-spirituality, and "Blaze" was fun because it was an old Bachman book exhumed. However, "Duma Key" is a fantastic book and a return to form for King.

Centered around the life of Edgar Freemantle, "DK" explores what happens when a middle aged man loses his arm, his marriage, and so much ...more

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Belinda rated it:

03/18/08

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Belinda by: El

I would like to write a longer review later as I just finished the book but overall--I loved it--I am an admitted Stephen King Whore but this was really amazing for me.
As an artist (albeit a really bad amateur one) I felt really connected to the power of art as described in the book and the fearful power of creativity. As a human, I was incredibly moved by the human suffering and love depicted in it--I am not usually horrified by Stephen King's books in the typical "horror" way, b...more

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Howard rated it:

04/14/08

bookshelves: never-finished-comma-sucked

Awful. Cloyingly sentimental, forcedly folksy, sloppily written. At first I was hoping that he was doing this on purpose, using the unrealistic dialogue and the instant bonding of the characters to turn it around on us, make us look back and see it as creepy eventually, but it's just bad writing. The characters don't act like people, they act like characters in a Stephen King novel. When they develop psychic powers, nobody even blinks, and everybody immediately understands how they work...becaus...more

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Josh rated it:

03/24/08

bookshelves: in-new-york

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: people who think Stephen King is losing his touch, but would prefer to be wrong

This is my favorite King book since Bag of Bones, which was itself my favorite since Desperation, which makes a certain amount of sense since Duma Key reads a bit like a combination of those two books. There's an isolated mansion, strange happenings, an ancient evil, yada yada yada - well, and some quite good characters, too. But one of the book's greatest strengths may be its first person narrator, Edgar Freemantle, a "genuine American-boy success story" who had built a construction b...more

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Salma rated it:

02/02/08

bookshelves: stephen-king

Read in February, 2008

So I finished this today. (Feb 2). Wow. This reads like some sprawling, wrenching Greek tragedy. Just when you think nothing can get worse for the narrator...it does. The tale is of an ex-tycoon named Edgar who's been damaged, wrecked both emotionally and physically in an accident. Marriage breaks and he sets off for Duma Key in Florida. Spending time there recovering, making friends with Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, who've got disturbing secrets/stories of their own, Edgar discovers a...more

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Imogen rated it:

04/29/08

Read in April, 2008

More literal magical negros than we usually mean when we use that phrase (although this one shows teaches white people things too), more classic-rock-oriented tragic heroes than you see in Sophocles, and arche/stereotypes so predictable and effective that you're totally sucked in even as you're laughing at the dialogue and the plot twists: you know when you are reading Stephen King.

I'm glad I started reading him when I was little and I liked everything, instead of now that I am old and I ha...more

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