Book Review: Elevation by Stephen King
The cover of this recent book by Stephen King says: Elevation: A Novel. In fact, though, it’s not a novel; it’s a novella, and a short one at that. We are all accustomed to King’s books being thousand-plus page brick-heavy tomes, so this small, slim volume might be quite a surprise to those familiar with his work. Don’t let that put you off, though. One of the things I like about this book is that it is not such a formidable read. It is told in succinct and simple prose that is nonetheless effective for the story it tells.
In fact, one of the things that puts me off from reading more of King’s work is its length. You have to commit to a significant amount of time and effort to tackle most of his novels. That’s not to say that the effort is not rewarded. I greatly enjoyed his time travel epic 11/22/63, about a man who attempts to thwart the assassination of JFK, even though the hardcover version I read was well over one thousand pages. Elevation, on the other hand, you can easily read in one sitting if you are so inclined.
Besides length, the other thing that causes me to hesitate before opening a King novel is the genre he usually writes in. His name is associated with horror, and for good reason. Horror, however, is simply not my thing. It generally frightens me in a bad way and not a good way. The good news, for me at least, is that Elevation is not a horror story. It has a fantasy element at the heart of the plot, but it is not dark fantasy; instead, King assiduously avoids taking it in that direction.
In short – and I’ll keep the synopsis brief because I don’t want to give too much away – a middle-aged man discovers he is losing weight while at the same time retaining his heavyset bodily appearance. It is an anomaly that his friend, an elderly doctor, is unable to explain. At the same time, he becomes involved in the lives of his neighbors, a lesbian couple, who have just opened a restaurant in a small conservative town in Maine. As his malady progresses, so does local ostracism of his neighbors. Using his signature straightforward writing style, King builds this situation up to an exceedingly satisfying conclusion.
Until now, my favorite book by Stephen King has been his memoir On Writing, in which he tells an abbreviated story of his life and offers this immortal advice to aspiring writers: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” It is possible, though, that Elevation might supplant On Writing as my favorite King book. In fact, I wish that Stephen King would write more sweet, inspiring stories like this. I think that it might have been published separately instead of in one of King’s short story collections because it is so different from the rest of King’s work. It demonstrates, though, the range of King’s talent, and I hope that in the future he ventures into this unfamiliar territory again.
