From the Bookshelf of Crazy Challenge Connection…

Elevation

Stephen King

Start date: November 2, 2018

Finish date: November 2, 2018

Why we're reading this: [Elevation] by Stephen King (Novella)
4.5★

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been stead…more
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[Elevation] by Stephen King (Novella)
4.5★

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.

In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

The book description is almost longer than the book itself:) it's not a bad story...good... but not great. In 147 pages it doesn't really have the time to have been either one. There's going to be a host of readers that are going to slam and down-rate the book for not being longer...stating on the front cover that it's a novel when in actuality it's a novella...or treading very close on the heels of another of Stephen Kings books... [Thinner]. Overall, in spite of the length, it was a good story. I liked the main character of Scott Carey and his attitude to a situation that would have certainly made most people at least paranoid if not down right out of their minds crazy. Read it if you aren't looking for something on the order of [Salem's Lot] or [It]... you will enjoy it. After all the "King" of Horror" wrote it.

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What Members Thought

Apr 07, 2019 Ashleigh rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: uno-2019, horror

Not sure in the point of this book. I'm not even really sure what happened.

So basically, a man called Scott Carey discovers that he is losing weight at a rapid speed, despite physically looking the same, and he weighs the same with his clothes on and off. Confused? I was when I read the synopsis. He has no idea what is causing this, and has no idea how to stop it. But that's not the only drama in his life. Scott is also on bad speaking terms with his neighbours, who happen to be married lesbians ...more

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Nov 25, 2018 Daniel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: november-tbr

Just lovely. I think SK is at his best when he leaves the supernatural in the background and focuses on relationships between people, exploring the horror of every day life instead. This novella is short but it packs the emotional punch that many full-length novels lack. I found the ending beautiful and near perfect. Highly recommend.

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Dec 16, 2020 Chelsey rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star-books, read-in-2020, underwhelming

2.5 stars

I am currently trying to read through Stephen King’s entire bibliography. I picked this one up simply because it was short and I thought the premise was really interesting. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a let down, forgettable, and underwhelming.

First things first, as many others have mentioned, this book is in no way a horror novel. This is more of a magical realism contemporary novella. I don’t think knowing the correct genre would have helped me enjoy the book more; it was 2.5 stars

I am currently trying to read through Stephen King’s entire bibliography. I picked this one up simply because it was short and I thought the premise was really interesting. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a let down, forgettable, and underwhelming.

First things first, as many others have mentioned, this book is in no way a horror novel. This is more of a magical realism contemporary novella. I don’t think knowing the correct genre would have helped me enjoy the book more; it was a let down either way. But just a word of caution to anyone who picks this up expecting a horror. Don’t’ let the goodreads horror winner award fool you.

The plot of this novel is pretty non-existent. What you read in the synopsis is basically all the plot in the book. A few small events happen throughout, but there is never a big twist or change of pace. I was also frustrated with the way the weightless illness played out. Magical realism can sometimes be a miss with me because it is too vague and no good explanation for the magic is ever given. That’s exactly what happened here. We are left with no answers, and no compelling plot to make up for that.

The characters were just okay and I think that’s the biggest reason this book didn’t work for me. This book hinges on you loving the characters and rooting for their various friendships. However, the lesbian characters came off a bit too stereotypical for my taste, the doctor was bland, and the main character really didn’t have much personality either. I was just interested enough to keep reading to see how things would play out, but I never felt connected to these characters because they were so undefined and sterile. If you can’t connect with these characters, there is going to be no connection to the plot.

One thing that did irk me was the white male saviorism trope in this book. The middle aged white man saves the day because he *gasp* is nice to the lesbian couple and sticks up for them. It just came off tacky and didn’t sit well with me.

After I finished reading, I felt like maybe I was missing something. Maybe I had missed the point of the novel or the underlying subtle messages. But, after reading through other reviews it seems the book just is that simple. This novella is basically King saying give people of other sexual orientations a chance and don’t be a bully. That’s it. While that can be a great message, it was so simply done here that ii had no power. I would just expect way more from a great author like King. Gosh, even the scene in IT where the gay couple was murdered had more of a message than this book.

This book was a bummer because I know King can write a good novel with a great plot and interesting characters, this just didn’t live up to my standards for him.

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Mar 02, 2019 Karissa Talks Books rated it really liked it

This book started at a 3 star read and bumped itself up to a 4 star at the end - I really enjoyed it! At first I got major "Thinner" vibes due to the weight "loss", but it definitely became something else.

I think that the biggest reason so many people didn't like this is because it's NOT a horror novel in the slightest!! And yet I grabbed it to read because it won the 2018 GoodReads award for best Horror. If you go into this assuming you're going to get a typical Stephen King novel with horrify ...more

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Dec 05, 2019 Carissa Brown rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, cover-lover

Stephen King is my favorite author but sometimes I just don't get into this book. King is great at short stories and this one could have been shorter and in one of his short story books as a filler and it would have been better.

Scott Carey is steadily losing weight, but he isn't getting any smaller. He is also fighting with his neighbors, who are new to town lesbian, vegetarians. They also have dogs that crap on his lawn.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 12, 2020 Suraj rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The book is written by Stephen King, so you know that the story will be gripping, thrilling and exhilarating. Elevation is a very short book (compared to other books by King), but it packs quite the punch. I loved it. Being an audio-book, this book was made even more special, as it was read by the author himself - which makes it more endearing to me. All in all a great book.

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