Customer Reviews

Liseys Story

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4 star:		(79)
3 star:		(86)
2 star:		(69)
1 star:		(120)

 

 

I'm a big King fan, and -- unless I'm dead broke or just plain dead -- will always read his new novels as soon as they come out, but all in all, I'd have to say "Lisey's Story" is not one of my favorites. It's not bad, exactly; there are way too many beautifully written passages to even consider calling the book bad.

However, I think that the book was badly in need of some editorial intervention at some point. I'm not referring to the book's length (though it IS too long, probably by about 300 pages), but rather to (1) an incredibly excessive use of silly language and (2) too many different threads of plot that don't manage to fully connect.

In terms of the silly language . . . well, "silly" is patently the wrong word for me to use. Here's the deal. The two main characters, one of whom exists only in recollection by the other, are a (formerly) married couple who have a sort of private language consisting of certain phrases ("Strap On Whenever It Seems Appropriate," for example) and words (replacing "afghan," meaning the sawhl. with "african," and so on). This is nothing revolutionary; it's the same thing as an inside joke, and everyone I know, in each significant relationship, has a few of tthose that get tossed around until they do in fact become a sort of private language. But here's the problem with that in a novel: it kept me at a distance the entire time. I think it was designed to bring me into the interior lives of these two people, but it had the exact opposite effect on me, and at a certain point in time I began to get actively annoyed every time this sort of thing appeared. And it's used A LOT. Less so toward the end of the novel, but it's incessant in the first 200 pages.

My second major problem is that there's just too much going on, and some of it I can't quite manage to care about.

One plot is about Lisey taking care of her mentally ill sister Amanda, and this storyline, while well told, just doesn't come together. Amanda's story has no resolution; she's only there so that she can back Lisey up in another element of the story, which she fails to do with any weight -- so, in a sense, she's a pointless character.

Another plot deals with Lisey's attempts to clean out her husband's many papers, which leads to an increasingly dangerous series of encounters with a stalker who could have walked straight out of King's "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (King even acknowledges this, in a way I'm sure will be lost on all but the most ardent King fans). This part of the plot allows Lisey to be an active character (in other words, it serves to actually give her something to do), but I don't buy it for a second. It seems incredibly forced, and not at all relevant.

The third major plot element involves Lisey remembering -- through clues Scott left her before his death -- certain things about her husband's life (and their life together) that she has sort of been repressing. This element of the novel works almost entirely, and if the rest had been jettisoned, it would rank as one of King's finest achievements. This part of the story is a beautifully told love story with additional touches of divine fantasy and brutal horror, and it's pretty much sublime. The problem is, it's told haltingly, with many interruptions from the other parts of the plot. It's a shame, because the svelte form of a classic dark fantasy have been rendered into corpulence by material that ought to have been exluded.

Ultimately, it's a novel that's well worth reading (it's about one-third brilliant), but I personally can only classify it as a big-time missed opportunity. Still, mediocre King is better than most writers when they're on top of their game.

Lisey Landon, widow of best-selling horror author Scott Landon, is finally getting around to cleaning out her late husband's possessions. While going through his writings and memorabilia, she is assailed with a flood of memories of her love for, and life with, her tortured genius husband. At the same time, Lisey's sister has a mental breakdown and a crazed madman threatens Lisey's life if she doesn't turn all of Scott's memorabilia over to him.

King is back in top form as a horror writer. This story is about as horrific, creepy, and gruesome as they come. Scott had a nasty childhood and a special power he called upon when things got tough. However, mixed in with the horror is a reflection on the wellspring of creation that a writer draws upon and a story of a strong love that outlasts even death. The title notwithstanding, this is really Scott's story rather than Lisey's. It reminded me a bit of the book "Rebecca," because it's Scott's strong presence that prevails throughout the book rather than Lisey's, and it's often Scott's words that issue from Lisey's lips.

Although King has deftly woven together a story that balances both horror and love and includes some heart-pounding scenes, I had to knock a star off the rating because of King's continual use of invented words and pretentious phrases that were part of the Landon family language. For the first quarter of the book, I found the constant presence of such coined words as "blood-bool," SOWISA," "Boo'ya Moon," and "long boy" so confusing that I wished I had a secret decoder ring to turn them into more intelligible phrases. And Lisey's constant quoting of family phrases such as "puffickly huh-yooge" and "keep your string a-drawing" became irritating after a while. In spite of this flaw, "Lisey's Story" is a riveting book that the author has obviously poured his heart and soul into. Stephen King fans won't want to miss this journey into the darkness and back!

Eileen Rieback

At first blush, LISEY'S STORY is not your daddy's Stephen King. To be sure, there are initial hints of things that go bump, but it's not like THE SHINING, SALEM'S LOT, or even CELL. If, as King has said, MISERY was his love letter to fans, LISEY'S STORY is a love letter to his wife, written from the perspective of his death. This is not an easy concept to get your head around at first. But if you're willing to invest time and attention to what King seems to consider his penultimate work, then at the very least you will encounter a beautifully told tale that is worth your time, energy and money.

There was a point very early on when it looked to me as if LISEY'S STORY was going to be King's major attempt at non-genre fiction, and I almost stopped reading. There are two protagonists herein: Lisey Debusher Landon and her husband of a quarter-century, Scott. In the "now" of LISEY'S STORY, Scott, an award-winning author, has been deceased for two years, and Lisey has multiple balls in the air: her relationship with each of her somewhat batty sisters, pressure from a pushy academic type to gain access to Scott's trove of papers, and her own grief. As I started to set aside this weighty tome, I thought, "More John Irving than John Saul, aha!" There's nothing wrong with books of domestic matters, of course; they're just not my cup of tea.

But I didn't give up, and as the novel progressed, I discovered that there is much more to LISEY'S STORY than domestic drama. A great deal of this tale consists of flashbacks concerning the long course of the Landons' courtship and marriage, and we ultimately come to know Scott, who is much more than a wonderful husband and wordsmith. Scott has secrets, not the least important of which is his ability to "heal quick," his "books" and his love for Lisey. Maybe the latter isn't much of a secret at all, because Scott --- even before his untimely death --- saw things coming for Lisey and set about providing for her.

What did he see coming? Well, it's not a clown under a bridge or a pyrokinetic teenager or even a nasty disease transmitted over a cell phone. No, it's something much worse: a living, breathing nightmare made of flesh that is out there right now, a walking waste of skin looking for a victim even as I type. And it is after Lisey. But Lisey has help, and not just from her deceased husband. She will have to go to some immeasurable lengths in order to obtain it.

LISEY'S STORY is perhaps allegorical in some ways and deeply personal in others. Scott bears no small resemblance to King's template, and there are no doubt some other real-world comparisons to be made between this fine work's characters and people in King's life. I will leave the deep analysis of this to others more informed than myself on such matters. As for LISEY'S STORY, I am glad I kept reading. What higher praise is there than that? While it is not my favorite King novel --- that remains MISERY, for personal reasons --- it is probably his best written.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Like many fans, I hustled to the local bookstore and shelled out my $25 the first day "Lisey's Story" became available. Even though I was absolutely horrified by several recent King installments, I figured (with DT out of his system, and a half-decent effort to get back to his roots with "Cell") that the idiotic jacket copy was selling the book short. No such luck.

After rushing home to crack the book open, I found myself slightly disturbed by the language (with made-up, grimace-inducing words such as "bool" and "Booya Moon" not adding anything to the plot) and actually fell dead asleep on page 30. The next night, it got worse. Annoyed--and dead asleep--at page 33! Wow. Nothing's changed 200 more pages into it. It's horrible, and only my great love and respect for the man that wrote "'Salem's Lot" compels me to try and finish it. But it ain't going down easy.

King's latest work is totally boring, extremely self-referential (yes, the ghostly protagonist is a famous author from Maine), and now just plain silly. Maybe you will enjoy the book, but I think that any serious King fan would agree that his post-accident work is nothing but gruel, which King seems increasingly content to spoon-feed loyal fans such as myself.

I may not event finish this book. Amazing, considering I have read every single one, and many of them more than 5 times each... I am very sorry to even be writing trhis review, but I am simply heartbroken that it's finally over!

Well, it's been a long time coming, but with Lisey's Story, Stephen King has finally hit peak pretension.

Lisey's Story is the tale of a widow who was married to a super brilliant, funny, spectacular writer husband, who everyone loved because how could you not love someone who is perfect and clearly not a Mary Sue? The book makes sure to tell us frequently that the wife is somewhat stupid, and plain and didn't deserve him at all, but she was lucky to have known him, etc.

Worst of all, nearly every other word is some invented cutsey phrase (the kind King likes in all of his books, but at least used sparingly before this). He tries to justify it by saying that it's the secret language of their marriage and you just wouldn't understand, but it makes husband and wife seem like full blown retards. They use words like "smuck" in place of the curse word with which it rhymes, refer to insanity as "the bad gunky," go to an alternate dimension they call, for no reason, Boo'ya Moon, their catch phrase is "Strap it on whenever it seems appropriate," and they are both just delightful and clever and lovable. All of these phrases, of course, are invented by the brilliant husband, which is why you find them so charming.

The husband, endearing and adorable, says that he caught these brilliant phrases from the magical sea of words! and each time you mention the sea of words, you must add "Where we all go down to drink and fish." No, seriously, you MUST add that last part each time you mention the language lake (which happens about four times each chapter and never without the "Where we all go down to drink and fish" bit, because it's too brilliant to be used only once).
I recently checked out the audio cassette from the library, and it's truly embarrassing to hear a woman (Mare Winningham, if you're curious) attempt to say all this trite juvenelia as though it's NOT idiotic. But, hey, you do what you have to do to make money, right? And at this point, Stephen King could defecate on his agent's desk and they'd try to find a way to publish it, and by God, it would sell.

Basically, Stephen King's writing career has been a long and introspective journey, in the sense that it's been a journey so deep up into his own bowels that he probably couldn't find his way out now even if he had a detailed map.

This is part of a longer review I did for Compulsive Reader. I loved the book so well, I wanted to share some of that with you here. The pictures of the cover of the book don't do it justice. You should pick up one for yourself and see what they've done.

Lisey (pronounced Lee-See) and Scott are a young couple in love and become a couple married for a good number of years. Scott is an author who comes from a violent childhood. To me, this story is just about as much his as it is Lisey's. We travel back and forth in time, where King explains to us what's happened in the past that makes the present make sense.

Scott has met with an unfortunate death and leaves behind a few things for Lisey to find. These things will help her more than you think. Once Scott has left this life, Lisey is contacted by people who want to go over Scott's unpublished work. One of these people, a man by the name of Jimmy Dooley (and several other names), contacts Lisey and threatens her. His threats are not just so much hot air, as Lisey finds out, and finds out the hard way. He's a violent man, one who will kill her if he can, who will use any excuse to do it. Or perhaps he doesn't need an excuse. He wants to torture her first, though. Let me tell you, this is one bad man to run into!

Lisey's sister, Amanda, has had a troubled life herself and is known to cut herself. Lisey and her other sisters aren't sure what to do for her, other than commit her. Amanda has her part to play in the events unfolding, though. If she's locked up, she will have a difficult time helping Lisey, though. So what is Lisey to do?

For those of you who have read any of King's work, you'll understand when I say he has a way with a turn of phrase that sings. For instance: "She opened her arms to Jim Dooley and caught him like a fever." So many have gone on about how he writes as if he's sitting right there with you. I'm not so sure it's that, but rather he has the vocabulary that reaches inside of us and makes us remember we're alive. His work stands up to rereading wonderfully as many can tell you, and each plot is memorable. If you say Dreamcatcher, I can tell you what happened. If you say Insomnia or It or Gunslinger, I can do the same. Some prolific authors lose that distinction in their quantity. Not King.

I also want to thank Scribner for making advance copies available. It used to be that there was no hope of getting ahold of one in order to write an early review. This time they've distributed more of them for a King book than they ever have, and it's with joy that I can tell you that I'll be right in line buying the hardcover for this title along with the rest of you. I collect all of King's work in hardcover, because it holds up to time. I know I'll be reading it again. And again.

LISEY'S STORY sneaks up behind you on quiet little feet, then walks beside you as you become aware of the journey you're taking. Then....wow! Suddenly you're looking at a roller coaster ride of emotions and actions and glad for the thrill of it. The evil are truly evil. Scott and Lisey, they teach us many things about love and survival. Especially love. Especially survival. You won't forget their story soon.

Please bear with me for one moment: From age 13 to 35, I have read Stephen King's work with a mixture of admiration and frustration. Everyone who reads King has a few favorites and a few "not-as-goods," but his books usually give some measure of satisfaction or entertainment. The frustration, for me, kicked in sometime around "Desperation", or maybe "Insomnia", when his books stopped being SCARY or COOL or UNIQUE and they just vaulted into WEIRD and KIND OF DUMB. As I read through "Everything's Eventual" and the tail end of the Dark Tower series, I thought that King was off his game but was still bringing something to the table every now and then...at least, something that made buying his books worth my time. I thought this book would be interesting. It sounds like a romance, or maybe a glimpse of a love letter to King's wife, Tabitha, in which we see a different side of him and how he views mortality. When I read the book jacket I felt even more strongly that the book would explore King's notion of love. After starting "Lisey's Story", however, I can say that this is the first Stephen King book (and I have read everything he has ever written)that I put in my car, forgot I owned it, and neglected to finish. The story features a woman named Lisey whose husband Scott, a writer, has passed away. She is dealing with the stress of his death as well as the fragile mental state of her sister, a person who cuts herself and lapses into strange mental states periodically. The book also features sections that depict a meditative dream state in which Lisey lucidly remembers traumatic events from her marriage in which Scott got hurt or harmed himself. These events are marked by odd events in which Scott heals unnaturally quickly, or says secret words that no one understands. At this point I must stop, because I quit reading. However, Lisey is boring, boring, boring. her inner voice is boring. She repeats family phrases to herself and says the work "smucking" (instead of a popular epithet) too often. She did not strike me as a mourning wife but rather a shallow character, even sort of plain and slow-witted. Her husband Scott is also boring. He is not interestingly weird, he's just weird. The made up language they use, which King invented, is juvenile and maddening to read. After reading "bool" and "blood-bool" five thousand times, I laughed at how banal and boring...and just how odd the story was. I was trying to like it, really trying. But, I wasn't engaged in the story, I didn't care about the people, I didn't like Scott, I didn't like Lisey, I didn't care about her welfare. I hated the language they spoke and I hated the plot. And finally, I just decided to quit. For as long as he is alive, I will buy this man's books and I'm cool with that. But this book sucked. Avoid.

Two attempts and I made it to page 59. I wouldn't have made it that far but for King's name on the cover. I've always found something to like in everything he's written. I've enjoyed the sparse use of made-up language in his other books, but this is too much.

It demeans Lisey. It comes off as childish and affected. The reviews attempt to justify it as showing the deep, loving bond between Lisey and Scott. Well, so does a healthy sex life, but that doesn't mean we need to see it on every page.

There may be a hell of a story buried in this book, but this is one Constant Reader who's taking a pass this time.

Three cheers for those who go out on top...unfortunately that was two or three novels ago for Stephen King.

The novel is an homage to King's wife; the story follows the widow of a famous writer. This could have been a fun play on Stephen King's real life, but unfortunately fills the formula that King has frequently used of late - the first three quarters of the book is a generic pop novel that could end up being horror, crime drama, courtroom drama or anything else. Only towards the end does King show us that this is in fact a horror novel - and by that time I had become disengaged with the story.

Over the years King has successfully employed several different writing styles: one novel written entirely as the inner thoughts of the protagonist, another purely character dialog. In this novel, his twist is to give the main character unique expressions and vocabulary. For example, in place of the f-word Lisey will say 'smuck,' as a war cry between Lisey and her husband they will speak of 'strapping it on.' If used appropriately, he could have made this work. The problem is that the expressions are used way too much. 'Smuck' is used in virtually every paragraph; I ended up wishing Lisey would either just say the f-word or leave it alone entirely.

Perhaps I've been spoiled by King's earlier novels with their early and sustained suspense (a la Cujo.) Of Lisey's Story's 500 pages, only about 100 were suspenseful, and the book could easily have been cut down to 300 pages. In summary, if Stephen King hadn't written this book my guess is that you, like myself, wouldn't be the least bit interested in reading it.

2006 has been a great year for masters of the supernatural horror genre, but until now the master of them all hasn't put in a worthwhile appearance. Well that's all changed and how!
After a mildly disappointing recent effort by his own standards with this years earlier novel "The Cell" King was being overshadowed by the likes of Scott Smith, James Herbert and Cormac McCarthy. But now he's back to show everyone who exactly who does it best. Lisey's Story has a great many of the attributes a true fan of SK would associate with his work. There's the character Scott Landon who just happens to be an author for starters!
Anyway the story follows Lisey who was the great love of Scott Landon's life before his passing two years before the book begins. Well with Scott six feet under and Lisey all alone and mourning, along comes one of King's truly evil characters in the shape of Jimmy Dooley. Anxious to get his hands on Scott's unpublished works, this man will stop at nothing. King has brought wonderful dialogue, tension, suspense and all of the trademarks from his best work to the table in Lisey's Story. Essentially a fairly uncomplex storyline, the book's strength lies as always in the immense investment the author puts into his characters. Lisey's sister Amanda talking to her in the voice of her dead husband is a delightful intricacy for example. Every single one of the characters (no matter how minor they may seem at first) is multi-layered. Every line of dialogue is carefully fashioned, and every narrative paints a picture the reader can't fail to visualise in their minds eye. There have been many of Stephen King's books of late that have been referred to as a return to form. Personally I don't think he ever really lost it. If every book is a return to form then surely the form was never lost in the first place? The competition might be getting stronger, but no one is quite ready to knock the master from his rightful place atop the mountain of horror and suspense. At 528 pages there is enough here to keep a reader occupied and enthralled for a fair few hours, days or weeks depending on whether you want to rush it or savour it. One thing's for sure though. No matter how long it takes to read, it's worth every penny.