We are accostomed to seeing Stephen King make his protagonists authors.  From Ben Mears in ‘Salem’s Lot to Jack Torrence in The Shining, from Paul Sheldon in Misery to Thad Beaumont in The Dark Half, it’s been an often used profession for the lead characters in the King Universe. With Lisey’s Story, we see King exploring slightly new ground and attempting to delve into a bit more of a straight literary ground rather than the slash and gash of his typical horror fare.

Lisa “Lisey” Landon is two years widowed, her famous author husband having passed away from the flu during one of his many (if not continuous) speaking engagements. She has been hounded by literature professors for exclusive access to her husband’s unpublished work, personal correspondance, notebooks and everything else. She (and, we learn, her husband when he was alive) derisively refer to these people as the Incunks, people who are literature sluts, who get off more on the disection (or vivisection) of what they read than from the material itself. Lisey throws the term around with such vehemence that you are left with the feeling that this is something King himself has thought and, likely, said. It is one of these “Incunks” that sets off the main thrust of the action of the story, essentially sicking a deranged fan upon Lisey to “convince” her that she needs to just up and give him the works.

At some point, I remember seeing an interview with Stephen and Tabitha King where Tabitha, his wife, said that her greatest fear was that someone would go after her husband the same way John Lennon was killed. At some speaking engagement, some book signing, some crazy would walk up with a gun and just kill her husband. King, himself, channeled similar fears for his novel Misery where the main character, Paul Sheldon, is rescued from a car accident by a deranged fan and soon finds he is at her mercy.

Twisting this idea around to focus on the widow of the deceased author is a novel approach for King.  He established early in the novel that Lisey has, by and large, been in the background of her husband’s writing life. Her crazy older sister, in helping Lisey clean up her husband’s work area, goes through all of the literary magazines her husband has appeared in and notes how often Lisey is mentioned and how rarely she is mentioned as his wife and, once, even has his “gal pal” – an instance her sister is especially irritated by.  Still, it is this backgroundedness of her existence that makes the transposing of her husband’s problems/concerns onto her the more interesting and startling. Worried that her husband will be killed by some obsessed fan (something that does, in fact, nearly happen to her husband earlier in his life), finding herself in a similar situation is disorienting and troubling.

Lisey’s Story is also an homage to what King refers to within the novel as “the drinking pool” where we all go down to sip and take out little things that define how we talk, how we interact, and how we tell our stories. Throughout the novel he makes several oblique and exacting references to other works of literature, music and movies – things that have become such large parts of our lives – images, words, tunes – that they are part of how we define ourselves, even without our really knowing it.

There is still an element of the supernatural to the story.  In talking about the “drinking pool” King creates a literal other world that people visit, a place that us paradise during the day then to become a horror at night. Not surprisingly, Lisey’s husband was an adept traveler to this place and he mentions how great artists throughout history are the ones who wander out to the deepest ends of the pool and haul in the biggest fish.  It is a sanctuary and a horror for anyone who goes there and, again, it is impossible to ignore an undercurrent of something distinctly autobiographical in the relating of such a place and such an experience. Writing can be a personal war at times and it is clear that King has seen his fair share of time in the trenches.

 

saw this over at Shelley’s, and thought it sounded like a great question for all of you:

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

Fifteen books that will always stick with me, right off the top of my head….  K, here goes:

1. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
2. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
8. The Giver by Lois Lowry
9. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
10. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
11. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
12. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
13. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
14. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
15. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo

Now, not all are on my top 10 list, oddly enough, and not all of them are what I’d call “great novels.”  Of course, there are many others that will also stick with me, but I’ve written this post while Gwen and Maggie are fighting and tattling, my friend came over to chat and The Departed is playing on the TV, so we’re all lucky Dick and Jane wasn’t the only book title I could think of.

The last word might be Canada, probably is, but there’s no way to tell for sure because by then she’s lost in the land of sleep and he is too, and when they go there they never go together, and she is afraid that is also a preview of death, a place where there may be dreams but never love, never home, never a hand to hold yours

Detta har jag skrivit om tidigare – ex. här och här samt kanske särskilt, rörande min besvikelse, här – men håll ändå till godo, för snart kommer ännu en fortsättning!

Det var länge sedan jag vann en pristävling såsom en av tio i Sverige som från Bra Böckers förlag skulle få ett signerat svenskt exemplar av Stephen Kings Liseys Berättelse (Lisey’s Story). Men av dessa tio utlovade exemplar fick Bra Böcker bara nio exemplar! Bland dessa tio drog man lott. Jag förlorade. Naturligtvis! Fick en del böcker i tröstpris, senaste King-romanen Blaze (under pseudonymen Richard Bachman), samt 5 CD-böcker. Fint gjort av förlaget, men jag skrev och klagade, jag kritiserade Bra Böckers förlag här på Marmeladkungen samt via mejl. Och Bra Böcker tog emot min kritik på rätt sätt. Man förstod mig. Man försökte göra något åt saken. Förlaget har gentemot mig visat sig på den sin absolut bästa sida! TACK!

Och i förra veckan mottog jag ÄNTLIGEN mitt signerade exemplar med flera föregående mejl; att Stephen King hade fått meddelande om att jag saknade ett signerat ex,  samt att man skulle skicka boken såsom rekommenderat brev.

“Hej Fredrik,

Jag har glädjande besked – Stephen King har signerat ditt ex av Liseys berättelse som du vann i en tävling i Internetbokklubben! Den kom till kontoret idag och jag kommer att skicka det till dig som rekommenderat brev, så att vi inte riskerar att det kommer bort i posten.

Du har väntat länge på detta – och jag ber verkligen om ursäkt för att vi klantade oss och att det har dröjt.

Trevlig helg!

Mvh

Johanna

Jag är otroligt nöjd. Har för närvarande bara gott att säga om bokförlaget Bra Böcker.  Dessvärre kan jag för närvarande inte ta något kort på autografen eller publicera det här: min telefon lade ned i fredags, och det är otroligt hur handikappad man kan bli utan att bli nådd eller utan att kunna nå någon som inte har internet – när man själv varken har mobiltelefon eller tillgång tll Internet. Och om man får tillgång till Internet har den man vill nå inte ha åtkomst till det… Murphys law!

Men åter till ämnet.

Med mitt signerade ex av Liseys berättelse fick jag med boken ett handskrivet meddelande från Johanna på Bra Böckers förlag:

Hej Fredrik,

Här kommer äntligen det efterlängtade signerade exet av Liseys berättelse. Jag hoppas att du kommer att få stor glädje av boken!

Mvh

Johanna [...]

Internetbokklubben.

* * *

Undertecknad är synnerligen nöjd med förlagets hantering av problemet och denna tidigare missnöjda kund.

Under måndagen har jag lämnat in min mobiltelefon till lagning. Men självklart återkommer jag med ett fotografi på Stephen Kings autograf i mitt svenska exemplar av Liseys berättelse!

Om det nu finns intresse (?!), vilket jag enligt sökningar för att komma till denna blogg, samt diskussioner förmodar att det finns. Bild på autografen i denna svensköversatta bok kommer så fort jag får möjlighet till det i ett separat blogginlägg.

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Äntligen har jag en bok som (troligen) Sveriges störste Stephen King-samlare vill ha. Om “samlaren” har jag skrivit en essä om här. REKOMMENDERAS!

I have to admit, this is the first novel of Stephen King I’ve read and I’m overwhelmed, in a good sort of way. It surprises me that I’ve managed to overlook King all this while.

Getting to the point, Lisey’s Story is the intense story of Lisey Debusher Landon, the widow of a successful writer Scott Landon. She’s unable to accept that he’s gone as she still senses him around her very strongly. She almost continues living with him, carrying on coversations, asking him for his opinion, engaging him in her everyday life. In an attempt to get her life in order, she goes through this study and sorts through unfinished stories, a fully finished novel, letter, journals et al that bring back more memories than she can handle including some that she’s blocked out. In all this her sister Amanda, cuts herself quite badly unable to handle the sorrow in her personal life. From that point on, she sets out on a ‘bool hunt’ deviced by Scott. Amidst all this, a crazy man who calls himself Zack McCool wants Scott’s unfinished work to be given to this professor at the university where he’s taught as a course starts to creep out Lisey. When he cuts Lisey up to get her to take him seriously, Scott’s past comes to haunt her. This past is definitely not pretty. It has an abusive father, a loving brother who dies, a fantasy world that’s beautiful albeit creepy. Finally, the tale unwinds to reveal how Lisey deals with a looney creep who won’t hestitate to even kill her and how Amanda, her sister is also a part of Scott’s bool hunt.

I don’t think I can classify this book as horror. Its a kind of horror fantasy. I loved this book in parts. Only in parts cos at places I was so creeped out that I had to take a break, read something mindless and come back to this. This was mainly Scott’s childhood. The events leading to the death of his brother were truly chilling.

But there were also places where I was totally blown away with the way the book flowed. I found the courtship of Scott and Lisey unexpectedly romantic. References to the Boo’ya Moon, the bad gunky, the bool, the long boy, the bell at Paul’s grave et al, sound so magical and straight out of a hyperactive imagination that it makes it all the more creepy. This was a li’l too much gore for me. The narrative is so intense and powerful that as much as you want to tear yourself away from it, the scenes flow in front of your eyes and sucks you in.

In all, it was some great writing interspersed with a li’l more creepiness than I wanted to encounter.

I guess we all have days and weeks when we just aren’t into doing much of anything.  That has been my days of late.  I just haven’t felt like doing much of anything.  I thought I would jump right back into gaming with an Xbox 360 in my house but I play sparsely, surprising really.

I look forward to playing online again but I haven’t felt like doing much of anything these days.  I guess it is my time to go through some creative doldrums.  I have enjoyed reading and there have been comments to read but it seems like I don’t even want to do much of that.

I did read a book that I was able to get into.  There I found something to write about.  =)  I guess I just needed to the typing started.  it is flowing nicely now.  I think my wife recognizes this sort of typing.  The kind where she waits until i slow down so that she doesn’t interrupt the flow.

She did that a few times a little while ago and it took me right out of my creativity because it was such a mundane question that it actually bothered me to have to stop to answer a question that she could have answered herself.  But I digress, the flow is here and I want to write.  I am happy about that.  Having a newborn in the house can be a drain on the sanity at times.

Couple that with introducing formula over nursing and you have some nice long crying sessions as we wait for the bottle to warm up safely.

You forget the crying when he does.

It is nice though when he has had his bottle, been burped and is quietly enjoying his full belly.  =)  Then he falls asleep for a while which makes for some great relaxing time, with a book.

Now that I have brought it back to the reading, I can relate the story of how we found a couple of good hardcover books for great prices.  I liked the deal since I haven’t been in a book store since I was waiting for Book VII of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Series.  I love that series.  I got to read all seven books one after the other but I digress.

I did not digress too far though since one of the books we found is “Lisey’s Story” which sounds like a great read.  I have yet to start on that one and maybe that is a part of the creative doldrums I have been feeling, too much to do and little to no time and energy as we all settle into a routine.  Kind of like the one we were in before Jr. was born.

It was one of our walks through the mall that we found “Lisey’s Story” on a table at the entrance of the book store.  It was on this table that we also found the book that I finished reading on my trip to Smithers last week.  If you know who Stephen King and can claim your part in being “Constant Reader” like I can, you probably already know who Richard Bachman is.

For those not sure, Bachman is the name King used to write under early on.  He has some stories that are well known already so I won’t go into those.  What I do want to write about is his (Bachman’s) last work before he stopped writing.  It was written back then and just published recently.  “Blaze” is a great story,a nice read and the book itself has a short story at the end that I have yet to read but I can knock that out in an afternoon so I am saving it.

I started reading “Blaze” while we were still in town waiting for baby to be born.  I had gotten to the middle of the book where things get good and the pace picks up when we finally went into the hospital.  The book was included with the “going to the hospital” bag you should always have ready.  (We bought new clothes and shoes for her so we didn’t have to worry about laundry.)  I found the book in the bag and continued reading it.

By then family had arrived so I was able to find time to read for a while.  It was funny because I had just started a chapter that was right in the middle of the flow I can imagine the author was in when he wrote it.  My wife however wanted me beside her.  I had stepped out into the hallway where the light was so much better for reading.  The delivery room lights were dimmed and actually quite soothing; not good for reading though so I went to the hallway to finish that great chapter.

It was around this time that her contractions were getting stronger so she wanted me there beside her.  My response since I was on the second to last page of the chapter was, “Be right there, just wanna finish this chapter…” and I could hear, damn near feel the response from all of the ladies in the delvery room.

I think I can sum up their reaction to my statement with a simple word.  Men.  (I wonder how many eye rolls there were too LOL)  It was less than a minute to finish the chapter but my statement had been made already.  =)

I did not finish the book for nearly two weeks after that though.  When I did find the time to read, I finished the book in a few hours.  I enjoyed it.  If you are familiar with an American Classic of Literature telling the story of Lenny and George, you will have an idea of the dynamics of the story and characteristics.

Then you add Bachman (a.k.a. King) and you have a book that we Constant Readers love.

I will be starting on “Lisey’s Story” at some point but right now I am content in writing about “Blaze” and well…

Just writing.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen King once again offers us a story with a famous author, Scott Landon, as the protagonist, only this time he’s dead.  His wife, Lisey, still struggles to deal with his passing even as she fights to help her troubled sister immersed in a crisis.  To top it all off, a deranged fan stalks Lisey in order to take any unfinished works her husband may have left floating around, and the fan does this as a favor to a misguided scholar hoping to cash in on Landon’s popularity.  Though dead, Scott, sensing trouble for his wife’s future, left behind a series of articles that will help Lisey to save her sister and defeat the fan.  These objects, of course, lead to a supernatural land full of beauties and evils.

I’ve read many, many Stephen King books, and I am a huge fan of much of his work.  However, Lisey’s Story is probably the most self-indulgent and poorly executed novel I’ve ever read by the man.  What I found charming about him in the past, the silly words and the quirky asides, now simply annoy me.  He has often used writers as his main characters, but never has he so blatantly modeled the writer after himself, and never has he so unapologetically set the author up as a saintly demigod.

King once said, and I’m paraphrasing at best, that to include anything in a novel that is not necessary is a grave travesty.  I’m afraid that the first 200 pages of this novel were a travesty indeed.  I truly struggled with every fiber of my being against putting this book down.  The good news is that once we got past the 200 mark, things started picking up and the story really began rolling, but that first half was like walking through mud as it comprised of nothing more than flashback after flashback that served little to no purpose.  King easily could have streamlined this 509 behemoth down to 250.  Easily.

I know there are a great deal of rabid King fans out there, and, hey, like I said, I’m a big fan myself.  But we have to face facts, people-King’s last two novels have been duds.  The man’s written over forty of them!  I think it’s time for him to go out on top rather than continuing to spew out works of mediocrity.

Manchmal ist der Autor sein eigener ärgster Feind. Zumindest geht mir das so. Gefangen zwischen den eigenen Ansprüchen und der unerwarteten Freiheit, Platz fürs Erzählen zu haben – der fehlt nämlich bei Drehbüchern und Kurzgeschichten, bei denen es darauf ankommt, möglichst ökonomisch zu erzählen – saß ich beim Schreiben von “Novembertod” manchmal vor meinem Computer wie das Kaninchen vor der Schlange: Dumpf. Verängstigt. Starr.
Wahrscheinlich kennen einige Autoren und auch einige Nicht-Autoren diesen Zustand. Man stelle sich vor: Der Computer ist an, das Gehirn leer, die Seiten wollen sich nicht füllen, die Deadline-Uhr tickt und tickt und tickt … Es ist die Hölle. Und irgendwie muß man da raus.
Mich hat Stephen King aus diesem Inferno geführt. Ironischerweise, fällt mir dabei gerade auf, denn der Sog seiner Sprache zieht einen ja unmerklich eher in die finstersten Tiefen der Hölle herab …
Das Buch, das ich gelesen habe, war “Lisey`s Story”. Eine Geschichte, – auch das übrigens wieder einer dieser mysteriösen Zufälle – in der es um einen Autor und ums Schreiben geht (übrigens: remember George Stark, schlotter?!?).
“Lisey`s Story” hat zwei Dinge bewirkt: Zum einen konnte ich mich entspannen. Wichtig für jemanden, der bist zum Zerreißen gespannt und komplett verknotet ist. Zum anderen ist King ein Meister darin, raumgreifend zu erzählen, ohne den Fokus der Geschichte aus den Augen zu verlieren; ein Schamane der Rückblende, ein Könner, was das organische Einführen von Figuren mit ihren Backstories betrifft, der König des Cliffhangers. Für mich war es so, als habe mich ein großer, freundlicher Lehrmeister bei der Hand genommen, und nicht nur durch mein eigenes Schreiben geführt, sondern gleichzeitig mit dem breiten, unbewußten Strom, aus dem wir unsere Geschichten schöpfen, kurzgeschlossen.
Vielleicht sitzt ja jetzt gerade jemand da draußen auch wie das Kaninchen vor der Schlange vor seinem Computer. Sollte er oder sie meinen Rat wollen, würde ich sagen: Lies! Auch und gerade, wenn es nichts mit dem augenblicklichen Projekt zu tun hat, lies. Einen Autor, den man gerne mag. Der einen entspannt. Und der einen an die Hand nimmt, ohne zu verschüchtern.

Ps. Daß King Autoren auch ganz bewußt bei der Hand nimmt, hat er in seinem wunderbaren Buch “On Writing” bewiesen.

Lisey’s Story is a love story, King-style.  It is a love story on many levels: Lisey’s love for her husband, Scott’s love for his brother, first, and later his wife, the sister thing of the Debusher girls, Scott’s love of writing, and people’s love of storytelling.

It is the story of fictional author, Scott Landon, and his surviving wife, Lisey (rhymes with “CeeCee”).  Even though Scott has passed, he will still have his say, and directs Lisey on his final “bool”, or a treasure hunt.  Through the process of discovering each clue, she is guided by Scott behind the purple curtain to the memories too dificult to be remembered.  It is through this process that the nature and origin of Scott’s writing genius is revealed, and the connection Scott had had with Lisey’s manic-depressive sister Amanda Debusher who has a penchant for self mutilation and slipping into periods of catatonia.

While I don’t believe this is one of King’s best, it is, however, my favorite.  There is so much in Lisey’s Story that resonates with my own life experiences and writing process. 

First of all, as a recovering cutter, the explanations of why Scott’s dad, Scott himself, and Amanda do it are true to the emotions and reasoning that go on in the mind of a cutter.  The cocept it is a way to “get the bad-gunky out” is one that crossed my mind often before doing it; I had to relieve the pressure valve.  That Manda covers hers because they are her treasures and not for others to see is another truth, as they serve as medals and trophies to my enduring life, trials and suffering.  Cutting is a flight-or-fight response gone sideways, as shown by Scott’s gift of a blood bool to Lisey when they were dating.  You are forced into a spot where you can’t run becuase where can you go to escape yourself? and you can’t fight back against the person who’s confronting you.  The tension must go somewhere, and it is allowed to bleed out.  That Amanda felt no pain and only ecstacy when doing it is spot on, as it releases the brain’s natural opiates.

Second, I have often pondered and been amazed at how different people in different places from different background come up with the same thoughts, stories and discoveries.  Jung called this “collective consciousness”.  King describes this mystery as “the language-pool, the myth-pool, where we all go down to drink” and cast our nets, where the bravest, the Austens, Tolstoys and Doskievskys sail out into the deepest waters to catch the biggest fish.

Third, it is this “pool” that is the centerpiece of “Boo-Ya Moon,” Scott’s version of the parallel dimensional place that we retreat to when life becomes more than we can handle.  King proposes that each person’s place is different and specific to them, but is the same thing.  It is to this place many of the “gorks” in the psych ward have slipped away.  It is in Amanda’s place, the dock by the S.S. Hollyhocks, that Lisey has to go to retrieve her “big sissa Manda bunny.”

The book is woven throughout in the Stephen King fashion with a monster sighted in reflections, a crazed lunatic hell-bent-for-leather to torture Lisey, and a dead cat in a mailbox.  It is a journey into an abusive past with a psuchotic father, the survival and victory over a monster, the acceptance of the death of the love of her life, and collecting the prize at the end of the bool, for all treasure hunts end with the discovery of something precious.

Lisey’s Story narra di Lisey Landon, vedova dello scrittore Scott Landon. La vicenda si svolge nel Maine, nei dintorni delle località care a King (e a noi) come Derry e Castle Rock…
Lisey ha perso da due anni il marito, famoso scrittore dal passato difficile: il padre era un mezzo matto e il fratello… Non vi dirò nulla, don’t worry!
La storia parte dallo struggente ricordo della donna che riaffora ogni qualvolta giri nelle stanze dello studio in cui il marito creava le sue storie: ogni libro, rivista ed oggetto le fa riaffiorare qualcosa del suo passato. Come si erano conosciuti, amati; i segreti oscuri del marito, le fantasie e le paure nate nell’infanzia o forse in un altro mondo.
Tra gli studiosi ed i fans ci sono molti che vorrebbero mettere le mani sui manoscritti e gli inediti che Scott Landon ha lasciato in eredità alla moglie. Un insegnante arriva a parlarne con uno psicopatico che lo prende in parola e che cerca di entrare in casa della signora ad ogni costo.
Lisey deve ricorrere a tutte le sue forze e a segni inequivocabili lasciatole dal marito per difendersi e sopravvivere poichè Scott Landon era speciale, guariva in fretta e aveva un dono che lo rendeva unico e che gli ha permesso di scrivere e vivere in maniera davvero particolare. Lisey ha bisogno di Scott, del suo amore e delle sue sicurezze, ma ha frapposto un sipario viola ai suoi ricordi, non sarà semplice alzare questo velo per poter andare avanti… A complicare le cose ci si mette pure Amanda, la sorella autolesionista di Lisey che ad un certo punto, prima di entrare in stato catatonico,  le lascia dei messaggi che sembrano dettati dallo scrittore defunto. Tracce che le potrebbero salvare la vita.

Dietro una trama apparentemente thriller viene alla luce invece una storia d’amore dai contorni sovrannaturali.
Un po’ anche per merito dello storico traduttore italiano di Stephen King (il bravissimo Tullio Dobner) che usa paroline a noi fans ben note(!) è facile abbinare altri libri a questa fatica.
Saltano all’occhio termini come ”bool”, il “viaggiare tra mondi”, i “Territori”… 
SK è molto bravo nel punteggiare la narrazione con parole, frasi, citazioni, situazioni e luoghi che ai fans dello scrittore del Maine faranno senz’altro venire in mente altri libri a noi cari.
Personalmente ci ho trovato spazio per attinenze con : “Il talismano”, la saga della “Torre Nera”, un riferimento abbastanza palese ad “Aldilà dei sogni” di Richard Matheson, alcuni nomi o personaggi sentiti in “Mucchio d’ossa”, “Cose preziose” e in qualche modo anche una sorta di duello simile a quella tra lo scrittore e la sua nemesi in “Secret window”…

Il libro parte un po’ a rilento ma poi ingrana bene, si fa avvincente e viene voglia di prenderlo in mano appena ce n’è l’occasione per scoprire cosa succede. Nella prima parte lo stile è un po’ ostico: ogni capitolo finisce nel presente lasciando la frase a metà per portarci nel passato (o viceversa) o in un altro mondo… E’ uno dei libri di King che ho letto con più fatica ma, per questo non posso considerarlo deludente, anzi…solo un po’ complicato, in parte. 

Se dovessi definirlo, rispetto ad altri lavori di King direi che è a metà tra il fantasy de “Il talismano” e il country-folk che pervade tutte le storie americane di King con gli hamburger, le roulotte scassate, la periferia bifolca, lo slang scurrile, le canzoni anni ‘50.

Un bel libro che mi fa pensare quanto di Stephen King ci sia in Scott Landon.
Un libro davvero “Kinghiano”!

Voto: 7.5
Ciao, J

Almost exactly a year ago I had started a post on a different blog. That post went a little something like this:

Well I finished reading Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story; it has been about a week now since I read the last page. Although I didn’t read it cover to cover in one sitting, this novel was a good read nonetheless. I must admit that, at this point, I’m still gathering my thoughts on my reading experience. It was a very fine novel, quite different from King’s novel just previous to it, The Cell. Indeed, it was as if both novels came from totally different realms, totally different universes—and that’s exactly what they are two completely different stories from the Stephen King Universe.

I never got around to finishing the post; maybe I will, someday. If I do, I`ll be the first one to know…

Lisey’s Story is an audio book from Stephen King.

Lisey Landon lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of profound, sometimes frightening intimacy.

Scott was a celebrated, award-winning, novelist.

And a complex man.

Lisey knew there was a dark place where her husband ventured to face his demons. Boo’ya Moon is what Scott called it; a realm that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed to write and live.

Now it’s Lisey’s turn to face her husband’s demons. And what begins as a widow’s effort to sort through her husband’s effects becomes a perilous journey into the heart of darkness.