Finished Duma Key.
It is probably too early to write anything about it, because it is too fresh and it usually takes time for me to think about in a more detached way than an involved reader. However.
However, I still want to write about it. The brilliance of the writing is too bright to ignore. Time and again, Stephen King proves he is the best. Not just in invoking the most basic emotion in humans - fear. But also, in inspiring awe at the way he 'paints' a picture of the whole story with such startling clarity.
The story involves around Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor who goes through a near-fatal accident to realize that his world has turned upside down. His marriage is in shambles, he is under the spell of uncontrollable anger and, he is almost given up on his life. But for his daughters and his supportive psychiatrist and physiotherapist, he would have.
On the advice of his doctor he moves to Duma Key to forget, heal and begin a new life. He takes up sketching and painting as a 'hedge against the night'. What comes out of his talent threatens to change his life and the lives of his loved ones, not in a very positive way. A darker force is in play who is bent on unleashing destruction around him. With a help of a set of unlikely friends made on the island, he has to fight with every bit of mental and moral strength to counter the evil.
The characters are so well defined and explored, it feels more like a literary novel than horror., Wireman, the friend who stays all along, is a personality that stays in the mind for long and so is Elizabeth, the almost-ancient woman who owns Duma Key. Ilse, Edgar's daughter is so likable that you will be rooting for her till the end. The story builds slowly, but at no point did I feel bored or wanted to skip a page. Stephen King has that effect on readers. Fear builds up slowly as well. It reaches a crescendo just short of 200 pages to the end.
Having said that, the end is not nearly as scary as I feared. May be because my brain was protecting my mind against it - by imagining the whole end in a slightly 'Pirates of the Caribbean' kind of manner.
I loved the book.
It is probably too early to write anything about it, because it is too fresh and it usually takes time for me to think about in a more detached way than an involved reader. However.
However, I still want to write about it. The brilliance of the writing is too bright to ignore. Time and again, Stephen King proves he is the best. Not just in invoking the most basic emotion in humans - fear. But also, in inspiring awe at the way he 'paints' a picture of the whole story with such startling clarity.
The story involves around Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor who goes through a near-fatal accident to realize that his world has turned upside down. His marriage is in shambles, he is under the spell of uncontrollable anger and, he is almost given up on his life. But for his daughters and his supportive psychiatrist and physiotherapist, he would have.
On the advice of his doctor he moves to Duma Key to forget, heal and begin a new life. He takes up sketching and painting as a 'hedge against the night'. What comes out of his talent threatens to change his life and the lives of his loved ones, not in a very positive way. A darker force is in play who is bent on unleashing destruction around him. With a help of a set of unlikely friends made on the island, he has to fight with every bit of mental and moral strength to counter the evil.
The characters are so well defined and explored, it feels more like a literary novel than horror., Wireman, the friend who stays all along, is a personality that stays in the mind for long and so is Elizabeth, the almost-ancient woman who owns Duma Key. Ilse, Edgar's daughter is so likable that you will be rooting for her till the end. The story builds slowly, but at no point did I feel bored or wanted to skip a page. Stephen King has that effect on readers. Fear builds up slowly as well. It reaches a crescendo just short of 200 pages to the end.
Having said that, the end is not nearly as scary as I feared. May be because my brain was protecting my mind against it - by imagining the whole end in a slightly 'Pirates of the Caribbean' kind of manner.
I loved the book.
