La Història de la Lisey

Well, this wasn't as bad as it seemed at first it would be. For a book called "Lisey's Story", there isn't much to the title character besides her husband. Her vocabulary is Scott's vocabulary, everything she does revolves around him, and even after his death, she takes instructions from him. Even the magical world she goes to is his. He's this damaged, magical man and there really isn't anything left that's "Lisey." But, maybe that's how that generation of men sees "successful" marriage.

Lisey (pronounced "Lee-see"), widowed approximately two years earlier, is finally getting to the point of going through her late husband's things. Scott (her husband) was a relatively famous and well-known writer, and Lisey has been pestered somewhat by his alma mater to release some of his unpublished works, or at least to release them to the university. Meanwhile, her sister Amanda experiences a mental health episode and progresses into a state of catatonia. Scott, in the past, had alluded to some mental health issues in his family as well. Though not directly related, their stories intertwine and soon Lisey finds herself not only in danger, but fluctuating back and forth between the reality of the here and now and the alternate universe known as Boo'ya Moon.

Well, not sure where to start with this one. I've enjoyed some Stephen King in the past, and though many of his stories have either a horror and/or a supernatural element, not all of them do. Sometimes his story lines turn me off. At other times they pull me in and I remember once again that he is a very talented writer. This particular novel seems to have lots of mixed reviews, and I tend to fall into the underwhelmed category with this one. I was tempted to give up on it a few times, but I persevered until the end. Was it weird? Yes. I didn't love it. I'm not even sure that I liked it. I still am not sure that I know where King was trying to go with this story. Sometimes I felt that the plot was wandering aimlessly, with too many things going on, jumping back and forth between reality and fantasy. For some readers, it works. For me, not so much, at least not in this book. Some of the repetitive made-up words got to be tedious and annoying. (I had read that about this book in other reviews, but didn't really get it until I read it myself.) My overall opinion: if you're a die-hard Stephen King fan, you'd probably like this because it does feature a lot of classic King "stuff". But if you want to be more choosy or selective, go for one of his classics or my personal favorite, the more recent 11/22/63, which is a fantastic read. ( )

Book 58. This was a good story by the maestro. I think that I tried reading it previously and did not complete it for whatever reason, probably struggled to keep plugged in which happens on a few occasions. So it is a long story that will require a fair amount of commitment to get through, took me about a week to push through. The story is a complex one as is the style with SK, the main story is pretty straight forward, wife of famous writer's who has passed is stalked by a fan looking for his unpublished works but the sub-plots are where the magic lies. Lisey's husband's story of his days growing up and the horrors he endured as well as how he escaped to the alternate world is top notch SK work and his post notes on the book talk more about how all writers and readers escape to these alternate worlds that he has used in the book. The use of the special words (Bool Hunt, Blood Bool, Booya Moon) in the story is a nice touch to draw you into the immersive world that SK has created. I have seen that there is a TV series based on the book, I may give that a try at some stage. ( )

Do NOT read this when your significant other is out of town for a week, and you're conpletely alone in a house in a secluded area. Trust me, that's a very bad idea. ( )

This is one of my favorite Stephen King books. I could not put it down. The love and connection between Scott and Lisey and all the terrible things they overcame in their lives is inspiring. ( )