Duma Key - Stephen King

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Edgar moves to Duma Key, a fictional island in Florida, where he can build up his strength and start walking again. As soon as he arrives at his rented property, he feels compelled to begin painting. Once he begins, he realises that he actually has a great deal of talent and can turn out beautiful pieces of artwork at an alarmingly fast rate. However, all is not what it seems with the paintings, as strange things begin to happen. Edgar begins ...
...recognises that he is not so much deciding what to paint as having it decided for him. A common theme begins to run through the paintings and he often finds himself in a trance-like state whilst completing them. Not only this, but the pieces of artwork seem to have a great deal of power in that they psychically connect him with the outside world to such an extent that he begins to have visions of things he should know nothing about, such as his wife's ... more

Fans who were put off by 'Lisey's Story' will be relieved to know that 'Duma Key' finds Stephen King back doing what he does best - and this is also a good starting point for those who have never picked up one of his novels, if you're after an accessible and entertaining read.

Despite mixed reviews about 'Lisey's Story', it would appear that it finally got King the literary recognition he felt he deserved from the critics but, sadly, at the expense of his fans' enjoyment, which defeated the point somewhat. Although I was slightly disappointed with his last novel, I couldn't help but feel that it was just a temporary blip and found myself queuing with the rest of the constant readers for my copy of 'Duma Key' on the date of publication here in the UK. I'm so glad I did. Prior to reading the novel, I had seen previews which claimed that it was up there with his old gems such as 'Bag of Bones' in terms of style and, although I didn't get my hopes up that it would be anywhere near as solid in terms of structure and plot, I did feel that such a comparison could only mean that he was writing for his fans again.

~ PLOT ~

The plot presents us with a fairly engaging tale about Edgar Freemantle, a former construction worker who made a good fortune in his career before a terrible accident cost him an arm and caused fairly severe head trauma; resulting in varying degrees of amnesia with an inability to remember certain words or their associations. No longer able to work and battling uncontrollable rage and frustration due to his newfound problems, his personality alters to the point that his marriage breaks down. When he becomes suicidal, his therapist Dr. Kamen suggests that he tries to find an alternative purpose and asks him if there is anything creative for him to do aside from working on buildings. In an effort to find his new identity and establish a new life, Edgar remembers that he used to draw a little bit and is encouraged by his therapist both to try and do that again as well as giving himself a change of scene.

Edgar moves to Duma Key, a fictional island in Florida, where he can build up his strength and start walking again. As soon as he arrives at his rented property, he feels compelled to begin painting. Once he begins, he realises that he actually has a great deal of talent and can turn out beautiful pieces of artwork at an alarmingly fast rate. However, all is not what it seems with the paintings, as strange things begin to happen. Edgar begins to experience phantom limb sensations in his missing arm and recognises that he is not so much deciding what to paint as having it decided for him. A common theme begins to run through the paintings and he often finds himself in a trance-like state whilst completing them. Not only this, but the pieces of artwork seem to have a great deal of power in that they psychically connect him with the outside world to such an extent that he begins to have visions of things he should know nothing about, such as his wife's affair with one of his old friends, and his daughter's relationship problems. He also swiftly realises that he has the ability to paint people out of pictures and thus, in the real world as well.

Meanwhile, he meets Wireman (carer of Elizabeth, who suffers from Alzheimers and has a lot of history on the island - including owning the property Edgar is renting) and becomes firm friends with him. Although she is rarely lucid, Edgar also begins to feel that Elizabeth's past and continued presence on the island is in some way connected to his newfound ability to paint and the apparent power he seems to have over his artwork whilst on the island. Her rare moments of clarity draw us, as a reader, into the mystery of what is happening to Edgar but the outcome is far removed from anything you could anticipate.

~ MY THOUGHTS ~

In terms of character, there are recognisable echoes of King's former protagonists in his new main character, as well as various connections to other novels, which will appeal to fans, but in no way hinder his new readers. Much like his protagonist authors, Edgar has a different outlet which is also creative, but the plot is dissimilar to anything else I have read before by King, other than the obvious link to creativity. Some of the visions Edgar experiences remind me of those experienced by Michael Noonan in 'Bag of Bones' and the style is quite similar in terms of the real world being intermingled with fantasy, but it never becomes too fantastic to be unbelievable. Even the ending feels fairly strong with this novel (despite the fantastical elements being so far removed from reality that I doubt they'd ever stand up in a movie without being ridiculed) and that tends to be an area in which King has struggled in the past. For some reason, I felt as though I was always in safe hands and that King never had any doubt about where he was going next with this one. It was actually quite nice to immerse myself in complete escapism for a while. After the drama of what the main character goes through in the first three quarters of the book, you find yourself rooting for him at the end. Even if you cannot quite comprehend the fantasy, you don't need to question it so much as enjoy the ride.

Did I enjoy it then? Well, I guess if you compared my review of this one and that of 'Lisey's Story', there's quite an obvious difference between which I felt was worthy of praise and which was not. It took me a grand total of 4 days to read this novel and at nearly 600 pages, I imagine that proves it's a bit of a page turner. This is a far cry from his last book, which I found far too easy to put down and far too difficult to pick up again, whereas I found myself deliberately putting this one down to make yet another cup of tea every now and again so that I didn't run out of book! I can imagine myself reading this one again and again, whereas his last book is currently sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust until I can bring myself to give it another go.

In fairness, there is a lot to like about 'Duma Key'. We have an intricately woven plot with a variety of convincing and colourful characters that have rounded and compelling lives. If I'm going to be painstakingly picky, there were a couple of sections of the novel where I felt the relationship and subsequent conversations between Edgar and his ex-wife seemed a little unnatural, but even that could be put down to matrimonial bitterness and resentment due to the prior sequence of events, and is in no way a criticism. I also liked the way King built up sympathy for Edgar. By presenting us with a first person narrative (which was obviously ambiguous from the start, given that it was coming from someone recovering from severe trauma) whilst he was going through his divorce and physical recovery we are left to our own devices for a little while to decide what we make of this bloke, which is quite a brave technique if you aren't an experienced author who knows his main character will win you over in spite of his actions. At the outset, we feel as though we should dislike him for his behaviour following the accident, but the tables are swiftly turned and we find ourselves disliking his wife for her abandonment when we grow to admire Edgar's motivation in the face of such adversity. I've always admired King's technique to get the reader to feel sympathy for the protagonist, be he an axe murderer, a convict, or just a really nice guy. No matter what his characters' circumstances, you cannot help but be drawn into their little world and see things through their eyes. He writes people and their conversations with such conviction and it is this which makes him such a compelling author and undoubtedly what was lacking in his last novel, in my humble opinion.

Fans and first time readers alike should not be disappointed with this one. As far as I know, it's still half price at Waterstones for a hardback copy, so go and treat yourself. 

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