Until October 2007, I had done very little reading - save for the Harry Potter books, on their release - for many years. Being honest, I'm a wannabe author, and in October I was approaching the end of writing the first draft of my first novel. Many times, I had heard the advice 'read as much as you can', but didn't really pay it much heed until then.
The first book I picked up was Stephen King's Misery (a fantastic read, by the way) in a charity shop, and it was as soon as I started reading it that I fell back in love with reading once more, King himself taking up the reigns as my favourite author.
And when, in February, I saw his latest book - Duma Key - half price in Waterstones, and also laid my hands on a free £10 Waterstones voucher, I picked up the novel with no hesitation.
The Story
Duma Key is the story of a man named Edgar Freemantle. Prior to the opening of the book, Edgar is involved in a freak accident on a construction site - he is a construction worker, and a millionaire from it and his radical ideas at that. The accident results in the loss of his arm, and also leads to damage to his brain.
The damage done to him destroys his life: he cannot remember things properly, and he is overcome by rages. In fact, he even tries to choke his wife. Shortly
afterwards, his marriage collapses.
In need of a fresh start, the limping Edgar - who also has difficulty walking - moves to an island just off Florida. The island is Duma Key. Covered mostly in vegetation, very few people live there; but Edgar soon comes to be friends with the strange old woman who lives up the beach from him and her carer - a man named Wireman.
In order to have something to take his mind off things, Edgar's doctor suggests he starts drawing again. But while he could merely doodle before the accident, now Edgar discovers a strange new ability on Duma Key: he can suddenly draw and paint these fantastically wonderful and yet disconcertingly eerie drawings. And whenever he draws, he has phantom limb sensations, and his missing arm tingles and itches until the art is complete.
And it doesn't stop there. Because soon he finds that he can paint things in and out of real life.
The Writing
Initially, on opening the book, I was shocked to discover the book is from the first person perspective. The last first person book I tried reading before this - sometime near the end of last year - I absolutely detested due to the overabundance of thought present. So I was quite worried that this new book wouldn't live up to the standard of some of his others.
However, the book was, like all Stephen King books, immensely easy to get into and while it obviously included the necessary commentary and thoughts of the main character, it was not too full of them; it had just the right mix of story and emotion.
As with a lot of Stephen King books, the novel also starts quite slowly, and then ramps things up. It took me a couple of weeks to reach approximately the middle of the novel - not because I found it boring (far from it), but because I read it now and then, when I felt like it. But I completed the last 300 pages or so in a couple of days, because it just got to be more of a page-turner as it went along.
Though not as horrifying as some of his other works (I maintain that Pet Sematary is the most frightening book I have ever read), there are certainly some chilling moments throughout, and unlike some of King's other novels, there are few graphic and disturbing images - I found one of his other recent books, Cell (which I have a review of, for anyone possibly interested in reading that too), was more of a thriller, though is contains some graphic images probably meant to horrify and disgust.
Instead, Duma Key relies on good, old-fashioned atmosphere to freak you out. And that's better, I think.
The Length
Duma Key is roughly 580 pages in hardback (the paperback edition will not be released until September), and so while it's not one of King's longest books, it feels like a very long and wonderful tome.
Other Notes
Unlike as I mentioned in my review of Cell, there are no real irritations that spring to mind with this book. It's a well-written, fluent and engaging story with believable characters.
One thing I might complain about would be King's telling of the fact that characters will die before they actually have; for example, and I'm just paraphrasing here and so this is not an exact extract, but he will say something like, "That was the last time I ever saw her again." long before the event of said character's death has taken place. It's effective, but I like the shock of characters dying even more. However, having read several other of King's novels and seeing the same technique utilised, I'm more used to it than some may be.
One thing I did pick up on that I found exceptionally positive, which doesn't really fit elsewhere, is the fact that Duma Key basically tells two stories. The most part of the novel is the story of Edgar Freemantle, and yet, every two chapters there is a short piece called 'How to Draw a Picture', which is split into parts throughout the novel. At first glance it may seem unrelated, but it actually, as you will see roughly halfway through the novel, begins to fill in the backstory to the book - so now, not only are you reading on to find out what happens to Edgar, but you're also reading to find out what happens in these shorter interludes to know more of the history of the book.
General Thoughts
Duma Key instantly became my favourite novel on finishing it. The writing is easily the best of King's to date, and his writing style is as easy to slip into as it has always been. The characters and their interactions are completely realistic and everything is so believable that it does not fail to frighten while retaining that addictive page-turning quality he is famed for. Definitely worth picking up.
As the book was only released at the end of January, it's still only available in the somewhat pricy £18.99 hardback. As I said, I was lucky enough to get a free £10 Waterstones voucher and also be able to pick it up while a half price offer was on. If you're as big a Stephen King fan as I am, definitely pick up the novel now. If you think you can wait until September, then do so, but pick it up as soon as the paperback hits the shelves, because this is without a doubt King's best.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: A psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages. Disadvantages: More narrative/less action than in previous Stephen King books.
Advantages: Story hooks you in after a while, vivid writing style Disadvantages: Hard to get into at first, initially unnatural overabundance of main character's thoughts
Mar 25th, 2008
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (94%):
