Book Review of DUMA KEY by Stephen King

DUMA KEY by Stephen King (Scribner Book Company, January 22, 2008) Hardcover, 611 pages. ISBN: 9781416552512 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

From the Flap:

NO MORE THAN A DARK PENCIL LINE ON A BLANK PAGE. A HORIZON LINE, MAYBE, BUT ALSO A SLOT FOR BLACKNESS TO POUR THROUGH . . . 

A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.

"Edgar does anything make you happy?"

"I used to sketch."

"Take it up again. You need hedges . . .

hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural--Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

My Five Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

October 27, 2024: I finished reading this on September 13 but delayed posting a review here. I wanted to reflect on what I'd just read and wanted to avoid writing a quick review so that I could do justice to the novel, which deserves more recognition. And then, I got busy and forgot to return to this.

I believe this is one of King's finest novels. The characters are so well developed that I felt as if I knew them personally. King did a masterful job with them and I love them all. The supernatural elements of the story are sprinkled throughout but really don't manifest in more real and threatening ways until the latter part of the novel. By then, I was so engaged with the main characters that I really worried for them. That's a testament to some great writing to be able to evoke those feelings. (King does that a lot).

Below are some of my reading notes . . . . . .

Started reading today (August 03) and will be posting my notes here as I go. I'm also participating in a group read with the Horror Or Heaven community on Goodreads. I'm glad this was chosen for a reading. It's been sitting on my bookshelf since 2008, perhaps because of the intimidating length.

Only 13 pages into the story, barely an introduction, and already I'm empathizing with Edgar Freemantle, the narrator and main character. Wasn't sure after a few pages if I could like him, but I'm warming up rapidly. I even see his wife Pam's point-of-view and can't hate her for the decisions she made. How does King do that in such a short space, especially since he has 600 pages to work with?

I'm tempted to go back and re-read that section again to see where I was sucked in, but that would take some of the magic away.

AUGUST 04: Now at Page 51. I really like the narrator, and King details him so well that I feel his pain, anxieties, and get his point of view.

Finally in Florida, and I expect things to pick up after he get settled. Not a single hint of scary or strange so far, until that little foreshadowing on Page 44.

Here's a favorite passage (page 183) where Edgar Freemantle is figuring out how to persuade his friend Wireman to see a doctor when things return to a state of calmness, as he reflects: "Things slowed down for awhile. Sometimes that happens. The pot boils, and then, just before it can boil over, some hand - -God, fate, maybe plain coincidence - - lowers the heat. I mentioned to Wireman and he said life is like Friday on a soap opera. It gives you the illusion that everything is going to wrap up, and then the same old shit starts up on Monday."

Page 365: "Remember that 'seeing is believing' puts the cart before the horse. Art is the concrete artifact of faith and expectation, the realization of a world that would otherwise be little more than a veil of pointless consciousness stretched over a gulf of mystery. And besides -- if you don't believe what you see, who will believe your art?”