A Good Smucking Book

(this post was written by Kyle on March 25, 2009, and it concerns & & )

As I walked around my house trying to find a new book to read, I said to my wife, “I’m in the mood for a good yarn.” And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I wanted to pick up a Stephen King novel. Say what you will about his literary skills, the man can spin a damn good yarn.

Immediately, I walked to the bookshelf where we keep all the oversized books that won’t fit anywhere else, and I grabbed the red hardcover that has been staring at me since Christmas 2006. Lisey’s Story was the first well-reviewed novel King had written in quite a long time, and since I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the man who gave me some of the best reading experiences of my teenage years, I added Lisey’s Story to my Christmas list, and wouldn’t you know it, Santa complied.

I read the whole book thinking King was inspired by the accident that nearly killed him back in 1999, but I just checked his website, where it says:

During the time that Steve had to spend in the hospital due to a bout with pneumonia, his home office was cleared to paint and renovate. He returned to find many of his books, etc. still in boxes and it occurred to him that that was what the room would look like following his death. And of what his wife, Tabitha, would have to deal with.

That’s pretty much the starting point of the novel: two years after the death of her famous-writer husband, his widow, Lisa Landon (Lisey) is finally cleaning out his office, when she begins to have uncharacteristically strong recollections of her marriage to the sweet-but-troubled man.

In large part, Lisey’s Story is a walk down the memory lane of the marriage between Scott and Lisey Landon, but since this is Stephen King novel, there are some pretty weird and freaky things hanging out on that lane, and fight it as she might, the lane will lead Lisey to the repressed memories of an alternate world, a beautiful, scary place where her husband drew the inspiration for his stories.

Lisey’s Story did not disappoint my desire for a great yarn. It has empathetic characters, a few spine-tingling scenes, alternate worlds, crazy stalkers…everything you want in a King novel.

More than anything though, this is the story of a long, love-filled marriage. And while it has blood and gore, what it has most is heart.

I’m not a huge fan of King’s later books (starting with Rose Madder and excluding The Green Mile and the concluding books of The Dark Tower Series), but Lisey’s Story is of the same high caliber as the early 90s era of Gerald’s Game, Dolores Claiborne, and Insomnia.

I’m actually a little sad that it’s over, and isn’t that the best thing one can say about a book?