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Interviews | June 19, 2009

Dave: IMG Jim Lynch Makes Landscape Art... Out of Text



jimlynchIf Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Jim Lynch's Border Songs. Continue »
  1. $18.16 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    Border Songs

    Jim Lynch

Lisey's Story: A Novel

by Stephen King

Lisey's Story: A Novel Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went — a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live.

Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.

Review:

"Following King's triumphant return to the world of gory horror in Cell, the bestselling author proves he's still the master of supernatural suspense in this minimally bloody but disturbing and sorrowful love story set in rural Maine. Lisey's husband, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Scott Landon, has been dead for two years at the book's start, but his presence is felt on every page. Lisey hears him so often in her head that when her catatonic sister, Amanda, begins speaking to her with Scott's voice, she finds it not so much unbelievable as inevitable. Soon she's following a trail of clues that lead her to Scott's horrifying childhood and the eerie world called Boo'ya Moon, all while trying to help Amanda and avoid a murderous stalker. Both a metaphor for coming to terms with grief and a self-referencing parable of the writer's craft, this novel answers the question King posed 25 years ago in his tale 'The Reach': yes, the dead do love. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Admit it: You've been a horrible snob about Stephen King. You've rolled your eyes at passengers on the Metro reading 'Pet Sematary.' You've told your son to put down 'Salem's Lot' and get a real book. When King won a lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation, you gleefully quoted Harold Bloom's crack about this new 'low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life.'

... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Review:

"A taut thriller that is also a remarkable and haunting love story. Several years after he declared he was done with writing, King appears at the top of his game and Lisey's Story unveils yet another aspect of his vast repertoire." Baltimore Sun

Review:

"King, often at his most powerful when exploring grief...takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through the artifacts of a marriage....There is little doubt that, in its monster-strewn, pop culture-laden way, this is also Stevie's Story. An essential addition to all King collections." Library Journal

Review:

"King is surprisingly introspective and mature here. He showcases the agony and the ecstasy of the writing process....One of King's finest works." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"This is King at his best. Retired or not, he's at the top of his form. And Lisey's Story proves once again that, as a storyteller, a fantasist and a chronicler of the human condition, he has no match." Rocky Mountain News

Review:

"It's a powerful, genuinely moving novel: without a doubt one of the finest King has ever written." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Review:

"[A] long, often long-feeling, utterly Stephen Kingish novel....The book is also, perhaps, a parable about love and imagination that affirms love as the more salvific of the two." Booklist

Review:

"Lisey's Story is...a touching exploration of grief, an honest appraisal of marriage, a salute to resolute women and a paean to the collective imagination that links and sustains us. It's also a horrifying tale of child abuse, madness, mutilation and a monster almost too appalling to describe." Hartford Courant

Review:

"[D]rowned by a boggy narrative he can barely steer through, there's little hope of King's finding a madeleine. In the end, this is not Lisey's story at all. It is the story of an author who should know better." Philadelphia Inquirer

Review:

"[A] beautiful, exquisitely told story, a tale of romance and passion so strong that it can outlast even the separation of death. It is also a haunting tale of true madness, the madness that exists in only the most damaged of minds." Chicago Sun-Times

Review:

"[S]hould serve as definitive notice that Stephen King has evolved from a talented writer of horror into a serious literary artist. But he has yet to abandon the conventions that have made him a household name: a childish fixation on riddles and torture, a tendency to allow plot to trump character, action to overrun drama." Steve Almond, The Los Angeles Times

Review:

"[P]assionate, often wrenching....This Story might take awhile to draw you in, but once King has you in his grasp, you'll willingly follow him to the end, no matter how scary things get along the way." Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram

Review:

"[A] tender, intimate book that makes an epic interior journey without covering much physical terrain....The scope sounds modest, yet this book is haunting even by Mr. King's standards. And he knows a thing or two about haunting." Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Review:

"Lisey's Story is a wondrous novel of marriage, a love story steeped in strength and tenderness, and cast with the most vivid, touching, and believable characters in recent literature. I came to adore Lisey Landon and her sisters, I ached for Scott and all he'd been through, and when I finally reached the bittersweet and heartfelt conclusion, my first thought was that I wanted to start over again from the beginning, for it felt as if I were saying good-bye to old friends. This is Stephen King at his finest and most generous, a dazzling novel that you'll thank yourself for reading long after the final page is turned." Nicholas Sparks, author of At First Sight and The Notebook

Review:

"In Lisey's Story, Stephen King makes bold, brilliant use of his satanic storytelling gift, his angelic ear for language, and, above all, his incomparable ability to find the epic in the ordinary, to present us with the bloody and fabulous tale of an ordinary marriage. In his hands, the long, passionate union of Scott and Lisey Landon — of any long-lived marriage, by implication — becomes a fantastic kingdom, with its own geography and language, its dark and stirring chronicle of heroes and monsters, its tragedies, griefs, and glories. King has been getting me to look at the world with terror and wonder since I was fifteen years old, and I have never been more persuaded than by this book of his greatness." Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Synopsis:

Every marriage has two hearts, one light and one dark, and Lisey Landon must confront both. King's most personal and powerful book to date is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.

About the Author

Stephen King has written more than forty novels and two hundred short stories. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. King has also received the O. Henry Award for his story "The Man in the Black Suit." Among his most recent worldwide bestsellers are Cell, the Dark Tower series, On Writing, The Green Mile, and Bag of Bones. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
beannikki, April 3, 2008 (view all comments by beannikki)
A very imaginative story, full of twists and turns and a world you never would believe could exist. I was so enthralled that i could not put it down.
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(6 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
Donna Denn, September 29, 2007 (view all comments by Donna Denn)
Lisey (pronounced Lee-See) and Scott are a young couple in love and become a couple married for a good number of years. Scott is an author who comes from a violent childhood. To me, this story is just about as much his as it is Lisey's. We travel back and forth in time, where King explains to us what's happened in the past that makes the present make sense.

Scott has met with an unfortunate death and leaves behind a few things for Lisey to find. These things will help her more than you think. Once Scott has left this life, Lisey is contacted by people who want to go over Scott's unpublished work. One of these people, a man by the name of Jimmy Dooley (and several other names), contacts Lisey and threatens her. His threats are not just so much hot air, as Lisey finds out, and finds out the hard way. He's a violent man, one who will kill her if he can, who will use any excuse to do it. Or perhaps he doesn't need an excuse. He wants to torture her first, though. Let me tell you, this is one bad man to run into!

Lisey's sister, Amanda, has had a troubled life herself and is known to cut herself. Lisey and her other sisters aren't sure what to do for her, other than commit her. Amanda has her part to play in the events unfolding, though. If she's locked up, she will have a difficult time helping Lisey, though. So what is Lisey to do?

For those of you who have read any of King's work, you'll understand when I say he has a way with a turn of phrase that sings. For instance: "She opened her arms to Jim Dooley and caught him like a fever." So many have gone on about how he writes as if he's sitting right there with you. I'm not so sure it's that, but rather he has the vocabulary that reaches inside of us and makes us remember we're alive. His work stands up to rereading wonderfully as many can tell you, and each plot is memorable. If you say Dreamcatcher, I can tell you what happened. If you say Insomnia or It or Gunslinger, I can do the same. Some prolific authors lose that distinction in their quantity. Not King.

LISEY'S STORY sneaks up behind you on quiet little feet, then walks beside you as you become aware of the journey you're taking. Then....wow! Suddenly you're looking at a roller coaster ride of emotions and actions and glad for the thrill of it. The evil are truly evil. Scott and Lisey, they teach us many things about love and survival. Especially love. Especially survival. You won't forget their story soon.
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(8 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)
kristyv, July 27, 2007 (view all comments by kristyv)
I haven't finished the book yet, but I don't ever want to put it down. It keeps me on my toes, wondering just what is going to happen next.
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(8 of 17 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781416523352
Author:
King, Stephen
Publisher:
Pocket Books
Author:
phen King
Author:
s, T., E.
Author:
phen King
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Horror - General
Subject:
Authors
Subject:
Marriage
Subject:
Widows
Edition Description:
Tall paperback
Publication Date:
June 2007
Binding:
Mass Market Paperbound
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
656
Dimensions:
7.5 x 4.125 in

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