Lisey's Story

by Stephen King | Audiobooks |
ISBN: 0743556003 Global Overview for this book
Registered by carlissa of Gainesville, Florida USA on 10/13/2008
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4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by carlissa from Gainesville, Florida USA on Monday, October 13, 2008
Synopsis

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty five year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Lisey knew there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, 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 ever, Lisey's Story is about the wellspings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love

The Washington Post - Ron Charles

With Lisey's Story, King has crashed the exclusive party of literary fiction, and he'll be no easier to ignore than Carrie at the prom. His new novel is an audacious meditation on the creative process and a remarkable intersection of the different strains of his talent: the sensitivity of his autobiographical essays, the insight of his critical commentary, the suspense of his short stories and the psychological terror of his novels. (And yes, a few hairy monsters.) They're all evoked here in this moving story about the widow of a famous writer trying to lay her grief to rest.
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unabridged, 16 CDs, read by Mare Winningham

Journal Entry 2 by carlissa from Gainesville, Florida USA on Monday, March 30, 2009
It took me awhile to get into this book, but I'm glad I persevered. The narrator, Mare Winningham, is an excellent narrator.

I will save this book for the next audio bookbox that comes my way.

Journal Entry 3 by carlissa at Booklady331 CD only audio bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Released 14 yrs ago (4/14/2009 UTC) at Booklady331 CD only audio bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

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In booklady331's audio bookbox

Journal Entry 4 by wingKateKintailwing from Burke, Virginia USA on Thursday, July 30, 2009
I'm taking this out of the bookbox.

I was thrilled to find this in the bookbox! I love Stephen King, especially on audio, and I haven't read or earread this one yet.

Journal Entry 5 by wingKateKintailwing from Burke, Virginia USA on Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I usually really enjoy Stephen King's books. I love his concepts (usually) and I can usually stick it out through the novels and enjoy myself, even when they might get a tad too long for my liking. This book, however, was one I did NOT like very much. I can't really find anything good to say about it apart from the fact that it was an okay concept.

The situation was strange; an author's widow dealing with the emotional and realistic aspects of her writer-husband's death. How did King write this? It's kind of morbid for a writer to invent a writer, kill him off, and spend the whole book imaging how the loved ones would cope.

It took a lot of effort to get through this book because I just couldn't get myself into the story. I was watching (listening) to the story, but I didn't feel a part of it. I didn't feel emotionally invested. In fact, the only real emotions I felt were 1-annoyance and 2-curiosity regarding how it would end. But the end wasn't the least bit satisfying to me and seemed to end as abruptly as the chapters which stop mid-sentence and threw me the first time they did that (requiring me to re-listen to a whole chapter until I realized it was just King trying to be clever and engaging and annoying me).

There was a lot to be annoyed about. There are little secrets throughout the book, that slowly get revealed. Instead of being mysterious, I just found it annoying that the important things weren't right up front for me. It wasn't until I was something like halfway through the book that I even realized there were paranormal elements in this story. If there was something at the beginning about this, I don't remember it/didn't pick up on it. So it felt as if the whole story was suddenly shifting under my feet; I was unsteady the whole way through, and that prevented me from grabbing hold and really caring. The shared vocabulary between Lisey and Scott was also really annoying. A few cute little inside joke words here and there would have been fine, but there were so very many and most of them sounded stupid to me. Also, the biggest, most important made-up word "Bool" had multiple meanings/connotations; this wasn't confusing, just annoying. I found phrases like "strap it on" and "Baby love" and "bad gunky" popping into my normal speech while I was earreading this and then I'd kinda feel icky for saying them. Smuck that! I hope that, after writing this review, those phrases leave my consciousness completely. It wasn't the least bit interesting or endearing hearing the characters use them (they put me at a distance instead of drawing me in) and I don't want to use them now. I dunno... maybe it was because some of the phrasing felt so... what's the right way to say it? Small town/back roads hick-like? I don't know. I love fake, made-up words, but none of them appealed to me. And THEN there was a whole separate shared vocabulary that Lisey had with her family/sisters, so it all started to feel a bit... well, not silly... but forced. Yes, forced. Like he was trying too hard to create something with SUCH a different feel to it. Problem is, I liked the old styles & feels!

And then you have Lisey, who was just plain annoying at times as a character. I found it very difficult to like her or root for her. I didn't want her to die, but I kind of didn't care what happened to her. I liked her husband, Scott, quite a lot; however, he is dead for the current story (apart from the many flashbacks). Sometimes I liked Lisey's sister... and other times she got on my nerves (but I think that largely has to do with the voice the reader chose to use for "Manda Bunny".

I actually liked some of the paranormal-type elements and if they had been done differently, in different ways, with different situations, I'm sure I would have LOVED this book. The whole backstory with Scott and his brother & father really captured me. I liked the idea of the pool/healing and the Blood Bool cutting and the whatever that bad gunky thing that took over Paul was. I seriously loved what whole part.

But the rest... the flashback with the "Southern-fried chicken shit" and silver spade, the king of the incuncs & McCool (who was just horrible; not scary so much as crazy), the whole main plot itself... I could have done without all of that quite happily. And I could have done with it being told differently as well. The story had so many abrupt jumps and changes and never spelled anything out completely, which, again, was annoying. I just had a feeling of dislike the whole time for the content and the style and the execution. Which is such a pity because I always respect when authors try something new. This totally didn't work for me.

Journal Entry 6 by wingKateKintailwing at Fairfax Station, Virginia USA on Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Released 14 yrs ago (2/23/2010 UTC) at Fairfax Station, Virginia USA

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Adding this to indygo88's audio bookbox. I hope it is enjoyed!

Journal Entry 7 by indygo88 from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Friday, April 9, 2010
Arrived home in my bookbox. I remember seeing it pass by me once before, but I let it go on to the next person (I think it was you, Kate). I haven't yet decided if I'll read it or pass it on, but for now it's going into Mt. TBR....

Journal Entry 8 by indygo88 at Lafayette, Indiana USA on Friday, February 25, 2022
Lisey (pronounced "Lee-see"), widowed approximately two years earlier, is finally getting to the point of going through her late husband's things. Scott (her husband) was a relatively famous and well-known writer, and Lisey has been pestered somewhat by his alma mater to release some of his unpublished works, or at least to release them to the university. Meanwhile, her sister Amanda experiences a mental health episode and progresses into a state of catatonia. Scott, in the past, had alluded to some mental health issues in his family as well. Though not directly related, their stories intertwine and soon Lisey finds herself not only in danger, but fluctuating back and forth between the reality of the here and now and the alternate universe known as Boo'ya Moon.

Well, not sure where to start with this one. I've enjoyed some Stephen King in the past, and though many of his stories have either a horror and/or a supernatural element, not all of them do. Sometimes his story lines turn me off. At other times they pull me in and I remember once again that he is a very talented writer. This particular novel seems to have lots of mixed reviews, and I tend to fall into the underwhelmed category with this one. I was tempted to give up on it a few times, but I persevered until the end. Was it weird? Yes. I didn't love it. I'm not even sure that I liked it. I still am not sure that I know where King was trying to go with this story. Sometimes I felt that the plot was wandering aimlessly, with too many things going on, jumping back and forth between reality and fantasy. For some readers, it works. For me, not so much, at least not in this book. Some of the repetitive made-up words got to be tedious and annoying. (I had read that about this book in other reviews, but didn't really get it until I read it myself.) My overall opinion: if you're a die-hard Stephen King fan, you'd probably like this because it does feature a lot of classic King "stuff". But if you want to be more choosy or selective, go for one of his classics or my personal favorite, the more recent 11/22/63, which is a fantastic read.

Journal Entry 9 by wingAnonymousFinderwing at Davenport, Florida USA on Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Excited to Read!

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