Lisey's Story

I have loved Stephen King's stories for years (decades?) This book has become one of my favorites! I'm not sure if I should describe the pace as steady or fast; I guess I'd say it is steadily at the perfect pace. The story goes back and forth between the present, various times in Lisey and her late-husband's past, and his descriptions of his childhood. Occasionally, I backed up a little to make sure I knew where I was, but that was more likely due to my eagerness to see what was next, than a reflection of the writing. I was quickly drawn in and almost resented it when I had to stop reading. (Is sleep absolutely necessary?) It's the quintessential story that you're dying to know what happened but can't stand the thought of finishing it!

I loved the characters! They were interesting, complex and relatable. Lisey was not a "poor me, my husband died" kind of character but my heart ached for her. Her relationship with her sisters was realistic. Her husband's childhood was horrifying but, other than the supernatural aspects, was also realistic. (I worked at a psychiatric hospital for children and sadly, it is all too realistic.)

Stephen King tells stories in a way that is completely immersive and I have sometimes felt that the stories are so phenomenal that it's impossible to end them in a way that does the rest of the story justice or is ultimately satisfying. (This is not intended as an insult in any way! He really is my favorite author and how do you put an end to such excellence?) This is not one of those stories. The ending was perfect!

Though some of the other reviewers here took issue with made-up words, it's skill with dialect and dialogue and the way we use words to generate intimacy and reflect our personas that are at the core of my respect for Stephen King, novelist. It's very difficult to write any form of dialogue containing slang or dialect without losing people, and though King clearly lost some readers with his african afghan, I loved it all. We think everything is funny when we're young, we laugh to connect with others we've just met, and we form new languages to establish trust and intimacy before they are really there. We laugh with high school friends about stuff that wasn't funny, but it was funny back then because we wanted to laugh together and feel accepted by each other when we were fragile in our egos, before we grew up and knew who we were. That Lisey and Scott still use the language of young people even after being married for twenty-five years spoke of the depth of their relationship.

I've seldom read a book in which I so quickly became convinced of the love shared by Lisey and Scott. This was particularly impressive because Scott's dead. He is dead the whole book long. And Lisey is not nearly as interesting as Scott, but she manages to carry us beside her through the entire novel because we need to know what Scott saw in HER. We do find out in the end. Even though I didn't like bits and pieces of this novel, I am giving it five stars because I am still thinking about Lisey and Scott's relationship months after reading this book. AND THEY DON'T EXIST. -- Rita Arens, author of contemporary young adult novel THE OBVIOUS GAME (InkSpell Publishing, 2013)

Let me just say that for a dude, SK really knows how to write women. I know his wife Tabby probably helps immensely with his research, so my thanks go out to her, too.

This is a story of love, of what happens after you've lost that most important person in your life and they don't lay down quietly, but must have their say. Reminding you in stark detail all that you tried to sweep under the rug and ignore, but with the ultimate goal of getting Lisey to get on with her life. I see myself in Lisey, just like I have seen myself as many of the women that SK has written about, Rose Madder, Susannah Dean and Susan Delgado.

How SK reaches in and finds out our secrets and brings them to light just amazes me every time. I don't want to give away any spoilers, because when I read a review, I want to know if something is worth my time, or not. Believe me, this audio book is time well spent. Now a word about Mare Willingham's reading.

Fabulous!!!! I have listened to many books Mare has read over the years and this one is my favorite. She had tears running down my face more than once because her expression of the tale was so poignant. It was almost like Mare was telling the story of her own life and had all the richness and emotion of things remembered to go along with it.

To sum up, this novel is just a delight and full of all things you expect from SK and more. Try it you'll really like it!

Since 1979, I’ve read Stephen King’s books. Some delighted me, some made me sad, some helped me understand myself and know I wasn’t alone. While many people think of his genre as horror, I feel that he couldn’t write as he does without having had and feared losing love. I’m so very grateful that he is on the same planet at the same time as I am! This novel shows why.

"Lisey's Story" is like "Bag of Bones" in reverse, with a little "Secret Window, Secret Garden" thrown in (as well as a pinch of Richard Matheson's "What Dreams May Come" and King's "Rose Madder").

But it is much more than a retread. While I don't agree with King that it's the best novel he's ever written, it is quite compelling.

"Lisey's Story" is another King tale about marriage, loss and grief. And though some of it certainly gets lugubrious -- King always had a sentimental streak to go along with the gore -- it is never less than heartfelt. With all of its ghosts and stalkers and violence and strange exotic worlds and manifestations of death itself, "Lisey's Story" is really about picking yourself up after someone you love dies and moving on with your life.

King's story is about a woman who loses her beloved husband, and the book absolutely aches at its core.

The book has a tried-and-true plot structure -- a treasure-hunt (sorry, bool-hunt) of clues left behind that slowly reveals to Lisey (and us) what in the world is going on. King very effectively teases us and paws at us as he gradually lets us in on the truth. I found the plotting in "Lisey's Story" -- which asks you to pay attention -- to be some of the best in a King book in quite a while.

Of course, the book isn't only about love and heartbreak; it also provides some frights. King's description of the longboy, and a close encounter someone has with it, was completely horrifying in a weirdly real way. It is an image I can't imagine I will ever forget.

Ironically, King said he wrote this book while suffering from pneumonia and running to the bathroom to vomit. Despite this, he really loved the book and, like I mentioned already, considers it the best thing he's ever written.

"Lisey's Story" is just the type of skewed, twisted love story you'd expect King to create -- haunting, a little maudlin, frightening, and ultimately grounding all the crazy disparate elements in a relationship that feels utterly believable.

This is such a scary story on so many levels. It has layers of suspense that keep you tingling and reading but really it's a love story and a story about the horror and ever-changing face of grief. Lisey's story illustrates that evil that lurks just below the surface and lures people over the edge into lunacy. I read a "professional" review of Lisey's Story and the reviewer skewered Mr. King for Lisey's language idiosyncrasies and the local vernacular. I honestly feel the reviewer missed the point. I loved "hearing" the Mainer accent and the idioms that Lisey used. Also, I think some of the language shared between Lisey and Scott show not only the comfort level they have with each other but also a precious intimacy that comes with time and closeness. I think one of Stephen King's strengths is his ability to connect his characters with their location and community. I love how he hears language and makes it a part of the story. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stephen King doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's unilaterally dismissed when he is not only one of the best story tellers we have, he's an artist with language. It's also a story about survival and resilience. It's a story about how books, imagination and language can be a life preserver. In the end it's a story about love and how familial bonds give us strength and purpose and support. Lisey had her sisters and her eccentric family and their homespun culture. Scott had Lisey. Mr. King illustrated how the little things, gifts, homemade or simplistic hold a powerful magic to "anchor" us to home.

In some ways this book is mistitled, because even though we see everything through Lisey, the title character, the story really belongs to Scott, Lisey's deceased novelist husband. Lisey's struggles, even her torture at the hands of a maniac, never achieve the intensity of Scott's, and even when she faces the demons, she faces them second-hand: they are really Scott's demons, after all. (Of course, this being a Stephen King story, Scott's demons are REAL creatures, very nasty looking indeed.)

On the other hand, the book does raise up Lisey. It shows the true story of her and Scott's relationship and how most of his success really belongs to her behind-the-scenes actions. This book reveals the story that only Scott and Lisey know, and that Lisey herself has not fully acknowledged until now. In that way, the tale becomes a tribute to wives in general and, I suspect, to King's wife in particular. It is fitting that he dedicates the book to Tabitha King.

For those who only care about horror and suspense, this book has plenty. But even more, the book has sadness. The sadness of loss, inevitable loss, loss that cannot be conceived by those who have not loved deeply. As in so many of King's books, love is active here: strengthening, healing, redeeming. Love shines through the darkness and sweetens the moments of sorrow.

A tender tribute and a good read.

This is the 34th book of SK I've read (since 2017) so I want to put this review into that perspective. Every book of King's I've read has been 'good' but some far better than others. To be expected with such a body of work.

This book was at the near bottom of my list because it was simply TOO long. Not necessarily in page count; "The Stand", the entire Dark Tower series, "It", to name a few of my favorites were far longer in page count. This book is just too long, in need of editing. As others have written, and I agree, the first 150-170 pages just seem to go on and on and on. Yes, the characters, like all of King's works are interesting; to a point. Once the book gets going, it stalls along the way too. I found this book, much like "Bag of Bones" and "Duma Key" are simply too long for what the reader gets. Yes, there are moving and interesting parts of this book and the others mentioned, but they are outnumbered by narrative that just needs a lot of trimming. I actually found Scott's story far more interesting than Lisey's or her too many sisters. And the 'protagonist' is isn't all that fleshed out or interesting. Compared to say Rose the Hat in "Dr. Sleep"; this guy is a bore.

I did finish the book; no way I'd not do so as a dedicated constant reader. And there are some good bits among a lot of narrative that's not at all engaging.

If you're new to King, or if you've read a lot of his work and are looking for something new, I'd put those three books towards the bottom of the option list. Of course, if you've read all of Kings works and this is all you have left, read them. Nothing he writes deserves less than three stars based on the 34 books I've read so far.