Sometimes I enjoy it, especially when he says it about main characters - you know you're in for a real white knuckle ride because no character is safe.
Also, it's ambiguous sometimes, because you're not quite sure which of the two characters in the dialogue will die.
But with Ilse in particular, it seemed very clear.
I have to agree with that. With Ilse it was so obvious, I'm surprised Edgar didn't see it coming.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
I could barely stand reading at all. It's the best book I've read in years, and one of the best in my whole long life - and with me having grown as soft as I am now, this quality of deep, sweet sadness that penetrates it was hardly bearable. I didn't bawl my eyes out as I had done while reading Roadwork that broke my heart into small pieces, but I had to put Duma Key aside now and then and give myself opportunity to relax, or my old heart could have exploded with this sweetness and sadness.Originally Posted by Erin
It's so King - with a ka-tet, and palavers, and really, truly scary parts, and the definitely It-like double circle, and good guys prevailing in the end, so well that some of them even actually survive -
and it's King so different from anything I read by him before.
In all his best works, however tragic or macabre, it was always life and youth (yes, even in Insomnia) and victory that penetrated the story through and through and gave it the main tune... here is it decline and fall, decay and dying and regret and goodbye and nostalgy... it's the first time I see him dedicating more than half of a book to nothing - it's way too long for exposition, and way too slow, event-wise, for buildup... no, it's only a story of happinness, and the longer the story, the shorter that happinness feels when it comes to an end.
Once the Daughter of the Godfather had been a child, holding out her picture of a smiling horse for a photographer's camera, the photographer probably some jazzy guy wearing a straw hat and arm garters. Then she had been an old woman jittering away the last of ther life in a wheelshair while her snood came loose and flailed from one final hairpin under the fluorescent lights of an art gallery office. And the time between? It probably seemsd like no more than a nod or the wave of a hand to the clear blue sky.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just finished this story tonight. (Ok it was yesterday as I write this after midnight.)
Great story! A very human story, but some old style creepiness too what with the ghoulish crew-members (especially the little girls.)
Well he sort of did, that's why he called her up to burn the picture.
(We of course knew that wasn't the end what with all King's foreshadowing.)
When the picture twisted round and bit her hand as she put it in the oven I thought "Uh oh. She'll die in the night of poisoning." Especially when he remembered off-hand that he should have told her to disinfect the area... then went to sleep.
It completely threw me when I found out what actually happened. I knew she'd die but I didn't see that coming.
As for Perse, when I first saw that red robed figure in the girl and ship painting,
(Dark Tower 7 spoilers just in case you haven't read it)
Spoiler:
Then it was mentioned as 'vaguely female' and I thought maybe it was his mother although she is only mentioned in the Gunslinger Born backstories, and as such may be a Robin Furth creation. Still, that might have been interesting. Grendel was killed, now here's mother, so to speak. Then I thought it might be Rose Madder, after her 'becoming.'
Now I think Perse is just her own creature (as much as she can be her own creature considering all those people she gets to do her dirty work), but the amount of references to red in the book (and not just Perse's robes but the main character's state of mind during negative moments) certainly suggests a strong link. The reference to 'elder gods' certainly suggests she is a related species, i.e. of the prim. But one who has linked her power with the sea for some reason.
As for the ending, I admit I would have liked some kind of climatic battle, preferably with Perse making an appearance in the flesh. Possibly even on the Death ship. But then again King's books aren't really about that, at least not any more. The suggestion almost seemed to be that the china figurineitself was her, but I'm not convinced that's entirely right either. She seemed to have placed more of her essence into it than a regular can-tah though since drowning the figurine affected her too.
I actually thought, for just a moment, that Ilse would survive through it all. I have had plenty of time to think about Duma Key and where it fits in the pantheon of King. I think that it is as good as people have said. I read it as soon as I got my copy (when it was first released) and I still think of it probably once a week. Only the best books hold us under their spell after we're done.
Duma Key will likely rank among his top ten in the years to come. (If not, top fifteen)
Margaret Emmie Mackey Catoe, you are, have been, and always will be my soulmate, and I love you.
Con todo mi corazon, por todo de mis dias. And I always will, in this life and into the next.
August 2, 1947 - September 24, 2010
I absolutely enjoyed Duma Key. It even scared me a little as I read it late at night with the lights dimmed.
"The Big Boy has TEEF!" was one of my favorite lines from the book.
A true firewasp ninja would never wear such a ridiculous sweater.
There's logic in nonsense.
Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.
I'm not going to read the thread yet, but I couldn't resist a post. I'm almost a third of the way through it, and I can't believe I put off reading it for so long.
I must admit I was put off by the preview at the end of Blaze because of what happened to Edgar. I have a completely irrational but nearly phobic fear of losing a limb.
Finally after some activity here this weekend, I just picked it up and dove in and have been swept away by the story as I seem to be by everything SK writes.
i'm not finished yet but i had to take a peek to see what everyone else was saying and i agree with most of you. i'm loving it! after the first few pages i found myself laughing to tears at edgar.
as for dt ties, what about the use of the word char?
big bearlove for all who love Duma Key!
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about for those of us who love everything except the so-called "climax"?
If there is a category in the Constant Reader Awards for "Worst Ending in a King Story" I am voting for Duma Key. Sad too because I loved the rest of the book.
Big Bearlove comes your way non-stop even though you don't understand shit about endings, Jayson!
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well there was more than the forshadowing(is that a word) of Ilse's passing...remember her telling Wireman to throw the tin with various china dolls into the pond? that was her way of telling them without so many words how to get rid of Perse...
Does whatever a spiderman does.
Well, I finished it and of course thought it was wonderful. I, like so many others could have used a little less of the foreshadowing, but my god, who am I to talk....I can barely write thank-you notes.
I think by the whole spirit of it, it's the one book where the foreshadowing isn't out of place, or can't be overdone
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is one of my favorite SK stories. I love this book. I will give it a very BIG 5 when time comes.
The answer is within
all matter is energy, all energy is GOD
The more time passes, the more I think this will be one of King's greats. When the time comes this one is getting a 5 from me. I won't be surprised to see if move on in the voting.
Margaret Emmie Mackey Catoe, you are, have been, and always will be my soulmate, and I love you.
Con todo mi corazon, por todo de mis dias. And I always will, in this life and into the next.
August 2, 1947 - September 24, 2010
Drown the bitch!
I'm certainly giving this one a 5.
A true firewasp ninja would never wear such a ridiculous sweater.
There's logic in nonsense.
Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.
it is!
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd give it a 4. It was excellent, but spoiled by the ending(s). Too bad, would have been one of his very best, imo.
What didn't you like about the ending?
John
I personally thought the ending was as perfect as the whole book.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get the feeling it has one too many closures, something like The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The Ilse part of the ending was a bit too much maybe. I don't know. It's still a great book, as I said. My girlfriend is reading it now, she's enjoying it. It's her first SK book ever.
If King had not ended it with the "multiple" closures as he did, he'd have people complaining that he left too many plot threads unresolved.
I agree with the Bear, I thought he did a masterful job.
John
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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