Grading: Duma Key

[Aaron]

http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/510/medium/Duma_Key_face.jpg
Duma Key
Scribner, 2008


Round 2, Group I

Grading for this Book is Closed

Strength of Plot:
2.535211267 (Graded B+)

Character Development:
2.802816901 (Graded A)

Quality of Ending:
2.464788732 (Graded B)

Overall Average Grade:
2.600938966 (Graded B+)

Combined Round 1 & 2 scores:
7.038438966

[razz]

nobody has graded these stories yet?
hmmm
well as for Duma Key, the plot seemed a bit slow. that's not bad, mind you. just...slow.
I loved the characters in this tale. Wireman ftw!
And I liked the ending. Not everything ends with a big bang. In fact i think that more stories should end with drowning a doll in a flashlight, figuratively speaking.

[jayson]

You might want to spoilerize that last bit Razz.

I like this new voting system. Take that stupid ending!

[razz]

heheh
sorry.

[alinda]

I liked it, and even gave it an A for plot.
Wireman, yeah he's the best!
I agree the ending wasnt the best,
but I still gave it A's all thru' I just
like the book. Oh, and the
fact I live in Florida only counted a little. :lol:

[Daghain]

Straight A's. I loved every part of this book, even the ending. :D

[Melike]

Straight A's from me, too.

[Darkthoughts]

Me too.

[Heather19]

All around A's from me. One of my favorites.

[Sam]

A's across the board.

[mae]

Again, I must bow out of ranking this book due to having not yet read it, but from all accounts it seems to be an excellent one, so I'll be sure to get to it as soon as I can.

[Jean]

A to all

[ManOfWesternesse]

A, A, B. - the ending lacked something for me, not a lot but not perfect? great Book overall.

[Patrick]

I hopped the A train and never looked back.

[astifledchance]

straight a's, man. I loved Edgar from the moment I first read the mini short story in the back of Blaze that then became Duma Key. Plot was awesome..I loved the whole atmosphere of this story and character development was excellent..you could really feel his struggle as well as seeing the others in a new light every time Edgar grew a little more. The ending was great because it was totally not what you'd expect..you thought there would be some kind of explosive end but it was something so simple that only a child would think of it...or a Nanny :)

I read it twice last year..love love loved it. :)

[alinda]

I'm reading it again ...right now. :)

[Jean]

I read it twice last year..love love loved it. :)


I'm reading it again ...right now. :)
I have a pile - four times as tall as my Xmas tree - of books I want to read right now, and now you're tempting me with the possibility of rereading Duma Key!

[obscurejude]

B/ A/ B

I gave the plot a B mainly because of the terrible foreshadowing. The ending, well, a B was a little bit generous.

The characters were awesome, particularly Wireman.

[Sam]

Ah, but the foreshadowing was what made it so great. We could see everything that was about to happen, but could only watch in horror as the realization dawned on Edgar about four pages later. That helped build the suspense and emotion of the book for me.

[obscurejude]

It had the absolute opposite effect on me. I think its a consequence of King's organic approach to writing. I'd almost bet that he goes back and adds those passages after he's finished writing. I get distracted by the juxtaposition.

[jayson]

I agree Ryan. Heavy-handed foreshadowing nullifies suspense for me. If I know what's going to happen, there's not much suspense there. Incidentally, my wife just finished this book for the first time the other night. She liked it a lot, but the first thing she said was "well, I saw the whole Ilse thing coming about 400 pages before it happened." I still think it's the best of the (non-DT) "recent King" works, but not quite "classic King" for me.

[Jean]

Ah, but the foreshadowing was what made it so great.

I think the same. This book differs greatly of all others King wrote, and it's not his "usual overdoing of foreshadowing", it's a way to lead the reader along and along the circles of nostalgy, regret, memories and goodbyes. Bears loved.

[Tiffany]

A, A, B.

Like ManofWesternesse said, the ending lacked a tiny something for me. I'm not really sure what.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I just completed Duma key last night... It was excellent but a lot softer than some of his works I have read.

[obscurejude]

Ah, but the foreshadowing was what made it so great.

I think the same. This book differs greatly of all others King wrote, and it's not his "usual overdoing of foreshadowing", it's a way to lead the reader along and along the circles of nostalgy, regret, memories and goodbyes. Bears loved.

Its interesting that my experience was completely opposite. There was nostalgia, regret, memories, and goodbyes, but they would have remained without Edgar's first person snippets and perhaps more strongly.

Different strokes and all that. :couple:

Sam, we definitely need to talk the next time I visit my family which may not be too long from now. I'm also thinking about moving to Cheraw after I graduate, so we'll definitely need to do some debating in person if you're up for it.

[Aaron]

I wasnt a huge fan of the foreshadowing, but I will admit that while the foreshadowing did take away the element of surprise, it did create a sense of dread and tension that I would not have felt otherwise. It is a powerful way to illicit emotional response from your reader. Personally, I think it could have been a bit more vague in the foreshadowing and still derived the same effect, though. Just enough where I will definitely suspect that this terrible thing is going to happen, but variable enough that I can still rebuild a modicum of hope before smashing it again.

I gave it A, A, B. The ending seemed a little weak to me, but not so much as to injure any other attribute of the story.