Duma Key

Mortice Root · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject:

Luci, don't misunderstand me, none of the character's are like Larry, they're just as fully realized as Larry. IMO, of course.
Smile

Hope you enjoy the book!
_________________
"The plural of antecdotes is not evidence."
-------------
Driving down the razor's edge between the past and the future
Turn up the music and smile
Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times

Cail · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject:

No way. Larry Underwood was a great character, but he pales in comparison to how well the characters in this book were realized.
_________________
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________

lucimay · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject:

whoa.

right. leavin work early to go to book store. Big Grin

_________________
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies

i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio

a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~

lucimay · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:

finished Duma Key last night.

i had a different experience reading this book than i've had reading any other stephen king novel.
this time, i was acutely aware of the structure and arc of the story.
all the regular cast and characters were there. all the regular king
tropes. it wasn't fresh or new, it was familiar, almost comfortingly so.
and still i was entertained.

halfway through i had a little "ding dong avon calling" moment where i realized what stephen king really writes about. i know, i know, i
sometimes have to be hit over the head with the obvious.

king writes about relationships.

pick your favorites: red and andy; larry & everybody including himself, stu & franny, franny & her dad, nick & tom; ted brautigan and bobby; roland & jake, eddie and roland, or eddie and his brother; carrie and her mother; paul edgecomb and john coffey (he's done george and lenny several times Wink

); dolores claiborne and vera, dolores and her daughter; edgar and wireman...well i could go on and on.

he finds the best things about relationships
and makes them shine.

and that's what keeps me reading stephen king. and that's what makes him a great writer. and that's why, dispite familiarity with tropes, situations, plots, arcs, or characters, i always enjoy it.
_________________
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies

i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio

a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~

Cail · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:03 am Post subject:

Well duh.... Wink

You may well disagree with this, but using your (presumably) favorite example....

Larry Underwood was a secondary character in The Stand. However Larry's development is pretty impressive, and it's impressive for a writer to invest so much texture into a secondary character.

Truthfully, I think that what King excels at is writing characters. Once the character is established, it's much easier to write meaningful relationships.
_________________
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________

lucimay · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject:

Endymion9 · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

lucimay · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject:

yeah it's settling on me too. i totally forgot to mention how i really liked the "how to draw a picture" parts. those were very cool.
_________________
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies

i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio

a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~

Harbinger · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:23 am Post subject:

I loved this book.
_________________
Never underestimate the power of denial. - Ricky Fitts

lorin · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:49 am Post subject:

I am half way through this and I have to say I am loving it. It is a really back to basics approach. Such a change from his multi character multi perspective approaches that he is famous for. I love the narrative style. And so subtle. After reading The Dome I was about to shelve King for good. I had had it with his convoluted superficial approach to story writing. I am so thrilled to read this.

Great book!
_________________
The loudest truth I ever heard was the softest sound.

Endymion9 · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:04 am Post subject:

What amazed me about this book, is I was about 60% through it, I realized nothing spooky or supernatural has really happened yet, it has all been relationship and setup and yet I was totally on the edge of my seat engrossed. Not many authors can get me to do that without significant action occurring.

It's like coming across a storyteller at a campsight and just wanting to listen to every word they are saying. No matter what they are talking about.
_________________
~I was born to rock the boat. Some will sink but we will float. Grab your coat. Let's get out of here. You're my witness. I'm your Mutineer~ - Warren Zevon

lorin · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:28 am Post subject:

Ok, I finished it...finally. I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I have a new perspective on King. After reading The Cell and Under the Dome I had just about given up on him as a writer. I felt that he was inundating these books, especially Dome, with a gazillion characters as a bit of a distraction form a poor plot line going nowhere. The along came Duma, which was completely different.

This story is ABOUT the characters, not just adding one person after another. I think this book was his way of dealing with his injuries from the car accident and his efforts to start over. He WAS Edgar. You could feel what Edgar was going through, trying to make sense of his life. In Kings "On Writing" he talks about his struggles to put his life back together after that bad accident.

And the prose were just wonderful. He took the time to bring the reader to Duma, both in the new millennium and in the 20's. A lot of his words seemed to move in swells like a poem, like the ocean. For the most part the book is written in narrative from Edgar. I think this is a harder way to approach writing and keep the reader hooked. It requires patience from the reader. There are no huge monsters in this book, more of a slow swelling of scary characters, but never the terrifying clowns in the sewer system. I think the closer a horror book comes to real life the more terrifying the story.

I think this is one of my favorite King books.
_________________
The loudest truth I ever heard was the softest sound.

Avatar · Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:30 am Post subject:

So I finally read this, and I enjoyed it overall.

Seems more like a return to what I would call "classic" King. I didn't feel it was spectacular, but it was good.

Cell was better I thought.

Perhaps a few previously used techniques re-appearing. Usual foreshadowing, but not too badly done, with maybe one exception.

--A
_________________
It's easy to judge. It's more difficult to understand.