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Lisey's Story: A Novel
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
7 posts | 6 read
Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, that 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, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love. Amazon.com Review Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Lisey's Story, once again King is trying something different. Lisey's Story is as much a romance as it is a supernatural thriller--but don't let us convince you. Who better to tell readers if King has written a romantic thriller than Nora Roberts? We asked Nora to read Lisey's Story and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham Guest Reviewer: Nora Roberts Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is the author of way too many bestselling books to name here (over 150!), but some of our favorites include: Angels Fall, Born in Death, Blue Smoke, and The Reef. Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover. But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart. Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man. Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy. Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance. Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems. A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth. --Nora Roberts From Publishers Weekly King's latest bid for literary respectability is read by acclaimed actress Winningham, best known for her Oscar-nominated performance in Georgia. Winningham glazes King's novel in multiple coats of Southern honey, her voice shimmering with an old-fashioned glow for the tale of Lisey Landon, wife of acclaimed novelist Scott Landon, and her effort to discover the source of her husband's inspiration after his death. Winningham is a good fit for King in a less terror-filled mood, capturing the book's blend of the sentimental and the comic. The narrative is ushered in and out by the strains of Ryan Adams's "When the Stars Go Blue," and King reads his own afterword, where he details the sources of his own inspiration, carefully distancing himself and his loved ones from the characters in his book while making it clear that, like Scott Landon, he must dive deep into his subconscious and into the pool of literary history, to find inspiration. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
LibraryThing
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BarkingMadRead
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Have you ever looked under the dust jacket of this one? Crazy! I‘m starting today, reading roughly 20 pages a day, although I always finish out the chapter! I‘ve never seen any other cover, so if you have one that‘s different, be sure and tag me so I can see it! #LosersClub #StephenKing #StephenKingInOrder #KingFromTheBeginning #ConstantReader #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #BookDiscussion #ghosthostpost
 

See All 11 Comments
Addison_Reads I've always loved the artwork under the dust jacket. 💚 2y
tpixie Wow this is gorgeous!! That‘s such a nice surprise. That‘s one of the reasons I don‘t like hardbacks as much as paperbacks- because once you take the paper cover off , usually the book itself is boring. 2y
BarkingMadRead @tpixie yes! Usually some dark color underneath with no personality 2y
BookwormAHN Wow 🖤 2y
KathyWheeler That‘s lovely. I don‘t have a hardback copy. Mine was an Advanced Reader‘s Copy that I got at the American Library Association conference before the book was released. 2y
BarkingMadRead @KathyWheeler that‘s so cool! 2y
Sparklemn Lovely! 💛 2y
Erinsuereads It's easily the wildest book on my shelf! 2y
54 likes11 comments
review
Brooke_H
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Bailedbailed

It‘s just so bad, from the made-up baby language to the toxic codependent Lisey/Scott relationship. I bowed out at the nauseating physical torture the villain inflicts on Lisey. No thanks. Bailing halfway thru.

18 likes1 stack add
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Brooke_H
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Saying a character looks like John Lennon on one page then on the very next page saying that same character is “going to pull a Mark David Chapman” is distasteful and makes me feel icky. 😕

review
booklover3258
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Bailedbailed

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/91QN6KOtO8k

Enjoy!

32 likes1 stack add
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Cortg
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Just finished what I hope is our last virtual book club meeting, we read Nothing to See Here. Now getting some personal reading time in with some extremely loud cicada noise going on all around me!

AlaMich It‘s insane how loud they can be!! 3y
Cortg @AlaMich They are SO loud! I can hear them driving down the road with my windows up and music playing! 3y
48 likes2 comments
review
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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Panpan

Mare Winningham's audio narration was FANTASTIC but I'm glad this smucking book is over! Listening to Lisey's Story for 19 hours on CD over the last two weeks means I had a lot of time to think about this. It was too long. Parts of this book felt unimportant to the ultimate story and others were repetitive to the point where I was hoping for some clown to emerge from the sewer in an unexpected crossover to take out every last one of them. ⬇️

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Lisey is boring. Her sisters are boring. Zero scares, and the most thrilling part was a scene with a can opener! And worst of all, there were so many words and phrases that are like inside jokes/family phrases that are supposed to take you into their specific story but really just grated my nerves into a parmesan-like substance. Among the grating are smucking (in lieu of it's rhyming F word), bool (still couldn't 100% explain WTF it is), ⬇️ 3y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick parents referred to as Goodma & Dandy, and most annoying, is this famous writer can't call the blanket an afghan, but an African. The only vaguely supernatural thing about this is the place Lisey's husband has taken her at times, a bit like The Upside-Down of you're a Stranger Things fan, called Booya Moon. I'm just not sentimental enough for this sort of self-indulgent story. At least there are beaucoup team points for this one. ⬇️ 3y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick #scarathalon2020 #teamharkness @staycurious 2,016 total points on this
15 points for the (barely) team theme +1 participation plus 19 full hours for 8 'thons my #Bookspin book for Oct @thearomaofbooks #screamathon @4thhouseontheleft #gothtober #sbooktober #readlikehellathon #bookishbingo #nameinthetitlereadathon #supernaturalathon and less hours for these shorter 'thons #theautumnreadathon 9h, #Thrillathon 3h, #cyoreadathon 3h, #october8in2 2h,⬇️
3y
TheAromaofBooks A perfect review! 😂 3y
37 likes5 comments
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CSeydel
Lisey's Story: A Novel | Stephen Book
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I‘ve missed a few but I‘m jumping back in today because I had to shout out Lisey‘s Story. I really enjoyed it — so weird and yet so beautiful. #KingAtoZ

GarthRanzz Very good choice. I love seeing this book get its due recognition. 😊 6y
JessClark78 One of my favorites. 6y
Bookladylinda I‘m moving this one up on my TBR! 6y
75 likes1 stack add3 comments