Duma Key Journal 4

I finished Duma Key the other day, via audio book.  I enjoyed the book quite a bit. 

A few final notes:

1. The writing is consistently strong throughout.  The book is definitely horror.  It is not a novel that contains elements of horror, it is horror.  The book builds in ever mounting dread.  King brilliantly foreshadows the coming events, highlighting what is to come without giving the story away.

2. Art.  There's a lot of talk about art here.  It is in art that Edgar finds freedom and real brilliance.  Unfortunately, his most inspired paintings are also haunted -- and dangerous..As King discusses art, you often get the feeling he's really talking about writing.

There is so much attention given to paintings that I wish the book was illustrated!  I would like to see these brilliant paintings.  Obviously, the book cover gives us an idea of the central panting, but even that was just one in a series. 

3. Length.  Duma Key is a long novel.  Is it too long?  I don't know.  I enjoyed it all.  I find it interesting when people complain about a books length.  Are we in a hurry to finish?  Why not take your time, enjoy the ride!  I only object to a books length when it drags.  Duma Key does slow down, but I don't think it drags.

A lot of background information is giving to secondary characters.  Not just to the history of Duma Key, which is necessary to the story and unveiled very late in the novel, but to Edgar's friends and family.  I like this extra layer of texture that King gives novels.  Again, if you want a short hit and run story, either read King's novella's or read someone else.  He seems to relish in taking his time, and some of us love it!  In other words, bring on them mega books, Mr. King!

4. Money.  Once again, our lead character doesn't need to worry about money, he's filthy rich.  So rich, he can throw money at every problem that comes his way -- almost.  Though it works for this book, the rich lead character is getting thin for me. 

I enjoyed the more middle class (or dead broke) characters who inhabited Christine, Cujo, The Stand and Carrie.  The money is a sign that these characters are super successful, moving them a degree beyond the normal constant reader.  However, King identifies more deeply now with the very rich, very successful Edgar Freemantal's.  Again, this works in Duma Key.  It would have been difficult to get Carrie White on a secluded private island.

Duma Key's strength: Characters.
Duma Key's weakness: I can't think of any.

Duma Key Journal 3: The Writing

Duma Key is awesome! 

It is a heavily character driven novel; one of those books that becomes very real as you read it.  It's hard to believe all of this comes form a guy thumping away at his word processor.  It seems like somewhere out there, these people must actually exist!

A lot of Duma Key is about art.  I suspect it's as much about the art of writing as it is the art of painting.  King takes us inside the artist heard, and when he does we get the feeling that we are getting some personal notes from him.  For instance, when Edgar is asked what process he uses to paint -- how does he bring these paintings to such life? -- we quickly identify that age old question King has been asked, "Where do you get your ideas?" 

It is interesting when people in the book are amazed at Egar's output.  How can he produce so much art so quickly?  And we again think of King, writing book after book, sometimes so fast the publishers couldn't keep up! 

And King deals with the artist simple satisfaction in his own work.  Edgar, a wealthy man, doesn't need any money from painting.  He has a wonderful realization; it doesn't matter what anyone, especially snobs, think of his work.  He likes his art!  It brought him joy.  While there was a time that King's art paid the bills, you can since him grinning in the shadows at this scene.  It doesn't matter what all the book reviewers in the world think of his work, it brought him joy.  As he has often insisted, he never wrote a single word for the money.

Duma Key is a scary book.  Maybe not yet, not where I'm at (somewhere just beyond the halfway point), but you can sense it coming.  The book has certainly given its share of chills.  But what really strikes a chord is King's ability to bring home fears almost everyone has.  Few people are scared of ghost -- but how about public speaking?  YEP!  Most people are terrified of speaking in public.  When Edgar has to give a speech, everything goes wrong at first, and the reader can immediately identify.  The scene is, in its own way, every bit as much horror as the vamps in Salem's Lot.

The story moves slowly, but it has held my interest throughout.  The characters are worth the time.  You since King building something big.  There are dangers all around, but they remain in the shadows.  Why is it bad for daughters to be on Duma Key?  exactly what is under the house making that sound -- shells, or bones?  What gave Edgar his power, a ghost in the house or the accident?  All these issues have been gently put on the table, like a man setting up dominos for a spectacular display.

Duma Key Journal 2: Palm Desert

Spotted Palm Desert, California, in Duma Key.  Not in a positive note, though.  Seems the books protagonist, Edgar, isn't too fond of the place.  That interested me, since we often go to Palm Desert -- and never caught the image King paints.

Pam's father was a retired Marine.  He and his wife had relocated to Palm Desert, California, in the last year of the twentieth century, settling in one of those gated communities where there's one token African-American couple and four token Jewish couples.  Children and vegetarians are not allowed.  Residents must vote Republican and own small dogs with rhinestone collars, stupid eyes, and names that end in i.

That's funny!  I have no idea if it is true, since I have never been in a gated community in Palm Desert.  There are an awful lot of golf courses though -- never been to any of those, either.  We just go to the mall. 

The must vote Republican line and no vegetarians caught my attention.  Seriously. . . all of the Palm Springs area is pretty liberal; I suspected even the gated communities out toward Palm Desert are littered with Obama bumper stickers.  It's all very alternative lifestyle friendly -- in fact, nearby Cathedral City even has purple lamp posts.  It's certainly no Orange County of the 80s - 90s, which was California's conservative fortress.

I wonder what kind of retired Marine can retire in a gated community in Palm Desert.  The dude must have been upper brass!  It work, because 29 Palms is down the road, and that is the biggest Marine base (land wise) in the world.  Marines like it because it's a live fire base; meaning they get to use big guns, bombs and everything else out there.

Given the choice between Duma Key or Palm Desert, I think I also would choose Duma Key.  I like it when California pops up in King novels.

Duma Key Journal 1

About Journal Entries. . .
With The Stand finished, I dived into another long novel -- obviously it was Duma Key.  Hopefully I can read fast since I want to read the new books coming out in the fall.  The journal entries are my notes as I read, they are not book reviews. 

I choose to let wiser/sharper pens than mine review the books.  Lilja is always the best, and Charnel House is very good.

• http://charnelhouse.tripod.com/dumakey.html
• http://www.liljas-library.com/showreview.php?id=162

If you haven't read the book, then the Journal's are going to be full of spoilers -- because I'm actually talking about the book!

  

On To Duma Key. . .

First Person: It is interesting that King uses the first person in such a large novel.  I was once told by a writing friend that publishers don't like big first person novels. 

 

Edgar Allan Poe is referenced when Edgar sees the house, and notes that the sea is taking a toll on it.  It will groan, he imagines, like the House of Usher.

 

The Angry Man: I really like it that Edgar is such an angry, messed up dude!  His wife leaves him when he tries to strangle her; though he doesn't remember the incident.  Closer to his heart is the time he stabbed her with a spork!  (Spellcheck says spork is not a word.  Probably becuase to a computer, a spork is illogical.  Besides, it was actually a plastic fork.)  Anyway, his meanness has cost him his marriage. 

Object freely if I am wrong, guys --  I think most men will identify with Edgar and his anger.  Maybe it's not the raw, open, oozing anger that Edgar experiences; but I talk to a lot of guys, and almost all of them struggle with anger. 

Edgar lashes out at the people around him; people who want to help him.  He is in search of peace -- both physically and emotionally.  Like Jack from The Shining, he wants to find a place to go and practice his art.  For Jack, it was writing a novel.  For Edgar, it is painting.  Jack did not have the means to choose his path of escape -- he had to take the first open door to him, which was the Overlook.  Not so with Edgar.  He has the financial ability to seek out any place of refuge he wants.  Does he want to live alone on the Florida Keys?  Well, he can write a check and make it happen.  So for Jack, a bad situation became worse.  For Edgar, this does not start out as a bad situation.  It is one of his own choosing.  But can paradise become hell?  Ask Adam and Eve. (And it is worth noting, King gives a full half page to discussing Adam and Eve getting kicked out of paradise.  Now, tell me there's not some foreshadowing there, eh!)

Limitations: As we often find in King novels, our hero (?) has some serious limitations.  While most writers give us supermen, King gives us people we know and relate to because they are broken.  Well, Edgar is a very broken man!  Edgar has lost an arm, and has had serious physical and emotional damage done due to a serious accident.  The results are evident on the page in front of the reader!  Edgar can't think of the right words to use in given situations. 

Now imagine making someone who can't think of the right word -- the narrator!  That's gutsy!