David reviewed Duma Key by Stephen King
Review of 'Duma Key' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I wish I could give this 100 stars.
Hardcover, 583 pages
English language
Published April 28, 2008 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Edgar Freemantle reached a T-junction in his life's journey when a freak accident cost him his arm... and his marriage. He takes the turning marked Florida — home, as they say, of the newly wed, or nearly dead.
But rather than choosing a typical holiday location, Freemantle is drawn to a beautiful, eerily remote stretch of land off Florida's West Coast: Duma Key, a tangle of banyans, palms and pines next to a deserted beach — uninhabited bar a few houses owned by an old lady named Elizabeth, once a famous patron of the arts.
Encouraged by his youngest daughter, Freemantle discovers a unique talent for painting, starting with the fabulous sunsets. But soon he finds himself experiencing weird phantom pains in his missing arm. And something strange and disturbing is happening with his pictures: they are becoming predictive, even dangerous to those who buy them.
Freemantle must team up …
Edgar Freemantle reached a T-junction in his life's journey when a freak accident cost him his arm... and his marriage. He takes the turning marked Florida — home, as they say, of the newly wed, or nearly dead.
But rather than choosing a typical holiday location, Freemantle is drawn to a beautiful, eerily remote stretch of land off Florida's West Coast: Duma Key, a tangle of banyans, palms and pines next to a deserted beach — uninhabited bar a few houses owned by an old lady named Elizabeth, once a famous patron of the arts.
Encouraged by his youngest daughter, Freemantle discovers a unique talent for painting, starting with the fabulous sunsets. But soon he finds himself experiencing weird phantom pains in his missing arm. And something strange and disturbing is happening with his pictures: they are becoming predictive, even dangerous to those who buy them.
Freemantle must team up with his fellow resident, Wireman, to chart his way through the increasingly disturbing mystery of
Duma Key, where out-of-season hurricanes tear lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Eventually, they will have to discover what really happened to Elizabeth's twin sisters, who disappeared in the 1920s — and the haunting secret to which this strange old lady holds the key. Duma Key is a mesmerizing and compelling story about friendship, and the bond between a father and his daughter. It is also about the power of memory and truth, art and nature. --front flap
I wish I could give this 100 stars.
Duma Key est un pavé dense mais inégal. On arrive sur Duma Key avec Freemantle et on assiste à la découverte de son talent de peintre. Le talent de King nous plonge rapidement dans l’intrigue, complexe, et dans l’ambiance étrange du nouvel environnement d’Edgar. L’art tient une place prépondérante dans le roman. King en profite pour proposer une réflexion sur ce que peut être l’art et le processus créatif. J’ai trouvé beaucoup de longueurs dans le récit, même si on embarque rapidement, les choses mettent du temps à se mettre en place.
Je suis assez perplexe quand à ce roman, j’ai pris plaisir à le lire, mais l’intérêt s’est dilué au fil de pages, à l’approche du dénouement, beaucoup trop caricatural et surnaturel pour coller parfaitement à l’ambiance générale du livre. Trop rapide, trop tiré par les cheveux, trop cliché !
Un King honnête et plaisant mais pas transcendant.
Wow! What can I say, other than "retirement" has seemed to revitalize the Master of Horror. This was a scary, terrifying novel reminiscent of his '70s and '80s masterpieces.
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect going in. The only thing I read about [b:Duma Key|472343|Duma Key|Stephen King|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516WEx5I49L.SL75.jpg|3041864] going in, were the brief pages put in at the end of [b:Blaze|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford World's Classics)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101] and those did NOT convey any sense of how good this book was going to be. When I first cracked open [b:Duma Key|472343|Duma Key|Stephen King|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516WEx5I49L.SL75.jpg|3041864] and pretty much read the same pages as I read in [b:Blaze|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford World's Classics)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101], I was expecting a dull, boring story.
Thank god I was wrong!
To S.King fans, you HAVE to pick this up and read it. And to people …
Wow! What can I say, other than "retirement" has seemed to revitalize the Master of Horror. This was a scary, terrifying novel reminiscent of his '70s and '80s masterpieces.
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect going in. The only thing I read about [b:Duma Key|472343|Duma Key|Stephen King|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516WEx5I49L.SL75.jpg|3041864] going in, were the brief pages put in at the end of [b:Blaze|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford World's Classics)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101] and those did NOT convey any sense of how good this book was going to be. When I first cracked open [b:Duma Key|472343|Duma Key|Stephen King|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516WEx5I49L.SL75.jpg|3041864] and pretty much read the same pages as I read in [b:Blaze|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford World's Classics)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101], I was expecting a dull, boring story.
Thank god I was wrong!
To S.King fans, you HAVE to pick this up and read it. And to people who think he's lost it...this will prove he has NOT.