Duma Key

Good, every time.

A slow but necessary first two acts builds to a gripping third that is hard to put down. Though a touch of King's normal unneeded political rants takes you out of the story sometimes, the development of these characters is some of his best work in my opinion. Outside of his typical northeastern setting, this reads as a mix of untouched territory for King, with him at his best. An overlooked and underrated story that is a must read for King fans. Fingers crossed on Mike Flanagan adapting this one to the silver screen at some point.

Aloin lukea kirjaa tietämättä sen tarinasta oikeastaan mitään. Olisin ehkä voinut antaa sille kolme tähteä, mutta jostain syystä se ei vain iskenyt minuun?

Lähtöasetelma oli mielestäni mielenkiintoinen, mutta siihen se ehkä jääkin. En välittänyt päähenkilöstä juuri ollenkaan ja yliluonnolliset asiat olivat aluksi mielenkiintoisia, kunnes niistäkin lopahti into.

Voi olla, että kyse on vain minusta, mutta me emme sopineet yhteen.

Reread has changed my opinion on this, I think the first 70% is extremely slow and I'm honestly kinda surprised 14 year old me liked it so much. But the character stuff was really good and I think the last 30% was very good. Still a good King book, but not in my top ten, muchacho.

Novela muy infravalorada de King.

Es excelente. Misteriosa, enigmática. Tiene humor, suspenso, terror, todo.
Te hipnotiza de principio al fin.
La primera mitad fluye con calma, pero en la segunda mitad se desata una tormenta literaria de proporciones épicas.

Si bien las últimas 200 páginas fueron un poco ¿¿?? y el final no me fascinó, es un libro magistral que merece muchísimo más reconocimiento.

Sin dudas se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos.

This is probably my favorite book.

King made me feel so much with this one. Every emotion that he put to the page felt real and I really felt for the characters at all times. I cried and laughed the whole way through. I've heard that King doesn't do endings well, but that absolutely wasn't the case with Duma Key.

A completely satisfying read that I truly loved.

Know when you're finished, and when you are, put your pencil or your paintbrush down.
- Stephen King Duma Key

I may not be your average Stephen King reader. I'm not enamored with the author, but I have thoroughly enjoyed some of his tales. Others have left me cold. The stories I tend to like are not the ones most of his readers go for—the only two I thought worthy of five stars were “The Body” and The Long Walk. Despite what some in the literati might say, King has some talent. He also writes to sell. That's a combination that can bring very mixed results.

Duma Key shows the author at his best and his worst. Well, maybe not his absolute best and worst—the complete, unedited version of The Stand did that. Duma Key shows the King who is a masterful storyteller and who can get in the mind of a broken man, as well as the King who has no internal editor (seemingly, no editor at all) and no understanding of how humans speak to one another.

The first two-thirds of this novel are not bad. The dialogue from Wireman is continually cringy, but otherwise, the tale of broken people finding a new life on an island in the Florida keys is satisfactory. Most of this novel is based on some version of reality. Sure, there's a little bit of strangeness, but it feels more like magic realism than King's signature paranormal horror. It works. It's not the author's most gripping or well-written tale by any means, but I think had it ended earlier, been given an ending where the magic had some beauty or relevance, I would've been happier.

Instead, King steers the final hundred-plus pages into the horror-filled paranormal. I know, it's Stephen King: it's to be expected. I just didn't think it worked for this book. It's in these pages that King loses any connection with reality. Suddenly, characters are able to pull the most outlandish conclusions from the sky. Terrible events occur that should emotionally destroy these characters, but they jump right up, quoting movies and attempting to outwit one another. Characters in a story should not act like characters in a story, unless we're talking metafiction (sadly, I somehow got the idea that this was King's foray into metafiction and I was disappointed with its exclusion). Finally, the “scary stuff” just wasn't all the interesting. For a Stephen King novel, that's damning.

I was excited to start Duma Key, but I must say I'm very disappointed in the end. There's just not much here in these 600 pages that made an impact. And yet, because I know King is so hit and miss, at least for me he is, I'll pull another one of his novels off the shelf in two or three years, and I'll find a sloppy narrative, some juvenile dialogue, and the possibility of a very engaging story.

I think I am starting to get used to Kings writing or else I've just been reading the wrong ones because I loved this one. I didn't feel like it was overly descriptive like most of the books I have read by him have been. I've been reading this for so long that I don't really know what to say in a review so I am just going to say that I really loved it and this is the first King book that I have given 5 stars too.

I thought this was going to be a 4, but in the end it landed at 3. The first 2/3 of the book is very well written and the story is truly enjoyable, even though it was unclear what the plot really was. But it was truly a pleasure to read. The last third of the book is more conventional, maybe too conventional and it wasn't as gripping, so I had to lower my rating.

This had classic horror elements of Stephen King, but they were fewer than in previous books in my memory of Stephen King novels I have read in the past. Or at least that is the way I remember it. The relationships between the characters are very strong and the main characters are well developed. Many of the minor characters are well developed as well. The horror elements were well done without being limited to a defined type, ghost, demonic activity etc. Long and enjoyable read.

Solid reread. Though the mystery from the past isn't all that memorable to me, the modern-day events land powerfully and disturbingly. Also, one of my favorite settings from King. Florida Keys!

This is a book that I approached thinking that I wouldnt enjoy, based on the premise. Still, I heard it was good and so I gave it a go as I wait for Kings new book next month.

The book is in first person which most of the time I don't like, though there are exceptions, luckily this was one of them. King is such a good writer that I actually enjoyed the basic premise of Edgar painting eerie pictures that foretell the future and also have powers of their own.

The thing I did not enjoy was the fact that this is essentially a ghost story, which I wasn't aware of when I started reading. Now I am not keen on ghost stories, not because they are scary, because they rarely are, but because there always seems to be some element which seems too far out. In this book I didn't like how Edgar knew everything he was supposed to do and knew everything that had happened in the past.

My main problem with Duma Key is that it gradually built and built and got more intriguing and exciting as it went on...only to just drag and bore me with the final act. I was expecting an exciting conclusion to the story but in the end it didn't interest me much at all. If it had ended strongly then I would have given this an extra star but it let me down, unfortunately.

Duma Key is still a good book though, King has several good characters, the best being Wireman, and as always his writing is strong. Lovers of ghost stories will absolutely love this book.

Not one of King's greatest works but a nonetheless good read.

Precise rating: 3.5 ⭐

I really didn't remember a lot from my first reading. This book was toooo long. And less special than I remembered. I liked the characters, but King tried a bit too hard making Wireman this cool dude with the awesome lines.

Favorite Excerpt
I hugged her again. “Go on. Check in. Buy magazines. Watch CNN. Fly well.”
“All right, Daddy. It was amazing.”
“You're amazing.”
She gave me a hearty smack on the mouth–to make up for the one her mother had held back on, perhaps–and went in through the sliding doors. She turned back once and waved to me, by then little more than a girl-shape behind the polarized glass. I wish with all my heart that I could have seen her better, because I never saw her again.

The first time I read this book, I was in Kansas with bupkis to do except read and trounce around in the woods. I remember reading this and [b:Under the Dome 6320534 Under the Dome Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511289992l/6320534.SY75.jpg 6760952] together, inhaling them over what was probably a week. Duma Key is the one that stands out the most to me, even though Under the Dome is certainly much closer to my life experience.King likes to say that writing is telepathy - and it shines through in this book. Everything feels so clear to me as I read, and I was surprised at how much stuck in my memory. There are certain scenes (and paintings) in the book that have always bounced around my brain, but sometimes as I read, I remember something I've forgotten just as it is happening, and it's a delight.This is probably one of my favorite King stories because of how tangible it feels.