REVIEW: New Stephen King novel is uplifting experience
Stephen King hardly needs an introduction, especially around Halloween time. But here goes: The horror maestro has been going strong for four decades, delivering memorable characters, eerie settings and stories readymade for the Hollywood treatment. From It to Bag of Bones to From a Buick 8, King’s oeuvre is unparalleled – steady and remarkably diverse.
His latest is the novel (really a novella) called Elevation, something of a right turn for the author. It still has glimmers of his most famous works (i.e. a supernatural element that propels the plot), but the cautionary tale of Scott Carey is one of surprising warmth and growth. That’s not to minimize King’s previous creations; most of them have the depth needed to carry readers over the course of hundreds of pages. But Scott’s attraction as a character is his ability to sustain one’s interest for such a short story (Elevation could be read in one long sitting, say on a plane ride).
Scott is a website designer living in Castle Rock, Maine — the fictional town in many of King’s novels and also the subject of a new Hulu series. He’s estranged from his wife and has few friends, but what makes him memorable can be found on those numbers that stare back at him every time he weighs himself on the scale.
Scott is becoming lighter. His body, with a front-porch tummy roll, looks the same, but somehow he is losing weight. Each day, a pound is shed, and Scott realizes he may need to find some answers to this supernatural phenomena before he waists away for good.
He employs the help of a local retired doctor who is one of his only friends in Castle Rock, and he also makes a connection with a couple neighbors down the block who have faced discrimination for being a married same-sex couple in a close-minded community.
As Scott faces an uncertain future, he must make meaningful connections to the few people in his orbit, and along the way, King is able to wax poetic about relationships, loneliness, human emotion, bias against the LGBTQ+ community and neighborliness.
The characterizations and plot points never grow tiresome or confusing. Scott is losing weight, and that’s about it. The nonchalance the main character shows to this phenomena can be oft-putting, but in some ways, Scott’s response is a realistic one. He needs to learn to live with whatever may come, and the uncertainty keeps the reader with bated breath. The surprising finale is truly one that is unpredictable, even for those King devotees who think they can predict the author’s every move.
There could have been more information given on Scott’s estranged wife, and the doctor’s wife comes and goes with few details. In fact, the doctor’s wife is first characterized as a church-going conservative who probably wouldn’t associate with the two married women down the block. However, it doesn’t take long for the doctor’s wife to change her mind (or King to forget the backstory of the character), and they are breaking bread soon enough.
The neighborly couple, who own and operate a vegetarian Mexican restaurant in town, are the most finely drawn. They begin their relationship with Scott on the wrong foot: It involves dogs and droppings on a front lawn. However, after much instigation by Scott, the three get to know one another — and their reliance is key. Scott helps them with their restaurant, which is bleeding customers, and they help Scott with his predicament.
For King fans, Thinner may come to mind when considering Elevation. However, other than the weight loss, the two are quite different. Instead, Elevation feels like a satisfying morsel of a story that’s wholly original and touching. The author says a lot with less … and less … and less.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Elevation by Stephen King. Release date: Oct. 30. $19.95. 160 pages. [3.5/4] Click here for information.
