Lisey's Disappointing Story

I’ve made it clear in previous reviews that I’m a big fan of Stephen King. I’ve read most of his body of work, seen the film and TV adaptations, and I even have a half sleeve tattooed on my right arm as a tribute to him and his work. This is why for me, it’s a bummer that I didn’t enjoy Lisey’s Story as much as I really wanted to upon my reading of the book.

Lisey’s Story is a novel about the widowed wife of an author and the strange happenings that begin happening around her. The main conflict being a man who intends to blackmail her. In the midst of this, she’s also learning more about her late husband, looking back at memories with him, things he had shared with her before his death about his traumatic childhood, and how all of it ultimately led to many of the events happening in the present day telling of this story.

Simple and to the point. There’s never been anything wrong with a simple premise for a novel. However, this was not a favorite of mine from King, which for me was a shame given how long I had been wanting to read the novel, as well as knowing the story that inspired the novel. This story being that when Stephen King came home from the hospital after being hit by a van in 1999 that nearly killed him, his office was in the process of being cleaned by his wife, which made him think that this would be what his office would look like after his death. With writing, ideas tend to come forward just like that, when you’re least expecting it, and seemingly from the most random of places, assuming you force yourself to keep your eyes and ears long enough to capture these moments and lock them away for later use.

Unfortunately, the execution of this idea wasn’t my favorite when compared to other novels. Roughly the first, I’d say, first three thirds of the novel are pretty straight forward and gripping enough to make you want to read more. I became invested enough to continue reading. Also, the love story between the protagonist Lisey and her late husband is a beautiful one with a fair accuracy of what it feels like to live in the shadow of your spouse. However, the choice to tell the present story in third person past tense, then switch to telling the events of the past in first person present tense was just…odd to me. For me person, this works when it’s the other way around. It’s just more seamless and less awkward and flows a little bit easier. Then again, I’m sure there was a specific reason for King writing the book this way, although I’ve yet to find anything where he has explained the reasoning for these writing choices. The other thing about this novel is while it’s gripping enough for you to want to keep reading, yet for me, it started to become a chore to read this book because I was already so far into the book by the time I began feeling this way. Overall, for me, it just became a bit confusing, even though I could gather everything that was going on in the latter points of the novel. Also, there are many references to self-harm throughout the novel, which while handled with care, it also felt a bit distant and cold.

This might be one of those books you have to read twice in order to really understand everything. Two reads is the amount that any book should be given. That being said, the initial reading should be enough to give you everything you want to know in that present moment that you feel you’ve received the full reading experience. And that just isn’t what I got from this story. I do think there’s still something for everyone to enjoy so I do recommend it. Just be aware that it’s not the typical Stephen King novel, although it does have the usual dark and macabre themes and events you would expect. You might really like this book for that, or might be vastly disappointed. Pick up the book and see for yourself. Leave a comment with your thoughts if you’ve read this book, whether you enjoyed this book or not. For now, these are my thoughts.