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Lisey's Story
by Stephen King


7.0

based on 20 reviews
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based on 26 votes
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Cell

The author's latest tale of horror is--wait, what's that you say? It's a romance? OK, so he hasn't gone completely mushy on us--there are still some supernatural thrills and suspense--but Lisey's Story is certainly a departure from the typical King book.

Scribner, 528 pages
10/24/2006
$28.00

ISBN: 0743289412

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
Horror

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Publishers Weekly

The bestselling author proves he's still the master of supernatural suspense in this minimally bloody but disturbing and sorrowful love story. [28 Aug 2006, p.27]

Chicago Tribune Alan Cheuse

In "Lisey's Story," King has created serious entertainment built on the psychology of loss and bereavement in marriage, joining, in what may be the best book of his career, his penchant for horror with a breakthrough in his presentation of the sorrows of everyday life. [19 Nov 2006]

Daily Telegraph Sam Leith

I think Lisey's Story stands among the best things this formidable writer has done.

The Onion A.V. Club Noel Murray

This is a page-turner with a purpose, demonstrating through King's pure storytelling skill how a fictional world can draw people in because they need it to.

USA Today Carol Memmott

Forty books later, King can still scare the bejesus out of us. He also can tell an epic love story as beautiful as his monsters are hideous.

Washington Post Ron Charles

His new novel is an audacious meditation on the creative process and a remarkable intersection of the different strains of his talent: the sensitivity of his autobiographical essays, the insight of his critical commentary, the suspense of his short stories and the psychological terror of his novels.

Chicago Sun-Times David J. Montgomery

A beautiful, exquisitely told story.

The Guardian Toby Litt

This turns out to be a consummate, compassionate novel - one of King's very best.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

Mr. King has delivered his version of Joycean wordplay, idiosyncrasy, voluptuousness and stubborn, obsessive chronology in “Lisey’s Story.”

The New York Times Book Review Jim Windolf

“Lisey’s Story” succeeds where “Bag of Bones,” its fraternal twin, failed.

The New Yorker

It takes some time for these narrative strands to converge, but when they do Lisey moves between worlds at an exhilarating pace.

Booklist Ray Olson

[A] long, often long-feeling, utterly Stephen Kingish novel. [1 Jun 2006, p.6]

Boston Globe Erica Noonan

Most of the time, we feel stuck as outside observers on King's long-winded flights of fancy. It's much like paging slowly through someone else's photo albums chronicling a full, but not always interesting, life.

Salon Laura Miller

This is one of his most artful efforts -- but in reaching so far, he's also come smack up against the wall of his own limitations as a writer.

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Andre Alexis

Though the writing itself was not graceful enough to move me, the act of imagination was. [28 Oct 2006]

Daily Telegraph Justin Williams

But haunting though Lisey's Story is, at the end much of it feels like the refried leftovers from some of his acclaimed works from Misery through to Dolores Clairborne.

Sydney Morning Herald Conrad Walters

If all you seek is guilty pleasure, begin chapter one now.

Los Angeles Times Steve Almond

It should serve as definitive notice that Stephen King has evolved from a talented writer of horror into a serious literary artist. But he has yet to abandon the conventions that have made him a household name: a childish fixation on riddles and torture, a tendency to allow plot to trump character, action to overrun drama.

Houston Chronicle Bruce Westbrook

Its rambling saga sags from ludicrous logic, cruel suffering and yet another of King's wacky alternate-universe worlds where he seems to make up rules as he goes along and where real-world tension and terror are MIA.

The Observer Adam Mars-Jones

Lisey's Story is short on tension and poorly paced.

The average user rating for this book is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Stephen S gave it a0:
I left the library with great anticipation of reading another Stephen King novel, but was greatly disappointed in this. I love King for his great style - reading a King novel is like flying through the air. Not in this one. I knew I was in trouble when I got to page 5 and had to go back and re-read them as I had not a clue as to what was going on. When I got to the Dooley attack and the heroine's completely unrealistic reaction, I started skipping paragraphs and then complete pages in an attempt to just get to the end. The end was not as disappointing as that of "Cell", but nothing to write home about and not worth the effort. Pass this one by.

Alex R gave it a7:
I've just finished "Lisey's Story", and my feelings about it are mixed. I've read everything by Stephen King, and even love the later works, but this book feels too laboured. I think it's a case of over-egging the pudding, where King is so desperate to be understood that he overstates everything and so, ultimately, the book is nowhere near as subtle and enchanting as, say, "From A Buick 8" (one of his true masterpieces, in my opinion). That said, his authorial voice is still as convincing as it ever was, and he's still creating fictional worlds that I don't want to leave. I just wish King had more belief in his own talent, and didn't need to over-explain and make everything so obvious.

Sarah M gave it a10:
I have been "reading" this book on CD during my daily drives to and from work. Mare Whittingham, in my opinion, is a master story teller to the point of actually becoming "Lisey". I absolutely love this psycho-chiller story ~ it is King at his finest.

Gay B gave it a10:
Reading everything King writes, Lisey's story was one of the best in awhile. I couldn't put it down.

cory gave it a4:
boring, slow moving. The end is better, but doesn't make up for the rest. sorry, i love the king, but not this one.

cally r gave it a9:
Loved it. As usual I went through it too fast.

carolyn w gave it a9:
Loved the different stye of writing displayed in this bood. Not his usual and extremely entertaining. He just gets better with age like fine wine

Lisey's Story by Stephen King

Lisey's Story
by Stephen King