Duma Key by Stephen King is a novel that follows the story of Edgar Freemantle, a man who undergoes a life-changing accident that leads him to move to Duma Key in Florida. There, he discovers his talent for painting, but soon realizes that his paintings are influenced by a supernatural force. As Edgar delves deeper into his newfound abilities, he must confront the dark and dangerous aspects of his art, leading to a chilling and suspenseful narrative that explores themes of loneliness, artistic creation, and the battle against supernatural forces.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include discussions of grief, loss of limbs, mental health issues, and elements of horror that may be unsettling for some readers.
From The Publisher:
Don't miss the thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King about what happens when the barrier between our world and that of the supernatural is breached...
No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through...
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.
"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"
"I used to sketch."
"Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night."
Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.
The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory, and the nature of the supernatural-Stephen King gives us yet another novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.
Ratings (77)
Incredible (15) | |
Loved It (29) | |
Liked It (18) | |
It Was OK (11) | |
Did Not Like (4) |
Reader Stats (145):
Read It (77) | |
Want To Read (39) | |
Did Not Finish (3) | |
Not Interested (26) |
2 comment(s)
Edgar Freemantle has a very bad time in his life. He lost his arm in an accident and his marriage has ended. He start wishing the accident would have killed him instead. He moves to Duma Key to get a fresh start, and starts drawing on he picks up sketching again. In Duma Key he meets some people and things get a bit messy in a Stephen King kind of way. I enjoyed the book, not as much as other of King's work, but it was a solid book. I'm a bit sad because I don't think I have many, or any at all, of his full novels left to read. Only his short story collections upon doing a quick search on GR. Maybe I'll need to start rereading?
One of the most underrated books of Stephen King. The way the king uses painting as the medium to explore the struggle of the human mind and supernatural elements of nature is just superb.
King's knowledge of painting shines through the book. His signature character work and slice of life is also here.
Overall excellent read.
What can you read after
Duma Key?
About the Author:
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, and Doctor Sleep are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
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