" Lisey's Story is a wondrous novel of marriage, a love story steeped in strength and tenderness, and cast with the most vivid, touching, and believable characters in recent literature. I came to adore Lisey Landon and her sisters, I ached for Scott and all he'd been through, and when I finally reached the bittersweet and heartfelt conclusion, my first thought was that I wanted to start over again from the beginning, for it felt as if I were saying good-bye to old friends. This is Stephen King at his finest and most generous, a dazzling novel that you'll thank yourself for reading long after the final page is turned." -- Nicholas Sparks, author of At First Sight and The Notebook "In Lisey's Story , Stephen King makes bold, brilliant use of his satanic storytelling gift, his angelic ear for language, and, above all, his incomparable ability to find the epic in the ordinary, to present us with the bloody and fabulous tale of an ordinary marriage. In his hands, the long, passionate union of Scott and Lisey Landon -- of any long-lived marriage, by implication -- becomes a fantastic kingdom, with its own geography and language, its dark and stirring chronicle of heroes and monsters, its tragedies, griefs, and glories. King has been getting me to look at the world with terror and wonder since I was fifteen years old, and I have never been more persuaded than by this book of his greatness." -- Michael Chabon, author of The Final Solution: A Story of Detection and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers.xa0His recent work includes The Institute , Elevation , The Outsider , Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch , Findersxa0Keepers ,xa0and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winnerxa0for Best Novel and an AT&T Audience Network original television series). His novel 11/22/63 was named axa0top ten book of 2011 by Thexa0New York Timesxa0Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower and It are the basis forxa0major motion pictures, with It now the highest grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipientxa0of the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, thexa02014 National Medal of Arts, and thexa02003 National Book Foundation Medal forxa0Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.xa0He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife,xa0novelist Tabitha King.
Features & Highlights
Soon to be a limited series starring Julianne Moore
The “haunting…tender, intimate book that makes an epic interior journey” (
The New York Times
),
Lisey’s Story
is a literary masterpiece—an extraordinarily moving and haunting portrait of a marriage and its aftermath.Lisey lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey knew there was a place Scott went—a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it’s Lisey’s turn to face Scott’s demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo’ya Moon. What begins as a widow’s effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. “Intricate...Exhilirating” (
The New Yorker
), perhaps Stephen King’s most personal and powerful novel ever, Lisey’s Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love. It is a beautiful, “rich portrait of a marriage, and the complicated affection that outlives death” (
The Washington Post
).
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
30%
(1.9K)
★★★★
25%
(1.6K)
★★★
15%
(970)
★★
7%
(453)
★
23%
(1.5K)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
1.0
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King reaches new and exciting heights of self-indulgence
Well, it's been a long time coming, but with Lisey's Story, Stephen King has finally hit peak pretension.
Lisey's Story is the tale of a widow who was married to a super brilliant, funny, spectacular writer husband, who everyone loved because how could you not love someone who is perfect and clearly not a Mary Sue? The book makes sure to tell us frequently that the wife is somewhat stupid, and plain and didn't deserve him at all, but she was lucky to have known him, etc.
Worst of all, nearly every other word is some invented cutsey phrase (the kind King likes in all of his books, but at least used sparingly before this). He tries to justify it by saying that it's the secret language of their marriage and you just wouldn't understand, but it makes husband and wife seem like full blown retards. They use words like "smuck" in place of the curse word with which it rhymes, refer to insanity as "the bad gunky," go to an alternate dimension they call, for no reason, Boo'ya Moon, their catch phrase is "Strap it on whenever it seems appropriate," and they are both just delightful and clever and lovable. All of these phrases, of course, are invented by the brilliant husband, which is why you find them so charming.
The husband, endearing and adorable, says that he caught these brilliant phrases from the magical sea of words! and each time you mention the sea of words, you must add "Where we all go down to drink and fish." No, seriously, you MUST add that last part each time you mention the language lake (which happens about four times each chapter and never without the "Where we all go down to drink and fish" bit, because it's too brilliant to be used only once).
I recently checked out the audio cassette from the library, and it's truly embarrassing to hear a woman (Mare Winningham, if you're curious) attempt to say all this trite juvenelia as though it's NOT idiotic. But, hey, you do what you have to do to make money, right? And at this point, Stephen King could defecate on his agent's desk and they'd try to find a way to publish it, and by God, it would sell.
Basically, Stephen King's writing career has been a long and introspective journey, in the sense that it's been a journey so deep up into his own bowels that he probably couldn't find his way out now even if he had a detailed map.
43 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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What a waste of paper! I can't believe trees died for this crap.
Lisey's Story is about a woman named Lisa, she is a widow of a famous writer (Scott Landon.) The story splits in many directions & never fully pulls itself back together. Somehow I had high hopes for this book, but those were all dashed when I wasn't even 100 pages in. If you don't mind reading made up words & trying to make sense of them (when most of them don't have clear definitions in the first place) then maybe this is the book for you! Get familiar with & accept the made up baby talk or else (by the end of the book) you'll want to punch someone in the "mothersmucking" face whenever you realize how your time could've been better spent.
This might be the first book I'd never dream of passing on because I'm just not a terrible person, and I hope I never have to hear the following ever again:
I had read 400 pages of this book, and said to myself "I still have 250 pages to go?!?!" I was amazed how angry this book made me, because it was such lazy writing. King falls back on the there's "something evil" out there routine, and instead of building dread, it just annoys you. I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters, especially Lisey herself, who was flat and uninteresting. Her life was defined by being Scott's husband, not anything of her own. The book was tedious, and King's usual dialogue flourishes to add small observations about life and the world just came off as cutesy for cutesy's sake here. I won't even get into the made up language that so many other reviewers have already derided. I put this book down for weeks and even months at a time, because I really didn't care what happened. I forced myself to finish it so I could write an informed review of how much I hated it, but it was a struggle since the ending was so rotten. If you want a dead spouse story by King read "Bag Of Bones" instead.
I've been reading Stephen King for nearly 30 years, but I think I'm going to be taking an extended break to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Not just a terrible King novel, a terrible book in general. Don't be surprised by the number of one star reviews - it's that bad. Just awful.
13 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Dazzling, terrifying love story
It's pretty clear to me from the number of reviewers who rated this book with five stars (166) versus the number of those who gave it one star (115, I believe), and the number of reviewers who gave it middling grades (double-digit numbers for 2, 3, 4, stars etc.), that this is a love-it-or-hate-it book.
Lisey's Story is one of my absolute favorite books.
I can see how this can be a pretty hard book for people to like if they're put off by the "inner language" of Scott and Lisey Landon. I, for one, loved it. Another reviewer called it all "baby talk," and I really think he was missing the point. On the surface, some of the words like "gunky," "babyluv," etc. might seem banal, but when you consider some of the different driving forces in the story (Scott's very disturbing childhood, his love for his brother Paul), you see how loaded a lot of those silly-sounding words are. Also, any couple who loves each other deeply and has been together for a while develops their own secret language. ESPECIALLY if one of them is skilled with words in the first place (like, perhaps, a Pulitzer prize-winning author like the one described in the book?) To me, it added much realism.
I encourage anyone who's looking for a new kind of monster to scare them, or a new kind of love story, to read this book. This isn't your tween daughter's newest Twilight clone. This isn't a typical love story.
I will admit, the book does start slow. It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did, it got under my skin and never left. I know a book is excellent when I think about it long after I've read it.
I'm not going to do a synopsis of this book (it's been too long since I've read it to remember exact plot lines and whatnot), but I will say that anyone who wants to try reading this NEEDS TO READ IT TO THE END in order to make a definite judgment about this book.
9 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Really Bad Gunky
Trust me, this is the bad patois. This is the bottom of the barrel for SK. Half the book could easily be omitted, as is usually the case with SK's novels. Is it not the editor's job? But perhaps the editor is afraid of losing Stephen King's business. I suppose he is only interested in misspellings and grammatical errors, and oh yeah, not offending the god of horror. But those misspellings and grammatical errors would gladly be traded by faithful readers for a leaner, more readable novel, which this is not. Don't get me wrong, it's not so much that it's bad writing--the genius of King's writing is still here--but it's the plot that ultimately fails. King claims he doesn't write using a plot, but neither should he put down everything that first comes to mind. And where the plot fails is near the end where it loses its believability.
Ever read a story that made you want to puke? That made you light-headed, made you want to dunk your head in a bucket of water for all eternity? I tried to finish this foolishness, this boolishness, but when Lisey resorted to using her vegetable sister Amanda to ward off the villain, Dooley, I could not take any more. I kept hoping Dooley would make his reappearance and kick-start the story once again but was thwarted by King's bad gunky writing. I had put up with babyluv, Fairy Forests, silver shovels (not so bad, that), magic pools, bools, bowels, and other assorted variegated esoteric nonsense, verily.
But Stephen, please, oh please, don't keep spinning this bad gunky; don't make us fools by giving us this gunked-up bool!! Because, I'm you're biggest fan....
8 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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I thought I could, I thought I could but couldn't
I can't believe I almost finished reading this book. I stopped many times and almost gave up for fear of wasting my time and good sight. I finally was thirty or so odd pages away from the end when I actually screamed out and shut the book...never to open it again. I have walked out of a movie only once in my 42years and I this is the first time I have put a book to rest without finishing it.
I am a huge fan of King's writing and have read his books over many years. Though some were better than others I always finished...to the last page. This book however drained me. From the boring and shallow characters to the the made up words that drove me insane for the many times they were written over and over again. I think Mr. King thought he might be clever enough to add to our ever expanding vocabulary. However, if I ever hear the words bhool or boo yah or whatever the heck it is, it would be too soon.
The book becomes annoying, to the point where I found I was rolling my eyes to the immature diaglogue that was taking place. What adults spoke like these characters. Heck they are in their senior years and calling each other pet names and just saying nonsense. I still am not sure what ethnic background the characters are. The characters did not seem to be in love, involved, indepth, inspiring, in any way at all.
I think Mr. King needs to either take a long break, take a vacation in Derry and try to remember how well he writes without trying to be so different. I hope he realizes that he has a solid following but if he continues with books like this some of us might just be glad to have read a few great works by him and leave it at that.
Stick with what you know Mr. King because the few times you have veered off track it wasn't pretty, and this book was by far your ugliest crash yet.
TANTS
7 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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A disappointment
I am, as most SK readers are, an extremely avid fan. As I have seen by most SK readers, "The Stand" has to be the biggest jewel in the box! "Lisey's Story" has to be his most dullest. I should have realized it when I bought it in the bargain section of the book store. I have NEVER seen a Stephen King novel in the bargain section unless they have minor damage to them. I only managed to get through 50 pages my first time reading it before I was fed up with the private language phrases. I am now struggling to get through it simply for the sake of hoping to find where he breaks through the confusing, non-applicable stuff that doesn't really appear to belong anywhere. For the sake of Nora Roberts review I decided to give it a go but in a number of weeks time, I am still only about 200 pages into it where normally I'm done in a couple of days. I have to NOT recommend this book based on what I've read to date. If I find that my opinion changes as I get further into the book (if I can force myself to choke it down) I will change my review. But at this point, I can't see that happening. I never thought I'd find a SK book that didn't rate at least 3 stars. Terribly disappointing.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Different doesn't mean he's lost his edge....
I think the problem many people have with this book is that much of it is recollection and nowadays, people just don't have the attention spans to delve too deeply into a multilevel story like this. I found this book plenty scary because it dealt with the horrifying things that can happen in a family..I felt so badly for Scott as a child, because it struck a chord in me...I've dealt with someone you love most of all hurting you the most.
I liked the special phrases that popped up in the book, because every family has it's own little quirks, inside jokes,culture and language.
I almost didn't read this because so many people gave it a bad review. Just goes to show that we should always take reviews by others with a grain of salt. I loved this book and it intrigued me almost as much as his Darktower series.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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The first book I may have to put down
I usually read a book a week and usuually read two Stephen King books a year (I began reading him with the Dead Zone). I read Cell earlier this year and breezed through it (although I was disappointed with the ending). Unfortunately Lisey's Story is the total opposite. I've been reading this book for two weeks now and I'm only on page 150. I have no interest in returning to this book at all. I'm finding it very boring.
I have a library consisting of over 1000 books and I have a policy of once I start a book I have to finish it. I'm reevaluating that policy now.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Aborted Bool Hunt
I'm giving up on this book at page 330. Most of the action takes place in the protagonist's head. The plot is like a band or tropical storms which sits of the coast and keeps circling back on you, dumping more rain. It never goes anywhere; the bones of decent story are in here somewhere, but it seems 100 pages too long already. And all that mumbo-jumbo about bools, bad gunky, and yum-yum trees gets really old. Frustrating book.
