Lisey's Story: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Pocket
Category: Book
List Price: $9.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  435 reviews
Sales Rank: 72252
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 1416523359
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781416523352
ASIN: 1416523359
Publication Date: June 19, 2007
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Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Lisey's Story, once again King is trying something different. Lisey's Story is as much a romance as it is a supernatural thriller--but don't let us convince you. Who better to tell readers if King has written a romantic thriller than Nora Roberts? We asked Nora to read Lisey's Story and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Nora Roberts
 Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is the author of way too many bestselling books to name here (over 150!), but some of our favorites include: Angels Fall, Born in Death, Blue Smoke, and The Reef.
Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover. But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart. Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man. Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy. Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance. Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems. A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth. --Nora Roberts
Product Description
Every marriage has two hearts, one light and one dark . . . Lisey Landon shared a profound and sometimes frightening intimacy with her husband, Scott, a celebrated bestselling novelist -- and a man with many secrets. One was the place where his gifts of imagination came from, a place that could heal or destroy him. Now, two years after his death, it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons on a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. . . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 430 more reviews...
 grabbed my imagination all the way through August 13, 2008
I was entranced by the book ... not wanting to put it down to attend to other matters (oh like eating a meal.) As to the negative comments about having phrases that a family would use that mean nothing to others... like YEAH. My family does... I thought all families did.
... guess not..
I wonder if the readers who found this book lacking in some ways, have some amazingly different approach to reading than I do? Yeah... I am sure of that. I enjoyed this book and it grabbed my imagination all the way through.
 Not bad, but not great August 13, 2008
This wasn't a bad novel, and I suppose I had high expectations considering the author. However, it wasn't until after about 300 pages did I really start to sink my teeth into the plot. It wasn't laborious, but it shouldn't take so long to become hooked. This length of time did allow me to really get to know the characters on a personal level. The teasing with little crumbs of the mystery he has yet to reveal provided some motivation to continue reading. But this was not one of those books I just couldn't put down.
Not one of King's best, never completely engages August 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Lisey's Story by Stephen King is the first Stephen King book I've read in some time. I used to be a big fan of the horror king, but at some point I stopped enjoying his overdoses in gore. Lisey's Story appealed to me as the the story of an ordinary woman caught up in extraordinary events. Lisey is the widow of a famous author, and she still hasn't completely dealt with the grief from his death. Two years after he is gone, she has just started sorting through his papers. The plot is convoluted and involves a sick psycho obsessed with obtaining those papers, an alternate world with stalking monsters, and Lisey's sister Amanda who has fallen into a catatonic state and just may be channeling Lisey's husband. First of all, I had a lot of trouble with the main character's name. I wanted to pronounce it Liz-ee, but King gives the phoenetic pronunciation of lee-cee on the first page. Despite that, every time I came across her name in the story I pronounced it my way, then stopped and did it his way. It made my reading jerky because I was constantly removing myself from the story. It's a small silly thing, but it really effected my enjoyment of the book. I went along with King' story until Lisey's encounter with a can-opener wielding psycho who gives her an at-home lumpectomy. Ick! I read through the rest just to be done. I was so frustrated with Lisey's refusal to do the commonsense thing and go to the authorities. The story was compelling and intriguing; I just never quite lost myself in it.
 Stephen King in poetic, introspective mode July 23, 2008
You know how Stephen King will sometimes give us a big, epic, plot-driven story ("The Stand", for instance), but then conclude such a story with a fifteen or twenty page epilogue that's mostly about introspection, melancholy, poetic musings, and revealing flashbacks (as if the author feels the need to give us a more subtle landing after five hundred pages of bombast)? Well, anyway, "Lisey's Story" is like one of those epilogues stretched to an entire book length. It's actually not bad, and there's even a little "plot" in the form of a psycho stalking the title character, but you're mainly getting the author in that "epilogue" mode.
I actually listened to this book on unabridged audio, read beautifully by the actress Mare Winningham, so maybe that's why I'm being kind. But, honestly, as long as you know you're not getting a visceral, plot-driven story like "Cell" or the "Dark Tower" books, you'll likely enjoy this tale of a writer and his demons, and the wife who is subjected to it all.
longtime loyal KING fan July 20, 2008
Lisey's Story is a rich and tender story about true love, loss and the dark crevasses that childhood abuse can etch on the human psyche. This tale was a beautiful thing. I would love to see more stories like this one.
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