Lisey must suffer

Stephen King’s latest almost a theological treatise

Stephen King is probably the most religious writer I can think of right now. Don’t misunderstand – I don’t mean religious in the sense of an organized and ritualized church, but simply that his writing embodies many of the most clear and pertinent aspects of religion. The majority of his characters triumph not through discovery or revelation, but through endurance and sacrifice alone. They suffer according to their wants, their needs, their goals, and if they can just manage to hold on through the pain and blood, that currency is what buys them salvation. It’s evident even in the injuries King’s characters typically suffer: They are lingering, the pain is often drawn out over chapters, and each wound is specific; each is an offering. King understands this well since it’s one of his major motifs. That very idea is one of the driving motifs in his latest novel, Lisey’s Story.

I won’t really tell you much about the plot (which would be amateurish) suffice to say that the novel’s main character, Lisey Landon, follows the shadow of her deceased husband back through the long path of their memory together. And as you might guess, in order to reach some sort of a final resolution she first has to suffer – a suffering that involves having to endure the insanity of a sister, the attentions of a killer and terrifying otherworldly visions, typical King creepery done here in magnificent form. It’s also an intensely brooding and fiery love story, as she endures the simple memory of happier times. By far the most personal and romantic King work I’ve ever read.

The world of modern novels is a world of personality – a psychological muddle of minutiae as metaphorically convoluted and folded as the fat grey matter of the human brain itself. But where most characters are reflections of events happening around them, and their adjustments to the push and pull of (literary) life, King’s characters are firmly divided along theological lines – body and soul juxtaposed.

Each of King’s characters has within a secret soul, hidden in the cloak of personality like a shard of crystal. As in Lisey’s Story, King flays that personality, exposing the very soul to see whether or not his characters will remain courageous or fall into cowardice. Their nature is dictated within the symbolism of the story itself. The hero’s struggle and response reassure us that there’s a core of being that can never fail to endure the vicissitudes of life – that’s something I’ve really needed to hear lately.

As appeared in the Ottawa XPress – Jan 25, 2007
http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/books/books.aspx?iIDArticle=11267