“Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s
been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He
weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are.
Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else
to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis. In the small town of Castle
Rock, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians
next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the
women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new
restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple,
and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they
face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot
race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who
have indulged the worst in themselves and others.”
There is a lot of irony of setting this uplifting short
novel in Castle Rock, a town King has used as the setting for many iconic tales
of terror (and revisited for the first time in many years, with a 2017's short novel he penned with
Richard Chizmar, Gwendy’s Button Box). This town, much like neighboring Derry,
has suffered many horrors, with many folks who live there existing in a world of
indifference to its horribleness –hence the dislike for Deirdre and Missy
(though that may just be more homophobia than evilness) and their restaurant get,
the vegetarian Holy Frijole.
So yes, the only evil that exists in Elevation is the
closed-mindedness of its people to a lesbian couple trying to live the American
dream. Scott Carey, like a lot of men, is not one to go to doctors to find out
what is happening to him, but he does realizes his own thoughtlessness of Missy
and Deirdre and decides –like accepting his fate- he will do something about
it.
It’s always surprising (though it shouldn’t be) what King
can do. Even as one of his “constant readers”, he can still astound me with his
prose and originality of his stories. And while he still has a huge fan base of readers, there are still many
who just see him as a popular horror novelist. I think after four decades of
publishing novels, some would see he is more than the sum of a certain genre.
Elevation is a entertaining read, fun and moving.
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