Elevation

Elevation – by Stephen King

Imagine going to see a movie at your local movie theater.  You plop down your $10 or so, get settled in your seat, and the entire movie is only 20 minutes long.  Regardless of how good the movie was, wouldn’t you feel a bit cheated if you had spent that much money and received so little, quantity wise?  I couldn’t help thinking that after I read this very brief, small book that costs $19.99 in only one sitting.

This isn’t a first for Stephen King, and I’m sure other authors have done this from time to time as well. I’m not sure why, though.  Stephen King has a plethora of short story compilations as well as a few volumes containing four ‘shorter’ novellas.  Why wasn’t this story included in one of those as opposed to a self-standing volume?  Was this his decision?  His publishers?  An accountant’s move?

This was a good story.  Not great, but good.  I think I would have enjoyed it much more had it been included in one of the aforementioned compilations I mentioned. I can’t help but feel that many readers probably felt cheated.  To be fair, I checked this book out from my local library, so I don’t feel personally ripped-off, but for the diehard who must collect every hardback book by their favorite author, I can’t help but think they would feel somewhat duped.  Anyway….

This story is a bit like The Twilight Zone meets The Hallmark Channel.  Scott Carey is a middle-aged divorced man who lives in the sleepy town of (where else?) Castle Rock, Maine.  One day he discovers a strange phenomenon; he’s losing weight.  He’s losing weight fast.  What’s odd is that his body doesn’t physically show this reduction in mass.  In fact, when he holds heavy objects while standing on the bathroom scale, the objects aren’t calculated in the total weight that the scale displays.  (eerie music fades in.)    Meanwhile, he has a run in with a newly arrived lesbian married couple who have opened a new restaurant in his sleepy town.  The sleepy town is also small and conservative, so many inhabitants stay away from the restaurant and make snickering comments to each other in closed circles.  A married lesbian couple?  In OUR town??  Scott Carey makes an effort to change minds and enlighten the community.

What does his weird weight loss and his desire to spread kindness and understanding have to do with each other?  Well, not much really, but King still manages to weave the two plots together and tell an interesting story.  It’s a sweet piece of work, if not particularly memorable.  I’ve mentioned in several of my reviews that Stephen King will probably never escape the “Horror Author” moniker, and this is somewhat unfair as his repertoire stretches over much broader strokes.  This book is an example; no horror, just a strange unexplained occurrence that factors into the story.

I really enjoyed this book, yet couldn’t help but think that for most people, it would be wiser to spend the $20 or so elsewhere to get a better bang for their buck – or book.