A Book A Week

In recent years, Stephen King has strayed from his horror roots to write novels that focus more on real-life scenarios. The Outsider, released earlier this year, arguably combined the best of both old-school-horror and Kings more recent sensibilities. In Elevation, an end of the year novella, King again combines a focus on real-world issues with a touch of fantasy.

Elevation is probably best described as a fable. Scott, a resident of Castle Rock, has an interesting medical dilemma. He's losing weight each day, but nothing he physically does seems to stop that process. He loads his pockets with heavy metal, but his weight is exactly the same. As time progresses, the weight loss starts to speed up. At the rate he's going, Scott only has a couple months before the scale hits zero.

As Scott is coming to terms with his dwindling mass, he's also battling it out with his new neighbors. One half of the married lesbian couple runs through the neighborhood each day. She brings their two dogs with her, both of whom have no problem using Scott's front yard as their toilet. After a pretty ugly confrontation, Scott decides to put things to rest and befriend the couple. He's heard the murmurs from other townspeople who don't approve of the couple's same-sex relationship. Determined to right some wrongs, Scott formulates a plan to set things right between the town and the couple.

Elevation works as a story of moral integrity and acceptance, themes that grow more and more poignant as the year has progressed. Those of you expecting a terrifying read from Mr. King should probably steer clear of this one. I've seen that the book was chosen as Goodreads best horror novel of the year, but that genre doesn't really reflect what Elevation is. Instead, it is a well-written and timely tale of one man's will to leave the earth a little better than when he got here. It wasn't what I expected, but it was ultimately a very quick and rewarding read.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
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