Does anyone else always hear Bono’s stupid hooting voice whenever you read that title? El-eh-vay-shun-ooo-ooo-ooo! Etc. I like U2 but that song was such ass. Moles digging in holes - wtf?!
So Stephen King decides to riff on his old hit Thinner by way of Lake Wobegon in Elevation. Some guy starts losing weight at the rate of a couple pounds a day for no reason and some lesbians are having trouble making their restaurant a success because small town folk don’t accept gays. Hmm. That really is the whole book unfortunately.
I won’t say I totally disliked it because I did want to find out what would happen when the guy continued to lose weight, even though the weightloss doesn’t show on the outside, again for no reason. And I wanted to see what the reason was behind it all. So those things kept me reading.
But King, as he always seems to do, completely flubs the ending. Not only is what happens to the guy when he reaches nearly zero pounds silly and uninteresting, but King completely ignores the why aspect entirely. It’s a disappointing cop-out.
Otherwise, I couldn’t have cared less about King virtue-signalling that being gay is alright and that people should wise up, etc. Not that I disagree - I don’t - it’s just the point is such a vapid one. The lesbians’ restaurant, the annual local race, all of it was such tedious guff - it’s why I don’t bother with Garrison Keillor’s writing at all. Maybe those who do will find something to enjoy in Elevation but otherwise I wouldn’t bother with yet another stodgy Stephen King book.
So you finally decided to read another Stephen King book after swearing that you'd never read anything by him again after abandoning Joyland.
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