Rating: 5 stars
I picked this book up on a whim. It was a Sunday night, the house was quiet, and I had several hours to read in peace. Sunday’s have a magical quality to them, don’t they? Regardless of what’s going on, whether life is moving a million miles a minute or easing along at a languid pace, things don’t feel so bad. You know what I’m talking about. Sometimes it’s a peaceful Sunday morning with the sun streaming in through the curtains, or in this case, a quiet Sunday night with faint music playing in the background. I read this book in my reading chair. I had a glass of wine and a petri dish of chocolate chips at my side. Then tea. The only thing missing was a cozy fireplace.
I take great pains to describe the mood and atmosphere I read this book in because it created one of the most touching, emotional reading experiences I’ve ever had.
Elevation is about a middle-aged man, Scott Carey from Castle Rock who is struggling with weight loss. In his case, he’s losing too much too fast. One pound a day. Then two. Then almost three. The catch is his body isn’t getting any thinner. He still has his middle-aged gut and his big-man stature and all of his clothes fit just the same. But the scale won’t stop decreasing.
Scott also has new neighbors who just opened a restaurant in town, although it’s being shunned by the locals because Deirdre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson are married lesbians. And now Scott seems to be trapped in a feud with them over their dogs dropping their business on his front lawn. Deirdre does not like Scott, not one bit. He tries to reconcile things but no, she wants nothing to do with him.
After sixty-plus books, it’s hard to write characters without making their similarities bleed together. It’s a matter of being human. Writers can only draw on personal experiences and interactions for so long. After a while, we need new experiences and new interactions. Which is what I believe happened with Elevation. Here, Stephen King ascended to new descents with Scott and Deirdre. They were some of the best characters he’s ever created.
First of all, it’s difficult to write a happy character. Humans are, by nature, unhappy a lot of the time. Or at least we are dissatisfied. It’s our collective human experience, finding new and inventive ways to ease our pain. So the fact that King was able to write Scott as preternaturally and consistently happy is a feat worth acknowledging.
In addition to that, King surprised me even further with his sincere and honest portrayal of the gay experience and how accepting – and standing up for – those different than us can lead to authentically beautiful friendships. You didn’t expect that to be in this book, did you? Neither did I. Yup, King moved me to tears. He’s written about gay people before, usually, men and usually from the perspective of a derogatory antagonist, but never like this, not as far as I’ve seen. Perhaps I need to finish the piles of unread King books I have on my shelf. Nonetheless, I think this one will surprise you. Perhaps even move you to tears as I was.
Speaking of tears, never, ever, in the history of reading, have I cried so hard over a book. Something about
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watching someone approach the end of their life with grace and humility gets me every time.
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And boy, oh boy did Stephen King get it right.
I thought to myself, how? How can Scott be so joyful and kind in the face of what anyone else would consider terrifying uncertainty? How can this man go out of his way to lift someone up so generously and unselfishly while he’s battling his own war? The thought of it… I mean… tears. One after another. A puddle of tears in my reading chair with my glass of wine and petri dish of chocolates.
You may not cry over this like I did. You may not find the simplicity of King’s writing refreshing like I did. But you will, I guarantee, find Scott and Deirdre’s friendship heartwarming, and I’m almost positive you will be moved by the story.
See for yourself. Order a copy here. You won’t be disappointed.
P.S. Elevation is described as a Novel on the cover, but it is in actuality a Novella, just shy of 200 pages.
Elevation can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, or Bookshop, where every purchase supports independent bookstores.
