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Elevation

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
From legendary master storyteller Stephen King, a riveting story about "an ordinary man in an extraordinary condition rising above hatred" (The Washington Post) and bringing the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine together—a "joyful, uplifting" (Entertainment Weekly) tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences, "the sign of a master elevating his own legendary game yet again" (USA TODAY).
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, the setting of many of King's most iconic stories, 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.

"Written in masterly Stephen King's signature translucent...this uncharacteristically glimmering fairy tale calls unabashedly for us to rise above our differences" (Booklist, starred review). Elevation is an antidote to our divisive culture, an "elegant whisper of a story" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), "perfect for any fan of small towns, magic, and the joys and challenges of doing the right thing" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
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    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2018

      In small-town Castle Rock, Scott Carey is losing weight and barely gets along with the married lesbians next door. But as the town resists the couple's efforts to open a restaurant, Scott confronts his own prejudices and intervenes to help, even as his mysterious illness inspires compassion.

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 24, 2018
      In this surprisingly sweet and quietly melancholy short novel, King (The Outsider) weaves an eerie, charming tale of the ways that strange circumstances can bring people together. Scott Carey is losing weight, but not mass, and there’s no scientific explanation for it. Scales register him as lighter and lighter, though his body remains as potbellied as ever, and the effect is constant regardless of what he’s wearing or holding. Shaken by his untreatable, supernatural ailment, Scott begins to notice the world around him—and particularly becomes aware of the nasty prejudice that other residents of Castle Rock, Maine, are inflicting on his lesbian neighbors, Deirdre and Missy. He sets out to fix the injustice ailing their small town, and maybe make some friends along the way. This is a lilting ode to the ineffable power that crises hold to change and mold those involved into something new. King’s tender story is perfect for any fan of small towns, magic, and the joys and challenges of doing the right thing. Agent: Chuck Verrill, Darhansoff & Verrill.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from October 15, 2018
      King (The Outsider, 2018, etc.) revisits a couple of familiar themes while paying heed to new realities in this elegant whisper of a story.Scott Carey has a problem. He's a big guy, clocking in north of 240 pounds, but lately the bathroom scale has been telling him something different: He looks the same, but he's losing weight, pound after pound. "Twenty-eight pounds," he tells a doctor friend. "So far." There's more weight loss to come, recalling horrormeister King's Thinner (as Richard Bachman), though without the curse. But what is it that's remaking Scott--diabetes, cancer, a change of metabolism? It's not for want of eating: As King writes, "One of the benefits of his peculiar condition, aside from all the extra energy, was how he could eat as much as he wanted without turning into a podge." An adventurous palate, curiosity, and a brace of pooping pups who leave bits of themselves on his lawn put him into the orbit of a married couple, two newcomer women, who have opened a vegetarian Mexican restaurant in a quiet town in--where else?--Maine. The locals don't favor the couple with their business until--well, it would give too much away to talk about precipitating events, except to say that Scott has a way of being just where he's needed in the midst of inclement weather, to say nothing of a gift for setting a good example of neighborliness. As befits the premise, King delivers an uncharacteristically slim novel, just a hair longer than a novella, and one wishes there were just a little more backstory to give depth to Scott's good-guyness. Why is his reaching out to beleaguered neighbors important in "Trumpian" times? "It just is," Scott tells us, before he finds a memorable--and quite beautiful, really--way to depart a Podunk town made all the better for his presence.A touching fable with a couple of deft political jabs on the way to showing that it might just be possible for us all to get along.

      COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      November 15, 2018

      In King's newest novella, website designer Scott Carey has some health concerns. For one, the scale is showing steady, progressive weight loss--often one to two pounds a day--with no effort on his part. Even stranger, his body isn't changing along with the weight loss. He still has the middle-aged potbelly of a man who weighs 240 pounds, even though the scale shows 180. His friend, Doc Ellis, is just as stumped. It seems that gravity is selectively failing around Scott. Eventually, it will lose its hold and Scott will simply float away. He's not quite ready to give up, though. When he notices that the townspeople of Castle Rock are shunning a new restaurant owned by a lesbian couple, he works to open the minds of his fellow residents. VERDICT With no pun intended, Elevation is a slight work with a warm and optimistic heart at its center but not much in the way of plot. King's Constant Readers will enjoy the references to his earlier works and the familiar setting of Castle Rock, but this isn't essential King. Still, libraries should buy to fill demand. [Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
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  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.2
  • Lexile® Measure:780
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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