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Duma Key: A Novel by Stephen King
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Duma Key: A Novel (edition 2008)

by Stephen King

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
8,2212511,048 (3.87)2 / 414
Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Winner of the 2009 Audie Award for Fiction
Don't miss the thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King about what happens when the barrier between our world and that of the supernatural is breached...
/> No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through...
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.
"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"
"I used to sketch."
"Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.
The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory, and the nature of the supernaturalâ??Stephen King gives us yet another novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifyi… (more)
Member:ltperry64
Title:Duma Key: A Novel
Authors:Stephen King
Info:Pocket (2008), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 800 pages
Collections:Your library
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Work Information

Duma Key by Stephen King

  1. 30
    Bag of Bones by Stephen King (sturlington)
    sturlington: Similar stories, but I liked Bag of Bones better.
  2. 31
    The Passage by Justin Cronin (suppenkasperli)
    suppenkasperli: if you love this book, you WILL love the passage
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» See also 414 mentions

English (240)  Italian (3)  Dutch (2)  Finnish (2)  Spanish (1)  German (1)  French (1)  All languages (250)
Showing 1-5 of 240 (next | show all)
(2008)audio) Very good story of a construction company owner who is badly injured on a job site. He is in dispair and moves to Florida on Duma Key. Almost at once he is able to paint quality artwork. But it has a dark side as he can predict the future, then cause things to happen. Turns out he is being haunted by a demon in the form of a 19th century doll that is very protective of the Key. (PW) Edgar Freemantle, a successful Minnesota contractor, barely survives after the Dodge Ram he's driving collides with a 12-story crane on a job site. While Freemantle suffers the loss of an arm and a fractured skull, among other serious injuries, he makes impressive gains in rehabilitation. Personality changes that include uncontrollable rages, however, hasten the end of his 20-year-plus marriage. On his psychiatrist's advice, Freemantle decides to start anew on a remote island in the Florida Keys. To his astonishment, he becomes consumed with making artĄfirst pencil sketches, then paintingsĂ‚ÂĄthat soon earns him a devoted following. Freemantle's artwork has the power both to destroy life and to cure ailments, but soon the Lovecraftian menace that haunts Duma Key begins to assert itself and torment those dear to him. The transition from the initial psychological suspense to the supernatural may disappoint some, but even those few who haven't read King (Lisey's Story) should appreciate his ability to create fully realized characters and conjure horrors that are purely manmade.
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
I loved this book far more than I expected. It was a simple story at first, and like most of King's works, there was a lot of dialogue and text but not a lot of events in parts. That being said, the characters were interesting and the storyline kept me reading. I love wireman! ( )
  HauntedTaco13 | Dec 29, 2023 |
Edgar is in an accident and loses one of his arms and he is viciously angry all the time. Enough so that his wife (after he tries to strangle her, which he doesn’t even remember) tells him she wants a divorce some months later. His doctor then suggests he head to Florida to try clearing his head elsewhere, so he rents a place on the beach in Duma Key, Florida. As he walks daily, he sees in the distance an elderly woman and a man, apparently her caretaker. Edgar eventually becomes friends with the two of them, while at home he learns he has a talent for drawing and painting… something he never knew about before. But the drawing and painting seem to overtake him when he’s doing it; not only that, it seems his paintings tell him things he couldn’t possibly know, things that really come to happen or have already happened.

Overall, I’m considering this “ok”. Some parts I liked more than others, but art is not my thing, including reading about it. There were shorter chapters in italics to tell us those chapters are from another perspective, but large sections in italics often lose my interest, as did these chapters, unfortunately. ( )
  LibraryCin | Dec 20, 2023 |
I really liked this book - with King you always feel as if you know each character personally. I wouldn’t say this is the best King novel I’ve read but every King book is going to either make the reader happy or disappointed…..no inbetween.
After reading this book I don’t think I will ever take up drawing/painting or go to the Florida Keys lol. ( )
  mazda502001 | Aug 10, 2023 |
Stephen King made his name and earned legions of fans(including me) writing horror fiction. In recent years he's made a conscious effort to make his books more "literary". Duma Key starts off as a serious novel . King masterfully builds suspense little by little bit by bit, using just a hint of the supernatural. I found myself turning the pages wondering what would happen next. Then about 2/3 into the novel, King starts killing off his main characters in typical horrific ways. For me the final 1/3 of the novel wasn't half as enjoyable as the first 2/3. Sadly, the ending was pretty much anticlimactic. ( )
  kevinkevbo | Jul 14, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 240 (next | show all)
Great book! SK always brings it home to me!!
added by Sujo2 | editHuman Being, SJ Darling (Jun 9, 2012)
 
Sometimes, you hardly know where to begin. And so it is with "Duma Key," latest in a gloriously long line of tales from the uber-popular Stephen King.
 
There are bad accidents, and there are horrible accidents, and horror novelist Stephen King knows about the worst kind.
added by stephmo | editUSA Today, Carol Memmott (Jan 22, 2008)
 
Stephen King’s “Duma Key” ventures to an all-but-uninhabited Florida island where the shells groan at high tide, tennis balls appear unexpectedly, foliage grows ominously quickly, and at least one heron flies upside-down. Given this combination of author and setting, it’s inevitable that something terribly undead will show up before the book is over.
added by stephmo | editNew York Times, Janet Maslin (Jan 21, 2008)
 
When Stephen King wrote Misery in 1987, making the hero a writer was an unusual departure for him. Recently, however, centring his novels on creative types has become a habit. In Cell, the protagonist is a comic-book artist. Lisey’s Story involves a dead author whose widow struggles to protect his legacy. And Duma Key’s narrator, Edgar Freemantle, is a painter whose work gives him paranormal powers – to know everything about people hundreds of miles away, to predict events, even to heal or kill someone.
added by stephmo | editLondon Times, John Dugdale (Jan 20, 2008)
 

» Add other authors (22 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Stephen Kingprimary authorall editionscalculated
Rekiaro, IlkkaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Simmons, JoieCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Slattery, JohnNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Memory...is an international rumor.
--George Santayana
Life is more than love and pleasure,
I came here to dig for treasure.
If you want to play you gotta pay
You know it's always been that way,
We all came to dig for treasure.
--Shark Puppy
Dedication
For Barbara Ann and Jimmy
First words
How to Draw a Picture (I)
Start with a blank surface.
Quotations
Love conveys its own psychic powers, doesn't it? (Edgar Freemantle)
Parenthood is the greatest of the Hum a few bars and I’ll fake it skills. (Edgar Freemantle)
I can do this. (Edgar Freemantle)
Oouuu, you nasty man!
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
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Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Winner of the 2009 Audie Award for Fiction
Don't miss the thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King about what happens when the barrier between our world and that of the supernatural is breached...
No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through...
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.
"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"
"I used to sketch."
"Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.
The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory, and the nature of the supernaturalâ??Stephen King gives us yet another novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifyi

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Haiku summary
Haunted memories

channeled through oil pastels

kept on the Gulf.

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