#CastleRock #Readathon #BookReview-‘Elevation’ by Stephen King

As a lifelong Stephen King fan, any of his new releases are met with delight by myself but ‘Elevation‘ is something different-it’s almost a tale of magical realism set in his small town,’Castle Rock’ where things aren’t always as they seem.

Castle Rock has been the location of several of King’s works, and is often mentioned in the overarching King-verse, and in this tale, local man Scott Carey has worries he cannot really fathom the cause of.

There’s no sign of infirmity or disease-he gets checked out by local retired doctor and friend Bob Ellis-but he is rapidly losing weight. The strangeness factor hits home when Scott strips off in front of Bob and he weighs exactly the same without his outfit , shoes and pockets full of quarters…and his weight continues to go down …

Running parallel to this is the small town description that King does so well, Scott’s neighbours are vegetarian, married,lesbians. This earns them derision, sideways glares and little to no interest in their Mexican restaurant.

As an attempt to make the locals take notice that they are here, and want to be part of the community, one of the restauranteurs, Deirdre, is taking part in ‘The Turkey Trot’, an annual run around the town which raises funds for the local Recreation Centre.

The sly digs to small towns and small minds ring so true, they don’t object to lesbians per se,it is the fact that they are married which causes ‘offence'(I took great pleasure in the fact that out of the town shops and businesses, it is the bookshop and the knitting shop who are prepared to show a poster for the run featuring Deirdre).

Scott and Deirdre both find themselves running, and the run becomes a metaphor for their individual situations, their narratives joining and merging.

The weight loss and feeling of freedom that accompanies it, acts as a metaphor for the life of a middle aged man, who lives alone, works from home and inhabits a small town such as Castle Rock.

There are some nods to other King works such as Deirdre’s race number -19-and the mention of Bannerman Road-named for a Sheriff who featured in 3 other Stephen King novels. I won’t spoil anyone who hasn’t read them by saying which ones they are…but if you look at my Castle Rock entries under the Readathon categories, you may well pick up clues!

Yet again, this is the work of a master creator who packs an awful lot of story into a short novella.

A short and sweet seasonal tale, this also contains an excerpt from his collaboration with Gwendy’s Button Box ‘ (also highly recommended).

Check out Richard Chizmar’s site below, which has links with Cemetery Dance publications , and a free short story !

http://richardchizmar.com/?rc=1