{"id":12400,"date":"2018-10-23T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=12400"},"modified":"2018-10-23T09:13:35","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T13:13:35","slug":"bev-vincent-reviews-elevation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/bev-vincent-reviews-elevation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bev Vincent Reviews Elevation by Stephen King"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

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“The Incredible Lightness of Being”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Stephen King\u2019s most recent published work, \u201cThe Turbulence Expert\u201d in the anthology Flight or Fright<\/em><\/a> (which he co-edited with yours truly), suggests the existence of people who prevent airplanes from crashing. It\u2019s an uncharacteristically encouraging notion.<\/p>\n

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Scribner hardcover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His new novella, Elevation<\/em>, has an even more positive outlook, despite its setting: Castle Rock, a small town in Maine where terrible things have been happening for decades.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say bad things aren\u2019t happening to protagonist Scott Carey, forty-two, recently divorced and dealing with the repercussions of that life change. He\u2019s living alone (with a cat) in a too-large house on Castle View, and he\u2019s having problems with his new neighbors.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also losing weight — although not mass — no matter how much he eats. He has the appearance of an overweight man who tips the scales something north of 240, but when the story opens on an October morning, his scale registers 212 and he\u2019s dropping a pound a day.<\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s namesake in Richard Matheson\u2019s novel The Shrinking Man<\/em> started getting smaller after ingesting bug spray and subsequently being exposed to a radioactive cloud (as mentioned by a character in Elevation<\/em>). The reason for this<\/em><\/u> Scott\u2019s mysterious change is unknown. He not even sure when it started because he got out of the habit of weighing himself. Unlike Matheson\u2019s protagonist, he\u2019s not getting smaller; he\u2019s simply getting lighter.<\/p>\n

His condition worries him enough to consult a doctor friend, who is at a loss for a rational explanation, especially when Scott puts weights in his pockets and the scales don\u2019t change. Scott\u2019s attitude toward the mystery is surprisingly cavalier. He embraces it, despite its obvious impossibility, buoyed in part by a lucrative gig designing a department store chain\u2019s websites. He has a new spring in his step, and he doesn\u2019t want to spend the rest of his life being poked and prodded by specialists.<\/p>\n

Weighing more heavily on his mind is the ongoing conflict with his neighbors. Deirdre McComb and Missy Donaldson are new to Castle Rock, the proprietors of Holy Frijole, a vegetarian Mexican restaurant. They\u2019re struggling, mostly because they announced themselves as married lesbians. Any same-sex couple might experience problems in this conservative town in an ultra-conservative state, but residents particularly object to the \u201cmarried\u201d part.<\/p>\n

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UK hardcover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

None of that matters to Scott. What bothers him is that their boxers do their business on his lawn during their morning run. He has complained twice, but Ms McComb — whose default stance is defensive — thinks Scott is making things up to harass them. When he produces incriminating evidence, it only makes things worse. He doesn\u2019t need to be friends with the women, but he doesn\u2019t want to be on the outs with them either.<\/p>\n

Elevation<\/em> is about Scott\u2019s awakening (in the contemporary parlance, he becomes \u201cwoke\u201d). Every attempt he makes to smooth things over fails, but he begins to understand the challenges the women face and becomes an advocate for them and their restaurant. When he hears others in town disparaging them, he refuses to remain silent, confronting small-minded people, even though no one asked him to do so.<\/p>\n

Scott comes up with a last-ditch scheme to break the ice with his neighbors that involves the annual Turkey Trot 12k run, a post-Thanksgiving fundraiser for the town\u2019s Recreation Department. His affliction turns into a secret weapon in his struggle to bury the hatchet.<\/p>\n

The main question, though, is where and how will Scott\u2019s weight loss end? In Matheson\u2019s story, the protagonist keeps getting smaller but never quite vanishes. What will happen to Scott when the scales — like Christine\u2019s odometer — reach zero and gravity relinquishes its hold on him altogether?<\/p>\n

Elevation<\/em>\u00a0tackles political and social issues without being overly preachy, although it\u2019s obvious on which side King comes down on most matters.\u00a0Ultimately, the novella\u00a0is about accepting the inevitable and striving to do good — and encouraging others to do and be good, too. It has the euphoric sense of Pixar\u2019s Up<\/em> and Joe Hill\u2019s \u201cPop Art\u201d — uplifting, touching, charming and melancholy. Easily the most optimistic tale King has ever written.<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/p>\n