Elevation | At a glance

Title: Elevation

Author: Stephen King

Published: October 30th 2018 by Scribner

Pages: 146

Genre: Fiction, Short Story, Fantasy

Goodreads Rating: 3.76 out of 5 Stars

For Christmas this year, I received a ton of books that I had been pining. I mean look at all those books! Shoutout to my sister and mom for most of them! I also have a ton of books on my TBR (to be read) shelf that I’m trying to address before I binge buy all the books from Amazon. The struggle is real guys. But I digress.

One of my goals for the year, which if you read my post on resolutions (see here) you’ll already know, is to read 100 books in 2019. I’ve broken this down into 8 books and 1 audio book per month, which I feel is pretty doable. To help keep me on track, I’ve started to pre-pick my books for each month ahead of time. I’ve never done this before, I normally just read whatever I feel like at the moment, which leads me to always buys new books and never clearing out my TBR pile. Shocking, I know.

First up from my January reading list is Elevation by Stephen King. I decided to start with this one for 3 reasons. 1. Stephen King is a master story-teller and so I felt pretty confident that I would enjoy the book. 2. Have you seen the cover art for this book? It is gorgeous and who doesn’t want to read out of a beautiful book? At less than 150 pages it’s a pretty short read, perfect for helping me get a quick ‘win’ to start my 100 book goal.

To see my other picks on my January 2019 reading list click here!

Summary

Elevation follows Scott Carey through an unintentional weight loss journey and takes place over the course of a few months. But although Scott is losing weight he doesn’t seem to be losing his muscle tone or really looking any different at all. The biggest oddity though is Scott seems to weight the same amount whether he’s clothed, in his birthday suit, or evening carrying 10 pound dumbbells. Scott enlisted the help of retired doctor Bob Ellis, not to get to the bottom of his mysterious weight loss but more just to share the novelty of the mystery.

While Bob and Scott continue to wonder around the cause of the weight lose, Scott is dealing with another incident. His new next door neighbors, a lesbian couple, seem to be letting their dogs use his lawn as their toilet, which is entirely too un-neighborly for Scott’s liking.

After proving Scott is indeed telling the truth about the dogs, he soon learns that the town of Castle Rock want nothing to do with a married gay couple and are boycotting the couples restaurant ‘Holy Frijole’ to protest. 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.

Thoughts

*Spoiler Warning, well sorta*

Knowing this was a Stephen King novel, or novella really due to the length, I had geared myself up for something a little nerve-racking. Instead I got a light hearted story, that flowed extremely nicely. Even though this book is short, it has substance. It deals with the prejudice people face in small towns or life more specifically. It touches on friendship and how small acts of kindness can really go a long way. I think my favorite thing about this read though, was that the mystery of Scotts weight remains unsolved. The character is quite honestly uninterested in getting to the bottom of it and instead spends his last weighted days enjoying the company of the most unlikely group of friends.

I also appreciate that King shows the reader that peoples opinions can change sometimes all they need is a little bit of time and the doorway to get there. I started reading and finished reading this novella on January 1st and it was the perfect way for me to start my 2019 reading year. I feel slightly elevated and can to a small degree understand the elated way Scott Carey felt throughout part of the book.

Running also plays a huge role in the story line and the way King depicts the effect of ‘Runners High’ was perfect. And may have given me a little extra motivation to keep training for my half marathons this year, who knows maybe it was enough motivation to get me to train for a full marathon!

Forwarned if you decide to read Elevation you need to go in with no expectations. But if you have been wanting to read a Stephen King book but don’t want to committee to a hair-raising storyline give Elevation a whirl. Get it HERE!

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: None of the items listed above are sponsored in any way. They’re simply items I’ve found to be great gifts, things I love, and somethings that are on my wish list! However, there may be some affiliated links. I may receive some commission for any purchases made through my links. This will not impact you as a consumer though.