And so, a mere two months after Stephen’s last novel (The Outsider), we have this novella.
This one is part-homage.
Thinking of Richard Matheson
As if the dedication wasn’t clear enough, there are clues throughout this one that Stephen is paying back a love of a fellow author and his work. Though it is set in King’s home territory (a welcome return to Castle Rock), the lead character is Scott Carey, the name of Richard Matheson’s lead character in The Shrinking Man (1956), later made into the movie The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
And like the Carey of Matheson’s novel, the Carey of Elevation has a problem. In The Shrinking Man the hero finds that he is losing weight and getting shorter in height. In Stephen’s novella, Scott finds that he is weighing less but for a different reason – he seems to be getting lighter. This reminded me a little of King’s/Richard Bachman’s Thinner, where Billy Halleck is cursed to lose weight. Here however the oddity is that although he is losing weight day by day, Scott’s weight stays the same whether wearing clothes or not, or even holding a weight like a dumbbell. The reason for this is never given – it just is.
This may read as something familiar. However, where Thinner and Shrinking Man lead to downbeat, even darker ends, Elevation (as the name suggests!) is upbeat by comparison. In places, as Scott contemplates his life, it actually becomes life-affirming. Scott, unlike Billy, comes across as a nice guy.
It is interesting to think where Stephen got the inspiration for this one. Beyond the Matheson-esque beginning, Elevation is really about life and about the realisation that life is finite. As the story progresses, there’s contemplation over the meaning of life and an evaluation of what makes a life valuable. The discussions Scott has with his friend, retired doctor Bob Ellis, over his weight loss sound like the sort of discussion King will have had about his own brushes with mortality, as do the internal monologues Scott has with himself over his life. It is also tempting to think that the positive attitude Scott has about his condition is similar to that of the veteran author himself – not only to have had a life, but to have had a good one.
In terms of setting, it feels good to be back to Castle Rock, though King shows us, once again, that beneath the seemingly-idyllic environment of Castle Rock in Autumn and Winter, there are uncomfortable economic and social issues to be examined. Like everywhere else, Castle Rock is coming to terms with difficult changes – physical newspapers are in decline and department stores are on the way out, with the inevitable consequences of such changes. In terms of social issues there’s the impact of Diedre McComb and Missy Donaldson’s arrival, a married lesbian couple opening a restaurant in this small, rural and conservative community. It’s not all good.
Such details keep the tale current and relevant, and demonstrates that King can still write stories of everyday people, of tales based on the values of small-town America that are good and bad. Elevation concentrates on core values at a time when, for many King readers, things seem grim. And whilst it’s a long way away from becoming Capra-esque homily, it may provide comfort and an escape from the horrors of reality. The ending even shows us that, despite all the negative issues in the world currently, there are some things in life that may be more important.
I can see why Stephen wanted to write this one. It is, in part, an homage to the Matheson stories that have subtlety and truth, that so inspired King to write in the first place. And it has many of the hallmarks of both King & Matheson’s best work. It’s deceptively clever, drawing the reader in, and surprisingly contemporary in an era of Trump-politics. The ending is quite emotional, which considering the story’s short length is something quite impressive. Whilst it could be jokingly said that Elevation’s not a story with much weight, physically and figuratively – I read it in almost one sitting – emotionally it reminds readers what a powerhouse writer King can be when he wants to be. Sometimes less is more. Elevation feels like a tale told for enjoyment, rather than any other reason, and as a result, it’s stirling stuff.
Elevation should leave the reader with a warm yet elegaic glow and a feeling at the end that it was worth reading. It’s never going to be a keystone King work, but it is, whilst it lasts, an endearing and entertaining read. I would suggest it to readers looking to try a King story for the first time, but not know where to start, or perhaps to those long-time readers whose engagement with the King writing machine has lapsed.
Expect to see it in a novella collection soon.
Elevation by Stephen King
Published by Scribners (US), Hodder & Stoughton (UK), November 2018
ISBN: 978-1473691520
160 pages
Review by Mark Yon
