My review of the latest Stephen King tome

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Spanning no less than 2,129 pages, Normal World, Evil World is King's most prodigious work to date, and required an entire week's worth of evenings in the ol' book nook, to say nothing of the liters of tea, for this Kingophile to complete.



Normal World, Evil World is set in the mysterious, dare I say haunting, backwoods of rural Maine, and concerns the trials and tribulations of Eloise Trowel, a schizophrenic teenaged girl who must overcome past traumas and master her latent telepsychic abilities before her hometown of Lumbermine is replaced by its evil counterpart. Trapped against her wishes in the Anthony P. Ruralmaine Psychiatric Asylum for Girls of Troublesome Disposition, the young Ms. Trowel discovers that she has the power to enter an unseen realm of darkness (bone-chillingly christened "Voidey Space" by Eloise) and cross through it to a parallel reality where everything and everyone is evil.



Escape from the Ruralmaine Asylum turns out to be only the beginning of an arduous odyssey spanning two worlds, three years, and, I reiterate, 2,129 pages of King's sumptuous prose. It is a journey of terror and revelation the devout reader will find as difficult to dislodge from their fear cortex as it was for Eloise Trowel to undertake in the first place. I, for one, have not slept soundly even once since I first picked Normal World, Evil World up, and shiver involuntarily whenever I harken back to Evil Eliose's monologue in the scene immediately after the one where she has sex with Normal Eloise, particularly the closing snippet: "There are dark things in the Voidey Space. Dark things indeed." Dark things indeed indeed, make no mistake about it. Of particular note is King's masterfully sinister use of David Bowie lyrics. Who would have guessed that the words to "Lady Stardust," "Ziggy Stardust," "Starman," or even "Star" could send shivers down one's spine? Only before reading about King's Bowie-obsessed serial killer Mister Girlstrangler could the answer have ever been "Surely not this Kingophile!"



I consider myself to have been fundamentally enriched from having read Normal World, Evil World, and have been recommending it to everyone I speak to, although I anticipate discussing it with my therapist at greatest length and frequency. Take care, fellow Kingophiles! This one sticks with you. I am of the opinion that King has truly outdone himself this time.



In the end, I would have to say that my only complaints about Normal World, Evil World are that I will never again be able to read it for the first time, and that at one point it fell onto my cat's leg and she had to be hospitalized.