Elevation

Elevation
By Stephen King
Published: Scribner, 2018
Pages: 146
Genre: Contemporary
Amazon, Goodreads

Not a wind, not even a high, exactly, but an elevation. A sense that you had gone beyond yourself and go farther still.

Elevation is an engaging, surprisingly feel good novella by horror author Stephen King.

Scott Carey is steadily losing weight but doesn't look it. Once he starts losing pounds at an alarming rate, Scott turns toward a retired doctor but the conclusion is the same: whatever is causing Scott's weight loss to happen, it's not of this world and modern medicine will not help him. As Scott's weight gets closer to zero, he forges an unexpected friendship and realizes what he's been turning a blind eye to all along.

Elevation had me hooked from the first paragraph. Anything from Stephen King makes me think of horror and gore and all that good stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised by this novella.

There's a light sense of horror in the story: Scott and his friends realize that there's nothing they can do for him... he's just going to get lighter and lighter until he eventually weighs nothing at all. Yet, Elevation doesn't make you feel scared, Scott's perspective on his condition makes you feel good. He knows he's going to die but he makes best of what time he has left.

I know Elevation has several negative reviews on Goodreads, but I truly enjoyed this novella and would recommend it to anyone looking for a short, feel-good type of story.

RATING (out of five puppies):