It rises, out of the Gulf.)Īnd what are we to make of Joan Altabe? In the book there is an art critic, a woman of a certain age, a Sarasota old-timer with unprecedented power and authority. But I wonder-did Syd’s own personal story also contribute? Did King picture the old artist, his artistic vision coming and going, trapped in his studio overlooking the vastness of the Gulf? (Where, as King points out, night doesn’t fall. King has said that the story of the Solomon house triggered his story. He and his wife, Annie, had architect Gene Leedy build them a dramatic modern house right on the beach at the south end of Siesta, a house that was slowly consumed by the Gulf as Syd slid into the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease. Am I the only one who sees Syd Solomon in all of this? Syd passed away several years ago, but back in his heyday (the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s) he was Sarasota’s most famous artist, with his work in top museums, like MoMA in New York. (General manager Linda Desmerais will be glad to know that he keeps it on all the time.) Every day he is thankful for the weather (of course, he’s here in the winter).Īnd somehow, he seems to be paying attention to everything he hears. He spends an inordinate amount of time glued to SNN. He and his wife, Tabitha, originally rented on Longboat, which they liked, but there was one big problem-he couldn’t walk his dogs on the beach.Įdgar spends most of his time on the key, but when he does come into town, he goes to the places we all do: Morton’s, Zoria, Ophelia’s, the Ringling Museum, the mall, Sarasota Memorial, Palm Avenue. He started coming down here after his own terrible accident, in which a careless driver hit him while he was walking near his house in Maine. So I’ll shift instead to King’s curious relationship with Sarasota. Now, this being a Stephen King novel, I’m sure you can figure out where all this is going. As Edgar’s paintings get more and more intense, it becomes clear that horrible spirits involving dead children (and yes, even real-life murder victim Carlie Brucia puts in an appearance) are lurking on the key, especially in the jungle at the south end where nobody ever goes. There was a great tragedy in her youth her two sisters were drowned in the Gulf. He meets his neighbor and landlady, an elderly eccentric whose family originally settled the key. He turns out to be astonishingly good and prolific, but he can’t explain where his bizarre, surrealistic images are coming from-or why they have a tendency to come true. Bitter and angry, he rents a house sight unseen on Duma Key (read Casey Key) and takes up painting. Paul, Minn., very successful and rich, suffers a terrible accident in which his skull is crushed and his right arm is amputated. The plot: Edgar Freemantle, a middle-aged contractor from St.
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