It is a story that shows the author in his purest form. A very particular pet appears. It can be read from any computer, phone or tablet and can be found in the Bajalibros store.
[”Laurie”, by Stephen King, can be downloaded from the Bajalibros store by clicking here.]
To read it digitally you don't need any special device: it works on a computer, a phone or a tablet.
There is a term in English that is used to talk about those people who have almost no chance of winning a competition and, however, end up surprising: they are the underdogs.
Some of the most famous underdogs were Douglas buster, who knocked out Tyson in 1990; the Detroit Pistons, who took the 2004 NBA championship against none other than the Lakers de Kobe Bryant y Shaquille O'Neal; too Donald Trump, who, with a completely unorthodox presidential campaign, defeated the nominated candidate, Hillary Clinton.
Laurie, the novel Stephen King which can be read for free from Bajalibros.com, is a story of underdogs. Strictly speaking, all or almost all of King's stories They develop in that way. There they are, for example, The hour of the vampire, It, Duma Key, Mr. Mercedes. Laurie has the peculiarity that the underdog —which translates as “helpless” but literally is “under the dog”— is… a dog.
Laurie She is a dark gray mix puppy. border collie y I know which Beth – 70 – gives to Lloyd – her brother, 65 – as a way to cope with her recent widowhood, after forty years of marriage. Lloyd is kind of delivered. In the six months since his wife died, he lost several kilos and his will to live. He became apathetic and sullen. A grieving person needs to keep their mind busy and care for someone, Beth says: “It's not about who wants a dog, it's about who needs a dog".
With a less vertiginous record to which Stephen King we are used to it, Laurie explores certain questions about old age, loneliness, family love, and everyday heroism.
The show of time
The most outstanding feature of Stephen King It is the mastery he has to create environments and tones, to invent characters in three dimensions. His novels—even the most terrifying ones—are universes to live in. Surely the best example is 22/11/63, the novel that tells the murder of John F. Kennedy. The period recreation is extraordinary; There is no other word: extraordinary. But, although there he found an apex, in all the novels situations that become paradigmatic: the village life in The dead zone, the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, the confinement in Billy summers, the “Cayman Key” retirement complex where Lloyd lives.
Another issue that makes 22/11/63 What is unique is that it is one of the few novels that are set in the past. Since he published Carrie in 1974, King He is the chronicler of the present. The vast majority of his novels are contemporary with the time in which they were written. Rereading his novels in order, in addition to being a great pleasure, can serve as an exercise in recording the events and developments that happened in the last half century.
King It is an unstoppable typewriter that uses everything as narrative material: the computer, cell phones, the Gulf War, the internet, covid, etc. Laurie happens in 2018 and Facebook It's a topic of conversation. (King, however, is more of a tweeter. He talks about everything Twitter: from the movies he watches and the books he reads to politics - he hates Trump - and he also tells of the misadventures of his corgi dog Molly, “aka: the evil thing”).
The bitch that no one saw coming
Lloyd and Laurie's story starts off badly basically because he doesn't love her. He reluctantly accepts her, pressured by her sister, but he hopes Beth's whim will last a couple of weeks; at most a couple of months. The transformation is very subtle. King He is a very intelligent narrator who seamlessly avoids both commonplaces and expected plot arcs. He shows little—he tells little—what is necessary to see how Lloyd's life changes with the arrival of the dog. And, meanwhile, he puts each piece in its place so that, when the time comes, we discover that “God was cocking his .45 caliber revolver.”
In the novels of King Animals always play an important role: the cat Animal Cemetery, the monstrous insects of The fog, the penguin doll in Misery, there are spiders and bats, there are Cujo, several others. Laurie He joins the series as an unexpected and fascinating figure. She is not going to occupy the podium of the great pets of literature, like Flush, the cocker spaniel Virginia Woolf, or the Tulip de Ackerley, but it's not that far away either.
Laurie It is an unpretentious novel that accompanies you for a long time. And if you have a dog—it doesn't matter that a while ago he ruined your shoe or ate the socket of a lamp—you're sure to finish reading it with him.
A writing machine. Stephen King a few days ago, in Washington. (REUTERS/Tom Brenner)
“Laurie” (Fragment)
Six months after his wife died after forty years of marriage, Lloyd Sunderland's sister had driven from Boca Raton to Cayman Key to visit him. She had with her a dark gray puppy that she informed him was a border collie/mudi mix. Lloyd had no idea what a mudi was, and he didn't care either.
"I don't want any dogs, Beth." The last thing I want in this world is a dog. I can barely take care of myself…
"That's obvious," she said, unhooking the puppy from a leash so tiny it looked like a toy. How much weight have you lost?
-Don't know.
"I'd say about six or seven kilos," she ventured appreciatively. You could afford it, but not much anymore. I'm going to make you a sausage scramble. With toast. Do you have eggs?
"I don't want sausage scrambles," Lloyd replied, looking at the dog.
She was sitting on the fluffy white rug and wondered how long it would take before she left her business card there. True, the carpet was crying out for a good vacuuming, and probably a thorough cleaning, but at least they had never urinated on it. The dog looked at him with her amber eyes. She seemed to study him.
—Do you have eggs or not?
—Yes, but…
—And sausages? Of course not. You've probably been living on frozen waffles and canned soup. I'll go to the Publix supermarket, but first I'm going to take inventory of your fridge to see what else you need.
She was his older sister, they were five years apart; She had practically raised him alone after her mother died, so as a child she had never been able to contradict him. Now they were older and she was still unable to stand up to him, even more so since Marian was gone. Lloyd felt an emptiness inside him, where he had once housed his insides. Maybe they would come back; maybe not. Sixty-five years was an unlikely age for regeneration. However, as for the dog... He would definitely object to that. What the hell did Bethie have in her head?
Source: Infobae