The Interesting Messages about Today's Society in "Elevation"

Elevation by Steven King is a realistic fiction novel about a man named Scott who lives in a small town called Castle Rock. He leads a fairly normal life, as a web engineer, and he was recently divorced. But all of a sudden, his life doesn't become so normal. He starts losing weight at a constant rate, despite his body not getting any skinnier. But what's even weirder is the fact that if he holds or puts on things that weigh some amount, the weight doesn't change. He is the same weight with only a t-shirt and shorts as wearing a 30lbs coat. This is evidently a problem, but he feels better and happier than ever before. He realizes that this will probably lead to his death, but decides to not seek medical help as there probably won't be any treatment and live his best life.

Along with this conflict, Scott has fairly new neighbors, a married lesbian couple. One is a very shy, nice, and well-mannered woman, and the other is cold and rude. They are trying to run a restaurant, which has delicious food, but not very many people are willing to go to it because it is run by a lesbian couple. Scott ends up wanting to work together with this couple, and they help each other with each other's problems. Scott realizes he only has a little more time to live, and wants to help someone else out at least once before he goes.

I think an interesting thing about this book is it's take on if today has issues about discrimination against LGBT members, Lesbians specifically in this book. This book obviously takes the side that there is discrimination against Lesbians. An example of this is when people are avoiding going to the lesbian couple's Mexican restaurant just because of their sexuality. This act of discrimination ends up making the restaurant nearly bankrupt. Another example is when Halloween rolls along. Scott is handing out candy to kids, and when the last two kids come along he asked if the lesbian couple next door handed out any candy to them. The kids say, "'Our mother told us not to go there, because those aren't nice ladies.' 'They're lesbeans,' the boy amplified. 'Daddy said so.'"(lesbeans is not a typo btw). This obviously shows the towns discrimination toward the couple, even describing them as mean people even though the parents nor kids have never met them.

Another thing I found interesting was Scott's decision to help the couple, and his new outlook on life. We see at the beginning of the book he isn't the happiest guy, and he doesn't really want to be bothered, and minds his own business unless something bothers him. He doesn't really want to help the lesbian couple, and just wants their dogs to stop pooping on his lawn. However, later on we see that he makes a conscious effort to help the lesbian couple out, and that he wants to make others respect them and not discriminate. The motivation behind this is that he wants to do some good before he dies, which he expects will happen soon. I think that Scott making this effort is telling us that we need to help out in a bad situation as before it's too late. It's saying that we need to act against things that are wrong before it's too late and before we no longer have a say in this world.

Altogether, I found this book interesting in it's message about discrimination in today's society, and that we need to stand up against things we think are wrong right now. I also liked how it is more than just a story, and that there is a lesson being taught below the surface. However, if you aren't comfortable with cuss words I should warn you that there is a decent amount of vulgarity in the novel. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a shorter read that makes you think a bit as well.
-Teo