Discrepancy in "Lisey's Story"

[the_last_gunslinger]

I'm about 200 pages into the book, and I just got to a part that is proving to be a little confusing for me.

Where I am, Lisey had just called the Castle County Sheriff's Office, asking for Sheriff Norris Ridgewick. However, he was away on honeymoon, so she got Deputy Andy Clutterbuck.

Now this is where I got lost.

In Needful Things, even though Clutterbuck survived the events of the book, it states that he dies two years later, well before the events of Lisey's Story.

What do you think? Is this just an oversight of the author, or is it another case of alternate realities?

[vivazebool]

Another level of the Dark Tower.

In the DT series, a character on one level of the Tower may die, but his twinner is alive on another level.

[sam peebles]

Wow, talk about an out whenever an author makes a mistake (albeit a small and really inconsequential one). It's just another level of the tower, sure, that works, but I'd like to think that most stories take place on the same level of the tower--my level--and dead people don't just reappear. I'd say its a forgivable oversight.

Another oversight I noticed while reading Misery, is Paul Sheldon recalls a visit to the Boston Zoo when he was a kid and sympathizing with a bird from Africa, ripped so far from its natural habitat. The bird and Africa become kind of a symbol for Paul...but guess what? There is no Boston Zoo! It was enough to pull me out of the book, if only for a moment. Surely King knows there is no such thing as the Boston Zoo, and could've just have easily replaced it with the Providence Zoo (Roger Williams) or the Southwick Zoo. What was so important about making up a zoo in Boston? Does anybody know if I'm wrong here, and maybe sixty years ago there was a zoo there that's not now?

[Dana Jean]

Clutterbuck in Lisey's Story was the illegitimate child of Annie Wilkes and Clutterbuck Sr. See, Annie worked the hospital where an unconscious Clutterbuck Sr. was rushed, in a coma state, after breaking up a girl fight at Kappa Kappa Kappa where a rogue I.U.D. sliced his jugular down to the bone.

Now, Clutterbuck Jr. doesn't find out that his dad is Clutterbuck Sr. until after that Firestarter girl burned down the Orphanage/pig farm where he lived with Misery the pig and numerous other ne'er-dwells after Annie's untimely death. He roomed with a Danny Glick.

Danny Glick, by this time, was all bitey and all, and he sort of spilled the beans to Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining when he refused to suck her blood because he didn't want to pick up her bad acting virus.


So, then, big bug-eyed, big mouthed Shelley told Mike Noonan who happens to be the cousin of her second husband's mother's brother-in-law, and this guy, Malachi, just happened to know Clutterbuck Jr. from their days of topping corn for a local farmer. So, he clued him in, and Clutterbuck Jr. ran to his ancestral home to follow in his father's footsteps as a Police Officer and he ended up having a gay affair with Pip from Great Expectations.

I hope this cleared things up for you.:biggrin2:

[the_last_gunslinger]

I figured that would be the response. I personally find it to be on the cop-out side a little bit. I wonder if that's what King had in mind when he wrote it, or if that whole twinner thing was applied after the fact.

[Natjen24]

Another level of the Dark Tower.

In the DT series, a character on one level of the Tower may die, but his twinner is alive on another level.

Sometimes, in my darkest hours, I think that is the best excuse for explaining continuity mistakes.
But then I smile and am glad that death isn't always the end in the King-universe. :grinning:

[staropeace]

I think it was a mistake....plain and simple...:laugh:

[johnny39]

I'll chalk this up to magic and perhaps a wizard is involved. :D

[Moderator]

It's called the Franklin Park Zoo, not Boston Zoo, but there is a zoo in Boston.



Wow, talk about an out whenever an author makes a mistake (albeit a small and really inconsequential one). It's just another level of the tower, sure, that works, but I'd like to think that most stories take place on the same level of the tower--my level--and dead people don't just reappear. I'd say its a forgivable oversight.

Another oversight I noticed while reading Misery, is Paul Sheldon recalls a visit to the Boston Zoo when he was a kid and sympathizing with a bird from Africa, ripped so far from its natural habitat. The bird and Africa become kind of a symbol for Paul...but guess what? There is no Boston Zoo! It was enough to pull me out of the book, if only for a moment. Surely King knows there is no such thing as the Boston Zoo, and could've just have easily replaced it with the Providence Zoo (Roger Williams) or the Southwick Zoo. What was so important about making up a zoo in Boston? Does anybody know if I'm wrong here, and maybe sixty years ago there was a zoo there that's not now?

[Bluey Lunger]

i dunno, i remember going to the boston zoo to see the yaks, big sorry looking creatures dreamin about yak-land, my guess, a piece of some kind of grass caught up in the lip of one of em, some kids boombox playin that tune, yakkity yak don't talk bak. and one time, at another zoo, a bear flicked some bear spit at me with his claw. he wanted a fish. i didn't have one to give.

[The Outsider]

Okay, I'm just gonna say to this whole thread I say WHO CARES? I can see why people may have wondered about the whole Clutterbuck thing and him dying or whatever, but this is the answer (i think): King just overlooked it. Or, maybe Clutterbuck is a different Clutterbuck, and its just a coincidence?

It doesn't matter. And with the Boston Zoo thing, what does that matter? Maybe people who live there just call it that, since it is in Boston, or maybe its name changed in the 50 or 60 years since then.

My point is, at the least, that second little "discrepancy" wasn't really relevant or important at all. It was just nitpicking.

[Terry B]

I get a headache trying to keep all the characters and their book connections straight. Too many and too confusing. I prefer to just enjoy the book I'm reading at the time.

[Yenny]

It could be a mistake but in the end I like to believe is just another level of the Tower

[Travisisdead]

Know what I think? I think Steve just liked the name "Clutterbuck"
Just my opinion.

[AndyDufresne]

He's an author, and authors occasionally make things up. The towns of Derry, Castle Rock and Jerusalem's Lot don't exist either. Is that cheating as well? I don't think so.
And if you want a different explanation: there could be a totally unrelated guy with the same name. The name 'Andy' is quite common, and I think 'Clutterbuck' has more hits than you would realize. Or maybe it's a relative, like a nephew or something.

[LunaDementia]

Clutterbuck in Lisey's Story was the illegitimate child of Annie Wilkes and Clutterbuck Sr. See, Annie worked the hospital where an unconscious Clutterbuck Sr. was rushed, in a coma state, after breaking up a girl fight at Kappa Kappa Kappa where a rogue I.U.D. sliced his jugular down to the bone.

Now, Clutterbuck Jr. doesn't find out that his dad is Clutterbuck Sr. until after that Firestarter girl burned down the Orphanage/pig farm where he lived with Misery the pig and numerous other ne'er-dwells after Annie's untimely death. He roomed with a Danny Glick.

Danny Glick, by this time, was all bitey and all, and he sort of spilled the beans to Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining when he refused to suck her blood because he didn't want to pick up her bad acting virus.


So, then, big bug-eyed, big mouthed Shelley told Mike Noonan who happens to be the cousin of her second husband's mother's brother-in-law, and this guy, Malachi, just happened to know Clutterbuck Jr. from their days of topping corn for a local farmer. So, he clued him in, and Clutterbuck Jr. ran to his ancestral home to follow in his father's footsteps as a Police Officer and he ended up having a gay affair with Pip from Great Expectations.

I hope this cleared things up for you.

LMAO.....you just made my day!!!

[Travisisdead]

I personally think he just liked the name Clutterbuck (who wouldn't?) and wanted to use it again. Different story, different Clutterbuck? (there's GOT to be more Clutterbucks in Author-Space right?)

[armadillo]

Lisey's story I think is my favorite of all his books. I loved it. Of course, I love all his books, but that is my fav.