The Wastelands Journal 1: Cowboys and Dead People

I'm reading The Wastelands as I wait patiently (not) for Doctor Sleep to come out.  I last read this in high school.  Interesting thing, while I remember massive portions of the first two volumes of the Gunslinger, this third edition is full of stuff I've forgotten.  I remembered there was a train -- and I know later there is a guy named Tic Tock (I think) and I remembered the bear and  the restoration of Jake.  But there's so much more I've forgotten!

I'm impressed that King is able to cross genre's with real ease.  Is this a western, is it fantasy or is it Scifi?  It's all of those!

Some much needed character development takes place in the Wastelands.  Drawing of the Three was pretty action packed, and so far the Wastelands has been focused on building the people.  No doubt, the action is yet to come!  The driving action in the early book is a rather anticlimactic fight with a gigantic bear.  The question in the readers mind is not if anyone is actually going to get killed in this fight, but what in thew world  the bear is.

When it comes to characters, King builds his house of cards carefully.  Roland is tortured by two realities; one in which the boy exists, and one in which there was no boy.  Likewise, Jake struggles with the sure knowledge that he died, yet he lives on.  He is stuck reliving events, knowing what will happen next, but seemingly unable to make different decisions.

King doesn't spend much time explaining Eddie and Susannah's sudden love.  It just seems that two people  in the same proximity have  no choice -- they're going to love each other.  The scenes with the two are tender.  In particular, King continues to develop Eddie's character.  In the Drawing of the Three he was little more than a street wise junkie.  But in this novel, King quickly shows his hands, revealing a kid who is going to be a great asset to the quest.

To me the most interesting stuff actually happens in our reality.  Jake Chambers knows  something is wrong -- in fact, he knows he's dead -- and yet he continues to move through our world.  He remembers the car accident, the priest (man in black) and every detail of  the scene.  In fact, when he arrives, he knows everything that is going to happen -- except this time he does not get hit by a car.  Jake and th gunslinger are separated by worlds, but are  both experiencing a duel reality.

The Drawing Of The Three Journal #5: Concluding Thoughts

photo credit: deviantart.com

I think Drawing of the Three is one of King's most complex character novels.  Roland actually moves into the heads and bodies of other people, giving a most intimate look at the things we usually keep private.  It's worse  than being caught naked!

The last third of the novel was new material for me.  I don't know why -- I have read this book many times.  But it has been a long time, and I remembered nothing of the events surrounding Jack Mort.  Wonderful writing here!

I like the way Roland is able to access the thoughts of the person he is with (in).  King compares Roland's ability to search their minds and draw information as being like accessing an encyclopedia.  Today we would use "google."  He "googles" their mind.

Jack Mort is a look inside the mind of a serial killer.  Unlike Detta, who has two separate personalities, Mort has compartmentalized his thoughts and behavior.  He does terrible things, but is able  to set those aside emotionally and still function in the real world.  He is almost Detta's opposite.  While Detta is completely out of control, Mort is completely in control.

With recent events, I'm not that comfortable getting so close to a serial killer. But the Gunslinger gives the killer his due, thrusting him live in front of a train as he is held captive in his own body.  Sweet!

The Gunslingers healing of Odetta is great!  Could split personality really be healed that way?  No!  But who cares!  So long as I'm mentioning stuff that would never ever happen the way King plays it out -- the way the Gunslinger goes about getting bullets is amazingly crazy!

There was a scene that was quite strange and worth further investigation.  The two woman rise up and fight one another.  It's like a physical battle.  But how can this be?  They can't have two bodies.  I was unclear on that.

The novel takes us to New York in three different time periods.  This is pretty neat -- though I am left wondering: Why New York?  Who chose the time periods?

I want to note that I never realized that Odetta is supposed to be a beautiful woman until I read The Wastelands.  I think this is because  of the drawings in the original book, she didn't seem very striking to me.  Yet in Wastelands, the pictures of her were quite beautiful.

It was pretty cool to end The Drawing of the Three and drop the Wastelands into the CD player without pause.  I remember waiting years for it to come out.  The story flows nicely.

AND. . . I got a bunch of questions about the Dark Tower answered recently.  I am a happy person.  Guess who I got to interview. . . (not King)

Drawing Of The Three Journal #4 : Things I Forgot

My D3 CD's

It's been years  since I read The Drawing Of The Three.  I'm pretty sure I read it several times in High School and College.  What better way to escape midterms and finals than to read Stephen King -- right?  That might also explain my first semester Greek grade.

As I read the book afresh, there are details I'd forgotten!  Here are a few:

1. I'd forgotten just how nasty Detta can be!  Wow, King really drives the point home with this character.

2. I forgot how leery Eddie and Odetta are of Roland when they first  come into his world.  The tension is great!  In fact, the tension that runs throughout the series is part of what makes the story interesting.  Know one of the reasons the prequel Star Wars movies didn't feel right?  I think it has to do with tension between the main characters.  Han and Luke were always at each other.  But in the prequels, there is not that light hearted jabbing.  King does a nice job letting his main characters take exception to one another.

Eddie doesn't trust Roland one bit, because he has perceived that Roland is a "tower junkie."  He will do anything, even sacrifice friends, in order to reach the Dark Tower.

3. I forgot that Roland basically kidnapped his Ka'tet.  They didn't join him!  Now, Roland gives Eddie a very good speech about his  potential that  would please any football  coach, but the truth is Eddie does not have a choice in the matter.  Roland is not  going to let Eddie go back!

4. I forgot that King played with the name of the last door.  It has a double meaning.  For Eddie, "The Pusher" makes him think at once of drugs.  He is filled with emotion over the discovery of this door.  However, Pusher actually means . . . something else.  The card the man in black revealed to Roland was "death."  We would expect the third door to coincide with the third card, but they seem mismatched until the story plays out.  The Pusher is death, since he pushes people.

5. I forgot just how sharp Eddie is right from the get go. Somehow I remembered  him being more spaced out by the drugs than actually is.  The guy is sharp, catching on to what's happening around him much quicker than other characters.  He's able to quickly adapt to strange new situations without coming unhinged.

On another note, I find myself a little stunned at King's work.  The Stephen King who wrote Drawing was a young man, yet  incredibly perceptive to the world around him.  He describes  things in ways I would never think of, and picks up on things in people's behavior that is right on.  As a young man he was a good writer because he had the perceptions of an old man.

Drawing Of The Three Journal #3: The Shining

In Wizard and Glass, Stephen King makes some pretty clear connections to his other  works.  It becomes crystal clear that the Dark Tower is a door that opens directly into King's other books.  But direct references to Stephen King and his work began to appear in other places much earlier in the series.

Twice Eddie Dan makes mention of The Shining.  These are cultural references.  Interestingly, both times he is referencing the Kubrick film.  Here are two quotes about The Shining from The Drawing Of The Three:

1. While looking through the doorway into Oedtta's world:

Now the view through the doorway made one of those turns the gunslinger found so dizzying— but Eddie found this same abrupt swoop oddly comforting. Roland had never seen a movie. Eddie had seen thousands, and what he was looking at was like one of those moving point-of-view shots they did in ones like Halloween and The Shining. He even knew what they called the gadget they did it with. Steadicam. That was it.  (P.198)

2. Again, looking through Odetta's eyes:

He was staring into the doorway, hypnotized, as an aisle of Macy’s rushed forward— he was reminded again of The Shining, where you saw what the little boy was seeing as he rode his trike through the hallways of that haunted hotel. He remembered the little boy had seen this creepy pair of dead twins in one of those hallways. (P.223)

Someone has pointed out that Room 217 can equal 19 (2 + 17).  Deep.  And -- "Another instance of 19 occurs during the climax of the novel, when Jack is attempting to kill his wife, and the book mentions that there are 19 stairs from the lobby to the first floor of the hotel."  

The Drawing Of The Three Journal #1

I like this book a lot.  I am drawn to it.  It is fast paced, has interesting characters, and even Roland – who I found so difficult in the first volume – is more engaging.

Wounded!

Want to write a good book?  I’m learning something as I read Stephen King – one element that seems pretty important is: Make your characters bleed!

King starts the novel by doing something rather daring – he severely cripples his primary character.  Does this seem like a good idea when the tower is so far away?  As a reader, I love it.  I would think that this would give King pause as a writer.  He is limiting himself to writing around Roland’s missing fingers for all remaining dark tower stories.

In the Gunslinger, Roland seemed mythic.  The monstrosities he encounters on the beach humanize the ole chap.  Roland will be allowed to continue his quest, but he will do it as a wounded man.  This reminds me of Jacob wrestling with God. God pulled his leg out of joint, forcing the father of the Hebrews to walk with a limp for the rest of his life.  This knocks the arrogant Jacob down more than a few pegs!  It also forces him to rely on God and be kinder to others.  King does this with his creation.  By wounding Roland, the self confident gunslinger must now rely on others.  He is not so self-sufficient after all.

More than crippling Roland with the loss of a few fingers, King also allows Roland to experience deep guilt over his betrayal of Jake.  Of course, to really get the full impact of that betrayal, I think you have to read the original version of the Gunslinger – as it seems more tempered in the new version.  The Drawing of the Three reveals that Roland is a man in desperate need of redemption.

The people Roland will draw to himself are likewise very broken.  If people seemed healthy in the Gunslinger, that well being is no where to be found in this novel!  Not only is the gunslinger now in a world of hurt, but he will join to himself a druggie and a cripple.  Some gang!  But this is exactly what makes King’s writing so powerful.

Wounding the characters, limiting them in some way, makes them more interesting.  What makes the story of David and Goliath so memorable?  That David was small and weak.  If Israel had just marched out their giant, and the Philistines had marched out there giant and the Hebrew giant killed the Philistine giant. . . there’s nothing to get excited about.  It is only when little David comes out to fight mighty Goliath that his victory seems all the more incredible.  In this case, it is this weak cast of characters coming against the Darkman and the Crimson King that make the story interesting.  The deck is stacked against them.

Door Jam:

One of my favorite parts of the novel is when Roland steps through the door and into Eddie Dean’s head!  It’s brilliant! The first thing Roland sees is the horizon.  He realizes that he is in a sky carriage.  He has the good luck of stepping into someone’s body who happens to be smuggling drugs.  Drugs are exactly what Roland needs!

New problems arise for me as I read through the Dark Tower again.  These are problems I struggled with the first time I read this story.  (Actually, I’ve read the first few books many many times).

Here’s my problem: Where did the doors come from?  I don’t remember ever being told.

I once wrote a story – a very good story, in my 15 year old opinion of work – about a society cut off from the rest of the world.  The discovered a cave full of books.  The cave was lit by candles.  (It was actually a bomb shelter)  You see the problem. . . right?  My sister immediately asked the most annoying question in the world: “Hey, who lights the candles?”  I dunno!  Maybe an old man with a dog named Harry.  Beats me!  Who lights the candles was not important to my story.

I fear that in much the same way – the origin of the doors is not important to King’s story.  The doors simply move the story forward.

My wife says that the “how” is not important to the fantasy genre.  Maybe that’s why I have trouble with this.  At least in Science Fiction there has to be a bit of science. . . in fantasy, things just appear!

picture credit by PAV
lunchtime sketches

The Gunslinger Journal #4

I have finished my first small leg of the Dark Tower journey; completing book 1, The Gunslinger.  It is a difficult journey for me.  First, it is quite different than I remember it.  Is that because I first read it via Stephen King’s audio version?  This time I read the revises with George Guidall.

Not Love At First Sight:

I still find the story hard to follow, confusing and at times down right frustrating.  It is not love at first sight.  I think I will buy the old tapes of King reading the story.  It would seem that with the major clean up King did to this story, it would be smoother.  But still, it is such a strange novel.  The action is slow, the characters are mostly unlikeable (I’m sorry) and the ideas seem incomplete.

Bev Vincent said the novel had a “dry, dark tone” that turned many away.  He also notes, “King’s revisions createa more internally consistent series of books for newcomers to the series.”

But just because it is not love at first sight does not mean I do not like the novel.  I do.  First, I know the series gets better!  Second, there is a flavor to both the book and the character Roland that is kind of fun.  He may not be immedately likeable – in the sense that I identify deeply with him – but he does possess traits that are fun.  Roland is stoic, strong, determined and pretty mean.  If he needs to take down the entire town of Tull to accomplish his mission, down they will go!   But he is charming, in a Clint Eastwood sort of way.  You don’t want to be on Roland’s bad side – or, get in his path to the tower.  Roland is a man driven by a single passion, to reach the Dark Tower.

There is another reason I find this book difficult – it requires scholarship.  This is not a novel to be read and enjoyed and tossed aside.  It has to be thought about, mulled over, studied.  For me that sometimes feels like work!  I spend my day as a preacher studying implications and meanings of Scripture.  Stephen King is not Scripture – he’s literature – but in this instance, literature meant to be taken at a deeper level.  A surface reading will miss a lot of what King is setting up.  So, my laziness in just wanting to read a good novel makes me a little shy when approaching this book.

Spiritual Symbolism:

Sin and Redemption: Here’s what I realized reading this time, Roland is a hero in search of redemption.  Not a new theme at all, but something I had somehow missed.  We’re not really supposed to identify or like Roland when we first meet him.  He is a man on a noble mission, but he is personally broken.

As the first segment in a redemption story, The Gunslinger goes to some pains to reveal Roland’s imperfections.  I’m working to avoid the word “sinner” – but there it is!  Roland is the sinner.  The Tower story runs like a long version of Pilgrims Progress.  He is a man bearing a great burden (very great burden!).

I’m not sure this analogy should be pressed hard, since I don’t think it was not in King’s minds eye when he wrote the book.  Is it fair to apply imagery beyond the authors intent?  I’m not sure.  But I can’t unsee some of this.

Themes from Christianity in particular play throughout the first novel, and become stronger toward the end.  It starts with evil being chased through the desert – the bad guy wears black!  Who is this man in black?  Flagg?  A servant of Flagg?  Walter O’Dim is. . . ?  Actually, it’s unclear in this novel.  

LEGION:
The man in black claims to serve a leader named “Legion.”  Not a reference to ancient Rome, but to the Biblical demoniac Jesus encountered.  Christ was confronted by the demon posessed man and demanded his name.  “Legon, because we are many.”  The demons begged Christ not to bring them into judgment before the appointed time (Judgment day).  Jesus honors the demons request, exorcizing the man – but instead of setting the demons lose on the earth, he sends them into a herd of nearby pigs.

JUDAS?: At first the sacrifice of Jake seems to be something like Abraham’s preparation to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Both know it will happen, yet like Abraham and Isaac they journey on. But Jake is not an Isaac at all.  He is not a willing sacrifice for Roland's tower!  Anything but.

Roland assures Jake of his protection, but later fails to save him.  Roland falls into the realm of betrayer in this novel.  Is he like a Judas then?  Not really.  Because what happens is unplanned.  Roland is aware things might go that way, but works to avoid a situation where he might have to sacrifice the boy.  When he is confronted with the options – boy or tower – he isn’t given time to think this through.  He acts on instinct, not deliberation.  This act will be something he is given opportunity to redeem later in the series.

GOLGOTHA: The man in black brings Roland to a place of bones – Golgotha.  This is the name of the place where Christ was crucified.  It is here that the man in black hopes to convince Roland to turn away from the dark tower.

The Gunslinger and the man in black have a final conversation that rambles into total confusion – Our universe could be nothing but a blade of grass, cut away and now dying.  What would you find if you came to the end of the universe, drilled a hole in the wall of the universe. . . what is on the other side?  This kind of talk goes on and on – stuff you expect to hear being tossed about in a dorm room full of seminary students.

Creation:
When Roland falls into a trance, the Biblical metaphors return.  He sees the man in black as the creator, and experiences creation as the man in black calls forth light and planets.

“The universe was void.  Nothing moved.   Nothing was.”
Compare to Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep” only, instead of the Spirit of God hovering, Roland and the man in black are hovering.  It is not God who will call forth creation, but the man in black.

“Let us have light,” the voice of the man in black said nonchalantly, and there was light.   The gunslinger thought in a detached way that the light was good. (p.283, unrevised)
“God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good,” Gen. 1:3-4

So what is the vision?   It is meant to scare Roland off his quest.   (I’m not sure why the man in black doesn’t just kill Roland – but I’m sure that’s just a very primitive thought, right?)  The man in black wants Roland to be aware that there are things taking place beyond his understanding – things he cannot grasp.  Roland is unworthy to carry out the mission of the dark tower.

When Roland invokes the Name – seemingly as a curse – the man in black pulls away.
“Jesus no more no more no more–”
“The voice of the man in black whispered silkily in his ear: “Then renege.  Cast away all thoughts of the Tower.  Go your way, gunslinger, and save your soul.”

Bev Vincent argues, “At one point, the narration seems to expand beyond Wlater to some greater being, never identified, perhaps the Voice of the Turtle.  Later, in the presence of Black Thirteen, Roland will understand that he was sent todash by the residual effects of that Wizard’s orb, which was recently in Walter’s hands.” (The Road To The Dark Tower, p.44)

BEAST:
The man in black speaks of a “Beast” who guards the dark tower.  The idea of a “beast” who stands guarding a mighty tower (like tower of Babel) which connects all civilization is a Biblical one.  Does King intend this?  I think he does.  Revelation centers on an end time war between the Beast and the Lamb.

The Beast is the Crimson King.  This was a change King made when he revised.  (See the portion below on “intentional” as to why he might use “beast” for the first draft.)

Flagg:
Is Walter O’Dim really Randall Flagg?  Yes.  But there are problems with this!  In the original version, it seems pretty clear that after the long conversation and the passage of ten years, the man in black is nothing but a pile of bones.

“The remains of the wood he had carried had turned to ironwood, and the man in black was a laughing skeleton in a rotting black robe, more bones in this place of bones, one more skull in golgotha.”

The question in the first edition of the novel would have been: How did the man in black die?  Roland shot at him several times, but he seemed to be unharmed.  Unless he died, and it was Walter’s ghost.  King revises this to make it clear that this is nothing but a trick by the man in black.

INTENTIONAL?

So, does King intend to make all these Biblical references?  I think so.

Though the gunslinger bears the marks of a young writer – it also shows the workings of a young man who still possesses a working knowledge of Scripture.  Or, to put it this way: The Stephen King who wrote the Gunslinger had been to church and listened to sermons more recently than the Stephen King who finished the Gunslinger.  The Gunslinger sports the knowledge of a person who has been churched.

Take for instance the title “Beast” which is later changed to Crimson King.  The younger King is more familiar with the idea of a great Beast, because it is a symbol from Christianity.  Later he uses Crimson King, as this more directly ties things to the great evil in his novels.

I think (think) he is throwing everything he has at the reader, hoping some of the symbolism will stick.  And some of it does.  Why the strange creation sequence?  I’m not completely sure.   Does Roland carrying wood to the place of bones supposed to be symbolic? – like Isaac carrying wood, or Christ carrying a cross?  Probably not.  But maybe!

Fantasy mirrors the Biblical genre of Apocalyptic.  Used in Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation, it is quite different from the novel form of the genre such as “the Stand” or “The Road.”  Biblical Apocalyptic uses symbolism to paint pictures of the future.  It draws on previously used symbols, sometimes reinterpreting them, to tell the story of redemption.  In many ways, the gunslinger falls into this genre.  It is not just an end of the world book – but a highly symbolic book.  The problem with such a thing is the same one that Bible students encounter; knowing which elements the writer intended as symbol and which he intends to be read at a simple surface level reading.

What Is The Tower?

When Roland catches the man in black he shoots at him.  The man in black suggests that it is not a good idea to kill the person who has the answers he seeks.  They go to a campfire, where the man in black cooks a rabbit – Roland eats jerky.

If the end is supposed to provide answers, it does not.  What is the dark tower?  The axis of many universes – endless worlds.  The tower is the “nexus of time.”  It’s a good answer to stave off the reader.  Truth is, the reader (me) is a little suspect that at this point Stephen King has no idea what the dark tower is!  Saying is the “nexus of time” or “the nexus of size” make it worth pursuing without a lot further explanation of exactly what in the world is going on.

Here’s the thing: The Dark Tower itself, at least in this novel, is nothing more than what Alfred  Hitchcock would call a “McGuffin.”  A McGuffin is a devise that simply moves the plot forward, it doesn’t matter what it is.  If it’s a spy story, the McGuffin is the needed papers.  In this case, it is the mysterious tower.

I think The Dark Tower itself is a mystery to both writer and reader in this first installment of The Dark Tower.  The writer is driven by the concept, not fully aware of what it is or why Roland must reach it.

The Gunslinger Journal #3: Hey Jude

A short article at The Guardian notes the impressive number of mentions the Beatles song "Hey Jude" gets in books.  "As well as being one of the most frequently heard songs, the Lennon-McCartney classic has also found its way into a lot of books."

Of course, Hey Jude is one of the first real clues we get in the Gunslinger that Roldand's world is somehow a mirror of our world, or at least deeply connected  to our world.  (I'm being vague since the book  is vague at this point.)

It's a strange mix: Roland's world is one of cowboys and the Beatles.  There is a feeling that great technology once existed here, but things have returned to a simpler time.

The Guardian article notes:

you can find it in 55 books, from Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla ("The people are real. You … Susannah … Jake … that guy Gasher who snatched Jake … Overholser and the Slightmans. But the way stuff from my world keeps showing up over here, that's not real. It's not sensible or logical, either, but that's not what I mean. It's just not real. Why do people over here sing Hey Jude? I don't know")

The Guardian article is HERE.

In a November 17, 1988 interview with King, Janet C. Beaulieu discussed the Dark Tower quite a bit.  Here is what they said about Hey, Jude and the Gunslingers world:

SK: I see the gunslinger's world as sort of a post-radiation world where everybody's history has gotten clobbered and about the only thing anybody remembers anymore is the chorus to "Hey, Jude."
JB: Yes, that keeps coming back. And there was another one - it's not coming to me.
SK: Well, it's a different world; it's not our world, but it's obviously a world that's been influenced by our world. There are some little funny islands of the past like Atlantis that are still there hanging around.
JB: The idea of a honky-tonk "Hey, Jude" is kind of neat.   

(Beaulieu's interview is HERE.) 

 

The Gunslinger Journal #2

I'm not overly fond of the Gunslinger in the first volume of the Dark Tower series.  I think the character becomes much stronger in The Drawing Of The Three.

What's wrong with the gunslinger?  As a character it comes down to likability   There is no denying there are people like Roland -- the question is, do you really identify with them?

We like the strong stoic type.  Roland makes a good cowboy.  King is consistent in presenting Roland as a very human hero; but as the story evolves, he becomes more enjoyable.

Here's Roland's primary character flaw: The Dark Tower is his god.  He is therefore willing to sacrifice anything for The Tower.  We are left wondering, in this  novel, if he is capable of love.  Deep, committed, sacrificial love.  He makes love, but then shoots his lover dead at the battle of Tull -- without much struggle or afterthought.

The boy is the problem, isn't he?  I think there is a hint of Abraham and Isaac here (Genesis 22).  God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  Isaac went as a willing sacrifice, even carrying the wood.  But in the end, God would not allow or accept human sacrifice.  I am not sure the analogy holds up with Roland and Jake.  Jake goes willingly, because his only other option is to be left behind.

King uses a lot of irony in the rewrite.  I like those little touches.  Only, with Jake it becomes almost painful how often King makes us aware that Jake will not make it to the end of the novel.

King's strength is his characters.  Sometimes real strength is redeeming unlikable characters.  I think throughout the series, King allows Roland to grow.  Later Roland will make better, wiser -- more personally sacrificial decisions.  Some of Roland's immaturity is directly related to King's own age when he began writing the novel.  Roland is what King wants him to be -- a stern, driven seeker of the Dark Tower.  He has few needs in this novel, he is just a shell of a man chasing a tower.  But over time King will quickly decide to fill in that shell.

The Gunslinger Journal #1

The journal entries are not intended to be reviews of the books.  They are simply my notes and observations as I journey through various King novels.  I will leave the work of review to the outstanding Lilja at Lilja’s Library.

I have started a familiar journey toward the Dark Tower, traveling once again with the Gunslinger as he chases the man in black.

Here are some initial impressions:

1. I like the style better than I remember.  It does read like someone who really wants to be very serious!  This is before King really had the freedom in his writing to play games and crack lots of jokes at himself.  The light heartedness we sometimes encounter in the narration of other books is not yet present.

But I like the heavy serious tone that novel strikes.  It does feel like someone who has lots to say. . . but isn’t sure just yet what it is they have!  That’s okay, I’m game, Mr. King!  If you want to be serious, I’ll be serious and play along.  It is the joy of reading a young mans work.

2. In the Dark Tower, King is “world building.”  But he keeps the reader in suspense in this novel – what world are we on?  Where are we?  Is this the afterlife?  The man in black mentions the world next door – I like that phrase.  The world of the dark tower is one that parallels our own, yet has some drastic differences.  It is a world that has moved on – a world in flux, or change.  Though there are familiar things – birds and farmers and guns – there are also some missing items.  Government?   It appears each town is run on its own.  It is a lawless world where dark men can come to town and raise the dead.  I imagine the book of Judges in the Bible.

3. Nineteen.  The key word the dark man gives to drawing out information from the man he raised (Norton) from the dead is “nineteen.”  A theme that King will play with throughout the series, and his own writing.

4. The book is difficult to follow.  It starts with the gunslinger meeting a farmer.  The farmer wants to know about Tull.  This leads to a flashback.   But there are scene shifts within the flashback – points of view given that are not directly the gunslingers.  This gets a little complicated, I think.  I'll discuss that  further below.

5. Spiritual Overtones: By the way, the idea of a fallen world that needs to be restored has huge spiritual overtones.  A good gunslinger, who does not conform to “religion” as it is known rides out to confront and defeat a dark man.  Of course, creation itself  is at stake and must be rescued.  Sounds familiar to me.

6. The dark resurrection reminds me of Pet Sematary.

Mr. Vincent and Me:

Wow, am I glad I have Bev Vincent’s “The Road To The Dark Tower.”  Vincent explains everything from a birds eye point of view, taking into account the entire series, changes King made to the Gunslinger and even discussing issues of chronology.

I have to admit, I was lost as the Dark Man raised Norton from the dead – simply in terms of where we were in the timeline.  I knew at some point the Gunslinger started talking, but then the scene changed and it was another flashback.  So it was a flashback in a flashback.   But, to make things more complicated – I wasn’t even clear where the Gunslinger’s conversation with the farmer fit in to all of this.

So Vincent explains the whole chronology thing succinctly, without making me feel stupid (though you all are welcome to point fingers and declare me unworthy of the journey!)  Vincent writes:

“The Gunslinger,” covers a period of nearly two months, taking the as-yet-unnamed gunslinger from Prince town through Tull and southeast into the desert, where he encounters Brown. . . 

. . . King begins the story five days after Roland departs from Brown’s hut. . .

(AH!!!  How did I not put this together.  So even Brown is a flashback)

“Through a series of flashbacks, he reminisces about his recent history.”

See, now I get it!  In fact, now I’m excited about it.  What was that, four sentenses that made the whole first part of the novel flow.

“In Song of Susannah, King says he liked how the story seems to be going backward (I’LL SAY!), starting with Roland, slipping back to Brown, then to Tull and finally to show Nort the Weeedeater being resurrected by Walter.  “The early part of it was all told in reverse gear.”

(The quotes are from page 31 of the paperback.)

PURPOSE:

Finally, Vincent address the issue I’ve been harping on – one of PURPOSE.  Why must the gunslinger go to the tower?  “The gunslinger sues people and discards them after they’ve served thier purpose or if they stand in the way of his goal.  In the abstract, his actions are understandable.  Saving all of existence is surely worth sacrificing a few people.”

But, I must ask – when the gunslinger gets to the Dark Tower, does he make any real attempt to save all humanity?  Is that what happened?  And, is he not caught like Bill Murray in an eternal Ground Hog Day situation?  Be patient, the journey will answer these questions for me!  Will King ever give us a Dark Tower 8, where the Gunslinger finally reaches the Dark Tower and successfully restores things?

Isn't this basically what every Star Trek movie is about?

The Dark Tower Project

With the announcement that both Doctor Sleep and Joyland will be released in 2013, I have decided it is time for me to return to The Dark Tower.

I have read the first three books several times (the first two many, many times).  I have not read Wizard and Glass or The Wind Through The Keyhole.  I also skipped and dipped through the last book.  The arrival of Wind Through The keyhole actually peaked my interest: I want to retrace the steps of Roland and his journey to the tower.

My favorite books previously were: Drawing of the Three, Wastelands, Wolves of the Calla and parts of Song of Susannah.  My least favorite is the first.

So here’s the plan:
1. I’ll do most of the reading by audio book.
2. I choose the original version of the first book, as opposed to King’s revised edition.
3. I will read the books in chronological book order.
4. I will stay with the primary 8 books; skipping Little Sisters and other short Dark Tower related works.

When I first came to The Dark Tower, I was brand new to Stephen King.  I only made it through the first few pages, then jumped ship and went to The Stand.  I later read The Dark Tower, and though confused, went on to The Drawing of the Three.  That book was awesome!

There are things I still don’t totally understand, the primary one is simply this: How does Roland getting to the tower change anything?

There are several good Dark Tower books to guide me on the journey.  My intention is to stay primarily with The Road To The Dark Tower, by Bev Vincent.