Book Club discussion

Book came recommended to me by my cousin, I didn't honestly know Stephen King wrote these kind of books. I had a version where the forward was written in 2004 or something, and it was quite good. King warns the book is different than the others and the one he was most tempted to change. My cousin also warned me this book wasn't nearly as good as the second one.

Without those warnings I probably wouldn't have continued on with the series. This is actually my first King novel, and the prose didn't read like I expected them too. Maybe that's because it's an old book. There was more flourish and more attempts at poetry than I was expecting.

I just never really was able to care about the Gunslinger, or Jake, or The Man in Black. But I guess this is all table setting for what is to come.

This is next on my list to read but, having read a few other King books, I know that the build-up is usually worth the payoff.

So, the version of The Gunslinger that I read (which I can't find on here) had the same foreword that I think you're talking about, Grant. King basically says that he's embarrassed at how amateur this book seems compared to the others in the series (and presumably his other books in general), which, after reading some of his other books and reading this one, is pretty on point.

The book feels like someone trying to figure out the story as they write and sort of just "going with with the flow" in terms of how things turn out. It's almost like King knows it's going to be a series so he doesn't bother tying up basically any loose ends. While the book centers around Roland finding the man in black, it's basically a completely pointless endeavour in the end and we find out that the REAL journey is about to begin. Sometimes this works in books, sometimes it doesn't. This is one of those times that it doesn't.

I've got The Drawing of the Three on hold right now so I am continuing with the series but I REALLY hope it's true what your cousin says about it getting better.

I do wonder what other people thought about Jake because, even though I started to feel endeared to him a bit--especially since he did manage to stand up for himself a few times--I thought the way he died did not do him or Roland any justice. I felt like Roland couldn't give a shit about it in the end. I know that the narrator's always saying that Roland's mind isn't too sharp (which is questionable in itself) but just watching Jake fall down into that river felt really out of character. Then at the end he's like "I love you, Jake" or whatever. Lame.