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a few notes on stephen king's dark tower
I finished the last book of the Dark Tower series over the weekend. I've been reading this series since I first stumbled across the first three books in trade-paperback format in a second-hand bookstore some time in 1994. So basically I've been reading this lot for ten years, somewhat less than the period of time King has spent writing it (34 years, give or take, according to the end of the book). I've liked it. I used read King voraciously when I was in Secondary School, and for a while I'd pick up his books as they appeared in paperback. I seem to have lost quite a few of them; I bought at least two copies of Skeleton Crew and Four Past Midnight, neither of which are on my shelves any more. I have a French translation of one of his short story collections - the name of which I can't recall - which an exchange student gave me. I've skipped a whole lot of the later stuff, though - Dolores Claiborne, if I've even spelled that right, Hearts of (in?) Atlantis, The Green Mile, to name three - and I've only seen the middle of those three in movie format. It struck me as well made, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. I guess in context, it's almost like backfill for the Dark Tower series, to relate what Ted Brautigan did when he got away from Algul Siento.
The final book, then. The last three were serious doorstops, and a bit like standing in a torrential downpour after a few years of drought. My biggest issue with the last three, and I'll have to go back and reread the entire series to see if it's more pervasive than that, is the constant foreshadowing. King summons up a sense of impending doom well enough without using phrases like, "but it was all to be for naught, as we will see". In the last book, this seriously annoyed me: knowing that one of the ka-tet was going to die in Algul Siento, and then knowing as soon as I turned the page that it was Eddie before I'd even made it to the fatal shot. Knowing that Jake was going to die shortly after. Even taking into account the fact that these were people of premonition and clairvoyance and touch, there's really no excuse for that sort of crap; it's like the bit in the HitchHiker's Guide where Adams explains to you that noone dies in the next section, lest you get overwrought. But with Adams it's humourous and fits into the book. With King, I don't know what effect he was trying to achieve. It's distracting, at best. What makes it all the more annoying is that in other places where you'd expect it to be used, he's not done so. In The Wolves of The Calla, he goes to great lengths to conceal the plans that the gunslingers make to defeat the Wolves, revealing it only in the telling. I just wish he'd done more of that, is all.
I didn't like that Eddie died, nor Jake, nor that they died so close together and at least in the former case, so uselessly. Yes, the driving point throughout is that ka controls everything, and so when you've done your useful bit, ka will most likely cut you loose. King himself remarks in the afterword that Jake's death came as a surprise to him, also, but he doesn't allow us a glimpse of how he felt about that - whether it displeased him in any way, or if it was merely a suprising thing to note as he passed by. Oy's death seemed inevitable and was no surprise when it came, although the telling felt somewhat like, "ok, there's just one left, and we'll get rid of him quickly". Susannah's exit, on the other hand, was discordant because it left me feeling, well, if Susannah got away to meet a new Eddie and a new Jake, why didn't Oy?
I liked the coda, although it could have done without the preachy lead-in. I think it is necessary to see what becomes of Roland in the Tower, because I've been waiting ten goddamn years to find out and no mushy nonsense about the journey being better than the destination is going to persuade me to make up the ending for myself or whatever. I did enjoy the journey - I always do, with books - but I also like to close a book with a sense of having arrived at wherever I was going. And without that coda, I'd not have had that sense. And that coda lends itself nicely to rereading the series, too, which is something I intend to do.
Finally, the author's note. It was short, and seemed tetchy. Very much a "screw you if you don't like this, and don't come looking for me neither". Perhaps in future editions King will see fit to mollify the tone somewhat, or perhaps not. I thought it was a sour note to leave his beloved Constant Readers on, especially if this is to be the last thing he gives us. Anyway, it was a good read, and I'll be starting over soon.
The final book, then. The last three were serious doorstops, and a bit like standing in a torrential downpour after a few years of drought. My biggest issue with the last three, and I'll have to go back and reread the entire series to see if it's more pervasive than that, is the constant foreshadowing. King summons up a sense of impending doom well enough without using phrases like, "but it was all to be for naught, as we will see". In the last book, this seriously annoyed me: knowing that one of the ka-tet was going to die in Algul Siento, and then knowing as soon as I turned the page that it was Eddie before I'd even made it to the fatal shot. Knowing that Jake was going to die shortly after. Even taking into account the fact that these were people of premonition and clairvoyance and touch, there's really no excuse for that sort of crap; it's like the bit in the HitchHiker's Guide where Adams explains to you that noone dies in the next section, lest you get overwrought. But with Adams it's humourous and fits into the book. With King, I don't know what effect he was trying to achieve. It's distracting, at best. What makes it all the more annoying is that in other places where you'd expect it to be used, he's not done so. In The Wolves of The Calla, he goes to great lengths to conceal the plans that the gunslingers make to defeat the Wolves, revealing it only in the telling. I just wish he'd done more of that, is all.
I didn't like that Eddie died, nor Jake, nor that they died so close together and at least in the former case, so uselessly. Yes, the driving point throughout is that ka controls everything, and so when you've done your useful bit, ka will most likely cut you loose. King himself remarks in the afterword that Jake's death came as a surprise to him, also, but he doesn't allow us a glimpse of how he felt about that - whether it displeased him in any way, or if it was merely a suprising thing to note as he passed by. Oy's death seemed inevitable and was no surprise when it came, although the telling felt somewhat like, "ok, there's just one left, and we'll get rid of him quickly". Susannah's exit, on the other hand, was discordant because it left me feeling, well, if Susannah got away to meet a new Eddie and a new Jake, why didn't Oy?
I liked the coda, although it could have done without the preachy lead-in. I think it is necessary to see what becomes of Roland in the Tower, because I've been waiting ten goddamn years to find out and no mushy nonsense about the journey being better than the destination is going to persuade me to make up the ending for myself or whatever. I did enjoy the journey - I always do, with books - but I also like to close a book with a sense of having arrived at wherever I was going. And without that coda, I'd not have had that sense. And that coda lends itself nicely to rereading the series, too, which is something I intend to do.
Finally, the author's note. It was short, and seemed tetchy. Very much a "screw you if you don't like this, and don't come looking for me neither". Perhaps in future editions King will see fit to mollify the tone somewhat, or perhaps not. I thought it was a sour note to leave his beloved Constant Readers on, especially if this is to be the last thing he gives us. Anyway, it was a good read, and I'll be starting over soon.