Acts of a writer who just needs to finish?

[Ophelia]

I just finished DT 7 last night. At first I was like what in the bloody heck was that?! Then as it sank in, I was okay with the ending. However, I was really sad for Roland and felt completely exhausted at the end of it all. I just wanted Roland to get it right this last time. I just wanted Roland to get some rest, some peace. Guess SK did a good job of making us love the cold-blooded killer, eh?

But I had some other thoughts about the book in general--
As I was reading, some elements felt tossed into the story like "Aww, what the heck, why not? Who cares?" Some things felt tossed in because he just wanted to finish the story already, and didn't want to do any long, drawn-out explanations for unimportant facts. And some of it left me just scratching my head.

Of cours, he's using words and phrases and people to keep drawing us back around to the fact that in that world, ka is a wheel.

So I get it. But I tell ya, say true, halfway into DT 4 I completely abandoned even trying to make sense of anything. What's that? This section doesn't make sense? None of it makes any sense. But in the reality SK created, it does make sense. So therefore it is. And all that mixing reality and fiction and even throwing a semi-fictionalized version of himself into the story.

Mind-boggling, say true, say thankya.

SK left some huge, unresolved questions for me:

The tiny little subplot about the superflu. Was that mentioned in another novel? I was very, very interesed in finding out what happened there.
What in the world did the Old People do? Nuke themselves? I'm figuring so with all the muties running around, but nukes don't create crevice monsters and such.
Who started North Central Positronics? Who can we blame for the world falling apart? Oh, how we long for a villain

[/LIST]

Say thankya big-big for responses.

Come-commala, come-commala, come drink a nozz-a-la....

[Bryan James]

...Who cares?...None of it makes any sense.

...

Welcome to Earth.

[Brett Johnston]

I like the roller coaster plunge moment of realization; it was a true to life's wheel effect right there, oh no not again! :) It was strange that no trap sprang up to drag Roland out onto a different level for an eternity, I think most people would be more hounded by the details of each level.

[bluespider]

I just finished DT 7 last night. At first I was like what in the bloody heck was that?! Then as it sank in, I was okay with the ending. However, I was really sad for Roland and felt completely exhausted at the end of it all. I just wanted Roland to get it right this last time. I just wanted Roland to get some rest, some peace. Guess SK did a good job of making us love the cold-blooded killer, eh?

But I had some other thoughts about the book in general--
As I was reading, some elements felt tossed into the story like "Aww, what the heck, why not? Who cares?" Some things felt tossed in because he just wanted to finish the story already, and didn't want to do any long, drawn-out explanations for unimportant facts. And some of it left me just scratching my head.

Of cours, he's using words and phrases and people to keep drawing us back around to the fact that in that world, ka is a wheel.

So I get it. But I tell ya, say true, halfway into DT 4 I completely abandoned even trying to make sense of anything. What's that? This section doesn't make sense? None of it makes any sense. But in the reality SK created, it does make sense. So therefore it is. And all that mixing reality and fiction and even throwing a semi-fictionalized version of himself into the story.

Mind-boggling, say true, say thankya.

SK left some huge, unresolved questions for me:

The tiny little subplot about the superflu. Was that mentioned in another novel? I was very, very interesed in finding out what happened there.
What in the world did the Old People do? Nuke themselves? I'm figuring so with all the muties running around, but nukes don't create crevice monsters and such.
Who started North Central Positronics? Who can we blame for the world falling apart? Oh, how we long for a villain

[/LIST]

Say thankya big-big for responses.

Come-commala, come-commala, come drink a nozz-a-la....

the only superflu that i know of is in The Stand, the greatest ever ever ever!

[Robb]

the only superflu that i know of is in The Stand, the greatest ever ever ever!

Beat me to the punch. If I remember right there also was a mention of "watch out for the walkin dude" which of course points to The Stand. I am unsure though i haven't read DT4 in a long time and I lost my copy in Iraq. I how ever do not agree The Stand was the best ever DT7 :biggrin2:

[Dark Reader]

I finished the last book for the first time yesterday and today i've rushed on to the forum to find out what other people thought.

I too struggle to make sense of certain parts of the tale and felt that other parts weren't explained properly.

The sections that Stephen wrote himself into don't make any sense to me and i think if you took that whole story line out it wouldn't make much difference.

For me the back story of Roland was distorted. Far too much time was spent on the part in Mejis and not enough on his journey or what happened at Jericho Hill.

I agree about North Central Positronics. The establishment of the Tet Corporation and what it achieved would have been fascinating.

I'm afraid i was under whelmed by the DT journey :sad: It didn't flow and left too many questions unanswered.

[Ophelia]

Beat me to the punch. If I remember right there also was a mention of "watch out for the walkin dude" which of course points to The Stand. I am unsure though i haven't read DT4 in a long time and I lost my copy in Iraq. I how ever do not agree The Stand was the best ever DT7 :biggrin2:

Awesome. Thanks to both of you!
I will try to find it on amazon or at the library.

I have tried every video store in the area, and no one has The Stand movie. :(

[Robb]

Awesome. Thanks to both of you!
I will try to find it on amazon or at the library.

I have tried every video store in the area, and no one has The Stand movie. :(


The movie is LONG I would get the book personally I thought it was much better. Something is always lost in the translation from book to movie.

The Stand is an amazing book the movie is just OK. I hope you enjoy the read or watch

Long days and pleasant nights.

[thymeoperator]

i got the impression the Old People got so technologically advanced, traveled to so many new worlds and adapted the elements from those worlds into their own, etc. and in the end were so 'far ahead' that they wound up destroying themselves through wars. i loved that aspect of the book because the 'old people' seemed to be our own future, so it was kind of like...this is what we might be heading to ourselves. we, like roland, have got our priorities out of order.

[OhhDiscordia]

You have to think that he knew this ending at last by the halfway point of their journey. If not, when he set off writing this. I think partly, that he just created something so great, a world so impressive and incredibly large, with SO much backstory that there's just no time to scratch the surface on, that it's expected to have that effect, of feeling not quite finished, not full enough. But you just have to go with the flow, because this story does flow, and fast. It's almost as if, trying to overanalyze too much of it, will ruin it because you only WANT to know more. What he tells you is what he wants you to know, what you need to know. It's a fantastic epic tale, and as he writes at the end, read it for the journey, not as a rush to the finish line to find out what happens. The tale of these gunslingers is truly great.

[Wanderer From Ys]

SK left some huge, unresolved questions for me:

The tiny little subplot about the superflu. Was that mentioned in another novel? I was very, very interesed in finding out what happened there.
What in the world did the Old People do? Nuke themselves? I'm figuring so with all the muties running around, but nukes don't create crevice monsters and such.
Who started North Central Positronics? Who can we blame for the world falling apart? Oh, how we long for a villain

[/LIST]

Say thankya big-big for responses.

Come-commala, come-commala, come drink a nozz-a-la....

The superflu elements were most definately the stand. Along with beware of the walkin dude, there was also the mentioning of going to Nebraska to see the old woman. But I think Roland or the narrator says that it's not their tale. But to fans of the Stand this was very obvious.

[terrain]

I finished the last book for the first time yesterday and today i've rushed on to the forum to find out what other people thought.

I too struggle to make sense of certain parts of the tale and felt that other parts weren't explained properly.

The sections that Stephen wrote himself into don't make any sense to me and i think if you took that whole story line out it wouldn't make much difference.

For me the back story of Roland was distorted. Far too much time was spent on the part in Mejis and not enough on his journey or what happened at Jericho Hill.

I agree about North Central Positronics. The establishment of the Tet Corporation and what it achieved would have been fascinating.

I'm afraid i was under whelmed by the DT journey :sad: It didn't flow and left too many questions unanswered.

I think SK constantly asks us to just accept. I think it takes a brave writer to deliver what he sees without feeling a great need to explain every detail of the past. Just accept, don't always expect answers. The Old People, robot bears, glass balls, all that stuff...it is what it is, it's how our world has ended up. The story isn't really about how it got that way, it's about survival in a world as he writes it.
As for SK appearing in his own novel, I always felt this was a master stroke. Talk about ballsy writing. A huge risk, and for me it paid off. Not to overuse a DT phrase, but he is part of their ka. And when SK recognises his own characters and runs away, I just about wet myself.
But that's just me :smile2: