OK...just bought The Gunslinger and...

**E Blitz** · March 18th, 2009

I read the Gunslinger twice back to back to fully take in everything that I had read. The second read thru was a lot better and much easier to understand than the first. Now I just have to get off my butt and grab Drawing of the Three.

**JohnDalglish** · March 18th, 2009

Originally Posted by pandora

Well you posted this message five days ago so hopefully you finished The Gunslinger. It was actually really hard for me to figure out too but you need to read it to start to know Roland. If you've put it down, please pick it back up, cause once you hit Drawing of the Three you'll know what everyone is talking about. IT ROCKS! Go out and buy at least the following two books after Drawing of the Three or you'll find yourself pissed off one night when you've finished the last page and want more.

Hi,

The wait of several years between volumes for those of us who read it as it was published was irritating.

Long days and pleasant nights

**Srbo** · March 18th, 2009

Originally Posted by bloodbool

Ive put it off far too long. I may be the last SK fan to read this series, :

No, you`re not.
I didn`t read it yet either.

**Teddy Duchamp** · March 18th, 2009

Im really glad to see your post OP - because I have just got to the exact same bit of the Gunslinger (preacher lady).

I promised myself I would make the effort - read everything else but this series just didnt appeal to me.

At the risk of offending some big fans - Im finding it hard to equate the "old tyme" language which he uses, and then the sudden interjection of a very modern sentence in the same paragraph - it grates on me a little. I know if I stay the course I wont notice it any more - he did the same thing at the start of the Talisman when Jack "flipped" for the first time - so I am sticking with it.

Its things like a sentence sounding like prose from centuries ago and then the next thing it says "I bet she wasnt".........it doesnt sit well - but maybe thats the way its supposed to be *blushes*

**Mr.Bobbo** · March 18th, 2009

Fellas,

I hope this isn't too disjointed a place for this (Mssrs. Moderator, you be the judge please), but:

I'VE JUST READ THE NEW EXPANDED/REVISED EDITION OF #1, AND I HAVE QUESTIONS. And none of them hold any negativity at all! I really have payed very little attention to Roland and his ka-tet over the years (I still do not own a single volume of any of the DT books, in any form), but I've read 'em, sure. Case in point: are there parts of WIZARD AND GLASS in the "new" version, or...I don't remember so much about Roland's youth and coming-of-age in the original '83 edition (though I didn't get my hands on one until 1990, beg pardon). Help!

Okay,
Bobbo

**ExcerptsFromATatteredMind** · April 9th, 2009

Originally Posted by bloodbool

Ive put it off far too long. I may be the last SK fan to read this series, but I bought the Gunslinger and Drawing of the Three tonight. Im going to dive into this series headfirst.

I started The Gunslinger and am about 60 pages in and I gotta admit, im lost. It took me forever to figure out if this was the past (Western) or the future. Once I DID figure that out, im still lost. LOL. Im just finishing the chapter where he meets with the "preacher Lady". Is this going to get better? Am I going to catch up to this or am I hopelessly lost in a sea of Devil grass?

Someone send me some hope here.

Okay BloodBool, so your having trouble with The Gunslinger. Nothing to hang your head about, it is an odd book. Especially so for you, being that you have read so many other novels by Mr. King. And therein lies the problem.

As a "constant reader" of Mr. King, you are used to getting in depth background on the main character(s) very early on in the novel, not to mention a healthy dose of their thoughts,hopes/dreams. Usually accompanied by their inner monologue, and some really funny jokes. This serves to orient you and give you a level of comfort with the character(s) and story material as you settle in to your enjoyable journey through the book.

In The Gunslinger however, you get very little of this. And there is a very good reason for that.

You are meant to be jarred by what you read. You are meant to be disoriented. Mr. King cannot give you that wonderful stream of consciousness from the characters perspective that lets you know the score. Because, at this point in the Saga, the main character (Roland) is almost as confused as you are as to what is going on.
He trudges across the desert with grim determination to catch the man in black. Yet, he is not even sure what to do if he does catch him. He only knows that he must.

Who is Roland? What is his past? Why is he doing this? He vaguely remembers. And that which he does remember, he is not gonna share with anybody. (At least right now.)

Roland is a no nonsense professional butt-kicker, who considers it a waste of time to dwell on matters not directly related to what he is trying to immediately accomplish. (Hence, there is very little given to us other than what concerns Roland in the here and now)

It is a strange book, no doubt, but it lays the foundation for the rest of the series. (Which is so good, that all who read it are humbled and awestruck. At least they should be.) And sets up many of the themes that are integral to the overall plot.

Roland is not "warm and fuzzy", you may even dislike him a little by the end of The Gunslinger. Have faith, this too is by design. And soon enough, Roland is forced to at least examine his ways, if not change them altogether.
And one last bit of encouragement. Book 2 (The Drawing of The Three) is told in a much more "familiar" fashion, and I promise you will not regret staying with old Roland of (There, lol. Now you know where he is from.)

**christyharts** · April 12th, 2009

My friend loaned me ALL seven books a little over a month ago. I read all seven in that span of time. Just finished the last one

I admit, the first one was hard to get into and understand at first, due to he was a beginning writer at the time.

The rest? HOOKED, HOOKED, HOOKED!

Stay with it, you won't regret it. I really started feeling like the characters became family.

**Sms231** · April 13th, 2009

Originally Posted by ExcerptsFromATatteredMind

... You are meant to be jarred by what you read. You are meant to be disoriented. ...

I totally agree with the above statements. When you finally complete The Gunslinger and start reading The Drawing of the Three, the disorientation that you felt when reading the first book helps you to identify with

**JRLauer** · April 13th, 2009

Originally Posted by bloodbool

Ive put it off far too long. I may be the last SK fan to read this series, but I bought the Gunslinger and Drawing of the Three tonight. Im going to dive into this series headfirst.

I started The Gunslinger and am about 60 pages in and I gotta admit, im lost. It took me forever to figure out if this was the past (Western) or the future. Once I DID figure that out, im still lost. LOL. Im just finishing the chapter where he meets with the "preacher Lady". Is this going to get better? Am I going to catch up to this or am I hopelessly lost in a sea of Devil grass?

Someone send me some hope here.

I had the same problem. The first book of the DT series had me baffled. But it gets easier as you go. By the time you finish the series, all questions will be answered. Even ones you don't want to know the answer to.

**THISisWHEREiMAKEmySTAND** · July 6th, 2009

Part of the fun is the not knowing, as they say, 'all good things in due time'....I hope you find the perseverance to stick it through because things really start to come into focus in The Drawing of The Three, ENJOY!!