Does this book get better?

[runningman]

It does start slow, but if you get past the slow part you might have a hard time putting it down. I did.

[ChristineB]

This can be a problem with many of SK's longer novels for some people. As a rule of thumb I hold judgment on any of his novels until I have made it through the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the book, he is such a master of character developement that you have to give him that time to do his thing or you may end up missing out on the best story you ever read by putting it down early.

[laxauburn]

I just started reading The Talisman for my first time tonight...it certainly does start out slow, but there's no way I'd considering putting it down. I can definitely tell it's going to be awesome.

[Scott C]

Wolf!!

[Bryan James]

"The Talisman" is an old-timey wooden rollercoaster on a grey day grimed up damn good by saltslick blown in from the beach mixed with the grease of ten thousand panicdropped corndogs and some windlost ballcaps.

It smells like life.

~BJS

[Teddy Duchamp]

The Talisman is one of my favourite books, possibly second only to the Stand for me.

But that being said I do remember finding it very tough going at the beginning. I'd say keep going till Jack hits the road, and if you dont like it after that maybe its not for you.

But I absolutely LOVED it - right here and now!

[morganelafee]

I'm glad to see that i.m not the only one who thinks that the beginning of this novel is boring. I usually read very fast, about a page a minute, but this one was tough to start( I started it in november '09 and got to page 75 only yesterday I even put it aside for months and i .ve read other books between, what i NEVER do, because i think that when you read a book, all your attention should be given to the story). The story is getting more and more interesting around page 55.[SPOILER I love the idea to travel to another world by drinking a potion? magic elexir? instead of going through doors like in DT.][/SPOILER]Maybe that's why DT is my favorite books of all time, but that's not what we are talking about here!
Dont worry Mr. King, you're still on the top of my list anyway, it's not 60 boring pages or so that will make you scroll down from my top 3!

[GNTLGNT]

I know this is an older post, but I hope for an update...did you finish the book? I know it's a slow slog in the beginning, but once you catch the scent of "The Territories"-your reading life is changed forever(melodrama intended)...

[fljoe0]

Does it ever get better. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one that had trouble starting this book. I just finished reading it last night. I'm not sure if there are others like me but I own a bunch of books I've never read. I will go to the bookstore and pick out a few books, read a couple of them go back to the bookstore pick out a few more and read a couple and so on and so on. Then I'll try and stop myself from buying anything for a while and catch up but I never get completely caught up. So anyway back to The Talisman. I have owned this book since the 80's (in hardcover, so I must have got it when it was just released) and had never read it. I started it several times and got through 50 or 60 pages and ended up going to something else. Lately, I've been coming to this site and noticed this book is a favorite of almost everyone so I started again last week determined to finish it. I spent 2 or 3 days to get to page 100 which happened Friday (I don't know if it's the typeface but this is one of those books that seems to take longer to read per page than others, this 640 pages is like a 1000 page book). Once I crossed the 100 page barrier the story really started heating up and there was no more stopping, I did 200 pages Sat, another 200 Sunday and polished it off yesterday. What a great ride it was. This is one of my very favorite SK books. I picked up Black House and am ready to start that one tonight. If they ever do TV for this, an HBO series structured like Carnivale would work great. This book would divide into (13) 1 hour episodes very well.

[RGKID144]

SO im brand new to the forums, but hello all. Im about halfway through with The Talisman page 350 about, and truthfully its my least favorite of King titles I've read so far. This is my 6th title I believe. However, for some odd reason I cannot explain, but I simply cannot put it down regardless. Im not impressed, the writing styles somewhat off from normal King(Perhaps its Straub?), the scenes dont stand out to me as other of King's novels Ive read(IT, Stand, Salem's Lot etc.), but I simply must finish and cannot put it down. Go figure?