After years of pondering I've finally begun again on this epic quest, maybe with more than I had when I embarked on this trip the last time.
It's a different experience than the last time.
When I flew through this magnum opus the first time I was seven years younger, already attached to my hubby for life, but not as responsible as I would've liked to be. I was still pretty carefree, not bothering with much except what I wanted and liked.
Nowadays I'm mother, wife and keeper of the household which is frustrating at times but I wouldn't trade it in for a million other options. Lot of things have changed, and I'm more mature as I was seven years ago.
I read these words I read back then through different lenses (which is funny since I actually began wearing glasses just a few years back) and it's difficult to say how The Gunslinger made me feel.
Don't get me wrong, I love King's writing, as I've mentioned more than once, but The Gunslinger is a feisty little motherfucker. King says so himself, it's not the easiest little novel to get through, but in the end you get what you want. The intro to a hell of a story.
In large, The Gunslinger is the psychologic intro into the main character of the Dark Tower. You get a glimpse of the man in search of the dark tower as if it was his soul he was searching. If you're like me, you'll be frustrated and annoyed by his cool demeanor, but as that outer layer flays away slowly you'll be amazed how you've somehow begun to empathize with him.
You'll get to know people from his world, some worth remembering, some easy to forget and others maybe haunting you through the rest of his journey.
All this happens while he is traveling a seemingly endless desert in search of the man in black as the very first line of the book tells you. It must be one of the more known sentences of one of his books.. although I think the Shining can also put a quote in that top three.
The Gunslinger is a bleak story about a man desperate for redemption as he search in vain to revenge himself on the man he follows. Nothing more than the bare necessities to carry along, nothing more to tell this story with. It's indeed not an easy story to roll into, but at least it's got the backbone needed for a strong story to survive upon. And I always liked a challenge, which usually leads to discovering more than meets the eye.
Now enough with the metaphores, I've got someone waiting for me.
