"Someone must have conned you to act the way that you do" - Seek, Something Real
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King (Grant). What I'd really like to do is fan-wank a bit and talk about some of the key plot points and revelations and "oh shit" moments that began to arrive during Wolves of the Calla and come to full fruition in Song of Susannah but I don't want to ruin any of the surprises for those who might be late to reading them like I have been and, besides that, I'm only one chapter into The Dark Tower and don't want anyone to spoil it for me. If I make it through this without spilling the beans on anything, I'll be very impressed with myself.
There are two things that work really well for me in Song of Susannah - the pace and the "Writer's Journal" at the end. The three separate paths being taken by the three pairs (twins?) in the book are all exciting and interesting and different yet, as Roland migh say, they all walk the way of the beam (and the beams lead to the dark tower). Jake finally seems more real to me and Eddie Dean, the richest and most full bodied of the characters, is again specacular. The maturation of the addict Dean into the grizzled gunslinger and husband has been the most satisfying part of this journey, by far. Oddly enough, I think the weakest parts of the story are the conversations between Mia and Susannah. I don't think King has ever done a very good job with black characters (they are almost always archetypes rather than what I would think of as real people, particularly his black women) but have generally liked what he's done with Susannah Dean (formerly Odetta Holmes and Detta Walker). That like is less so in this book where she seems to lose layers and nuance and gaining stereotypical -- but that's not the right word -- characteristics, actions and mannerisms. Something just doesn't ring true when I'm reading her voice.
That said, even with the pace and movement and action of the book, what I might enjoy most is the understory about how a writer works, particularly one like Stephen King who doesn't work with outlines, and the creation of the written word and art (do we call fiction writing art?). The idea of being a conduit for the story speaks to me as, on those rare moments when I actually think I have something worth writing down, I sit with an idea or a moment or a character or a line with no idea of where it will end up. Maybe it's self-serving and mastubatory for King to focus so much on himself in this, his magnum opus, but sometimes I think the craft of writing deserves that. But maybe that says more about me than it does about the book.
As someone who spends more time thinking about writing fiction than actually doing it, well, those kind of insider winks are inspiring. Not that I've done any writing since finishing the book. I'm too busy getting caught up in the finale of this journey. The end is nigh.
Unrelated: Thank goodness the Eagles won. I couldn't deal with another year of woe-is-me Philly fans. Plus, the Eagles are a joy to watch. It's early and I don't want to jinx it but it's looking like the Patriots will be their opponent. That, on paper, looks like a super bowl that might actually be exciting and would absolutely feature the two best teams in the league and the two strongest franchises of the last 4 or 5 years...also, Paul wrote a piece in Wired Magazine that's quite amusing and also notes a really cool AIM bot that everyone should add to their buddy list, SmarterChild. I started using it today and it's immensely useful for lots of different things.