Trying Real Hard to Read This Book

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Mar 26, 2015
17
47
59
Kentucky
I've tried to read this book three times now. I've given up every time about 20 pages in ... it's like my mind is not wired to understand what is going on! The Talisman was a great book, this one might be as well, but I guess I'll never know! I've bought it and sold it three times now, that's all I know.

I'm with the dude complaining about the last three Dark Tower books. 5 was a slog, but 6 and 7 were just as bad. Wizard and Glass was so awesome. Too tough an act to follow for me, I guess.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I've tried to read this book three times now. I've given up every time about 20 pages in ... it's like my mind is not wired to understand what is going on! The Talisman was a great book, this one might be as well, but I guess I'll never know! I've bought it and sold it three times now, that's all I know.

I'm with the dude complaining about the last three Dark Tower books. 5 was a slog, but 6 and 7 were just as bad. Wizard and Glass was so awesome. Too tough an act to follow for me, I guess.
You have to make it past about page 75 in Black House for it to start taking off, but man, when it does you gotta hold on tight!
 

Mocos

Active Member
Mar 6, 2016
39
172
49
Tacoma, WA
I love reading people's different takes on books that didn't do it for them. I frickin' loved the Regulators and I have seen tons of people on here who hate it, lol. The Talisman is what started me on my SK quest. That book is and will be at or near the top of my SK books list. I swallowed that book up like I was starving to death.

On Black House I had to work to temper my expectations because I knew it could never compare to the Talisman for me. Once I got my mind right I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it was one of my favorite SK books but it had some interesting things in it, especially all the Dark Tower tie ins. And the Thunder 5, great characters.
I started reading this thread in the hopes that everyone's comments would rekindle my memory of this book. Sorry to say, you all failed miserably, lol. All I remember is that it was as dark as it's title suggests.
Since I've recently left a brief but glowing critique of SK's writing in a different thread, I feel obligated to restore balance in my mind by chiming in on the "tough to read" topic. The Tommyknockers was the longest book I've ever slogged through. Much longer than it's considerable number of pages. And, (here's where I get controversial) the whole Dark Tower series after The Drawing of the Three was kind of a chore (with the exception of Wolves of the Calla and parts of Song of Susannah). I felt like King had this enormous, grand idea, but hadn't yet organized it into something worth publishing. Like maybe he couldn't quite follow his own Path of the Beam.
As for Straub and the difference between The Talisman and Black House... I really like Straub's stories, maybe even more than most of SK's...but I find his style hard to lose myself in. My ideal world is one where King writes Straub's story ideas (along with his own, of course). I still can't decide if Ghost Story would have been scarier in SK's voice, or if it needed that almost Gothic feel that Straub could give it (reminiscent of James' The Turn of the Screw). I always imagined that The Talisman was written primarily in King's style, where Black House was allowed to feel more like a Straub story.
 

Sunlight Gardener

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2013
375
1,273
I've tried to read this book three times now. I've given up every time about 20 pages in ... it's like my mind is not wired to understand what is going on! The Talisman was a great book, this one might be as well, but I guess I'll never know! I've bought it and sold it three times now, that's all I know.

I'm with the dude complaining about the last three Dark Tower books. 5 was a slog, but 6 and 7 were just as bad. Wizard and Glass was so awesome. Too tough an act to follow for me, I guess.

I think DT 5 and DT 2 were the best of the series by far. Wizard and Glass was a slog to me the first time but it did grow on me the next time I read it.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
I've read this one twice and right now couldn't tell you what the heck happens in the book. I have a vague memory of liking someone called 'Bear Girl', and something about a character in Joe Hill's NOS4A2 reminding me of someone in Black House. That's it. I'll attempt it again some day, likely, and maybe it will click. I do think that this book is more heavily influenced by Straub, and he's very hit and miss for me. I really only like Ghost Story by him, though a couple of others are okay.
 

Towerbent BreakSlinger

Well-Known Member
Sep 25, 2016
133
444
48
Stick with it! After reading The Talisman I was kinda disappointed a bit when i started Black House. I missed the territories (and Wolf still :( .. and it just didnt seem the same. BUT just over halfway through things really picked up and I ended up reading the last 250 odd pages yesterday! It was brill. The ending had me in goosebumps.
Havnt read any of the Dark Tower series yet.. but halfway through Black House I went to Waterstones and bought The Gunslinger :) Cant wait to start it tomorrow. I was planning on starting Mr Mercedes the day of release but think I'll be too engrossed in the Dark Tower series lol :)
It was black house that started me on my obsession- it's where I started to get towerbent- DT is the bee's knees.
 

Towerbent BreakSlinger

Well-Known Member
Sep 25, 2016
133
444
48
I've read this one twice and right now couldn't tell you what the heck happens in the book. I have a vague memory of liking someone called 'Bear Girl', and something about a character in Joe Hill's NOS4A2 reminding me of someone in Black House. That's it. I'll attempt it again some day, likely, and maybe it will click. I do think that this book is more heavily influenced by Straub, and he's very hit and miss for me. I really only like Ghost Story by him, though a couple of others are okay.
I think that when jack grew up he went through that critical loss of natural spiritual authority with the loss of childhood innocence, and the magical power we all lose there- even if he holds on to much purity and goodness and a little of the touch of the orb of forever( talisman)jack was forced to grow up, accept compromise and the way of the world- and the world has begun to move on, to darken. Our hero is no longer so purely in the right- he's Jonah running from the lord, he's the man who falls in love with a married woman- his character has become more complex
 

twiggymarie

Daughter of One
Mar 17, 2011
332
1,911
Texas, United States
I was always under the impression the original POV for Black House was the crow... o_O It's waaay darker than The Talisman, and I've never gotten through it with dry eyes. The beginning does take a while to heat up, sort of like an old car that's been sitting in the garage half the year. But once you get it warmed up and out on the road, it rides like a dream. Since this comment is waaaaay late, hope you got around to finishing it!! ;-D