Carla
The narrative structure really distracted me, the breaking of the fourth wall—at one point, the narrator, who joined with the reader as a we, had “us” slip under a door “like a telegram”. I suspect that was Straub’s work.
Also, the complete deification of Lily (Lily Cavanaugh Sawyer, if you please) in this second novel bothered me. I remember Lily from the first part of The Talisman being a neglectful and kind of obnoxious mother, to my mind, and Jack’s father being the kind and gentle one. Here, Phil is barely remembered (this is explicitly stated near the end) and Lily is nigh perfect. Her movie career is elevated as well to the point that her movies are playing on a random tv at least twice, and someone recognizes her name (which was a complaint of hers in The Talisman, that no one did). There is an odd twining as well of Jack’s love interest and Queen Mom that felt Oedipal in one love scene; I felt really uncomfortable.
I could feel when King was at the helm and when Straub was. The difference and transition was a jolt. The women felt more flawed in King’s hands, more three-dimensional; they felt worshipped in Straub’s. For example, Jack immediately fell in love/worship, and within minutes of meeting this woman, admired her “beautiful knees”—and they were presented to us by the narrator as beautiful, not as such in Jack’s mind. Another woman was described as so petite that a man could balance her feet on one of his hands. That all just felt gross.
I have never felt discomfort like described with King’s works before, and I started reading them a long time ago. I’m older than I look.
Finally, the dialect of a certain character was written so…oddly that I had trouble parsing it. Again, never seen that before in King’s works.
I left the rating at four stars because the story itself was fabulous, and I love how the Tower lore tied into this series, and how King’s other characters with abilities might serve the Beam. Fascinating.
The narrative structure really distracted me, the breaking of the fourth wall—at one point, the narrator, who joined with the reader as a we, had “us” slip under a door “like a telegram”. I suspect that was Straub’s work.
Also, the complete deification of Lily (Lily Cavanaugh Sawyer, if you please) in this second novel bothered me. I remember Lily from the first part of The Talisman being a neglectful and kind of obnoxious mother, to my mind, and Jack’s father being the kind and gentle one. Here, Phil is barely remembered (this is explicitly stated near the end) and Lily is nigh perfect. Her movie career is elevated as well to the point that her movies are playing on a random tv at least twice, and someone recognizes her name (which was a complaint of hers in The Talisman, that no one did). There is an odd twining as well of Jack’s love interest and Queen Mom that felt Oedipal in one love scene; I felt really uncomfortable.
I could feel when King was at the helm and when Straub was. The difference and transition was a jolt. The women felt more flawed in King’s hands, more three-dimensional; they felt worshipped in Straub’s. For example, Jack immediately fell in love/worship, and within minutes of meeting this woman, admired her “beautiful knees”—and they were presented to us by the narrator as beautiful, not as such in Jack’s mind. Another woman was described as so petite that a man could balance her feet on one of his hands. That all just felt gross.
I have never felt discomfort like described with King’s works before, and I started reading them a long time ago. I’m older than I look.
Finally, the dialect of a certain character was written so…oddly that I had trouble parsing it. Again, never seen that before in King’s works.
I left the rating at four stars because the story itself was fabulous, and I love how the Tower lore tied into this series, and how King’s other characters with abilities might serve the Beam. Fascinating.