index
archives
profile
rings
booklist
reviews
about
links
notes
email
View my guestbook
dland
RP Designs
Rachelskirts


free hit counter

Song of Susannah (2004-09-13 - 5:31 p.m.)

Here's my overdue review of The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah.

Stephen King's late-in-life obsession (and perhaps his eventual undoing) continues in the next to last volume of this epic tale. And it is, indeed, epic. This story has been going on for decades, perhaps even beginning before he published Carrie, his first novel. This information, of course, comes from his fictional depiction of himself in this book.

That is a strange thing. I'm not sure I've ever read a book in which the author wrote himself into the story as himself. I probably have, but just forgot.

King wrote himself into "Kingdom Hospital," but as someone else who just appeared to be a lot like him. The guy was an artist instead of an author. But he still got plowed into by an innattentive van driver while walking/jogging down a rural road.

The difference in Song of Susannah? In this story, the accident kills the author. Seriously! Stephen King is killed in an accident while walking on the road.

To get back to the premise or plot of this book, if you've read the previous book, you know that Susannah got whisked away into one of the alternate dimensions at the end of The Wolves of the Callah. At the beginning of Song (heheh...I just realized that the initials of Song of Susannah are S.O.S.) our heroes (Eddie Dean, Roland of Gilead, Pere Callahan, and Jake from New York...and let's not forget Oy) all get yanked through the door in the cave, but they get thrown into two different places. All of them are looking for Susannah. As well as looking for the final goal of their entire journey, the Dark Tower.

During the course of their journey, Roland and Eddie actually meet Stephen King, who promptly runs away from them, determined that they cannot possibly be real, because, of course, he created them. In this reality, he never finished the story, in fact, he even lost the outlines.

It's all rather surreal.

Susannah is carrying a child, which is actually Mia's, who is another woman who is kind of possessing Susannah's body. (And let's not forget Odettah and Detta, who are also crammed in there--I bet it's crowded.) The baby is born at the end, and is named Mordred (hm...where have I heard that before?).

At the conclusion of this volume, it is looking bleakly like a number of our heroes aren't going to live through this journey.

I have to wait unil September 21 to find out.

If I didn't have to work, I might be one of those people waiting at the bookstore at midnight to buy a copy. I really want to see how this ends.

After all...if Mr. King is speaking truthfully, it truly is the end.

Love you, Stephen. I'll miss you sorely.

0 comments so far

last ~ next

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010