The Gunslinger by Stephen King

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This is actually a 3.5 book for me, following GR's rating system (and mine too people!). I liked this book and I sort of really liked this book. Therefore, a 3.5!

Stephen King has a very different writing style that has evolved over his years of writing. In this stage of his career, he took on a mysterious, metaphorical style/theme. So much is left to the reader to reason out on their own. Everything about this book is covered in shadow.

This is also one of those onion books. You can read it and say "Omg SO confusing! I don't get it! What's the dude's name again??" or you can say "I just looked into a never ending pool of unspoken wisdom. Mind-blown.". I had a little of both actually. Which is why I loved and hated it at the same time. When I first started reading, I was beyond confused. I haven't read many books that are mysterious as this one so it was difficult to get into the right mindset. However, once I read this passage:

"The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but Size. Size encompasses life, and the Tower encompasses Size. The child, who is most at home with wonder, says: Daddy, what is above the sky? And the father says: The darkness of space. The child: What is beyond space? The father: the galaxy. The child: Beyond the galaxy? The father: Another galaxy. The child: Beyond the other galaxies? The father: No one knows. You see? Size defeats us."

It just struck me then what I hadn't grasped throughout the entire book. This concept of the universe moving on. That life is a concept of thought. That our world is always temporary. Nothing is ever really permanent. Just as everything must have a beginning, it also must have an end. Now different people may perceive this book and it's message in different ways, my way being one of billions. The point is that it isn't a flippant book.

It's because of all that that I'm giving this book 3.5 stars. It was very well written with a fairly good plot. By fairly good I mean I loved it but in some places, the timeline skipped in weird places or went to fast or too slow for my tastes. Anyway, I'm not rating it 3.5 stars for some ulterior motive or because I'm 'deducting stars' or anything. I just liked it. That's it. I will be reading the next one to see what happens to the gunslinger on his quest.