Unwise Oldman > Recent Status Updates

Long-winded and convoluted introduction. Difficult to grasp because there is almost no plot; it is all character and setting. T1 was equally bold in its introductory chapter, so it is evidently by design—but it is a style that only a published and critically acclaimed writer (or a duo of them!) could sell to a publisher.

We have entered full Dark Tower territory. The Talisman has been upgraded from MacGuffin to the nexus of all worlds — although I can see King fighting against the book becoming another Dark Tower story. Some say by the time of Black House he lost the fight, but I think it was lost by the time Jack reaches the pacific.

There’s nothing like a heavy dose of mutants from nuclear fallout to break up my day at work. 🫠☢️💀

I am getting the impression that the Black Hotel is this world’s Dark Tower, but King and Straub refuse to say it.

Excellent chapter. The moment of triumph is immediately turned on its head. The flip to hell is genuinely stunning because it comes after a lull in the narrative’s momentum. Also, the fight scene where Gardener stuck Wolf with the needle—very Homeric.

Jack and Wolf trapped in a religious version of the boy’s home from Holes for three and a half chapters (and counting) was not how I imagined Part III to begin. Wolf has earned his place though—but Gan, I wish Jack would do something!

What does Twenty Years do to both a man, his friends, and a nation? D has lost his fire, and hasn’t been promoted in two decades; whilst Aramis pretends he is nothing more than a priest by day, but still he acts as the musketeer by night. It is rather bittersweet to read, you can’t help but look forwards and gaze backwards and see was time doth wrought.

Rambler No. 14 “Authors and writing” — Have you ever read the Twitter feed of your favourite author? Has the disparity between their published canon and their public Tweets ever forced you to block them, vowing never to open their feed again? If that sounds like you—then read this essay. Johnson illustrates the fact: there is no comparison to be made between the writer and the man. They are not the same.

“But youth is a great defect—when one is no longer young.”

Here is the thesis of the entire opening so far. The days of youth have left D’artagnan, and so his dear friends have gone and his great adventures have come to an end. It is a rather sorry state of affairs, and one all too familiar.

It finally clicked with the chapter The Men in the Sky. This is a fairy story for a modern man. We don’t live in fayland: we visit, but we always come back to earth. Jack taking it all in and trying to preserve the wonder of fayland before he leaves—who doesn’t know that feeling?