For my independent reading project, I’m still reading Stephen King’s first installment of the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger.  So far it’s pretty awesome.  It follows a gunslinger in a fantasy old west-esque world as he follows a sorcerer clad all in black known as the man in black for as yet unknown reasons.  One thing I can say that King is a master of is gripping the reader from the very beginning by throwing them right into the middle of the action.  Even forty pages into the book, I have very little idea of what’s going on, and yet I find it very hard to put down. 

One of the ways King is able to achieve this is by creating constant undertones of tension.  In other words, you always get the sense while reading that something big and bad is brewing.  An example of how he does this in this particular book stems from the environment the gunslinger inhabits.  It’s a harsh, unforgiving world.  A town that he spends much of his time at is inhabited by mistrusting, inbred hillbillies and junkies jacked up on a plant called devil grass (basically weed on steroids).  This kind of thing being the general theme of the book creates a constant sense of unease in the reader.

I guess that’s the main reason I like Stephen King novels.  You never know what’s going to happen next, but you always know that something is going to happen.  This book has just done more to convince me that King is the master of subtext.  I suppose part of the reason that one always wonders what’s going to happen next is King’s reputation as one of the best horror author’s in the business.

But yeah, I digress.  This book is dope, so if you like Stephen King/horror/surreal westerns (kind of a specific category, I know) check it out, you won’t regret it.  I can’t wait to update the interwebs on what happens next on the journey of the gunslinger.

So I just finished my last book, Devil in the White City, and keeping with the dark themes, I decided to pick up a Stephen King novel.  As I decided to fully invest myself in a long-term reading project, I picked up the first in his longest and most near-and-dear series, The Dark Tower Series, the first of which being The Gunslinger. As his magnum opus, the Dark Tower series embodies all that is Stephen King, presenting a completely strange, surreal, and supernatural world in which nothing is what it seems.

The Gunslinger follows the unnamed title character as he pursues another man, known simply as the man in black, through a vast desert toward a mysterious tower--the Dark Tower.  The reader is thrown into this pursuit right away with absolutely no explanation, being forced to find their bearings amidst the barren landscape of King’s dreamworld.

Being most of the way through the first chapter, I can’t help but think that nothing I’m reading is actually meant to be taken literally.  With such a strange premise, reminiscent of the midnight movies of the ‘70s, it seems to me to at this point be some fantastical dream-journey through a metaphorical landscape of King’s devising.  As to the purpose or overall message contained within said metaphors, well, I can’t speak to that just yet.

Overall, it’s a great read so far.  King’s writing style leaves nothing to be desired, with beautifully crafted sentences rich in visual detail.  In addition to his fantastic writing ability, King was really able to let his imagination run free with this series, and it definitely pays off. The world he’s created, both with the characters and the imagery is both stark and bleak as well as dream-like and fantastical.  If you enjoy Stephen King, or are simply a fan of epically fantastical adventures, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up.

I’m still reading Gary Larson’s The Devil in the White City.  The further I get into this book, the more interested I am to hear what happens next, especially when it comes to Holmes.  The text still follows a similar format, jumping between focuses. One chapter will be focused on the World’s Fair head architect, Daniel Burnham, and the next will be focused on H.H. Holmes, the notorious serial killer, and so on.  At this point in the book a new protagonist has emerged as well, one George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. the inventor of the ferris wheel.  The attraction was first created for the Columbian Exposition, and Larson expands on the trials and tribulations involved, intertwining ferris’s story with that of Burnham.  While closer to the beginning of the book, the chapter focuses seemed rather disjointed, as it’s progressed, Larson shows us how Holmes’s actions intertwine with those of Burnham and Ferris.  More than that, the contrast between the visionary idealistic architects and the undeniably sociopathic serial killer makes for a very interesting dynamic.  With such vastly different characters, Larson not only relates a historical tale, but also explores the human psyche and in fact, what it means to be human.

On the one hand, you have Daniel Burnham, a man with so much vision he was able to pull off something that no one had ever seen before, a leader of both technological and cultural advancement.  On the other is a man some would not even consider human at all, as he possesses none of the emotion or empathy to be considered such.  Two very different sides of humanity juxtaposed against each other.  That kept in mind, I’ve begun to realize that the real protagonist in Larson’s text is humanity as a whole.  I can’t wait to finish the book and find out what happens next; again, if you’re reading this and haven’t checked out this book, I suggest you do so.

Upon finishing my previous book, I've started something new, The Devil in the White City.  The book is a biographical account in a novel style of the first Chicago's World Fair and the serial killer who operated during this period, H.H. Holmes.  The first notable thing about the book is its structure.  The author, Gary Larson, alternates the chapters consistently between two seeming "protagonists".  The first is Daniel Burnham, a visionary in city architecture and the head architect of the World's Fair.  The next is, big surprise, Holmes.  

While the way Larson follows Burnham is more typical coming from a biographical standpoint, what really stands out is how he builds the character of Holmes in our mind.  He approaches this in much the same way Capote did in his biographical novel, In Cold Blood.  Based on his reporting and everything he gathered, he was able to construct a portrait of what Holmes was like as a man.  He never reveals too much about Holmes at a time, though, allowing the mystique surrounding the character remain just as much intact as if we were there along with those unfortunate few caught in his web.

Holmes is a fascinating man.  He’s suave, charming, and cool.  A complete lady’s man, he has no problem luring innocent young women in a transitional period in their lives with kind words and his almost hypnotic aura of charm and mystery.  Yet Larson is particular about stressing that many found something amiss with him.  Something cold, or heartless even.  Already he’s built up as almost a Hannibal Lecter-esque sociopath, someone who is so skilled at putting up a front of humanitarian perfection, behind which lies nothing recognizably human.  Holmes begins his  life in Chicago with the construction of The Castle, a massive building that would not only be hotel and living quarters, but pharmacy, and, ultimately, crematory.

What stands out most in the book so far is how raptured Larson keeps the reader, how he’s able to draw them in and keep them there with the promise of what’s to come.  In addition, the way he slowly reveals more and more about Holmes’s dark side, just as those Holmes himself interacts with do, is absolutely brilliant.  It’s a gripping read so far, and I would definitely recommend anyone to check it out.

I've just finished Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.  The second act does not disappoint, with all the tension of the first coming to a head.  This act takes place in the offices of Premier Properties, the real estate company.  The office has just been robbed, as was plotted in the first act, but the perpetrator remains unclear.  Levene enters, bragging about a massive deal he just closed.  While he and Roma discuss this, a detective interviews everyone in the office.  Enter James Lingk, the man who had previously just bought land from Roma.  His wife makes him back out of the deal, but Roma and Levene use underhanded tactics to prevent that.  Eventually, Williamson enters and tells Lingk his check has gone to the bank, and the only choice left to him is to call the state’s attorney’s office. Exit Lingk.  Roma is infuriated.  In the following crucial scene, the office burglar is revealed, and then comes the conclusion of the play.  Mamet is a master of putting interest into the most mundane of scenarios.  His descriptive dialogue keeps the reader glued to the page, while the actual scenario unfolding is not so different than what would occur in everyday life.  Mamet’s greatest strength is his dialogue.  It’s quick and efficient where it needs to be, so as not to lose the reader, yet completely reasonable and believable so as not to distract the reader.  Dialogue, especially in a play, is one of the hardest things to pull off effectively in terms of showing rather than telling, yet Mamet accomplishes it superbly.

              For my independent reading project, I'm reading Glengarry Glen Ross, the play by David Mamet.  If there's one thing I can say Mamet does well, it's dialogue.  All of the dialogue he puts out is extremely literal and to the T, factoring in awkward pauses, breaks, and anything else that is a common part of normal speech.  The characters themselves are also very interesting, perhaps not on their own, but based on their interactions with each other.  The cast of characters is quite intriguing.  We have John Williamson, the cold office manager, who operates by the book and whose sole interest is his office's relationship to the company managers, Mitch and Murray.  We have Shelly Levene, the veteran who dreams of a past time of door-to-door salesmanship.  We have George Aaronow, the rather slow salesman who struggles at the bottom of the sales charts.  We have Dave Moss, the brutally ambitious and hot-tempered salesman who only cares about his own personal gain.  Finally, we have Richard Roma, the office hotshot, always topping the sales charts.  The first act opens on to an interaction between Shelly and John in a restaurant down the street from the office.  Shelly tries to convince John to give him some of the premium Glengarry leads rather than the unsellable crap he had been given.  We understand that the top seller for the month will win a Cadillac, while the lowest seller will most likely be fired.  Cut to a conversation between George and Dave.  Dave tries to convince George to join him in robbing the office of the Glengarry leads and sell them to a rival company.  They are both clearly discontent with the company and with Williamson.  Finally, we are treated to a view of Roma in the middle of a sale with James Lingk.  To see him in action is quite impressive.  These three scenes accomplish the establishment of the situation in the play and the characters, as well as giving us an inside view of the workings of the company.  Despite the intriguing nature of the play, however, sometimes it can be a little difficult to read due to Mamet’s use of erratic dialogue, as interruptions, pauses, and other quirks dominate the speech.