2014 DT Buddy Read: #2 - The Drawing of the Three

[Becky]

Setting up the thread for the Buddy Read discussion.
Remember to mark all spoilers, ideally with the page number/% or chapter or something to let people know where you are in the book.

[Justin]

Kicking off on January 15. Who's with me?

[Jesse]

I am. I won't start this one that early though. I am currently reading flowers in the attic again so I can watch the remake.

[Shell]

Jesse wrote: "I am. I won't start this one that early though. I am currently reading flowers in the attic again so I can watch the remake."

Oooo remake of Flowers in the Attic?! I hadn't heard this. I may have to add this to my 2014 list. Thanks for the heads-up :)

[Justin]

Flowers in the Attic....

I think I remember my mom owning that book when I was younger.

Are the flowers actually kids or something?

[Jesse]

Yes, they are trapped in an attic and they make fake flowers so it's not so scary and such. Quite a controversial series however.

[Justin]

Here's the timeline for the book. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts as this one.


January 15 - 19: The Prisoner
January 20 - 25: Shuffle and Lady of Shadows
January 26 - 31: Reshuffle, The Pusher, and Final Shuffle

[Stevo]

This book is so good. I will commence with it once I finish 12 Years a Slave. Can't be juggling too many at once. :)

[Ryan]

Just started the prologue last night, getting on a plane Sunday morning. Looking forward a solid block of time to read (mostly) uninterrupted!

[Chris , The Hardcase]

Ryan wrote: "Just started the prologue last night, getting on a plane Sunday morning. Looking forward a solid block of time to read (mostly) uninterrupted!"

That's a great place to get into this book.

[Becky]

LOL Quite.

[Charity]

I'm currently re-reading this on the side. I'm at Lady of Shadows. I will wait and start reading it again next week so I'm in sync with the group.

[Justin]

Awesome. Welcome, Charity!

[Stevo]

'The gunslinger had no idea what tooter-fish was - only that it was delicious. That seemed enough.'

TDotT is so good.

[Justin]

So completely different writing style compared to the first book. This one is definitely more consistent with King's other novels, and it really wastes no time at all in getting into the story.

(view spoiler)[
I thought the beginning was crazy with the lobster creatures and Roland immediately losing parts of his body to them. I'm not sure if they one back or how significant these injuries will play into the story, but.... wow.

I'm thinking thus will only make Roland that much more awesome as we move along.

I also loved the way Roland is able to interact with Eddie during the first drawing. The scene I the plane with Eddie already flipping out and the suspicious flight attendants was just fun to read. Eddie's background is shady and he doesn't seem like he will make an impact at this point, but I'm sure we will learn his significance down the line. (hide spoiler)]

[Stevo]

I'm up to the first shuffle now. :) This book is top stuff right from the off. The bit where Roland goes hyper cos him and the prisoner see the tower is so cute, haha.

(view spoiler)[ Interesting how he 'knows' to go north up the beach and how he quickly works out how the door works. Ka? (hide spoiler)]

[Shell]

Justin wrote: "So completely different writing style compared to the first book. This one is definitely more consistent with King's other novels, and it really wastes no time at all in getting into the story.

..."

I couldn't believe it when (view spoiler)[Roland got damaged by the lobstrosities, I thought there had to be some mistake or that he was dreaming or something! (hide spoiler)]

[Shell]

Stevo wrote: "'The gunslinger had no idea what tooter-fish was - only that it was delicious. That seemed enough.'

TDotT is so good."

hahaha I loved that part, I think of that every time I have tuna :)

[Ryan]

Why would anyone need cocaine in a world where sugar is so abundant, cheap and legal? :)

[Shell]

I can't remember what chapter it's in, but I think my favourite part of this book is the scene in The Leaning Tower - I look forward to hearing what you all think of it :)

[Danny]

Stevo wrote: "I'm up to the first shuffle now."

Your coffee seems real good! :)

[Justin]

I really liked The Leaning Tower scene as well. I thought the "shuffle" sections were going to tie into that as well, but it seems like it's just a technique King used in the book. It would be cool if the card building, Leaning Tower, and all that stuff show up later in the series.

[Stevo]

Shell wrote: "Justin wrote: "So completely different writing style compared to the first book. This one is definitely more consistent with King's other novels, and it really wastes no time at all in getting int..."

I know right. Argh! I suppose in the long run though it opened the door (har har) to the gunslinger becoming Roland. :)

Ryan wrote: "Why would anyone need cocaine in a world where sugar is so abundant, cheap and legal? :)"

Roland would be supersized in no time if he lived in NYC!

Danny wrote: "Stevo wrote: "I'm up to the first shuffle now."

Your coffee seems real good! :)"

It was a good combo. :)

Justin wrote: "I really liked The Leaning Tower scene as well. I thought the "shuffle" sections were going to tie into that as well, but it seems like it's just a technique King used in the book. It would be cool..."

The shuffle is a nice device to keep the Tarot card theme alive, isn't it. Looking forward to reading through The Pusher this week as I'm glad to get away from Detta for a while - she's so annoying. :(

[Jesse]

So I am sure that most of you have met Eddie Yes? How do you feel about the possibility of Aaron Paul (breaking bad's Jesse Pinkman) being cast?

[Stevo]

Jesse wrote: "So I am sure that most of you have met Eddie Yes? How do you feel about the possibility of Aaron Paul (breaking bad's Jesse Pinkman) being cast?"

Not fussed. These characters, this world, are better left in our imaginations methinks.

[Justin]

Detta annoyed me, too. I didn't enjoy her section of the book as much as the others. The Pusher was definitely my favorite section. With Eddie's background, I was expecting a different type of pusher.

And I posted in another thread that Aaron Paul would be great as it's not much of a stretch from Jesse Pinkman. I just wish they would starting filming!

[Stevo]

"But the rejection of brutish destiny had been the gunslinger's work all his life - it had been his ka if you pleased..."

Really now? I thought the gunslinger was a willing victim of ka, of his destiny...!

[Shell]

Stevo wrote: "Jesse wrote: "So I am sure that most of you have met Eddie Yes? How do you feel about the possibility of Aaron Paul (breaking bad's Jesse Pinkman) being cast?"

Not fussed. These characters, this world, are better left in our imaginations methinks."

Totes agree Stevo!

[Drew Hosick]

Well I just finished the first book today and am catching up to you. About 20% into this one now although I'm calling it a night.

[Drew Hosick]

should only be a day or two behind by book 3. now 56% through the book. at his rate I should finish Saturday.

[Justin]

This one definitely flies by, Drew. It's action packed! I'm assuming your enjoying it so far. Did you like The Gunslinger?

[Ryan]

I'm at The Pusher. I don't know how to mark spoilers from the iOS app, and not sure what part of the book our schedule dictates so I'll be vague. But the way Roland just jumps in the drivers seat in this part of the story is my favorite. It's what really got me hooked the first time around.l

[Justin]

I loved The Pusher section, too. I wasn't crazy about the Odetta/Detta story, but The Pusher and Eddie's drawing were awesome.

[Drew Hosick]

I'm at Odetta right now. not going to get much more done till Sunday. I'm also writing my own novel on the side so that keeps me busy too. I liked the Gunslinger as well.

[Stevo]

Love how TDotT wraps up during the final shuffle. Some real progress has been made during this trek up the beach in so many ways.

[Jesse]

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What are the elements of the traditional quest narrative, dating back to Homer? Consider Roland's quest in light of the centuries-old tradition that informs it.

More specifically, compare and contrast The Dark Tower series with other individual works of quest literature—from The Odyssey and Dante's The Divine Comedy to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. How does King's work echo, riff on, complicate, and/or further the traditions established in these and other works?

Compare The Drawing of the Three with The Gunslinger: What themes, patterns, and symbols were established in Volume I, and in what ways do they evolve, mature, and accumulate new symbolic weights and meanings in the course of the second book?

Also, consider the ways King's writing style has shifted from the first book to this one. How, to begin with, has King's characterization technique expanded in The Drawing of the Three, particularly in his lushly written evocations of the inner lives of Eddie Dean and Odetta Holmes?

Why do you suppose King made this narrative choice, to evolve so dramatically from the spare, lean prose of The Gunslinger to the expansive, richly appointed, and psychologically incisive The Drawing of the Three? Are the styles and tones of each book organic to their different subject matters? [Imagine a retelling of Drawing written in the understated style of The Gunslinger. In what ways would it be different?]

What is Eddie Dean's backstory—what is it that informs his character? How did he come to be the Prisoner?

"There are people who need people to need them," Eddie tells Roland, shortly after he's been drawn through the door into Roland's world. What does he mean? What kind of a person is Eddie Dean?

Chart the complex evolution of Roland and Eddie's relationship as King's novel unfolds.

What role does memory play in the action of The Drawing of the Three? For the novel's principal characters, Roland, Eddie, and Odetta, what special risks and consequences attend the act of remembering? And for each of them, what are its end results? As each looks back on the past life he or she has abruptly left behind, do solace and understanding finally outpace devastation and regret?

Operating strictly within the particular reality of the Dark Tower universe, how can we make sense of the mind-warping paradox that is Jake Chambers? What are the possible implications of the decision by Roland—who first met Jake only after he'd died and left New York—to prevent Mort from killing Jake in New York in the first place? What do you imagine will come of this confusing development in future volumes?

King makes a practice in this second volume of revisiting scenes from different angles and perspectives, doubling back to show us something we hadn't seen before.
What is the effect of this style? Consider, for example, Eddie's plane ride into Kennedy Airport. How does King's Rashomon technique play out here?

Discuss the narrative techniques by which King immerses readers in the different time periods of the novel's three New York set-pieces. How does his use of vastly disparate cultural signifiers (from Trivial Pursuit to the civil-rights movement) aid in placing readers in a particular time and place?

At different points in the novel, what qualities does Roland observe in both Eddie and Odetta/Detta/Susannah which seem to suggest their inherent proclivities to eventually become gunslingers?

Revisit the scene in the "Death" section of the novel where an amazed Roland—in the body of Jack Mort—walks into a New York drug store. Roland's reaction to the rows and rows of "quack remedies" is comic, but King spikes it all with a measure of poignancy. Ours is a world full of technological wonders that astonish the gunslinger. But Roland looks into the jaded faces of New Yorkers and muses that "the newest wonder was simply that…wonder had run out." What is King up to in this scene?

In connection with the previous question, discuss the effect of the various moments throughout the novel where King manages to show us our own world from the gunslinger's fresh, often awe-struck perspective.

Decipher the elements involved in the resolution of Odetta and Detta's ferocious struggle with each other. How is it that, in Roland's desperate final act in the New York subway, the deep fissure in Miss Holmes' psyche can finally be bridged?

Discuss the emotional and psychological dynamics King establishes to make Odetta/Detta's sudden redemption credible.
What is ka? What is its significance in King's Dark Tower universe?

What lies ahead for King's three pilgrims? Are Eddie and Susannah Dean's misgivings about Roland's trustworthiness when it comes to friendship justified? Why or why not?

With Roland, Eddie, and Susannah united in their ka-tet and resolved to move ahead, what are your expectations for The Waste Lands?

[Jw]

I will read this with some 1