The Wind Through The Keyhole - December Read

[Carol, Group Read Organizer]

Hi Guys,
This month we will be reading The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King. This is The Dark Tower 4.5 but according to the author can be read without any prior knowledge of the series.
Schedule
Week 1: December 1st - December 7th: Starkblast - The Skin Man (Part 1), pgs 1-84
Week 2: December 8th - December 14th: The Skin Man (Part 1) - The Wind Through the Keyhole: pgs 85-168
Week 3: December 15th -December 21st: The Wind Through the Keyhole: pgs 169-252
Week 4: December 21st - End: The Wind Through the Keyhole - End: pgs 252-End

Summary
Join Roland Deschain, gunslinger from Gilead the was, knight Errant of a decayed civilization, as he and his companions journey towards the distant Dark Tower. Leaving behind the Emerald City, they are confronted by a starkblast, an icy, terrifying storm that stops them in their tracks. Roland begins to spin a story....
This is both a stand-alone novel for readers new to the world of the Dark Tower and a gift of deeper insight for existing fans. What does the young Roland discover when he is sent to investigate a slaughter at a ranch? Who is the 'skin man'? And what happens in the story Roland's mother used to read him as a child, 'The Wind Through the Keyhole'?

The Wind Through the Keyhole, Wikipedia
Stephen King Wikipedia

**Please feel free to share your thoughts as you read.

**Please remember to mark your spoilers.

[Carol, Group Read Organizer]

I'm quite excited about this! I've never read this one and it's nice to get something new in the series.

[Carol, Group Read Organizer]

*SPOILERS AHEAD*


The Wind Through The Keyhole is a story within a story within a story. The first section picks up with Roland and his ka-tet after the events of Wizard and Glass and seems to focus on young Jake Chambers and his billy bumbler, Oy. Forced to take shelter from a starkblast (think of a freezing hurricane the likes of which many a straight to Sy-Fy movie has been made about!) Huddled about a fire, with the wind howling all around and the knowledge that, in Roland's eyes at least, Jake's hardships have made him a man, Roland begins a tale from his own youth. A time after his love affair with Susan but before he starts down the path to the Dark Tower.

[Carol, Group Read Organizer]

The second section of the story, The Skin Man, marks a change of style for the series. Gone are the often short and frequent chapters and instead seems to be told in one continuous piece. I think this probably marks a move away from events that are important to Roland's search for the Tower.
Young Roland is sent to help find a "skin man" who is terrorising the area of Debaria. Not long after arriving the skin man attacks and Roland and Jamie head out to investigate. They find a single survivor, Young Bill (who reminds me of Jake both in his youth and the terrible things he has witnessed and in the way that Roland takes him under his wing). Planning to use Bill to identify the skin man Roland tells him a tale to lift his spirits, one which Roland's own mother used to tell him, The Wind Through the Keyhole.