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View Full Version : Are there scenes in this book that are too long?



BillyxRansom
07-30-2010, 05:18 PM
But I love this book and have so many questions and there are so many opinions I want to know from you guys, so I keep making them.

Does anyone here think that there are scenes in this book that are too long?

That's about it I guess.

Merlin1958
07-30-2010, 05:22 PM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

BillyxRansom
07-30-2010, 05:47 PM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

Yes, The Gunslinger..


Did you by chance read the question?

flaggwalkstheline
07-30-2010, 06:12 PM
meh long scenes are something that sai king is especially good at
the first 30 seconds of DT7 take place in like 30 pages

Merlin1958
07-31-2010, 07:36 AM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

Yes, The Gunslinger..


Did you by chance read the question?

Brain Fart

Bye!!

:harrier:

BillyxRansom
07-31-2010, 10:24 AM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

Yes, The Gunslinger..


Did you by chance read the question?

Brain Fart

Bye!!

:harrier:

Huh? I was just asking that because I didn't understand your response; if that WAS an answer to my question, I'll re-read it, but I certainly didn't mean to make you feel excluded or something. :-/

alinda
07-31-2010, 11:24 AM
Hey Billy , was there another question you wanted to ask.:cool:

pathoftheturtle
07-31-2010, 11:28 AM
Does The Gunslinger have more scenes that are in your opinion too long than do other books? That is, "too long" compared to what?

BROWNINGS CHILDE
07-31-2010, 11:40 AM
As SK books go, which tend to be somewhat copiously descriptive, I thought that The Gunslinger was quite concise, with virtually no wasted pages.

alinda
07-31-2010, 11:58 AM
I thought we were finished with the 1st question, and that there were others.
But y'know, BC I tend to agree with you here. The Gunslinger was rather consise
and given its rather short length comparitivly speaking with other books by Sai King
hard to imagine too many wasted pages at all.

Letti
07-31-2010, 01:08 PM
IMHO the Gunslinger is perfect as it is. I mean the original.


Anyway I have edited the title of the thread so people can find out more easily if they are interested in the topic or not.

Merlin1958
07-31-2010, 02:59 PM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

Yes, The Gunslinger..


Did you by chance read the question?

Brain Fart

Bye!!

:harrier:

Huh? I was just asking that because I didn't understand your response; if that WAS an answer to my question, I'll re-read it, but I certainly didn't mean to make you feel excluded or something. :-/

Dude (or Dudette) we're good. I didn't realize the forum name when I clicked in..........early onset alzhiemers. LOL These other folks have much more valid responses. No offense taken here. My pardons are offered and hopefully accepted.


:doh::doh::doh:

Merlin1958
07-31-2010, 03:01 PM
IMHO the Gunslinger is perfect as it is. I mean the original.


Anyway I have edited the title of the thread so people can find out more easily if they are interested in the topic or not.

I have to admit, I kinda prefer the revised edition, but then I sort of always do, regardless. Just seems like more the book the author wanted or originally wanted to write. Thats just me though.

BillyxRansom
07-31-2010, 08:42 PM
Does The Gunslinger have more scenes that are in your opinion too long than do other books? That is, "too long" compared to what?

I thought there were scenes that were really long, but surprisingly extremely well-done. As someone else said, they were considerably condensed, especially for a SK book.

BillyxRansom
07-31-2010, 08:44 PM
What book? The Gunslinger? Its awesome, read it especially the revised edition.



:onfire:

Yes, The Gunslinger..


Did you by chance read the question?

Brain Fart

Bye!!

:harrier:

Huh? I was just asking that because I didn't understand your response; if that WAS an answer to my question, I'll re-read it, but I certainly didn't mean to make you feel excluded or something. :-/

Dude (or Dudette) we're good. I didn't realize the forum name when I clicked in..........early onset alzhiemers. LOL These other folks have much more valid responses. No offense taken here. My pardons are offered and hopefully accepted.


:doh::doh::doh:

Very much accepted.

What say you, in regards to the question? That is, whether the lengths of scenes in this book are too long or not?

Jean
07-31-2010, 09:34 PM
Don't know about particular scenes, but the book itself is, indeed, either too short or too long. Too short to be an enjoyable [first book of a] novel; too long to be what it actually feels like to me: a dark vision, an epigraph to the rest, a poem in prose.

Brice
08-02-2010, 05:25 AM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

Letti
08-02-2010, 05:31 AM
IMHO the Gunslinger is perfect as it is. I mean the original.


I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

:couple: We couldn't agree more.

Brice
08-02-2010, 05:46 PM
IMHO the Gunslinger is perfect as it is. I mean the original.


I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

:couple: We couldn't agree more.

:couple:

Merlin1958
08-03-2010, 06:57 AM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

IDK, looking back I have to say that the Revised addition did feel like an improvement over the original, not that the original was bad or anything. I guess I'm of the school that if the author thought it needed revising then that was something I should pay attention to!!! LOL

Obedient Constant Reader, that's me!!

It did seem to "flow" a little better than the original.

As far as the "length of scenes", I'm still not really shore what you mean by that. It is a book, so I tend not to pay too much attention to "scenes" in that regard. He's telling a story and, to me at least, the length of "scenes" does not affect things as much. I love the story, and that's about it. How it would play out in another medium, like TV or Movie, is another thing altogether.

Sorry if that wasn't too much help OP.

:orely:

Brice
08-05-2010, 05:53 AM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

IDK, looking back I have to say that the Revised addition did feel like an improvement over the original, not that the original was bad or anything. I guess I'm of the school that if the author thought it needed revising then that was something I should pay attention to!!! LOL

Obedient Constant Reader, that's me!!

It did seem to "flow" a little better than the original.

As far as the "length of scenes", I'm still not really shore what you mean by that. It is a book, so I tend not to pay too much attention to "scenes" in that regard. He's telling a story and, to me at least, the length of "scenes" does not affect things as much. I love the story, and that's about it. How it would play out in another medium, like TV or Movie, is another thing altogether.

Sorry if that wasn't too much help OP.

:orely:

Obedient isn't in my repetoire. :innocent:

I prefer the original for it's disjointedness. I feel it added to it's otherworldliness (Yes, it's a word dammit. :lol: ) I payed attention to his revision (even read it sometimes). I just disagree that it was necessarily an improvement in any way.

Merlin1958
08-05-2010, 06:04 AM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

IDK, looking back I have to say that the Revised addition did feel like an improvement over the original, not that the original was bad or anything. I guess I'm of the school that if the author thought it needed revising then that was something I should pay attention to!!! LOL

Obedient Constant Reader, that's me!!

It did seem to "flow" a little better than the original.

As far as the "length of scenes", I'm still not really shore what you mean by that. It is a book, so I tend not to pay too much attention to "scenes" in that regard. He's telling a story and, to me at least, the length of "scenes" does not affect things as much. I love the story, and that's about it. How it would play out in another medium, like TV or Movie, is another thing altogether.

Sorry if that wasn't too much help OP.

:orely:

Obedient isn't in my repetoire. :innocent:

I prefer the original for it's disjointedness. I feel it added to it's otherworldliness (Yes, it's a word dammit. :lol: ) I payed attention to his revision (even read it sometimes). I just disagree that it was necessarily an improvement in any way.

You know, that's a good point. Having finished the series and re-read it several times you lose a little of the magic (?) of the first time through and yeah, I can remember where the "dis-jointed-ness" of the original kind of enhanced the mystery of the DT world.

However, you really only get that the first time through. So if you were picking it up for the first time, yeah the original would be the way to go and then maybe the revised for subsequent re-reads.

Forgot about that aspect, Brice. Thanks for the trip down "memory lane".

Brice
08-05-2010, 06:09 AM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

IDK, looking back I have to say that the Revised addition did feel like an improvement over the original, not that the original was bad or anything. I guess I'm of the school that if the author thought it needed revising then that was something I should pay attention to!!! LOL

Obedient Constant Reader, that's me!!

It did seem to "flow" a little better than the original.

As far as the "length of scenes", I'm still not really shore what you mean by that. It is a book, so I tend not to pay too much attention to "scenes" in that regard. He's telling a story and, to me at least, the length of "scenes" does not affect things as much. I love the story, and that's about it. How it would play out in another medium, like TV or Movie, is another thing altogether.

Sorry if that wasn't too much help OP.

:orely:

Obedient isn't in my repetoire. :innocent:

I prefer the original for it's disjointedness. I feel it added to it's otherworldliness (Yes, it's a word dammit. :lol: ) I payed attention to his revision (even read it sometimes). I just disagree that it was necessarily an improvement in any way.

You know, that's a good point. Having finished the series and re-read it several times you lose a little of the magic (?) of the first time through and yeah, I can remember where the "dis-jointed-ness" of the original kind of enhanced the mystery of the DT world.

However, you really only get that the first time through. So if you were picking it up for the first time, yeah the original would be the way to go and then maybe the revised for subsequent re-reads.

Forgot about that aspect, Brice. Thanks for the trip down "memory lane".

:)

I've read it 25-30 times and still haven't lost it. True it's not the same as the first time, but I can still bring back those feelings from when I first read it. I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket. I've read the revised a few times (and like it), but to me most of the changes feel kinda' forced.

BillyxRansom
08-05-2010, 06:49 PM
I say it's perfect as it (the original) is.

IDK, looking back I have to say that the Revised addition did feel like an improvement over the original, not that the original was bad or anything. I guess I'm of the school that if the author thought it needed revising then that was something I should pay attention to!!! LOL

Obedient Constant Reader, that's me!!

It did seem to "flow" a little better than the original.

As far as the "length of scenes", I'm still not really shore what you mean by that. It is a book, so I tend not to pay too much attention to "scenes" in that regard. He's telling a story and, to me at least, the length of "scenes" does not affect things as much. I love the story, and that's about it. How it would play out in another medium, like TV or Movie, is another thing altogether.

Sorry if that wasn't too much help OP.

:orely:

Obedient isn't in my repetoire. :innocent:

I prefer the original for it's disjointedness. I feel it added to it's otherworldliness (Yes, it's a word dammit. :lol: ) I payed attention to his revision (even read it sometimes). I just disagree that it was necessarily an improvement in any way.

You know, that's a good point. Having finished the series and re-read it several times you lose a little of the magic (?) of the first time through and yeah, I can remember where the "dis-jointed-ness" of the original kind of enhanced the mystery of the DT world.

However, you really only get that the first time through. So if you were picking it up for the first time, yeah the original would be the way to go and then maybe the revised for subsequent re-reads.

Forgot about that aspect, Brice. Thanks for the trip down "memory lane".

:)

I've read it 25-30 times and still haven't lost it. True it's not the same as the first time, but I can still bring back those feelings from when I first read it. I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket. I've read the revised a few times (and like it), but to me most of the changes feel kinda' forced.

I've noticed I tend to agree with almost all of your thoughts and opinions regarding the series, which is more than I can say for most others here (not that I've ever outright disagreed with anyone, that I can think of off the top of my head).

Maybe I can clarify what I meant, though, for some of you who might still not understand what my point was: I have heard time and time again (and agree, honestly) that King is long winded and entirely too descriptive at certain times. I feel like this may have been the case a couple of times here or there in this book as well (I speak of the original). It almost bogs things down a little. But then there are scenes that are like one paragraph long, which in some cases amounts to one sentence, which, obviously, is really short. (To clarify, again, I'm defining a "scene" as the text between Roman numerals.)

Does anyone else think there are certain scenes which made you roll your wrist in that famous way that the gunslinger himself does to hurry along whoever might be speaking to him?

pathoftheturtle
08-06-2010, 05:38 AM
...Does anyone else think there are certain scenes which made you roll your wrist in that famous way that the gunslinger himself does to hurry along whoever might be speaking to him?No, not me. Generally speaking, I can't say that I felt that way; but, again, I think it's relative to mindset. I like what Jean had to say about this topic,
Don't know about particular scenes, but the book itself is, indeed, either too short or too long. Too short to be an enjoyable [first book of a] novel; too long to be what it actually feels like to me: a dark vision, an epigraph to the rest, a poem in prose.and I'd like to share an insight of his from another thread which strikes me as being even more relevant here --

Once you had finished Wizard and Glass, did your feelings about The Gunslinger change?
Yes. I admired how King managed to tell us so much about Roland as a young boy and the process of his development in a few short flashbacks; I might not have thought about that if later it wasn't set against the endlessly long, and mostly pointless, W&G. The Gunslinger was multum in parvo, while W&G, if you pardon the expression, parvum in multo - so it helped me greatly to better appreciate The Gunslinger and somewhat improve my otherwise low opinion of it.

Jean
08-06-2010, 05:45 AM
I only now noticed that it was, in fact, your insight, Mike - you sure didn't ask that question out of the blue...

pathoftheturtle
08-06-2010, 07:03 AM
That point about the glimpses into Roland's past in DT1 had not occurred to me before you answered in such manner, though. Overall, I think at this time that there's much to recommend about the composition of this book.

BillyxRansom
04-23-2011, 05:49 PM
I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket.

I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket.

I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket.

I am clinging to the magic like a security blanket.

Just wanted to say that this is excellent.