Grading: Black House

[Aaron]

http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/510/medium/Black_House_trade_face.jpg
Black House
Random House, 2001


Round 2, Group I

Grading for this Book is Closed

Strength of Plot:
2.619718309 (Graded B+)

Character Development:
2.718309859 (Graded B+)

Quality of Ending:
2.535211267 (Graded B+)

Overall Average Grade:
2.624413145 (Graded B+)

Combined Round 1 & 2 scores:
6.935223956

[jayson]

Straight A's. I just re-re-read this a couple of weeks ago. It actually gets better each time. All aspects of this book work for me. It's one of my absolute favorites.

[Hannah]

Like Jayson, I gave all As.

[Daghain]

Straight B's here.

[alinda]

Staight A's from me too.

[Melike]

Staight A's from me too.


Like Jayson, I gave all As.


Straight A's. I just re-re-read this a couple of weeks ago. It actually gets better each time. All aspects of this book work for me. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Same.

[Darkthoughts]

All A's from me too. This is one of my favourite books and the ending has caused me unending tension ever since I read it :lol:

[Sam]

Never read, say sorry.

[mae]

Never read, say sorry.

Same here :(

[Jean]

A to all

[ManOfWesternesse]

yes, straight A's for me too.

[Patrick]

A / A / B

It might have received straight A's if I had read it before finishing the DT series.

[astifledchance]

A B A

Looking at it as if you'd never read The Talisman..you don't get that much of an insight into our boy Jack..hence the B for character development.

Love the book a lot though. One of my favorites. :)

[obscurejude]

B/ B/ A

[obscurejude]

Looking at it as if you'd never read The Talisman..you don't get that much of an insight into our boy Jack..hence the B for character development.

Love the book a lot though. One of my favorites. :)

Great point and my basic reason for the B as well. The Talisman was extremely character driven in regards to Jack, and as I've mentioned before, that's why I wanted to read Black House and not because of DT connections.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Never read, though judging from the marks, I would be remiss not to give it a chance huh.

[Jean]

Interesting observation on difference of Jack's character developments... for me it's just the other way, while the Talisman Jack strikes me as rather a papercut figure of a good boy, the Black House Jack always impressed me as a live, deep, multi-faceted personality... hmmm

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Jake? Do you mean Jack or am I missing something huge?

[Jean]

yes childe, you're missing a big, horribly tired bear who types the first letters he sees, unable to reach any further up the keyboard... I've edited my post, thank you! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

I have not read the Talisman in a while and have never read Black House, so when you said "Jake", I thought I might have possibly missed a very significant DT tie.

[Tiffany]

A's from me, all across the board.

[obscurejude]

Interesting observation on difference of Jack's character developments... for me it's just the other way, while the Talisman Jack strikes me as rather a papercut figure of a good boy, the Black House Jack always impressed me as a live, deep, multi-faceted personality... hmmm

Actually started a re-read over Christmas break. I'll let you know if my opinion changes any. It could be that I have more appreciation for the later Jack now that I'm older.

I didn't feel that he was a papercut figure in the Talisman though. He seemed to occupy a very liminal space- that transition between the innocence of childhood and the inevitable "awakening of consciousness" that defines adulthood. I think I would argue that what is compelling is the loss of the papercut image in the beginning of the novel and the young adult that Jack becomes by the end through his journey.

[jayson]

Ryan, I'm interested in your post-reread thoughts on Jack. I just re-read it a few weeks ago myself. I think adult Jack is actually pretty well fleshed-out in Black House. There is a lot there that reflects quite a bit on what Jack's experiences as a 12 year old mean to Jack the adult, as well as some interesting reflections on his relationship with his mother and how that affected him.

[obscurejude]

I'll be sure to let you know Jayson. :)

If you and the bear are fond of the character development, there's definitely a chance that I might be too. As a stand alone novel, I think my opinion of Black House might not be as severe as it is in some regards. The Talisman just has so much gravitas for me personally.

[Aaron]

All A's. I actually read this before The Talisman, and think Jack was very developed as a character. It was what actually helped me finally complete The Talisman, which I had tried and put back down at least four or five times before trying Black House. They are now two of my favorite King stories of all time.