The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

I like Stephen King--I like him as a person, because I think I understand him very well. (I could be totally wrong, of course.) I think he grew up as a smart kid in a place where being a smart kid was not particularly valued. I think he was awkward and shy and not particularly good looking, and was afraid of many things. I think he retreated into books and into his own imagination, where he could picture himself as the frightened but plucky hero who could defeat evil. I think inside his aging body he is still that misfit kid. And I sympathize...and empathize.

I have long loved Stephen King books, maybe because I share some of his fears and fantasies. But I have always thought that he could tell a good story better than almost anyone, and that he could portray characters so well that readers would feel as if they knew them. I have sometimes felt that he was the modern equivalent of Charles Dickens, even.

So, I am very unhappy to write that this book (and several others of his recent offerings) have not impressed me very much. Sadly, I found this novel only mildly interesting.

This is a story within a story within a story. Its framework story is part of The Dark Tower saga, and King says it is volume 4 1/2, reporting events coming between volumes 4 and 5. This part is very sketchy, only reporting how the Gunslinger ka-tet holes up through a storm.

The second story, which Roland the Gunslinger tells to his ka-tet during the storm, is a tale from his youth, of when he is sent by his father to investigate the murders committed by a mysterious shape-shifter, or "skin-man," who has seemingly taken the form of various wild animals to rend his victims. Along the way, Roland rescues a young boy, and he tells the boy the story of "The Wind Through the Keyhole."

This third story tells of a magical quest undertaken by a young boy to find a way to heal his mother of a terrible wound.

I don't know what to say: This all seems so rehashed and pieced together. I was not drawn into the story, and I did not stay up late to finish it. Maybe King has just visited the same scenes and the same types of characters too often. Maybe he is just getting older and has no fresh ideas. Maybe I am just getting older and more cynical.

Whatever. I am sorry, but I do not recommend this novel, even to King fans.