The Wind through the Keyhole

Debated on reading this one at first, but it was short and read by the author, sooo...turned out not to be a waste at all. We got to see some classic King, and the story had me at the edge of my seat near the end. I was really concerned about poor Tim and his mom.

3.5 stars rounded up to 5. I was a bit let down by this book - it's certainly well-researched but I felt it dwelled excessively on Arthur Laurent and the ins and outs of his life and career more than it focused on the movie and its challenges. I enjoyed learning about how both Streisand and Redford approached the narrative, how Pollack struggled to keep all the pieces moving in the right direction, and how Ray Stark fit into the picture but sometimes the data Hofler had gathered about Laurent felt forced into the novel rather than flowing organically. This is one of my favorite romance stories and it was fascinating to hear the behind-the-scenes machinations that went into crucial scenes, lines that were dropped, sub-plots that got left on the cutting room floor. The insight into how a film gets edited and changed during production and even afterwards, makes this an interesting read for cinema buffs but again, I wished more time had been spent on the actual movie than Laurent who lived a fascinating life but ultimately came off as an egotist who harmed more than helped the making of this classic film.

Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy

Didn't enjoy this at all. Skimmed most of the middle. I guess the story within the story that has nothing to do with the story or the story that the story is telling just didn't work for me. Story-ception?

I'd only recommend this for King completists or Dark Tower mega-fans.

This was definitely better than the previous book Wizard & Glass but I am really struggling with the series. I'm just not seeing why a lot of this stuff is necessary. To me right now this didn't really move us forward in the story at all but it was a good story.

Normally I don't like a story within a story but in this one we get a story within a story within another story and it worked for me. It flowed seamlessly and I was drawn in.

Stephen King is definitely a great writer but I seriously think he is way overhyped. No hate it's just my opinion. I have definitely loved several of his books but none of them have really blown me away.

Anyways my biggest complaint is that I didn't see the point in the last couple of books. Who knows maybe when I finish the series it will make more sense to me but I want it to make sense while I am reading it.

Really minor book. In my opinion it doesn't add anything to the series and as a standalone book is pretty forgettable. Only for completionists (like me)

A beautiful story. As do these stories about Roland Deschain, this one helps me understand my manhood better. I love Roland, and I am grateful to King for having brought him to light.

A decent tale that enlightens us a bit more about Roland and his ka tet. It's not up to the best that King wrote in the other Dark Tower novels, but neither is it his worst. Fans of the series will certainly get their money's worth and be eager for more afterwards.

It was nice to re-visit Roland and his friends, although there was a little less of them than I had hoped. The primary story while taking place in Roland's world has little to do with Roland or his friends.

The Wind Through the Keyhole fits into the Dark Tower series between book four and five when Roland and his Ka-tet are forced to take shelter from a storm. While waiting the storm out Roland tells a tale from his past where he and Jamie DeCurry are sent to investigate some murders that involve a shape shifter called a skin-man. During this tale Roland tells the tale of “The Wind Through the Keyhole” to a scared child just as his mother did for him when he was a child. This addition to the Dark Tower series does not affect the story in the other seven books but instead adds a little insight to Roland's past and Midworld itself. Though not an essential story to the Dark Tower, it is a short fun read for any fan of the Dark Tower series and is also written well enough that readers do not need to read the first four books to enjoy it!

This was so much better to read in sequence. The first read was when it initially came out which was several ?years? after the series ended and my memory of details was let go.

Great flow, great story telling, it is a bit tricky to remember that there is one story around a campfire within another story around a campfire. Warning, this book is still more world building, no progress towards The Tower.