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gromithorror's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, Stalking, Gore, Addiction, Excrement, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Rape
aspenaxel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My favorite Steven king novel by far, capturing horror and loss of mind despite no actual supernatural being. I loved every minute of this book, and while at first I despised the ending, I came to realize it had a sort of importance to it. I love it and reread it often, captivated by the words and slow deterioration of a main characters sanity.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
readerintheruemorgue's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Minor: Alcoholism
karamelka_kar19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The second half of the book had a much bigger impact on me than the first one. Story became interesting only after things got really bad adding some spice to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death
dumaurier's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
The poorest King I've read. Trisha just isn't very compelling, and the tone of the narration just doesn't match her character or age like King has to better effect in the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Animal death
briartherose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Nóra Quoirin was a fifteen-year-old French-Irish girl who died in August 2019, six days after becoming lost in the Malaysian jungle while on holiday with her family. Nóra lived with holoprosencephaly, a disorder which affects brain development, making her even more vulnerable than a child in that desperate situation might otherwise be. The investigation is still ongoing - a Malaysian court ruled in favour of misadventure, while the Quoirin family still fervently believe Nóra was abducted. Either way, her cause of death was clear - hunger and stress from so many days lost in the wilderness.
This real-life tragedy has stayed with me from the moment it first hit the headlines. I couldn't get the image of this confused, terrified, vulnerable girl out of my mind. More to the point, the very idea of becoming lost in the wilderness horrified me. The fact that in this world of smartphones and drones and GPS, anyone could become completely lost. I live in a very rural part of Britain but this country is so small that every square mile of it has been explored - the notion that anywhere on Earth is so uncharted, so unfit for human survival, is one that I find hard to come to terms with.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is set in 1998, before the ubiquity of smartphones and trackers, but it likewise follows a young girl who manages to get herself lost. Specifically, she steps off the Appalachian trail and into the unforgiving woods. Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland's predicament is something that I would certainly call misadventure - she simply wandered too far off the path and into danger, and the novel is about her fight for survival. And what a fight it is - I hope to God that they never adapt this into a movie, because no child actor should be forced to act out this kind of misery. This novel is far shorter than King's usual fare, and I liked that - it keeps the tension up and prevents it from feeling bloated like some of his novels do. Plus, there's only so long you can bear to read about a child slowly dying. That's not to say the book is completely dour or depressing: Trisha is a brave, funny and clever heroine, and her story ends in a deeply heartwarming way.
The titular Tom Gordon is Trisha's favourite baseball player - a real person, incidentally, which makes me wonder what he thought of the novel. Her one solace throughout her ordeal is listening to baseball games on her little portable radio, and she begins to pin her own hopes of survival on her beloved hero's wins. He starts to become a spiritual guide, a representative of God, and while many of King's protagonists wrestle with faith, this is the most powerful example of that I've seen in his work. There is little of the explicitly supernatural here - you're allowed to make up your own mind about the creature that stalks Trisha through the woods - but it certainly would have taken a miracle to escape that situation, right?
This was a tough read, but an absolute marvel of tight plotting, character development and horrific imagery. I loved it.
This real-life tragedy has stayed with me from the moment it first hit the headlines. I couldn't get the image of this confused, terrified, vulnerable girl out of my mind. More to the point, the very idea of becoming lost in the wilderness horrified me. The fact that in this world of smartphones and drones and GPS, anyone could become completely lost. I live in a very rural part of Britain but this country is so small that every square mile of it has been explored - the notion that anywhere on Earth is so uncharted, so unfit for human survival, is one that I find hard to come to terms with.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is set in 1998, before the ubiquity of smartphones and trackers, but it likewise follows a young girl who manages to get herself lost. Specifically, she steps off the Appalachian trail and into the unforgiving woods. Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland's predicament is something that I would certainly call misadventure - she simply wandered too far off the path and into danger, and the novel is about her fight for survival. And what a fight it is - I hope to God that they never adapt this into a movie, because no child actor should be forced to act out this kind of misery. This novel is far shorter than King's usual fare, and I liked that - it keeps the tension up and prevents it from feeling bloated like some of his novels do. Plus, there's only so long you can bear to read about a child slowly dying. That's not to say the book is completely dour or depressing: Trisha is a brave, funny and clever heroine, and her story ends in a deeply heartwarming way.
The titular Tom Gordon is Trisha's favourite baseball player - a real person, incidentally, which makes me wonder what he thought of the novel. Her one solace throughout her ordeal is listening to baseball games on her little portable radio, and she begins to pin her own hopes of survival on her beloved hero's wins. He starts to become a spiritual guide, a representative of God, and while many of King's protagonists wrestle with faith, this is the most powerful example of that I've seen in his work. There is little of the explicitly supernatural here - you're allowed to make up your own mind about the creature that stalks Trisha through the woods - but it certainly would have taken a miracle to escape that situation, right?
This was a tough read, but an absolute marvel of tight plotting, character development and horrific imagery. I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Blood, and Gore
ceelliott's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
dariaklind's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Maybe not the best Stephen King's book I've ever read, but very engaging nonetheless.
To me it was lacking a typical for King's novels level of psychology and character building. When at the beginning the situation with the divorce of Trisha's parents was explained, I expected some exploration of her emotions and maybe reflecting on relationships in her family. However, this book works wonderfully as a good survival story.
To me it was lacking a typical for King's novels level of psychology and character building. When at the beginning the situation with the divorce of Trisha's parents was explained, I expected some exploration of her emotions and maybe reflecting on relationships in her family. However, this book works wonderfully as a good survival story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Excrement
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