Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I cried so many times reading this.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Vomit
Moderate: Stalking
This isn’t the horror novel you’d expect from Stephen King, but it’s still a gripping story of a young girl getting lost in the woods and surviving only on her love of Tom Gordon, a Red Sox pitcher. It feels at times as if there’s nothing happening, but reading the protagonist’s slow break with reality is the main pull of the story
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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:
No
I bought this book 18 years ago on it's release in hardback in 1999. And never read it. I don't know why... I grew up with King, one of his 'constant readers' and, while his output was slightly hit and miss in the '90s (I loved the Green Mile serial novel; wasn't overly impressed by Bag of Bones; I know I read Insomnia but can't remember anything about it - perhaps I fell asleep?), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon should have drawn me in straight away - King is a master at writing about childhood and survival and nightmares...
I finally pulled it off the shelf after hearing a passing reference to it on a podcast. And it is excellent, classic Stephen King, up there with The Body and IT in how it gets into the experience of being a child in a scary world. The plot is a simple one - 9 year-old Patricia McFarland steps off the path for a pee while hiking in the forest and gets lost - and the book is a very slim volume in King terms, but it a wonderful book, part adventure, part horror, part fairy story. As Tricia heads deeper into the forest, and deeper into despair, she is accompanied, at intervals, by Tom Gordon, her favourite Red Sox pitcher (and a real-life baseball player), who she suspects is not really there, and a more malevolent presence, always just out of sight, which she suspects really is there.
I loved this book and the last line is a real tearjerker and one of King's best.
I finally pulled it off the shelf after hearing a passing reference to it on a podcast. And it is excellent, classic Stephen King, up there with The Body and IT in how it gets into the experience of being a child in a scary world. The plot is a simple one - 9 year-old Patricia McFarland steps off the path for a pee while hiking in the forest and gets lost - and the book is a very slim volume in King terms, but it a wonderful book, part adventure, part horror, part fairy story. As Tricia heads deeper into the forest, and deeper into despair, she is accompanied, at intervals, by Tom Gordon, her favourite Red Sox pitcher (and a real-life baseball player), who she suspects is not really there, and a more malevolent presence, always just out of sight, which she suspects really is there.
I loved this book and the last line is a real tearjerker and one of King's best.
As with Carrie, I understand the gist of this, I understand why people might find it appealing but the general flow and structure of King's short horror novels just rubs me the wrong way. The wrong way being boring me to death before the culmination of the story, and then just vanishing because these types of stories don't need a real end. This was a little bit better than Carrie though, I must admit.
This was very unlike Stephen King's normal fare. I really enjoyed it, but probably because I'm a Red Sox fan. =)
This girl is definitely smarter than I would be if I got stranded!
This girl is definitely smarter than I would be if I got stranded!
The best Stephen King book I've ever read. It's amazing because of one thing; how different it is from all his other stuff. He's one of my favorite writers and when I saw this one I was scared if I was going to like it because of how different it is. And let me tell you he did an amazing job, as always.