Rating: 
Summary: A good idea stretched too far...
Review: I have been an avid King fan since the age of 11, so it goes without saying that I picked this book up with much enthusiasm. Unfortunatly, though, "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" leaves much to be desired.But let me start with something positive. This book does succede on more than one level. King does a masterful job of showing how the main character's anxiety over her situation slowly begins to escalate, and how the time alone in the woods begins to affect her mentally. He does a wonderful job of making a complex, believable character out of a 9 year old. However... The story simply goes on to long. It just seems repetitive after awhile. It would probably work better in a short story or novella format. All in all, though, a minor negative blip on an otherwise spectacular career. Pick up his new memoir, "On Writing."
Rating: 
Summary: not just for Sox fans
Review: Nine year old Trisha McFarland, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, is out for a short hike on the Appalachian Trail with her divorced Mom and her brother, who are arguing so vociferously that they fail to notice when she stops to relieve herself. When Trisha tries to get back on the Trail, she becomes disoriented and is quickly lost in the dense woods. In the ensuing days she will be forced to fend for herself, armed with little more than some junk food, a poncho, a Walkman and a surpassing love for the Red Sox closer. Battling bugs, bogs, hunger, malevolent woodland spirits and bears, she is sustained by listening to Red Sox games, by visitations from a spirit Gordon and by "The Subaudible", as her father once described his impression of the divine in every day life. There are a couple of things I really liked about this book. First, it is one of the most feminist stories you'll ever read. Trisha is the sole character for nearly the entire book. She is determined and resourceful and easy to root for in her quest to survive. Second, I liked the sustaining effect of the radio broadcast of the Sox games. I am a huge fan of radio baseball; except in very rare cases, I would rather listen than watch. As it happens, I listen to Sox games too. Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano are not terribly good broadcasters--especially if, like me, you grew up listening to Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner do Mets games--but the rhythms of the game, the daily presence and the steady narrative flow over a period of months all combine to make them a welcome presence on Summer nights. Baseball is the one sport that can be fully captured on radio, perhaps because it is so familiar that we can run the films in our minds and don't really need to see in order to "see." Whatever the reason, anyone who has a similar love of radio can easily relate to the comfort that the games provide this little lost girl. There is, however, another aspect of the book which is much less successful, that is the spiritual angle. Taken purely for what he is, Stephen King is one of the great storytellers in all of literature. But that is pretty much all there is, Critics have tried reading more into this book in particular, by taking Trisha's relationship with the Tom Gordon spirit and with the Subaudible to imply that King has found God or something. Well, it is something, but it's not God. We Red Sox fans are familiar with Gordon's religious devotion, which he demonstrates by pointing heavenward after every save. Like her hero, Trisha determines that she will have to cultivate the quality of having "ice water in her veins." But Gordon, of course, derives his sublime confidence and self-assurance from his faith in God. Trisha seemingly derives hers from faith in Gordon and the Subaudible alone. If King's point is that traditional organized religions are all hogwash and faith of any kind suffices, even faith in a temporarily celebrated ballplayer, point taken. But to suggest that the book offers any kind of profound new spiritual side of King seems to be quite a stretch. In a way, this is somewhat disappointing. King had an opportunity here to actually grapple with a weighty theme for once. The book would be much better, and more significant, if Trisha's experience did forge in her some heightened spirituality. Her adoration of Gordon could have been a leaping off point for her to consider why his religiosity provides him with such empowering spiritual sustenance. Her fairly stock confrontation with the creature at the end of the book could have been replaced with a really interesting confrontation with the fact of her own possesion of a soul. But King's not really interested in these ideas, which is of course his right. Over all, I did like the book; it is helped greatly by the fact that it can be read in one sitting. I particularly like the idea that thirty years from now you'll be able to pick up the book and recapture one fairly mediocre iteration of the Red Sox (though I found it enormously frustrating that Jason Varitek's name was repeatedly spelled "Veritek.") and have a whole flood of memories come cascading down. This is an enjoyable enough way to kill a couple hour--an ideal plane book--but if you're looking for any important philosophical messages within its pages, you're bound to be disappointed. GRADE: B (N.B.--except for some brief and relatively mild profanity, the book is appropriate for teens, who should like it very much)
Rating: 
Summary: Boring Boring Boring
Review: I bought this book in an airport, depending on Stephen King to get me through a multi-hour plane ride. Imagine my disappointment. Trekking around the woods with a young girl being chased by a not-particularly scary monster. She keeps falling down, running the wrong way, etc. The allusions to the family's experience while she's missing were the strongest parts of this novel, but they are momentary. If you're a diehard Stephen King fan, get the book for your collection, then go back and read The Shining, Salem's Lot, or one of the other classics.
Rating: 
Summary: Best King to Date
Review: I'm not a big fan (ok, but still a fan) of King's, but this book was excellent! Ya, not so scary as some (just finished Desperation a few weeks ago - more scary!), but a well crafted novel about a small girl lost in the New England north woods. No drooling, dissolving monsters in this book...just the kinds of "things" that any of us - adults included - could imagine if we were lost in the woods at night (or many nights in the case of this book). Highly recommended and a fast read as it is fairly short for a King novel. Good work Stephen!
Rating:
Summary: An outsider wouldn't understand . . .
Review: I believe this book would be interesting for baseball fans . Unless you're familiar with the game it wouldnlt work for you as it didn't for me. It's an ordinary King's,containing some of his recurring motives ,and doesn't really innovate much. The main title is the inclusion of the game in the story ,as a main character . I didn't find it appealing, but as I adressed earlier, others can . I did not find the overall concept gripping, I actually browsed the book at some parts - for the first time in a King's novel. Maybe that says it all.This work isn't one of his finest, and it seems to me that he wrote it for self entertainment reasons ,since his love of the game is definite. One more point I would like to bring up is the distinct feeling of a minor reading . The entire story deals with the little kid and her thoughts, most of which don't seem to capture my attention. King hasn't done it for me this time. For instance, in "Insomnia" he touched my feelings ,when he ,so delicately, described the lives of old folks ,their problems and emotions, but this time it wasn't that successful. I was dissapionted. You might or might not ,but consider carefully before spending your money.
Rating:
Summary: right up my forest
Review: As a parent, I spend considerable time trying to educate my children how to protect themselves from strangers, be aware of their surroundings when they are at the mall, be alert to the potential of dangerous situations, and, ad nauseum, what to do should this or that occur and you find yourself lost and on your own. As a parent, no amount of information is enough to keep them safe in our minds. We stand at the edge of paranoia, always geared to protecting our young. As a family, ourselves, we take our time off and go camping, hiking and exploring in the Sierras. Ever attempting to pass on knowledge, my wild life biologist husband delivers education and passes on nuggets of survival tricks. I was impressed with the story line Stephen King delivers in this book. One child actually payed attention to the nuggets of wildlife facts her mother served up on their outings in the Maine woods. Interpreted as boring by the older brother, he oftentimes uses the occassion to protest verbally to his mother everything he hates about his life and what the divorce has done to destroy it. How fortunate that this chirpy 9 year old girl, Trisha, always eager to please and make peace anyway she can, listened to these seemingly useless tips. In the end, these morsels of information added up and saved her life when she became lost while on a hike with her brother and Mother. Trish was only trying to find a secret spot where no one could see her to pee. Trying to pee like her mom showed her, she gets turned around and as Mr. King puts it, began making some very unfortunate decisions. Having left the main trail, it turns into a guessing game as to where and how to get back to it. Trish loses and gets lost. Her tale is one of shear guts and determination, helplessness and physical and mental stress beyond the coping mechanisms of a 9 year old. She does however, recover the nuggets of information imparted to her by her mom, and struggles day after day to help herself. One of her saviours is the love for baseball and one player in particular, Tom Gordon. Carefully, she tries to allot herself only so much time to listen to her walkman before the batteries die and she is left without her human link and bond in a box. As she tries to conserve the batteries, her imagination and stress induced hallucinations bring Tom Gordon to her. As she challenges herself with the struggle of just getting enough water and a few berries to eat a day, she senses an ominous presence that has been following her day after day, night after night. A griping novel, one that makes you love and cry for this young, lost girl, it is full of drama, intensity and mystery.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing read!
Review: Having been a Stephen King fan for most of my life, it is great when he can express his limitless range with books like this. The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon was an extremely painful odyssey for a girl whom I came to love as one of my own. My heart broke for her over and over again, yet I kept reading because I couldn't decide how it was going to end. King really draws you in and won't let you go until the last page. Will the girl find safety? Or will she die in a horrific way? Stephen King is capable of writing both kinds of endings, most of which are a mix between melancholy and not quite resolved. I have read the book three times and will probably read it again in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Might have been just a little bit more scary!
Review: I read this book straight after I finished Bag of Bones. The latter was different than the usual for Stephen King, the same goes for this book. It might have been just a little more scary, but still I kept on flipping those pages and could not wait to finish it. The book is unusually short for King but still I think it deserves the 4 stars. I found the ending a little disappointing but I am sure that with a second reading I discover new elements. King is good (full stop).
Rating:
Summary: A book you will have a hard time putting down!
Review: I recently read Stephen King's book The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. This is the first book that I have ever read by Stephen King, and I feel that it was an excellent way to become accustomed to his literary style. King's experience as a proficient writer shines through in this work. The novel basically has one character throughout the entire read, and the whole story is told through this character's eyes. I think it is quite an accomplishment for a successful male writer to be able to pull writing about the world through the eyes of a frightened little girl. The story flows and does an excellent job of keeping the reader caught up in the plight of this little girl lost in the woods alone. The imagery in the book is so real, you can feel and see the wasps, swamp, and forest closing in on the main character, Trisha McFarland. The suspense does not let up for one moment through the entire read, and therefore you never want to put the book down. I also, really liked the way that King leaves the "monster" in the story completely up to the reader's interpretation. You keep wondering if the monster is real of a figment of Trisha's imagination. Then finally at the end, the style is such that you really can't tell whether or not it was there at all. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone, and have!
Rating:
Summary: Lost...
Review: Trisha McFarland is lost in the woods and I found myself lost in the pages of this book. When I started reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, I didn't stop until I was done. Stephen King puts the reader into his characters like no other and this is one of the best I've read. I haven't read a lot of King's works, but I haven't read a bad one yet. I found myself becoming Trisha, feeling, seeing, and smelling what see did. I cared for her and worried about her (something I don't do very often). To those who complained about its size, I would just like to say that it's the same as complaining about a movie being too long. A story is told in a determined amount of time. No more and no less... Stephen King transported me into Trisha for a wild, suspensful trip. All I can say is Bravo!
| 
