Rating: Summary: Storytelling at its best Review: My all-time favorite King book is IT, which is chockful of supernatural elements. But my other favorites are Cujo, Misery, and Gerald's Game, none of which have supernatural elements. Whether The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon has a supernatural element depends on how you interpret it.The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is essentially a one-character book. Few writers could pull that off, but King does it beautifully. Except for a brief prologue that provides ackground, Trisha is all alone, lost in the woods, trying to survive, and the reader is very much with her, swatting at bugs, slipping through mud, listening to the sound of something moving in the dark forest. Since King can't be counted on for a happy ending, the question of her survival is real. I had to really force myself not to check the ending to see if she survived. The last page made me cry, and I don't cry easily. I have seen some criticism of the length of this book. Fans of King have come to expect lengthy works, but a book should be as long as it needs to be to tell the story and no longer. King tells a good story here, and nothing is missing. This is storytelling at its best. I was compelled to keep reading, to find out "what happens next."
Rating: Summary: One of the best Thrillers that have ever been written! Review: Stephen King writes diffrent kinds of stories; this is a really frightenig one. When I bought the book I thought it would be a classic Monster- Novel with beasts and stuff but it really isn't. First: it's a very short story for Stephen, that's what made me curious, second: everything about and around the girl in this story (the woods, the animals, the fear, the behaviour) is so real, that you're really frightened about her destiny. After reading two pages, you have feelings for that girl. Stephen King has a special kind of thrilling in this story; he doesn't bring in monsters, no, what he does is much heavier. When you almost think that the girl finally arrives in a town or finds a road she decides to not crossing the not very deep lake but to go around it, the wrong way, right into nothing (400 miles 'til Montreal and almost no town or anything human between them). Those moments make it worth to read the book. And on my opinion this is not just one of the best King novels, it's also one of the best thrillers that have ever been written. Thanks for reading my review.
Rating: Summary: Grand Slam Review: I think this is another big hit. A Stephen King book doesn't have to have vampires or ghosts to be a good read. I believe he has already proven that. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a page turner. I couldn't put it down. The suspense of what was going to happen to 9-year-old Trisha McFarland held my attention and I couldn't stop reading. I had my doubts about Trisha making it out of the woods alive. She hung on to hope and determination, and of course Tom Gordon, to bring her through this voyage of obstacles that this nine-year-old girl has to tackle. Thank you again Stephen King.
Rating: Summary: Lost in woods? Review: Since Insomnia, Stephen King's works are getting less and less complicated, gradually losing from the once-beautiful style and mood. Horror through a child's eye have always been the best area he writes in, yet this one, although it is not as disastrous as Rose Madder, is quite below his average. The plot is very simple, and, personally speaking, reeks too much of the Blair Witch Project to me. I admit that it is an easy and entertaining read, butn if you are a fan of his old ones like It or The Stand, keep away from this, it will only feel like a knife in the back.
Rating: Summary: Great For Baseball Fans, Too Review: With over 500 reviews already, is there anything left to say? You bet! This is not just an outstanding novel of suspense (what did you expect from King?), but an outstanding contribution to the sizeable body of baseball fiction. Tom Gordon was the Red Sox closer. The closer is the man who comes on with the game on the line. The game is a metaphor for life, right? Two outs, bottom of the ninth, down two, two runners on . . do the Sox live or die today? Does little Trisha? It's up to Tom Gordon. In the hands of a lesser writer, this equation might have been obvious and labored. King's solution to the equation is unexpected and dramatic, even magical. When the ball went through Buckner's legs, I ran from my parents' den, went down the hall, and literally collapsed on the living room floor. And when my favorite player Trot Nixon recently beat Roger Clemens with a dramatic home run, I screamed and jumped up and down for ten or fifteen seconds. After reading THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, I understand better why we baseball fans care so much. And in the climax of this novel, those intense feelings are perfectly intermingled with our fondness for its young protagonist. Very powerful and very moving.
Rating: Summary: THE PATH! Review: I agree with some of the earlier comments that the plot is simple & the entire phenomena can just be attributable to a kid's creative imagination combined with the pressure of being alone & lost in the woods. Afterall, who would not be driven insane if you're starved, scared, alone in a god-forseaken place. But you have to hand it to SK who was able to twirl the story & took the readers along for a walk into the woods...seeing what Trisha was seeing, hearing what she's hearing, feeling what she's feeling. Also, I noticed that despite the usual SK trademark of supernaturals (ghosts, apparitions, etc.), he seemed to point out that there is only one True God --- whether it be in the woods or not, late innings or not, baseball fan or no baseball fan --- if you truly believe & pray in Him, YOU'LL BE SAVED!
Rating: Summary: not scary but very well told Review: i am into really scary books and alot of them try to be gross and use that to make up for their lack of real writing well and interesting plot line but this is a very well writen book and i am very impressed with it but if you are looking for a real scary keep you up all night nightmare book this is not it but if you want to kept up all night cause you can not put it down beacause of it is very interesting and well written then i will recomend this book for you. and please consider my advice i am 14 years old but i do know a good book and this is it.
Rating: Summary: A Home-Run! Review: Ok, first of all, all you people out there cutting up on this novel have to stop comparing it to previous King works. OBVIOUSLY, King was not trying to write a "Christine-It-Gerald's Game-Salem's Lot-Carrie", so why make pros and cons based on nothing but the fact that King has been branded as a "horror writer" and therefore can produce nothing outside THAT genre. Though the tale isn't exactly a horror novel, it has a cleverly wound plot that keeps the reader interested and is incredibly well written under the circumstances given. King took a rather bland topic (I know ~I~ couldn't talk about a little girl being lost in the forest for 200+ pages without losing the reader's interest) and produced a great, intriguing story. The story is about a 9-year-old(?) girl named Tricia McFarland who becomes lost in the woods for days on end. Her only window to the outside world is her Walkman (she listens to the baseball games of her hero, Tom Gordon, hence the title of the novel). A bit slow at first, but becomes more interesting as it moves on. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Well-written, suspenseful tale Review: Let me start by stating that I am not a died-in-the wool Stephen King fan, and definitely not a horror fan. However, the reviews on this book correctly led me to conclude that it is not a usual King book, and I definitely liked it. Nine-year-old Trisha strays off the Appalachian Trail as she lags behind her arguing mother and brother, and then becomes hopelessly lost when she tries to take a "shortcut" back to the trail. The suspense and tension in this book are those inherent in a story about a young, but determined child, armed with a very small amount of survivor knowledge. For emotional support, she increasingly imagines that her favorite pitcher, Red Sox's Tom Gordon, accompanies her on her trek and provides her with guidance and support. This is a wrenching story, as you keep hoping that this poor child will be found, will escape the woods unharmed, and so forth. I found myself saying "NO!" out loud when she made bad decisions, and encouraging her as she plunged ahead. This is a suspenseful and inspiring story.
Rating: Summary: A Big Disappointment Review: I was really disappointed!!! I'm a 13 year old girl who has read many Stephen King books and I think he is an excellent writer. This book didn't even compare on my scale to other books such as Salems Lot. It was genuinly not scary at all to me. I was so bored with the book by page 100 but I thought it might get etter so I stuck with it. I was wrong.
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