Rating: 
Summary: The Guy Who Didn't Love Tom Gordon
Review: Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. No one can write a story that relates to his and my generation like him. But, I have to admit that maybe I just missed the boat on this one. It read to me like King had about 250 pages left in his ream of typing paper and knocked this thing off to finish the pack. A little girl gets lost in the woods; a little girl listens to Red Sox baseball on her radio; a little girl gets found. While Trisha is a sweet and appealing character, the story, to my mind, has no substance and no filling. Sort of like the literary equivalent of cheese whiz. I think it would have come off better as a short story rather than a novel."Tom Gordon" is reminiscent, to my mind, of another King novel, "Gerald's Game", which involves a wife who, after going through some sexual hijinks with her husband, witnesses ol' hubby having the "Big One" while she remains chained to their bed. Kinky, yes. Enthralling, no. Yet the similiarities between these two books are there. 200 pages of the wife chained up was the equivalent here of 200+ pages of Trisha lost in the woods. It's not so much the lack of "action" in this book. There's no narrative to move the story along. As in "Gerald", King tries to insert an element of the supernatural that he brings in almost as an afterthought. It's almost as if he felt he needed to do this to save the novel. As a result, it comes across as if he isn't sure what kind of a story he wanted to write. I heard someone say, "'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' would make an excellent made-for-TV movie. That should be condemnation enough, right there. And, lastly, as a Yankee fan, I have to disagree with King. No way Tom Gordon strikes out Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill back-to-back with a high hard one. Sorry Stephen.
Rating: 
Summary: ... not only the "world has teeth"
Review: Beware: this book is - although made of very simple ingredients - very scary. What do you get if you take Red Sox' Tom Gordon's #1 fan, a young girl who struggles with her parent's marriage and her brother, put her on a walk along the Appalaichan Trail and make her get lost? A nightmare showing Stephen King's true craft: making an extraordinary story out of an ordinary thought. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon deals with the psychological terrors of loneliness and fading hope of ever being rescued; of the lurking dread that somewhere behind you, deep in the woods, is a monster, that is real, very real ... ... until Trisha finally confronts her true enemy, the monster, the thing of the woods, she has to defeat in a thrilling showdown that pushes you on the edge of your seat und ripps your nervs like a butcher. This book will definitely make your teeth grind, because it is very tense Stephen King at his best - at least in a way, if you stick to the fact, that it is an ordinary thought, but an extraordinary story. At the end of this book you will come to realize that sometimes the love for the true thing - for that one thing (whatever that is to you) you like best - is the only thing you got ... and the only thing you can fall back on, because it is YOUR thing. Maybe you will even get a few foot steps closer to that thing of yours!
Rating: 
Summary: The Girl Who Loved Tom Boredom
Review: I should've known something was amiss. Here was an SK paperback that weighed under 5 lbs and felt more like a novella (though touted as a novel). But, once again, I fell for the "critical praise" the preceded the forward. I now realize that the acclaim dished out to pump an author's work is as dubious - if not more so - than the crap slapped on movie posters. Just once, I'd like the peer reviews to be honest: "King at his mediocre best!" or "King walks to first base! Again!" Don't get me wrong. I love SK. And because I do, I'd bet dollars to donuts that the time he spent on this book was equal to or less than the time it takes to read it and say, "I want my 15 minutes back." The story begins interestingly enough. A girl gets lost in the woods. Cool. Trouble is, neither she nor the story make inroads thereafter, no pun intended. The only obstacle King gives her are the inhospitable woods. Duh. Oh yeah, and he keeps reminding us that "something is stalking her." Over and over. Each chapter (or "inning", in keeping with the baseball substory) goes around in circles. She's lost, and "something's" following her. By the "7th inning" we're saying, "OK, I get it already. She's lost and something's following her. Do something with it." Somewhere around the 4th inning, King introduces a crank caller who tricks the search party. A cool twist, but it goes nowhere. I was really hoping that King would dial up the intensity like he used to. I wanted the little girl to run into the cast of Deliverance. But she doesn't. Not even her imaginary friend, Tom Gordon, is interesting. And he's imaginary fer chrissake! Finally, the 9th inning arrives and King reveals the thing that's been "stalking" her (which we guessed the minute he introduced it) and it's as climactic as a bus trip to Buffalo. Then it dawned on me. This "novel" is actually a young adult book. By that I mean it's for girls between 9 and 15 -- the kind who don't get asked to dance. This book should be in the Young Adult section, not leaning against CARRIE. And in case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a young girl. I have hair on my knuckles. And if I'm gonna read a book about a young girl who's lost in the woods, she better damn well run into a chainsaw or Slingblade or both. Maybe it has to do with the whole baseball thing which ain't that exciting to begin with. It's too bad King isn't into hockey. He could've called the book, "The Girl Who Loved Phil Esposito" and thrown in some good fights as a gesture of good will to those who, unfortunately, didn't lose themselves reading the thing.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect much horror, but expect great drama
Review: Once again Stephen King shows he can write more than tales of gore. The book starts out when newly divorced mother of two takes her children for a hike. Before this ever takes place nine year old Trisha gets lost in the woods by herself. "All becouse I needed to Pee" she comments to herslef. The novel goes on to discuss her nine day odyssey in the woods. Throughout her difficulties, and through her terror she finds comfort in listening with her walkman to the Red Sox play and her favorite player Tom Gordon. When her walkman wears out she just thinks of Tom Gordon and how he always seems to save the day. It is a great story about faith, inner strength, and determination. It is a quick read that will keep you turning pages until the end. In many ways it reminded me of times when things get so out of hand so quickly. One moment she is safe with her mother and brother, and the next thing she knows she is completly lost in a hostile environment. It goes to show that disaster can strike at any moment, often when we least expect it. Faith and determination is sometimes all we have.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book.
Review: "The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon" was a pretty good book. I only gave it four stars because I got lost alot in the book and could'nt figure out what he was talking about. Otherwise it is a great book. And it really isn't King's normal blood and gore book, it has a small part with a monster. But the book seemed to center more around a girl getting lost in the woods and struggles for survival.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn...what a bore!
Review: I borrowed this audiobook from a relative and found it to be so boring that I had to give it back without finishing the story. From what I can tell, the plot consists of a mother, daughter, and son who fight constantly yet end up going on a hiking trip. This trip is supposed to consist of some quality family time, but ends up in another mother/son fight. In the middle of all the fighting, the daughter (Trisha) ends up stopping to go pee in the woods, which ends up with her getting seperated from her family. And the rest of the story is about her being scared and lost in the woods. It just wasn't very interesting to hear about how scared she was and how she couldn't find her way back to her family. There wasn't a scary twist to it...just a girl lost in the woods.
Rating: 
Summary: He can do better
Review: This definitely isn't high on my list of great books. It's a big departure from what King usually writes, and I wish he would have just stuck w/ his usual fare. It moves too slow for my tastes...if you want an awesome King book, try Bag of Bones.
Rating:
Summary: Dull and Pointless
Review: If you've ever thought that Stephen King shouldn't publish everything he writes, this book will reinforce your belief. It is really quite surprising how King, in this book, will initiate a subplot and then simply abandon it, like he did with the considerably rocky relationship between the main character (Trisha) and her family. Granted, there is little opportunity for them to make appearances, but if the family dynamic is not to play a relevant part in the character's journey, why bring it up at all? The only salvation this book could have found would have been in the eeriness of the setting and the supposed monster hunting Trisha in the woods. At no point are we even tempted to believe that there is another presence out there with her, hunting her for no other reason than she is lost. The writing is simply not engaging enough. In short, this was probably the dullest 225 pages I have ever read. If you're like me, and you hate to have your valuable reading time wasted, steer clear of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and spend your six dollars on Richard Laymon's Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, The Traveling Vampire Show. The characters and the plot are much more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: great vacation reading
Review: This was a great summer reading book. I started it at home one summer night and finished it on vacation in St.Lucia. it was a book I could not put down. Very well written and kept you in suspense till the end. Not many books keep my attention but this one did! Thanks Stephen King.
Rating:
Summary: First Stephen King Book I've Read Left A Good Impression
Review: This was the first book by Stephen King I've read and it made me want to go straight to the bookstore and get another. It tells the story of Trisha McFarland, a 9 year old girl from New England who is hiking along the Appalachan Trail with her mother and brother. She gets separated from them and wanders through the woods getting herself lost deeper and deeper in the forest. At first, Trisha thinks she is alone but soon she discovers she is not. She senses she is being followed. Read this book to figure out what is following her and if Trisha gets rescued before her companion catches up with her.
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