The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Rating:
Summary: The man who love the girl who loved tom gordon
Review: Actually 4.5 stars. This is King nearly at his best. For any other author it would be a 5 star, but I know what King is capable of. He does a wonderful job making you feel the tension and fear this little girl is feeling. This is work is tight and focused (not an extra word that isn't needed, which to be honest was one of things King has seemed to have trouble with.) This along with his other recent works reaffirms him as a master of storyteller. Pick it up, I doubt you'll be disappointed

Rating:
Summary: Tepid Fast Food
Review: Some of Stephen King's best stories have featured young(ish) children as protagonists or main characters - we offer "Firestarter", "It", "The Shining" and especially "The Body" as evidence. Time and again, Mr. King has demonstrated an uncanny ability to tap into the minds and emotions of the children we all once were and recreate those magical years for us to live, fear and enjoy again. Unfortunately, "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" doesn't fall into this category; many of the book's problems could have been solved merely by aging our heroine.

As offered, "The Girl" asks readers to suspend their disbelief that a 9-year-old city girl could survive while roaming the southwestern Maine woods for more than a week, a feat that most adults would be unable to accomplish. Moreover, this young girl (named Trisha) possesses a self-awareness and presence of mind - demonstrated by the book's near continuous internal monologue - that elude most people twice her age; note the sensitivity to the subtle differences between definitions of "God" and what her father (i.e., Mr. King in a rare personal appearance) calls the "Subaudible". Finally, Trisha has an attachment to Red Sox pitcher Tom Gordon (not the "real" Tom Gordon, Mr. King assures us in a book-extending author's postscript) that is, frankly, unnatural for a prepubescent young girl. Put these qualities into a 13-year-old character, shorten the length of her trek by several days and two-score miles, and the reader might be able to accept the premise.

"The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" could have benefited from more of Mr. King's attention in other areas as well. Instead, he relies on his old standbys, the supernatural and delirium. When Trisha first hears unexpected sounds and experiences a sense of being watched, habitual readers of Mr. King's fiction know that a monster is in the making (though few students of his prose expect him to break one of his fundamental rules and actually show it to us). When the girl is first visited by visions of her friends and Tom Gordon, we can guess that one of these phantoms will guide her to her ultimate fate. By concentrating on the claustrophobic effect of being lost in a vast forest and eliminating the unexplainable, Mr. King could have created a scary story of what happens inside the mind and soul of one so horribly lost. Change the protagonist again - now use a 33- or 43-year-old woman experiencing typical but stressful life changes - and we might have a truly terrifying and universal examination of our age.

Instead, Mr. King gives us what he has always promised, the literary equivalent of a Big Mac & fries. For this consistency if nothing else, we suppose, we can be thankful.

Rating:
Summary: It isn't horror, and that's good
Review: I'm not a baseball fan. In addition, I don't like horror books. So why would I want to read a book where baseball plays a prominent role by the King of horror writers?

Well, for one thing, I spent a few years in Maine and in Boston. This book takes place in the woods of Maine. Trisha, a 9-year-old girl, is hiking for a few hours with her mother and brother on the Appalachian Trail in western Maine. The other 2 are arguing, so Trisha lags behind them a bit, then goes off the trail a bit so she can pee. She tries to take a shortcut back to the trail, but winds up lost.

This is basically a one-character book. Trisha is lost in the woods and there"s no one else around. There are other characters in the book, such as family and searchers, but they get only a few pages. Trisha is the one you follow throughout almost the entire story.

But there is another character. He is Tom Gordon, Trisha's hero, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Lost in the woods, with no people around, Trisha listens to Red Sox games on her Walkman so that she can have at least one contact to humanity. Listening to the games, and later imagining that Tom Gordon is with her in the woods, helps her to stay sane and alive while searching for civilization.

One final character is the Something that seems to be following Trisha. This thing has a horror element to it and, in my opinion, distracted from the main story. It would be scary enough for a nine-year-old to be lost in the woods, what with little to eat and biting insects and strange noises in the night, without having to resort to a semi-supernatural creature. There is a powerful confrontation at the conclusion, but I thought it was rather unbelievable and disappointing because something else suddenly pops out to save Trisha, rather than Trisha having to solve the problem herself.

I think that if you have lived in New England, especially in Maine, you'll like this book, even if you don't like the "usual" Stephen King books. If you like baseball, especially the Red Sox, you might like this book too. Readers of suspense stories will also appreciate this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dull as paint
Review: I stopped reading this very early because the character's inner monologue read like a middle-aged man trying to write like a 9-year old girl thinks. It didn't work.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time!
Review: This is the one book by Stephen King I could not finish. Usually his books grab me from the first paragraph but this one held no interest at all. I quit about a 1/4 of the way through and didn't even care enough to turn to the back pages to find out how it ended.

King has only left me disapointed once before and that was with Gerald's Game.

Rating:
Summary: Different from what I expected!
Review: You know, I really had trouble at times believing this was actually a King novel. While it is not as exciting as _Carrie_, and doesn't match the grandeur of _The Stand_, _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_ turned out to be good nonetheless-- which was very surprising to me. It's hard not to get caught up in Trisha's seemingly endless journey and be frightened of what she is up against. Whether you are a King fan or not is irrelevant in this book's case-- take a look at it whichever category you fit in. After all, it's very short and a quick read-- what have you to lose?

Rating:
Summary: a little bit of a letdown
Review: I found this book a letdown, probably because I read The Green Mile right before this. I was expecting more. King describes the forest in a way that you can envision yourself out there with Trisha. The parts of her listening to her walkman to hear Tom Gordon were interesting. Mr. King does his job though, as I found myself feeling worried and sorry for her all along. I did like the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King Hits A Homerun!
Review: This is the chilling,gripping,wonderfully told story of Trisha McFarland.

Trisha is nine years old,but big for her age. While on a hike with her mother and brother,who are having,one,long,continuous argument,Trisha decides she needs a break. When nature calls,she steps off the path and this is where the chilling fun and games begin.

Realizing she is lost,off she sets to find her way back to her family. After a disasterous occurence,she gets some good news when she makes the discovery that her walkman is in perfect shape. She listens in on the Boston Red Sox game and finds her lifeline,in the shape of her favorite releif pitcher,Tom Gordan,whom she also has a teeny crush on.

We follow Trisha through her journey back to civilation. Along the way,she makes some disturbing and heart-stopping discoveries. Someone or something is trailing her,ready to pounce at any moment.

Hurt and sick,Trisha draws on an inner strength to not live,but survive. All the while,Tom is there,encouraging and guiding her,until her ultimate showdown,with what she has come to know as,The God of the Lost.

Short enough to be read in one sitting and compelling enough,as well,The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordan will keep you glued to your seat and your eyes fastened to the page.

Rating:
Summary: Can't believe he wrote it!
Review: Wow, not at all the usual King. Just scary enough to keep the kids from wandering off the trail. I forgive you Stephen, your're entitled to one loser now and then.

Rating:
Summary: Could Not Put it Down!
Review: I actually put off getting this book due to the fact that I thought it was so different from other King books. When I did buy it I couldn't put it down. It was an excellent story that puts you in the center of everything going on. I would definately recommend!