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marioncromb's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Simple, effectively tense story.
Not knowing anything about baseball I was probably missing an extra layer that might have provided a deeper emotional connection to the book itself.
Not knowing anything about baseball I was probably missing an extra layer that might have provided a deeper emotional connection to the book itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, and Stalking
Minor: Excrement
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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
4.0
On a hiking trail in Maine, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland can no longer handle the sound of her brother and mother arguing. She leaves the trail, just for a second, just to pee and decides she'll take a short cut back. The short cut leads her deeper into the woods, where she becomes hopelessly lost and must fight for her survival. Not only against the elements but against a more sinister presence that is stalking her through the forest.
I've read this at least twice before and I think it still holds up as a really solid entry in Stephen King's bibliography, especially for a rare short book. I've said before that I think King shines when he tells stories of plucky kids who live against all odds. The supernatural element isn't even the most tense part of this book, it is that literally anything could kill a nine-year-old alone in the forest, especially a nine-year-old town girl who doesn't spend much time outdoors. Her survival through sheer determination, luck, and whatever else was an emotional ride.
I've read this at least twice before and I think it still holds up as a really solid entry in Stephen King's bibliography, especially for a rare short book. I've said before that I think King shines when he tells stories of plucky kids who live against all odds. The supernatural element isn't even the most tense part of this book, it is that literally anything could kill a nine-year-old alone in the forest, especially a nine-year-old town girl who doesn't spend much time outdoors. Her survival through sheer determination, luck, and whatever else was an emotional ride.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Animal death
Minor: Racism
warlockdorian's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Death, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Vomit, and Stalking
autumnwhite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Death, Excrement, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism
gromithorror's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
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? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, Stalking, Gore, Addiction, Excrement, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Rape
readerintheruemorgue's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Minor: Alcoholism
karamelka_kar19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The second half of the book had a much bigger impact on me than the first one. Story became interesting only after things got really bad adding some spice to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death
briartherose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Nóra Quoirin was a fifteen-year-old French-Irish girl who died in August 2019, six days after becoming lost in the Malaysian jungle while on holiday with her family. Nóra lived with holoprosencephaly, a disorder which affects brain development, making her even more vulnerable than a child in that desperate situation might otherwise be. The investigation is still ongoing - a Malaysian court ruled in favour of misadventure, while the Quoirin family still fervently believe Nóra was abducted. Either way, her cause of death was clear - hunger and stress from so many days lost in the wilderness.
This real-life tragedy has stayed with me from the moment it first hit the headlines. I couldn't get the image of this confused, terrified, vulnerable girl out of my mind. More to the point, the very idea of becoming lost in the wilderness horrified me. The fact that in this world of smartphones and drones and GPS, anyone could become completely lost. I live in a very rural part of Britain but this country is so small that every square mile of it has been explored - the notion that anywhere on Earth is so uncharted, so unfit for human survival, is one that I find hard to come to terms with.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is set in 1998, before the ubiquity of smartphones and trackers, but it likewise follows a young girl who manages to get herself lost. Specifically, she steps off the Appalachian trail and into the unforgiving woods. Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland's predicament is something that I would certainly call misadventure - she simply wandered too far off the path and into danger, and the novel is about her fight for survival. And what a fight it is - I hope to God that they never adapt this into a movie, because no child actor should be forced to act out this kind of misery. This novel is far shorter than King's usual fare, and I liked that - it keeps the tension up and prevents it from feeling bloated like some of his novels do. Plus, there's only so long you can bear to read about a child slowly dying. That's not to say the book is completely dour or depressing: Trisha is a brave, funny and clever heroine, and her story ends in a deeply heartwarming way.
The titular Tom Gordon is Trisha's favourite baseball player - a real person, incidentally, which makes me wonder what he thought of the novel. Her one solace throughout her ordeal is listening to baseball games on her little portable radio, and she begins to pin her own hopes of survival on her beloved hero's wins. He starts to become a spiritual guide, a representative of God, and while many of King's protagonists wrestle with faith, this is the most powerful example of that I've seen in his work. There is little of the explicitly supernatural here - you're allowed to make up your own mind about the creature that stalks Trisha through the woods - but it certainly would have taken a miracle to escape that situation, right?
This was a tough read, but an absolute marvel of tight plotting, character development and horrific imagery. I loved it.
This real-life tragedy has stayed with me from the moment it first hit the headlines. I couldn't get the image of this confused, terrified, vulnerable girl out of my mind. More to the point, the very idea of becoming lost in the wilderness horrified me. The fact that in this world of smartphones and drones and GPS, anyone could become completely lost. I live in a very rural part of Britain but this country is so small that every square mile of it has been explored - the notion that anywhere on Earth is so uncharted, so unfit for human survival, is one that I find hard to come to terms with.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is set in 1998, before the ubiquity of smartphones and trackers, but it likewise follows a young girl who manages to get herself lost. Specifically, she steps off the Appalachian trail and into the unforgiving woods. Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland's predicament is something that I would certainly call misadventure - she simply wandered too far off the path and into danger, and the novel is about her fight for survival. And what a fight it is - I hope to God that they never adapt this into a movie, because no child actor should be forced to act out this kind of misery. This novel is far shorter than King's usual fare, and I liked that - it keeps the tension up and prevents it from feeling bloated like some of his novels do. Plus, there's only so long you can bear to read about a child slowly dying. That's not to say the book is completely dour or depressing: Trisha is a brave, funny and clever heroine, and her story ends in a deeply heartwarming way.
The titular Tom Gordon is Trisha's favourite baseball player - a real person, incidentally, which makes me wonder what he thought of the novel. Her one solace throughout her ordeal is listening to baseball games on her little portable radio, and she begins to pin her own hopes of survival on her beloved hero's wins. He starts to become a spiritual guide, a representative of God, and while many of King's protagonists wrestle with faith, this is the most powerful example of that I've seen in his work. There is little of the explicitly supernatural here - you're allowed to make up your own mind about the creature that stalks Trisha through the woods - but it certainly would have taken a miracle to escape that situation, right?
This was a tough read, but an absolute marvel of tight plotting, character development and horrific imagery. I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Blood, and Gore
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