What readers think of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, plus links to write your own review.

The author of the book, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, who is renowned as a writer of horror books, couldn't satisfy readers as the book lacked the necessary harrowing content. While his masterpiece such as 'The Shinin' still gains popularity, this book left readers indignant and puzzled by mentioning extraneous, random descriptions of the girl, which keeps appearing till the end of the book. The uncertainty, which normally keeps tension in horror books, was ineffective in this book, and the redundant behavior of the girl was all too predictable from the very first point that the girl got lost in the woods. This books consists of nothing more than Stephan King's subplots and questionable thoughts, and after I finished the book, I laughed at the cover which attracts people by its frightening picture. The only thing gained from reading this book was the fact that the girl really loved Tom Gordon. However, I thought that The New York Times should have given its compliments on his easy way of writing but not on the "Frightening, feverish content."

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King

   Stephen King’s novels are known to be fast paced, easy to read, and above all, terrifying. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was all but the latter. I was excited to read a novel by the best selling author, having known his reputation, and, like so many others, loving The Shining. However, I was disappointed after reading this book. It did not live up to King’s reputation at all, and I found myself falling asleep in my chair, rather than sitting on the edge of my seat. The plot was weak and monotonus. I felt that in the end the mysteriously developed subplot might pay off with a stereotypical, yet satisfying, sick twist. I was let down again. At times King would bring up a subtle detail which I would cling to, knowing that surely it must be foreshadowing something important in the future, when I would be called upon to resurface the detail and make a brilliant connection. I was upset to discover that by the end of the same page the detail and all that came with it was brought to an end, leaving me flapping through the pages, with nothing to hold me down, or to hold my interest.
   King did prove to give us a quick, easy read however. I suppose if I had been a die-hard King fan, I would have been delighted to have a nice, short, slightly unsettling story to hold me over until King came out with his next masterpiece. Having jumped into this one with desire to discover what this critically acclaimed author was all about, I was more than just upset, I was terrified.
Barbie, NY

An excellent example of not-so-excellent writing

I was excited to begin reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because of Stephen King's great reputation, but it became clear after about 60 pages that the book was nothing to hoot about.
First of all, the nine year old main character wasn't entirely believable. She wandered through the woods in a half-sarcastic daze, saying thinks like "yeah, baby" and "SEX-shoo-al" and thinking rather impressive thoughts.
The story started out all right, if you allowed yourself to believe that somebody could wander about 70 paces off of a trail and wind up walking into another state instead of finding her way back... The main character was well-characterized and it seemed as if her internal conflict had been made clear. There were several subplots that showed promise of tying into the main story... but it all fell to pieces towards the end.
The entire story was utterly repetitive and there was no real pay off for all of the foreshadowing put into it. Not to mention the climax - oh brother. Disgustingly predictable and not at all worth the read. Any element of suspense or tension I had felt while reading this book disappeared around the fifth false alarm.
For all of the bad things I feel about this book, I don't believe that reading it has been a complete waste of my time. I now know how not to write.

no offence to steve or anything but this book was definaltly not one of my favorites...or even

this book sucked.. all it talks about is some stupid girl running around the woods looking for her mommy... it has no story line whatsoever... it seems like king just threw a bunch of random thoughts together and said hey, lets try to make a story out of this. well you failed, sorry.

i read this book becuase i had to and i hav eto say it was terrible. It was the same thing over and over her being scared cause something is watching her. And how she wants food. Dont REAd thi

you beileves are your beileves but they are not good! I think you better read this over again and see how wrong you were on almost everything!

sietze
yeah...You want to feel good after reading a book then try this one. Your
daily struggle to survive means nothing compared to what she has to go through.
And you automatically start to think that if a nine year old girl can do it,
then you can solve your problems as well.
This story is about a girl, Trisha, who is nine years of age and almost ready
to develop herself in a positive way to maturity. She is a tough girl because
she can be very hard for herself. She is also a clever girl and she always tries
to make the best of whatever situation she is into. These are the things that
she needs to survive when she gets lost in the woods while having a trip with
her mother and brother. During her separation from the civilized world she is
accompanied by her imaginary friend Tom Gordon, a picher for the Red Sox and her
personal hero. She listens to game reports of him on her walkman, and sometimes
she actually sees him in the woods. It helps her to get along as good as
possible and so she might be able to find her way out. But there is another
spirit in the woods and it is coming closer....
This is a very down to earth Stephen King book because it is not full of
scary monsters. It is more about faith and subconsciousness and the triggered development
of a young girl, without the facilities of the civilized world. There is also
the question wether there is a God or not and S.K. lets you decide for yourself
if you believe and what you believe in. It is not a heavy dramatic kind of book though. It
has some humoristic parts in it(He uses a very friendly and positive kind of
humor). But most important: It is a very exiting book because when you are
reading this story you actually start to feel like a little kid alone in the
woods, not knowing what is out there. I cant imagine anything more scary than
that...