The Girl Who Loved Tom GordonStephen King
Trisha McFarland is royally screwed.
Her parents are getting divorced: dad's an alcoholic, and mom's hatching one crackpot bonding plan after another. Her love of baseball (especially Tom Gordon, her favorite player) is one of the only things capable of bringing a smile to her face. Unfortunately, the comforts of home are far away after she finds herself lost in the middle of the woods with no tools and barely any food. Hoping rescue is just an hour or two away, she begins walking back toward what she believes is the path from which she first veered.
Needless to say, Trisha is wrong.
What follows is a harrowing misadventure that reminds anyone with half a brain NOT TO LEAVE THE FRIGGIN PATH when you're traipsing through the woods. Unless, of course, you happen to be a) older than 9, b) insane, or c) equipped with basic hiking gear, like, say, a compass.
What she thinks is a shortcut isn't; what she believes will take her back won't. Trisha gets lost and lost again, all the while struggling to survive in the face of some pretty awful obstacles.
As if this weren't already enough, King throws something ELSE at this poor kid: something is stalking her in the woods. What is this thing - is it beast? or human? Real, or a figment of her imagination?
In a nutshell: A fast, entertaining read that might have been better as a short story; still, readers can easily sympathize with Trisha and will want to see her through to the end.
Bibliolatry Scale: 4 out of 6 stars
Her parents are getting divorced: dad's an alcoholic, and mom's hatching one crackpot bonding plan after another. Her love of baseball (especially Tom Gordon, her favorite player) is one of the only things capable of bringing a smile to her face. Unfortunately, the comforts of home are far away after she finds herself lost in the middle of the woods with no tools and barely any food. Hoping rescue is just an hour or two away, she begins walking back toward what she believes is the path from which she first veered.
Needless to say, Trisha is wrong.
What follows is a harrowing misadventure that reminds anyone with half a brain NOT TO LEAVE THE FRIGGIN PATH when you're traipsing through the woods. Unless, of course, you happen to be a) older than 9, b) insane, or c) equipped with basic hiking gear, like, say, a compass.
What she thinks is a shortcut isn't; what she believes will take her back won't. Trisha gets lost and lost again, all the while struggling to survive in the face of some pretty awful obstacles. As if this weren't already enough, King throws something ELSE at this poor kid: something is stalking her in the woods. What is this thing - is it beast? or human? Real, or a figment of her imagination?
In a nutshell: A fast, entertaining read that might have been better as a short story; still, readers can easily sympathize with Trisha and will want to see her through to the end.
Bibliolatry Scale: 4 out of 6 stars
2 comments:
stephen king was one of the first authors i really got into as a teenager...and i have a soft spot for him. i listened to 'cell' and 'lisey's story' in the car last year and his ideas are truly mindbending. i saw him do a live reading at radio city a few summers ago and he was hilarious...
i'll have to see if my library has this on audiobook. thanks for the review!
I went on a hike this morning in the monsoon like weather that has been plaguing NH lately and couldn't help but think of this book! Thanks for the review!!
Post a Comment