The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
A Novel
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
From international bestseller Stephen King, a classic story that engages our emotions on the most primal level, a fairy tale grimmer than Grimm but aglow with a girl’s indomitable spirit.
What if the woods were full of them? And of course they were, the woods were full of everything you didn’t like, everything you were afraid of and instinctively loathed, everything that tried to overwhelm you with nasty, no-brain panic.
The brochure promised a “moderate-to-difficult” six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, where nine-year-old Trisha McFarland was to spend Saturday with her older brother Pete and her recently divorced mother. When she wanders off to escape their constant bickering, then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut through the woods, Trisha strays deeper into a wilderness full of peril and terror. Especially when night falls.
Trisha has only her wits for navigation, only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fear. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games and the gritty performances of her hero, number thirty-six, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio’s reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her—her key to surviving an enemy known only by the slaughtered animals and mangled trees in its wake.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted." King's new novel--which begins with that sentence--has teeth, too, and it bites hard. Readers will bite right back. Always one to go for the throat, King crafts a story that concerns not just anyone lost in the Maine-New Hampshire woods, but a plucky nine-year-old girl, and from a broken home, no less. This stacked deck is flush with aces, however. King has always excelled at writing about children, and Trisha McFarland, dressed in jeans and a Red Sox jersey and cap when she wanders off the forest path, away from her mother and brother and toward tremendous danger, is his strongest kid character yet, wholly believable and achingly empathetic in her vulnerability and resourcefulness. Trisha spends nine days (eight nights) in the forest, ravaged by wasps, thirst, hunger, illness, loneliness and terror. Her knapsack with a little food and water helps, but not as much as the Walkman that allows her to listen to Sox games, a crucial link to the outside world. Love of baseball suffuses the novel, from the chapter headings (e.g., "Bottom of the Ninth") to Trisha's reliance, through fevered imagined conversations with him, on (real life) Boston pitcher Tom Gordon and his grace under pressure. King renders the woods as an eerie wonderland, one harboring a something stalking Trisha but also, just perhaps, God: he explicitly explores questions of faith here (as he has before, as in Desperation) but without impeding the rush of the narrative. Despite its brevity, the novel ripples with ideas, striking images, pop culture allusions and recurring themes, plus an unnecessary smattering of scatology. It's classic King, brutal, intensely suspenseful, an exhilarating affirmation of the human spirit. 1,250,000 first printing; major ad/promo; BOMC and QPB featured alternates; simultaneous audiocassette and CD, read by Anne Heche.
Customer Reviews
A short read but a great one! Classic King!
This one will always hold a place near and dear to my heart. I graduated high school the year it came out and thoroughly enjoyed the read! Here I am at 40 years old and it’s still one of my favorites by S.K.
A truly frightening hike through the woods!
Understandably, the New York Times called this book: “Frightening... feverish terror!” This chilling tale of Trisha McFarland, a nine-year-old girl who becomes lost in the woods while hiking with her single mother and older brother, is captivating from the beginning! I liked Trisha right away and, when she got lost in that huge, intimidating forest, I was rooting for her every step of the way, which was easy because King characterized her as such a courageous little girl who refused to give up, regardless of how hopeless her situation sometimes seemed. I always love Stephen King for his horror stories, which is exactly what this book is, but it’s also much more! It’s a story of bravery, hope, and strength in the face of impossible odds! Bravo, Stephen King! Bravo!👏 👍🏻👍🏻
A great summer tale
While not on par with spine-tingling works like It and Desperation, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon stands out for its realism that morphs into surrealism. Parents everywhere will admit this story is a nightmare for them that will haunt them on their next walk in the woods with the kiddos.