Different Twist on Writing - The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Review (Partial Spoilers)
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The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows our 9 year-old main character Trisha whose parents recently split and her older brother is no longer getting along with their mother -- whom they currently have custody to. One day, Trisha's mother plans a hiking trip for herself, Trisha and Trisha's brother. As Trisha's mother and brother always do, they decided to argue during their hike, leaving the youngest daughter behind. Determined to get a few seconds of peace, Trisha takes a separate route, hoping to meet her brother and mother at the other side. But.. she doesn't. Trisha must find a way to escape the woods an find her way back to the road to safety.
This is an absolutely phenomenal twist on King's usual writing and I'm very happy that I decided to read it.
Stephen King is known for writing such gruesome horror novels: lots of gore, lots of scare. King loves to make it difficult for you to sleep at night.
Although, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was very different from King's usual writing.
There wasn't any gore-filled scenes; honestly, the book didn't include any attributes of "scary horror."
King took a different twist on his writing for this book and turned psychological fears into horror and I found that quite interesting.
Typically, I'm itching for a lot of freaky scenes that would scare me horrendously, and I wouldn't necessarily like a novel quite like this, but honestly I loved it.
King truly shows what a phenomenal writer he is with any given genre. His inclusions of hallucinations are so realistic and so well written, at some moments you really start to question if what Trisha is seeing is reality or a visual illusion.
I also really loved the first few chapters of this novel just as much as I loved the rest of the book. Usually when you're reading a thriller or a horror novel, it's quite difficult to attach yourself to the book in the beginning because you're just getting to know the setting and characters but this novel really grips you with the first page.
The way King introduces the characters and gives a brief introduction to their lives and relationship with each other was actually quite fresh.
It wasn't boring at all, it didn't feel as if the introduction was too long or stretched out. I felt as if it was just right. Did not bore me, in fact it gripped me on page one and pulled through until the end of the novel.
Trisha is also a remarkable character. She is very smart and brave for her age. Once she was lost in the woods on her own, Trisha's survival skills starts to pull through. She starts eating small amounts of her packed food to savour it all and once she does finish her food, she using the skills her mother taught her to eat berries she finds whilst being lost. For a 9 year-old, that is exceptional survival skills.
The effects of what a fighting family has on a child shows in a novel and I find that very important and also very interesting as it is being portrayed.
There was a lot of baseball references in this novel as it's based on Trisha being in love with Tom Gordon whom at the time this book was published, was Boston Red Sox's pitcher I believe? If you don't have any baseball knowledge like myself, you probably wouldn't understand the references.
Otherwise, this book was incredible and will definitely be added to one of my top King novels.
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