“On a
six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail,
nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between
her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced mother. But when she wanders
off by herself and then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut, she becomes
lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has
only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and
faith to withstand her mounting fears. For solace, she tunes her Walkman to
broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances
of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio's reception begins
to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her - protecting her from an
all-too-real enemy who has left a trail of slaughtered animals and mangled
trees in the dense, dark woods.”
There
are a handful of Stephen King novels I’ve not read, for whatever reason. The
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was one of them. A minimalist tale, King is able to
keep the story going for a while. Trisha, like a lot of King’s kids, is
resourceful, with a lot of wisdom that belies her young age. For me, I’m not
used to King creating a one character based story and found myself, by the
middle of the book, a bit restless and feeling the repetitiveness of Trisha’s
issues grounded the narrative to halt. Still, it’s King, and he’s a genius for
attempting such a literary experiment. Like his Richard Bachman tales, I
appreciate when a well established author can color outside the lines.
Despite
King’s success, he still has problems with endings. While you knew the ending,
it became also anti-climatic. Trisha finally faces the thing, the It, that she
felt has been stalking her, only to have it wrapped up pretty neatly and then
the book ends. Maybe I was expecting more? Or maybe I didn’t know what to
expect. It’s not a bad book, but I can certainly say it’s one I’ve read now -25
years after it’s release.
Beyond
finishing out the Bachman books –Rage, The Running Man, The Long Walk- I still
need to read Misery (which King was writing to be released as a Bachman book
when he was outed), Gerald’s Game, Delores Claiborne, and Rose Madder.
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