Best Stephen King
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book data
6473 ratings, 3.35 average rating, 335 reviews
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published
August 30th 2005
(first published 1999)
by Pocket
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 272 pages
setting
The United States
isbn
1416524290
(isbn13: 9781416524298)
description
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 ...more
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avg 3.35
I read a lot of Stephen King in middle school. I wanted to see how he holds up to present day scrutiny. The answer--not so much. I think it's funny that friendly critics of King claim he masterfully captures the voice of young or adolescent characters--because he completely fails in this one, and since the child in question was the same age as me in the year the novel is set, I should know. She speaks in what seems to be a tapestry of cheesy expressions she knows from her parents, with none of h...more
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bookshelves:
greatreads
Read in June, 1998
recommends it for:
Everyone - especially girls!
I love this book. It's one of my favorites of all time. I love Stephen King to begin with, but I think any one - even people who don't like his style or genre typically - would like this book. It's a great, simple story about the power of the human will to survive and the strength of the human spirit - it's bravery, humor, resilience and ingenuity - in the face of great obstacles. It is really a fantastic book for anyone who has, or is, going through a tough time. The plot is very simple - a you...more
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When nine-year-old Trisha McFarland strays from the a branch of the Appalachian trail, tired of the bickering between her mom and brother, she gets lost in the forest and struggles to survive. As days and hours pass, she runs out of food and starts to hallucinate creatures following her so she looks to her Walkman for comfort. She wanders father and farther astray, determined that the river will lead to civilization while she passes beyond her search party and imagines Tom Gordon, the relief ...more
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Read in January, 2002
Let me begin by saying I am an ardent Stephen King fan and have been since reading "The Stand" back in 1975. First, I like the genre. Second I believe him to be the best story teller alive on the planet today. That being said, even though I have read nearly everything he has written under any pen name, this is the only review I plan to write for the extensive King library.
What is unique about this book was that it barely stepped into the usual worlds of Stephen King. It is ...more
What is unique about this book was that it barely stepped into the usual worlds of Stephen King. It is ...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
The fans of Stephen King
'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' by Stephen King is a real thriller, a pageturner. A girl of only 9 years old went walking with her mother and her brother in an enormous great wood. The young girl had to pee and so she lost her brother and her mother. In her panic to get back to her family, she takes a turning that leads deeper into the wood: she get lost... She had no food or drinks with her. It takes her 5 days to find the inhabitable world.
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bookshelves:
stephen-king
recommended to Crystal by:
My Grandmother (seriously!)
recommends it for: Non-Stephen King Fans
recommends it for: Non-Stephen King Fans
First of all, I need to point out that this book is *nothing* like the standard King lineup. Its a refreshing change of pace for his Constant Reader.
Strangely enough, I think Stephen King felt the same way. There's a passion in the lines of this one that almost makes the words glow on the page.
If I were to recommend a Stephen King book to a "fraidy cat" this would be the one. Its not scary, not even really creepy, although it does have some fairly tense sce...more
Strangely enough, I think Stephen King felt the same way. There's a passion in the lines of this one that almost makes the words glow on the page.
If I were to recommend a Stephen King book to a "fraidy cat" this would be the one. Its not scary, not even really creepy, although it does have some fairly tense sce...more
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Read in November, 2007
Oddly, I felt this story could've survived without the actual supernatural element added to it. It could easily have been passed off as psychology without the final confrontation and variety of dead animals and I don't believe it would have lost anything. Seeing Trisha transform from a little girl to a survivor is quite fascinating and well done. I was actually caught by surprise when the hunter appeared in the chapter "Bottom of the Ninth" despite several times it being mentioned that...more
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recommends it for: Stephen King Fans, Horror Fans
Read in March, 2003
recommended to Melissa by:
Friend recommends it for: Stephen King Fans, Horror Fans
My friend wanted to convince me that I could enjoy a Stephen King book. I had read Misery a few years back, and while I could appreciate Stephen King's writing style, the horror genre was not my forte. Finally she told me that I had to read this book before I could make any decisions about liking or not liking Stephen King books.
I have to admit, this one wasn't bad. I did enjoy the book much more than I enjoyed Misery. Would that make me want to go out and read other Stephen King...more
I have to admit, this one wasn't bad. I did enjoy the book much more than I enjoyed Misery. Would that make me want to go out and read other Stephen King...more
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recommended to Halobear11 by:
My mom
recommends it for: a Stephen King fan, any 11-100 year woman
recommends it for: a Stephen King fan, any 11-100 year woman
One of the Stephen King books I could actually handle. I would love to read It, but for the most part I have no time and as much as there are really interesting cool scary parts, there are parts where I could just (and do) FALL ASLEEP!! I think out of all his books I related to this one the most (seeing as I am a young women, and I have in the passed obsessed about celebrities like that...) it's really good...one of the best!
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On a six mile hike Trisha, Pete and their mom where all walking and Trisha had to go to the bathroom so she walked off the trail, but when she tried to find her way back. She got lost.
Now what ? Is she going to die ?
She ends up walking 9 miles off the trail within a few days.
She is running low on food.
She is getting really sick of all the bug bits.
The ground is really muddy.
Will she ever find her way back home ?
Now what ? Is she going to die ?
She ends up walking 9 miles off the trail within a few days.
She is running low on food.
She is getting really sick of all the bug bits.
The ground is really muddy.
Will she ever find her way back home ?
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Read in January, 2007
I hadn't read any King since high school and had forgotten how easily he can sometimes draw you in and make you experience all the emotions the protagonist is experiencing. I held my breath in anticipation several times, got excited a couple of times and felt as if my heart would break more than once before remembering it was just a book.
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this is the first stephen king book i ever read and i wasnt sure what to expect. the book starts out with a girl and her family on a nature walk in the wooded region of new york. but when nine year old trisha wonders off the trail she becomes lost. while on her journey to find civilisation she is being followed by somthing. this thing leaves a trail of slaughtered animals and mangled trees in her path. at the end she faces the thing. this book is filled with a lot of intense moments and when you...more
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Read in January, 2001
This book was okay. I read it over winter break one year in college. It held my interest, and I appreciated all the insider-New England references (1-800-54 GIANT...it's stuck in your head now, isn't it?), but the ending sucked, sucked, sucked. In a way, King was a victim of his own good writing, in that he paced the story well and did such a great job with dramatic build-up that the ending's big reveal couldn't help but disappoint. But goddamn, did it disappoint. Pretty much ruined the whole bo...more
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Read in June, 2008
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King, is about a nine-year-old girl named Trisha who goes on a hike with her divorced mom, and brother. During the hike Trisha has to go to the bathroom and goes off trail while her mom, and brother were fighting as they would always do and didn't notice her leaving. As a resolute she gets lost while trying to take a short cut and has no idea where to go or where she is. The only things that she has survive is a backpack with a sandwich, a few twinkies, ...more
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Relatively quick read from Stephen King. Interestingly, it features lots in common with the other King books I'm ready (just finished The Long Walk and am starting Roadwork from The Bachman Books); dealing with extreme situations to similar phrases ("me thinks" and "my thinks"). This also has King using many literary devices in very effective manners. From repetition ("big for her age" provides a theme that we can return to, yet means something different everytim...more
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bookshelves:
horror,
psychologicalhorror
Read in December, 1999
recommends it for:
I don't really know. . .
On a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the 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 moun...more
As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to withstand her moun...more
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bookshelves:
horror,
suspense
A good Stephen King suspense novel. I also liked the fact that I knew what a fiddle head was when I read it. ;)
Honestly, I grew up devouring SK novels but fell out of favor when the endings left me disappointed. (IT was going to be my favorite novel until I read the last couple chapters. I then cursed SK for not knowing how to end a brilliant novel!)
I was handed this book after many years of avoiding SK. I was happy I took the journey.
Honestly, I grew up devouring SK novels but fell out of favor when the endings left me disappointed. (IT was going to be my favorite novel until I read the last couple chapters. I then cursed SK for not knowing how to end a brilliant novel!)
I was handed this book after many years of avoiding SK. I was happy I took the journey.
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bookshelves:
literature
recommends it for: Melissa, Luan, Dawn, Tom
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Dlora by:
Karen Allenrecommends it for: Melissa, Luan, Dawn, Tom
Karen Allen suggested I read this book, since I have liked Stephen King in the past but avoid his current novels, which are too horror-filled for me. She said I'd probably like this one of his, and she was so right. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon<i/> is really marvelous! I loved it. It's a very simple story, about a nine-year-old girl who starts out on a hike along the Appalachian Trail with her recently divorced mom and brother but gets separated and then lost in the woods. King does a mar...more
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