What readers think of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, plus links to write your own review.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King

   Stephen King’s novels are known to be fast paced, easy to read, and above all, terrifying. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was all but the latter. I was excited to read a novel by the best selling author, having known his reputation, and, like so many others, loving The Shining. However, I was disappointed after reading this book. It did not live up to King’s reputation at all, and I found myself falling asleep in my chair, rather than sitting on the edge of my seat. The plot was weak and monotonus. I felt that in the end the mysteriously developed subplot might pay off with a stereotypical, yet satisfying, sick twist. I was let down again. At times King would bring up a subtle detail which I would cling to, knowing that surely it must be foreshadowing something important in the future, when I would be called upon to resurface the detail and make a brilliant connection. I was upset to discover that by the end of the same page the detail and all that came with it was brought to an end, leaving me flapping through the pages, with nothing to hold me down, or to hold my interest.
   King did prove to give us a quick, easy read however. I suppose if I had been a die-hard King fan, I would have been delighted to have a nice, short, slightly unsettling story to hold me over until King came out with his next masterpiece. Having jumped into this one with desire to discover what this critically acclaimed author was all about, I was more than just upset, I was terrified.
Barbie, NY

An excellent example of not-so-excellent writing

I was excited to begin reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because of Stephen King's great reputation, but it became clear after about 60 pages that the book was nothing to hoot about.
First of all, the nine year old main character wasn't entirely believable. She wandered through the woods in a half-sarcastic daze, saying thinks like "yeah, baby" and "SEX-shoo-al" and thinking rather impressive thoughts.
The story started out all right, if you allowed yourself to believe that somebody could wander about 70 paces off of a trail and wind up walking into another state instead of finding her way back... The main character was well-characterized and it seemed as if her internal conflict had been made clear. There were several subplots that showed promise of tying into the main story... but it all fell to pieces towards the end.
The entire story was utterly repetitive and there was no real pay off for all of the foreshadowing put into it. Not to mention the climax - oh brother. Disgustingly predictable and not at all worth the read. Any element of suspense or tension I had felt while reading this book disappeared around the fifth false alarm.
For all of the bad things I feel about this book, I don't believe that reading it has been a complete waste of my time. I now know how not to write.

King speaks to the fact that we are ALL alone. In the end, we die as we were born, and as we have really lived: alone. King captures that feeling beautifully, and counters it with a hope so simple and pure as to be inspirational.

5 out of 5, 'cause they won't let me give it a 6.

How intense. Now go spend a few nights in the forest by yourself and let your imagination run wild.....

I liked this book because it was really thrilling and really weird. Although in some spots it got a little to weird. It had a little room for improvement so I gave it a 4.

no offence to steve or anything but this book was definaltly not one of my favorites...or even

I thought the book was really good . It wasent just about a girl lost in the woods it was about so many different things. It was about surving. It was about good agaisnt evil. I thought it was a fast good read.

I just finished this book today, for an English project. I got to choose to read it myself, however, if I were asked to read it again, I don't think I would say yes. I didn't think the book was bad, however, I also didn't think it was good. If it were any other Author, I would have probably said it was a good book, but I expect more from Stephen King. It just wasn't as scary as his old books were. However, it was well written, and did give lots of good information about what to do if you're ever lost in the woods.