The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Mass Market Paperback – February 1, 2000

A good book.

The book The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King is a book based on nine year old Trisha McFarland and the struggles she faces when she finds herself lost in the woods, on what she thought was just another normal day taking a hike with her mother and brother. After straying off the path, Trisha was fighting for her own survival. Stephen focused the book fully on fear, along with all the emotions and obstacles that Trisha faces. This book is a horror fiction novel based out of the woods of the Appalachian Trail in Maine that winds toward New Hampshire in 1998. I personally thought that there were a few little parts throughout the book that were kind of slow, just Trisha walking through the woods, but yet I never lost interest in the book. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. I definitely felt a connection with Trisha in the book. I always was worried about what was going to happen to her and hoped that she would make it out of the woods.Trisha McFarland is the daughter of Quilla Anderson and Pete McFarland, who were just recently divorced. Her brother, Pete, is having a hard time handling the situation and wished he could have stayed with his father. Pete and his mother continuously fight about everything, but mostly the divorce. Quilla decided that they needed to spend some family time together, so they started doing something together every Saturday that Trisha and Pete weren’t with their father.This weekends trip was a six-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. As they were bickering on the hike, Trisha slowly lost sight of her mother and brother as she went looking for a place to go to the bathroom. Trisha ends up by herself, lost, and not sure what to do. All she has with her is her backpack and the clothes that are on her back.Trisha used the walkman that was in her backpack to listen to the Red Sox games every night. Trisha’s favorite player on the Red Sox was closing pitcher, Tom Gordon. Throughout her journey she used her imagination to visualize that Tom Gordon was there with her in the woods. Imagining that Tom was there with her helped Trisha make it through the day a lot easier. She talked to Tom everyday as she walked through the woods.Trisha was my favorite character in the book, not just because she was the main one, but because of how brave and strong she was the whole time while being lost in the woods by herself. As a nine year old girl and being lost by herself in the woods for almost ten days, I think that she held it together very well. She definitely had some knowledge about plants and berries, which played a huge part in her survival. Without that previous knowledge, she could have easily not survived as long.Stephen King, also known as “The King of Terror”, is one of today’s most well-known and best-selling horror-thriller authors. King has a very unique style of writing that stands out to many readers. King writes in such a way that his readers are able to not just read the book, but they are able to visualize what was going on. The book was based in the year 1998, and it takes place in Western Maine on the Appalachian Trail. The book is written in third-person point of view, but for most of the story it is written in such a way that it seems that Trisha is the narrator. At times though, King would jump to Quilla’s or Pete’s point of view, or just plainly give us some insight on what was going on outside of the woods. I think that The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is definitely worth reading. I’m not a person who likes to read a lot, but yet I found myself not being able to put the book down at times. This is actually the first book I have read by King, but I absolutely enjoyed it and plan on reading more of his books.

We live our entire lives on the beaten path, never daring to stray from its safe boundaries, but there is another world adjacent to the one we live in. A mere step or two to the left or right of our everyday existence will carry us into a place where the usual rules do not apply; a place where things do not always make sense and where the terrors of the night have teeth.Trisha McFarland was a pretty typical nine-year-old when she inadvertently entered that other world. On a hike through the Maine woods with her family, Trisha stepped off the path, only for a moment, but that one moment was all it took. Trisha forgot, as so many of us do, that there are still places in this world where there are no telephones, no paved roads, no grownups to help us out of our jams.Trisha is a trooper, though, she never gives up. Her instincts tell her to keep moving; this is not where she wants to be, so she must find a way out. So that's what she does, as one day fades into another, and another, she keeps moving, keeps trying. A couple of times, Trisha hears and sees search helicopters, off in the distance. She knows they are looking for her, but the searchers would be dumbfounded to know that Trisha is already nearly thirty miles away.Trisha's only link with the world she left behind, is her walkman radio. When the terror of her situation begins to overwhelm her, she finds some small comfort in listening to her favorite baseball player, and current heart-throb, Tom Gordon of the Boston Red Sox. As the days pass, she thinks more and more of the way Tom Gordon points up to the sky each time he wins a game. What is he pointing at, and why? These questions are the mere beginning of what becomes a spiritual awakening in Trisha's young mind.Trisha is lost in the woods of Maine for seven days before finally stumbling upon a road. Not even a road, really, but a mere suggestion of what used to be a road. It is a glimmer of hope. For seven days she has lived on nuts and berries and muddy water. For seven nights she has slept out in the cold with nothing but pine boughs for a cover. Trisha is sick and weak and hungry. The road may finally lead her out of the woods. All that is left for her to do is make a simple decision: left or right.The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is fast becoming one of my favorite Stephen King audiobooks. While not quite as moving as The Green Mile, there is a certain amount of spirituality going on here that is not entirely common in Stephen King's audiobooks.Stephen King can make you care about a fictional character like no other author. No matter how many times I read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, I still find myself cheering for Trisha McFarland. When King points out how close she was to civilization without even knowing it, if only she had turned right instead of left, it just makes my heart sink. His grasp of human nature is really amazing.Anne Heche is, of course, a well-known actress, appearing in such movies as "Volcano", "John Q", and "Wag the Dog." She's not a bad audiobook narrator, but she's not great either. What she lacks in passion, she makes up for in enthusiasm. Kind of like her acting now that I think about it.Even if you are not a fan of Stephen King's audiobooks, you should really give The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon a try. King goes a little deeper with this one than he normally does. I think you'll like it.

Great story 👍

A very sad and terrifyingly realistic read, could happen to anyone in real life. I loved how Patricia depended so much on her radio and the red socks to get through it. I almost cried at the end, which King leaves tantalisingly ambiguous, so you're left wondering, well, what happened in the end? Or at least I was. Tricia had to quickly mature for her age in the situation she was in and it's shown well by King. Scary hallusinations for her as well. Another slow building horror, and you'll find yourself routing for Tricia from page one. Didn't think much of her mum it has to be said.

I am a King fan but this was just slow and boring especially if you are not interested in baseball. A little girl lost in the woods and pages of description of the brambles, trees and stinging insects. Also will someone please tell Mr King the difference between minges and midges! The girl was being bitten by midges and he repeats it many times but calling them minges, I couldn't help picturing this and it didn't help the story.It appears he is so famous that neither proof reader or editor tell him when he's got a word wrong which I find most annoying. Nobody is perfect!

This is a sweet little story about a young girl called Trisha who becomes separated from her family in the middle of the Appalachian forest. She has only her Walkman for company and uses it to connect to the outside world, which keeps her spirits up as she desperately tries to find her way home. She is able to temporarily forget her ordeal by becoming absorbed in her favourite baseball team's matches on the radio, and her fantasies over seeing her favourite player, Tom Gordon, in the forest help her deal with her loneliness.

This story is so not what you expect when you see the title and is probably one of the best stories I’ve read from Stephen King , it’s about a little girl who gets lost in a large wooded/forest area but that is where it only just gets better and better. Excellent story definitely recommend it.

A pleasant book that doesn’t reach the heights of other King’s works. More a survival story than a horror, the book is a page turner but the darkest elements could be perhaps further explored. There are some of the author’s signature marks, such as the drinking father, wasps and, of course, baseball.