King

I keep trying to find a reason to love Stephen King,but once again my sincere efforts and willful patience turn out futile.

Finished King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon-basically,the story of 9 year-old Patricia "Trisha" McFarland who,while jungle trekking with her mum and brother,finds herself lost and struggles to survive days of being alone in the jungle-with only a Walkman for company.Then there's Tom Gordon (former Red Sox pitcher) who Trisha adores-once in a while she'd tune the Walkman radio to hear a game he's in.

I tried to read Carrie about 4 years ago,but found myself bored after few chapters-there's this very forced way where he'll deliberately make the build-up trouble-free,only to have some kind of huge event later as to break the monotony.With Tom Gordon,he's best when describing Trisha "communing" with the forest,building perfect,lavish images consisting of the most intimate sounds and detail-capturing that child's wonder towards something new and unfamiliar,when the forest seems accommodating but hostile at the same time.

Reading the synopsis beforehand,I expected a simple story with a big heart-no smokes and mirrors,just the tale of a girl getting lost in the woods.But no,the kid also has a selfish,whiny brother who constantly argues with his mum-herself an absentminded divorcee,then parts where Trisha finds herself missing them and things like that.All of dreadful cheesiness peaks at the end-where you have this "touching" image of Trisha doing what her hero does when he wins a round (points to the sky).Did I just spoil it for you?The book's nothing special,so take that as a cue to skip it.

But I'm determined to not give up on Stephen King.There's no doubt he's a competent writer-once liberated from toying around with cheap shock value tactics he's good-but those moments are scarce,the rest rigidly fixed in a way meant to satisfy a mainstream crowd.

So,I'll try Different Seasons next (not in the immediate future-it'll take a couple non-King books to fully recover from the white noise Tom Gordon left me in),maybe even the Dark Tower series,and if that doesn't work,I'll try something else.I'll read all his books if I have to-knowing that one day I'll find something great,that book where King finally thinks he's done being a people-pleaser.