RE: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King.
Would I recommend this book and why?: Yes, I would. I liked being inside of Trisha's head, knowing what she was feeling and thinking and seeing the woods through her eyes. I enjoy a narrow, one-person viewpoint (though King does stray into limited omniscient here and there). I like being inside the head of one person.
I thought it was interesting that a friend of mine said she didn't like the book because it was one person's viewpoint. She said she liked books with multiple viewpoints better (such as most of King's other books). I find it distracting to have multiple viewpoints, because I'll get interested in a character, then the author won't return to the character for another 200 pages, which drives me crazy.
On the Speculative Fiction bulletin board, someone said that he got conflicting critiques from different people on the material he submitted. I found this to be true also, but it just goes to show you that people have widely varying tastes. Most of my critique notes were very helpful, pointing out some mistakes I couldn't believe I had made, such as not sticking to the same tense all the way through.
Back to Tom Gordon, I liked the parts that step out of her viewpoint momentarily to let us know that she is in worse trouble than she realizes. Here is a question: A writer builds suspense by letting the audience know that something terrible is about to happen, while the protagonist is unaware of the threat. How can that be done in first or third person without 'cheating,' the viewpoint, as King did in this book?
Would I recommend this book and why?: Yes, I would. I liked being inside of Trisha's head, knowing what she was feeling and thinking and seeing the woods through her eyes. I enjoy a narrow, one-person viewpoint (though King does stray into limited omniscient here and there). I like being inside the head of one person.
I thought it was interesting that a friend of mine said she didn't like the book because it was one person's viewpoint. She said she liked books with multiple viewpoints better (such as most of King's other books). I find it distracting to have multiple viewpoints, because I'll get interested in a character, then the author won't return to the character for another 200 pages, which drives me crazy.
On the Speculative Fiction bulletin board, someone said that he got conflicting critiques from different people on the material he submitted. I found this to be true also, but it just goes to show you that people have widely varying tastes. Most of my critique notes were very helpful, pointing out some mistakes I couldn't believe I had made, such as not sticking to the same tense all the way through.
Back to Tom Gordon, I liked the parts that step out of her viewpoint momentarily to let us know that she is in worse trouble than she realizes. Here is a question: A writer builds suspense by letting the audience know that something terrible is about to happen, while the protagonist is unaware of the threat. How can that be done in first or third person without 'cheating,' the viewpoint, as King did in this book?
posted by Sally Bosco at
4:45 PM
