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briarsreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
4.0
I won't lie... The cover intrigued me. A Stephen King book with a cow on the cover? And it's a Stephen King book, so I felt like I kind of needed to add more to my horror pile. My city is quite lame when it comes to recommending and selling good horror books. I really need to go to my local indie store now that it's almost October... they'll have tons...
Anywho, this is one of King's better reads, in my opinion. It's still full of naked women and feels anti-woman at times with how much we put the main character through, but this one was scary in a different way. What if your abusive ex comes to find you and won't stop until you are dead? Yeah, that's a fear for most women and is sadly quite true for too many women. And I think he did a good job making this even more terrifying.
This one is violent, so reader beware. I don't want to go into it too much because this book was SUPER traumatic for me to read...so trigger warnings everywhere. Stamp this book, sticker it - TRAUMA in big red letters. But as a read? Traumatically good.
Oh, and it changes over to fantasy randomly so know it's not just a purely realistic horror book.
But the title? Yeah, it's the name of a colour! Who knew!
Four out of five stars.
Anywho, this is one of King's better reads, in my opinion. It's still full of naked women and feels anti-woman at times with how much we put the main character through, but this one was scary in a different way. What if your abusive ex comes to find you and won't stop until you are dead? Yeah, that's a fear for most women and is sadly quite true for too many women. And I think he did a good job making this even more terrifying.
This one is violent, so reader beware. I don't want to go into it too much because this book was SUPER traumatic for me to read...so trigger warnings everywhere. Stamp this book, sticker it - TRAUMA in big red letters. But as a read? Traumatically good.
Oh, and it changes over to fantasy randomly so know it's not just a purely realistic horror book.
But the title? Yeah, it's the name of a colour! Who knew!
Four out of five stars.
nicole_marissa's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books, this is also the only book I've re-read more than twice. Great story line with a good pace that makes you wish you never had to put it down.
joshuachan11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The main story is okay, but the book assumes you have read a different book that connects I'm sure would help with a lot of context for the confusing parts of the book, but I haven't read the other books so it's just confusing
2 5 out of 5 stars
2 5 out of 5 stars
yodisborg's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Nicholas Sparks via Stephen King in the worst aspects of both. Meandering plot with sudden romance and the villain morphs into a monster and flimsy pretext for a bull mask to be fiund
tsumommy's review against another edition
2.0
One of the few Stephen King books I’ve not read. Humph, should have just left it alone.
luciferandco's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
cheryl_gramma's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
abr040's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
joshkiba13's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"She didn't like seeing that look in his face, but she wanted to see it there. She did. He was a man, wasn't he? And sometimes men had to learn what is was to be afraid of a woman, didn't they? Sometimes it was a woman's only protection."
Man this was just so different from any Stephen King book I've ever read (in a good way). Dolores Claiborne also dealt with a woman living under an abusive husband, but this was an entirely distinct experience. Dolores was a hardened bitch (her own description) who took matters into her own hands to protect her children. Rosie on the other hand, someone who in no way considered herself a strong woman, took courage in the spur of the moment to flee her horrific situation. What follows is hundreds of pages of pure terror as her maniac ex-husband goes after her.
I absolutely loved Rosie as a protagonist. Stephen King must know some women who have been abused, because the passages of Rosie remembering those 14 years of hell with Norman were just so dense with emotion and despair. Seeing her battle to believe in herself and struggle to heal and trust others was both heartening and heartbreaking. Seeing people come to love her were the passages that made me tear up. At one point someone she meets in the story grabs her by the shoulders and unintentionally frightens her:
"Her eyes flew wide, and he saw the beginning of a cringe. It was a look that hurt his heart in a new, strange way. He suddenly remembered a story he had heard . . . Something about how, back in the days of the prophets, people had sometimes been stoned to death. At the time he had thought it the most fabulously cruel form of punishment ever invented, much worse than the firing squad or the electric chair, a form of execution which could never be justified. Now, seeing what Norman Daniels had done to this lovely woman with her fragile, vulnerable face, he wondered."
I think a lot of people outside of abusive situations might wonder why battered women don't leave their husbands. Someone reading Rose Madder may ask why it took Rosie 14 years to leave Norman. I think Stephen King answers those questions well with passages like these:
"Rosie felt a bleak certainty steal over her. Now he would ask why she had stayed with Norman, and . . . it was a question she couldn't answer. She didn't know why she had stayed with him, anymore than she knew why, in the end, it had taken just a single drop of blood to transform her entire life. She only knew that the shower had been the best place in the house, dark and wet and full of steam, and that sometimes half an hour in Pooh's Chair felt like five minutes, and that why wasn't a question that had any meaning when you were living in hell. Hell was motiveless. The women in Therapy Circle had understood that; no one had asked her why she stayed. They knew. From their own experiences they knew. She had an idea that some of them might even know about . . . things even worse . . ."
We're in no place to judge anyone in a situation like that; we're only to love them, support however we can, and root for them, as we root for Rosie from start to finish in this book.
Norman was a maniac; without a doubt the most despicable, disgusting villain of any book I've ever read. Because of him, this book is the single most violent one I've ever read, either. King describes evil SO well; I think it's one or his stronger suits. Passages like these just make Norman, an already terrifying man, all the more scary:
"The smile did not just slip from his face this time . . . it fell off so suddenly that [she] almost heard it shatter like an icicle on the steel toes of his boots."
". . . a sound so jagged it made Norman feel as if someone were rolling his brain in broken glass the way a baker would roll a doughnut in sugar."
"His shadow swells and bobs on the wall and then he's standing in the archway, looking at her out of his flushed and handsome face. The eyes in that face are as expressionless as shards of glass twinkling beside a country road."
I think the book's main weakness is in the supernatural elements that show up about halfway through the story and then again during the climax. That plot line was certainly interesting, but it felt kind of like an excuse to make tiny references to his Dark Tower books. I think I would have enjoyed the story all the same (or even a little more) if Rosie and her story were entirely told in a realistic, regular world.
My other little gripe is thatwe endured through hundreds of pages of Norman killing people in the most brutal ways in order to find Rosie, and in the end he dies in like half a page (at the hands of someone else entirely) . I found that to be a small letdown, but it didn't ruin the story.
I found the epilogue to be really human and realistic. Rosie,even years later, is struggling to move entirely on from her trauma and even struggles with her own violently angry thoughts . I don't think anyone ever has a sunshine and roses happy ending; lives are complex and able to be corrupted if we don't check ourselves.
This book made me cry, wince, cringe, smile, and cheer throughout the rollercoaster ride. Despite the little references to The Dark Tower, I do believe that pretty much anyone could pick it up and enjoy it. Just know the book would be extremely triggering to anyone who has experienced spouse abuse, miscarriage, stalking, or violence. It's an intense story.
Man this was just so different from any Stephen King book I've ever read (in a good way). Dolores Claiborne also dealt with a woman living under an abusive husband, but this was an entirely distinct experience. Dolores was a hardened bitch (her own description) who took matters into her own hands to protect her children. Rosie on the other hand, someone who in no way considered herself a strong woman, took courage in the spur of the moment to flee her horrific situation. What follows is hundreds of pages of pure terror as her maniac ex-husband goes after her.
I absolutely loved Rosie as a protagonist. Stephen King must know some women who have been abused, because the passages of Rosie remembering those 14 years of hell with Norman were just so dense with emotion and despair. Seeing her battle to believe in herself and struggle to heal and trust others was both heartening and heartbreaking. Seeing people come to love her were the passages that made me tear up. At one point someone she meets in the story grabs her by the shoulders and unintentionally frightens her:
"Her eyes flew wide, and he saw the beginning of a cringe. It was a look that hurt his heart in a new, strange way. He suddenly remembered a story he had heard . . . Something about how, back in the days of the prophets, people had sometimes been stoned to death. At the time he had thought it the most fabulously cruel form of punishment ever invented, much worse than the firing squad or the electric chair, a form of execution which could never be justified. Now, seeing what Norman Daniels had done to this lovely woman with her fragile, vulnerable face, he wondered."
I think a lot of people outside of abusive situations might wonder why battered women don't leave their husbands. Someone reading Rose Madder may ask why it took Rosie 14 years to leave Norman. I think Stephen King answers those questions well with passages like these:
"Rosie felt a bleak certainty steal over her. Now he would ask why she had stayed with Norman, and . . . it was a question she couldn't answer. She didn't know why she had stayed with him, anymore than she knew why, in the end, it had taken just a single drop of blood to transform her entire life. She only knew that the shower had been the best place in the house, dark and wet and full of steam, and that sometimes half an hour in Pooh's Chair felt like five minutes, and that why wasn't a question that had any meaning when you were living in hell. Hell was motiveless. The women in Therapy Circle had understood that; no one had asked her why she stayed. They knew. From their own experiences they knew. She had an idea that some of them might even know about . . . things even worse . . ."
We're in no place to judge anyone in a situation like that; we're only to love them, support however we can, and root for them, as we root for Rosie from start to finish in this book.
Norman was a maniac; without a doubt the most despicable, disgusting villain of any book I've ever read. Because of him, this book is the single most violent one I've ever read, either. King describes evil SO well; I think it's one or his stronger suits. Passages like these just make Norman, an already terrifying man, all the more scary:
"The smile did not just slip from his face this time . . . it fell off so suddenly that [she] almost heard it shatter like an icicle on the steel toes of his boots."
". . . a sound so jagged it made Norman feel as if someone were rolling his brain in broken glass the way a baker would roll a doughnut in sugar."
"His shadow swells and bobs on the wall and then he's standing in the archway, looking at her out of his flushed and handsome face. The eyes in that face are as expressionless as shards of glass twinkling beside a country road."
I think the book's main weakness is in the supernatural elements that show up about halfway through the story and then again during the climax. That plot line was certainly interesting, but it felt kind of like an excuse to make tiny references to his Dark Tower books. I think I would have enjoyed the story all the same (or even a little more) if Rosie and her story were entirely told in a realistic, regular world.
My other little gripe is that
I found the epilogue to be really human and realistic. Rosie,
This book made me cry, wince, cringe, smile, and cheer throughout the rollercoaster ride. Despite the little references to The Dark Tower, I do believe that pretty much anyone could pick it up and enjoy it. Just know the book would be extremely triggering to anyone who has experienced spouse abuse, miscarriage, stalking, or violence. It's an intense story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Rape and Cannibalism
Minor: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
katiescho741's review against another edition
3.0
The thing that makes Rose Madder different from the usual Domestic Noir thrillers, is the whole plot line about the painting, but that was the bit I liked least. I love a story about a painting that changes or seems to change, but the extended dream sequences (or whatever they were) were a bit annoying, and I wasn't a fan.
Otherwise, it's an interesting mash-up of a story. It's part horror story with a dark and brutal villain chasing down the innocent Final Girl, but also part romance where the heroine has broken free and has discovered new friends, a new city, and a new love. I liked how it flipped between the POVs of Rosie and Norman - with Norman's being full of cruelty and Rosie's being full of happiness and freedom.
I couldn't tell if there was supposed to be an extended metaphor about the bull and the tree and the painting, if there was I don't know what it is! Either way, a pretty good King entry, with a slightly different feel than his classics.
Otherwise, it's an interesting mash-up of a story. It's part horror story with a dark and brutal villain chasing down the innocent Final Girl, but also part romance where the heroine has broken free and has discovered new friends, a new city, and a new love. I liked how it flipped between the POVs of Rosie and Norman - with Norman's being full of cruelty and Rosie's being full of happiness and freedom.
I couldn't tell if there was supposed to be an extended metaphor about the bull and the tree and the painting, if there was I don't know what it is! Either way, a pretty good King entry, with a slightly different feel than his classics.