Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Rose Madder

"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 that

we 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.

Content Warnings

ro_lux's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

andreaschapter's review against another edition

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3.0

That was a weird read for sure.
Not sure about the initial rating I put, it might change a bit with time

Content Warnings

rosiecharliearmitage's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

readingspells's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

As with so many King books there were definite moments in this when it just felt overly long and that we totally had the point but can we please move on now to something happening. I have learned to lean into that with this author as so often when you get to the end you suddenly realise that all of those moments were actually needed to tell a complete and detailed story. However I am not sure that is true this time. Yes it is somewhat true but not completely.

I found some of the chapters will Norman's inner dialogue were almost repetitive in nature and I have to say that large body of italic text was not that easy to read. I keep trying to differentiate it from the rest of the story but bloody hell that italic was hard.

SLIGHT SPOILER

This is a book where I feel like King had tried to be too clever and the result was it lost me a bit. The domestic violence story totally had me hooked and I so wanted Norman to get his comeuppance but the whole painting and super natural part of it seemed to derail that and I was oddly disappointed that Norman's fate does not lay in reality.

However, King writes violent misogynist so well. Normal literally made my skin crawl and the second half off the book where he is hunting Rose was such a gripping page turner that I couldn't put it down.

But then the end, well I won't do spoilers but it just didn't work for me and I the very very end, I didn't even really understand the significance of it and it left me feeling like I wasn't smart enough for this book as my Greek myth knowledge was lacking.

CW: Vivid descriptions of violent domestic violence, miscarriage, physical trauma from abuse and violent misogyny.

Content Warnings

book_worm_91's review against another edition

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4.5

Loved this!!! It was hard to read in places due to the abuse that was being described, but it had me hooked. I felt like the epilogue was a bit rushed though. But overall I really enjoyed the book.

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