Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Rose Madder

The majority of the book itself was a good read. I enjoyed how King set up the plot and introduced the characters to the story. There were some turns in the book that were extremely tense, and I loved how Rosie continued on - but did it terrified.

Only real issue I had was the ending. The story had a great build up, but the ending of the book is underwhelming. Not terrible, just not...tied together.

The ending with her and remember the tree seemed like a medicore ending to the horror she endured. It did add suspense, but it didn't do well for me.

Content Warnings

pkc's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a tough one to try and review. On one hand, it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel, but on the other…it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel. This just wasn’t the place for them and as such, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this in good conscience to anyone. However, overall, this was an engaging novel with more than a little air punching from me by the end.

The plot concerns Rose Daniels, nee McLendon as she is impelled by a drop of blood in her bed to flee her abusive marriage, and she does so, armed with her husband’s bank card. However, her husband, a policeman, doesn’t take this well at all and pursues her across hundreds of miles and the boundaries of reality and unreality. It’s the unreality part where my feelers started to go off. The descriptions of the abuse that Rose suffers are gratuitous at best, and as ever, King pulls no punches. I just felt that with the subject matter, it really didn’t sit right with me as I read. I also felt that as the story started to explore more of the fantastical elements (yes you read that right) the abuse was almost a conduit to an expansion of his other mythology and the main story just managed to resolve and make sense by the end. Kind of. I’m not convinced though.

Norman, her husband, as a character was so brashly written and there was no nuance. It seemed like there were attempts at giving his behaviour over to some unspoken mental illness or neurological problem. I’m pretty sure if you can think of any pejorative word against a marginalised person, Norman used it at some stage. He read as a pathetic chauvinistic bigot, which he was in so many ways, but his brute strength and apparent ability to evade consequence gave him an otherworldly slant that felt like too much credit.

Rosie as a character was probably the best realised character in the book and while she made some odd choices in the way she spoke to people (her tone was indecipherable at points) she was ultimately successful as the complex heroine and the fantastical elements worked best as they pertained to the founding of her new life. Special credit also to Bill Steiner who was a gorgeous romantic core, a calm port in really choppy seas.

All in all, to try and sum this up, I enjoyed this book, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone. It’ll be 30 years old next year and I’d say it’s showing its age quite a bit. It feels like the last bastion of a certain era of King’s oeuvre. I adore his work, and I know that he has distanced himself from this book in the intervening years - it’s easy to see why. The three stars come purely from the hopefulness I experienced for Rosie and how the unreality and reality married together in the end.

Content Warnings

demiag's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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ripxreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

emmiemopho's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

What my husband hears when I read Stephen King: “Stephen, why do you have to say it like that” and “I just don’t have the ability to put up with your nonsense tonight, Stephen.”

It’s true. I don’t like reading most SK stories but there are a few that I really like. And with a silly little goal to read the rest of his books, I hope I can add some more faves to that list. But sometimes, I’m just fed up and at this point, on a first name basis with Stephen when complaints arise.

Rose Madder is horrific and there should be so many trigger warnings on it. The first chapter jumps in with detailed abuse, rape, and lots of blood. I think I was nauseous for about 80% of the read. Would I recommend? Definitely not. But if you do, just know the detailed abuse is on the same level as the parts they had to take out of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix.

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