Rose Madder: A Novel

How can someone take something as simple as domestic abuse and turn it into something that is related to the rest of their stories? If you’ve ever wondered, then this is the story for you. So, here we go.

The Ugly: For me, it was the domestic abuse. I can’t stand that stuff. It was really hard for me to get through some of the things that King wrote in the book. Now, I have been through some hard things in life, but when it comes to beating of women and children it is really hard for me to stomach it.

The Bad: Having said that, I think you can guess who I am putting in the bad. He isn’t as bad as Annie Wilkes, but he is still exceptionally evil. Norman is the type of man that I would confront if I saw him acting the way he was in public. He should have been shot a long time ago.

The Good: Everything else about the book. This is another that is in my top five that a lot of people won’t put in there for some reason or another. Making this part of his greater universe added in an element that was really missing. I think that element was love. Love was something that got Rosie through the matter at hand. The love for her picture, the love for her new life, and the love for her new man. She survived because she found something that she thought she had, but didn’t realize how much she missed it.

Final Thoughts: So there you have it. A book that most people love and want to keep reading over and over again. This is one of those that has great re-readability. If you haven’t read it, give this one a chance.

This looks shows good old Stephan KING magic – – the glorious metaphors and similes descriptions, wonderful way of describing people and their motivations. But it’s hard to really love and look who’s primary character or OK secondary character is the homicidal maniac who kills people the most disgusting fashion. I read the whole thing. Of course this was by Stephen King, but I look for something a little lighter in the future.

You know, this book was literate schizophrenia in my opinion. One minute I felt I like I was reading something as gentle and inspirational as something you might read in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book - this I felt when I was reading about Rose making her getaway from that psycho with a badge she was married to. Then when the perspective shifted to the haunting fine italics that was Norman's sick mind, suddenly the mask fell and I saw how dark and twisted this story really was.

That Norman was a weirdo even for me and I have a tendency to find the whack-jobs in stories like these pretty provocative (Well, Normie was a biter so I guess he had that going for him, at least - if he were real, I bet he'd want to talk to me UP CLOSE for that one). This guy was just plain evil and what made him so freaky was that he acted with little to no provocation. Poor Rose had to put up with fourteen years of random abuse that served no purpose other than it got him off.

I give spoiler free reviews so there's not much I'm willing to say about the plot of the story itself, but I think the supernatural angle in this one was less horrific and more phantasmic. This story was very practical of the circumstances and, frankly, I think even without the 'otherworld' angle the most haunting thing about this story was the abuse suffered by Rose herself. Norman was terrifying all by himself not just because this was a man who his own wife couldn't even trust to protect her, much less the public trust him as a cop to protect them, but because he was just so demented. How does a guy like this get a badge, I'm wondering.

I feel like this story was good, but not great. The content was a bit more uplifting than I like for a story with a character like Norman in it. I have nothing against a good inspirational story, but I felt this story had an underlying message meaning to empower women in situations like this. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that, but when I read thrillers like these I want to enjoy myself without all of the heavy stuff.

It’s a good book - don’t get me wrong but I expected more. My partner hyped this book up so much and I felt a bit let down. The characters felt like they needed more developing. It was slow to get into and the brief point that it got me hooked - they pulled out the mythology. Pros: The details are amazingly detailed and it was easy to follow along. I wanted to love this book but it’s okay. Not bad. Not the best.