After my first review that was a bit full on, I?ve decided to tone down my second review so please read and enjoy!
Before I start I want to clarify that before this novel I hadn?t read a single Stephen King novel and the closest I came was when I watched Th Shining which by the way I loved. Anyway I know quite a few people who are big Stephen King fans so I knew I must have been missing out on something and I was. I was determined to read all 595 pages of Rose Madder no matter what but I needn?t have worried, it was everything I expected and much more.
I?m really Rosie,
And I?m Rosie Real,
You better believe me,
I?m a great big deal?
Maurice Sendak
Rose Madder is about a woman; Rosie Daniels who is married to a police detective called Norman. They were high school sweethearts who had married a week after her graduation and since then she has been living a life of hell. She has endured fourteen years of physical and emotional abuse from her husband including her hair being pulled and being bitten on her shoulder for slamming a door on their wedding night, a miscarriage, a scratched lung, three broken teeth and a broken rib.
When people are in these situations they live in a bubble, away from the rest of the world and what makes it so hard to get out is that it is surrounded by fear. However to get out it may take only the smallest thing, no matter how insignificant it may seem that thing helps you escape. You probably have no idea what I am on about but anyway in Rosie?s case it was a single drop of blood on her bed that helps her escape and so with his credit card she walks out of his life.
Alone in a strange city she ends up at Daughters and Sisters a shelter for battered women where she starts to rebuild her life, finding herself a job, a new place to live and even finds herself an ?interesting? young man. Things are looking up for her and it is then she finds an old painting or I could say the painting finds her in a junk shop the same place she meets Bill Steiner, the ?interesting? young man.
The painting instantly attracts her and is of a woman on a hill looking down at a Greek temple in ruins and is called Rose Madder, hence the title. Throughout the rest of the book the painting acts as a source of strength and gives her the power to do things she would never have otherwise done such as go out with Bill.
Meanwhile her husband Norman is doing everything he can to find her and I mean everything, since he is a police detective he knows how to find people and even resorts to inflicting physical pain and even killing to get what he wants. The way he abuses his position really makes the reader hate him but he is getting closer and closer to finding her.
The story is told from two different points of view Norman and Rosie and switches from one to the other adding suspense. From the different points of view, we get an idea of what is going on in their mind. It is especially interesting to delve into the mind of Norman Daniels and we find out why he is the way he is. As a child he was abused himself by his father the same way he abuses Rosie and a number of other people.
Most often people who are violent and show abusive behaviour towards other people are victims of abuse themselves. By revealing this information the author is by no means trying to make us feel sympathetic towards him because his actions hit us so hard they seem to push that fact towards the back of our minds.
The game of cat and mouse continues until the inevitable happens, the big confrontation. Norman finally finds her but not after killing two people and attacking two others. I could tell you what happens but I would rather you read it for yourselves because the confrontation leads into a surprising and suspense filled twist which will keep you gripped to the edge of your seat.
INTERESTING POINTS
Did you know?
People who think they are choosing directions at random for example people lost in the woods almost always go in the direction of their dominant hand.
Man?s questions are questions you already know the answers to.
As well as being the name of the novel and painting Rose Madder is also a colour, a purply red colour.
Overall I thought this was a great book filled with everything you could ask for horror, suspense, love and even fantasy. As of now Stephen King is one of my favourite authors! So please rate and comment if you have time it will be very much appreciated.
WARNING
NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED, OFTEN CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS WHICH ARE DETAILED AND QUITE GRAPHIC OF INCIDENTS THAT ARE NOT OF A PLEASANT NATURE.