Book review: Rose Madder

An abused wife escapes a life of violence; her husband tries to track her down.

It’s simply not possible to overstate the importance of Stephen King. He single handedly revolutionized a genre and is depiction of American life earned him a place among the all time greats. There are those who would like you to believe that he lost his touch, that he should retire, but they are only little envious people who judge him not according to human standard, where even a “bad” Stephen King is a damn good book, but according to King standard, therefore one of his book is measured against one of his earliest masterpieces and if he doesn’t manage to totally reinvent a genre which he reinvented multiple times he is branded as unoriginal and derivative.

To the book in question this is one of those “bad” king’s book, so still good by anybody else standard. The main story is arguably extremely intense with a chilling depiction of the physical and psychological abuse that a wife can suffer. The first 100 pages are pitch perfect but then, as it often happens with king, he loses himself a little bit with various plotlines that are simply less interesting than the main one. The end, with the obligatory final showdown is again riveting and engaging.

Oddly King decided to spice the story up with an odd mythological counter plot. I must admit that it’s an interesting idea and that it manages to make the whole confrontation a primeval affair but I still have the impression that the book would have been much stronger just with the confrontation between the battered wife and the violent husband.

In the end this is a tad overlong book but it’s still riveting stuff, required reading for all genre fans.