Rose Madder

by Stephen King

Book Overview

The #1 national bestseller about a woman who escapes an abusive marriage is "one of Stephen King's most engrossing horror novels. Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated...fueled by an air of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451186362
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Signet
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Book did not come in good condition like was advertised!!!

I ordered a paperback in good condition and instead I received a mass market in poor condition to the point where a chunk of the back cover was completely tore off.

Book did not come in good condition as said.

I ordered the book in good condition but when it arrived it had mold in the corners and was chewed by animals, I think. The dust cover had some holes and tears in it. Needless to say it did not come in good condition as advertised but instead possibly acceptable. Im going to have to throw it away.

Rose Madder

The book has its thriller parts here and there would not say that this does has a dramatic suspense. Rather the book carries on a adventure with the female who is the main character in this novel. From the beginning you do get hook into the story and there after you would want to keep reading more. There is both bravery and romance being taken place. There was not a single dull moment.

A Great Reading of a Great Book!

This was one of my favorite King books when I first read it the 'old-fashioned way,' page by page. It's a great story about a woman's newfound independence, and what she has to go through to acheive it. The story itself is worth the price.When I listening to it as an audiobook, one finds that the reading can make or break the presentation. Fortunately, King teams up with Blair Brown, with Ms. Brown reading all of the parts told from Rose's perspective, and King reading the parts told from Rose's violent husband Norman's point of view.Blair Brown is a wonderful reader for any book. I've gotten to the point where I'll listen to an audiobook just because she reads it, whether I'm really into the book or not. She brings an individual subtlety and life to each character, without making it corny or overdone. The fact that Rose, the main character, takes a job as a reader of audiobooks about midway in the novel makes it all the more fitting.King has always read his own work well, and this is no exception. His parts, because they are the parts of the 'villain' are not always easy to listen to, but they are always well-performed. His reading style, surprisingly, works well with Brown's.This is not an easy book. The subject matter is difficult, ranging from miscarriage to spousal abuse of the worst kind. The calculated nature of Norman's character makes it all the more disturbing. The plot has twists and turns like any of King's best novels, and despite a slight misstep at the end, still leaves the reader (or listener) pretty well-satisfied. The reading is as close to perfect as one could hope. This is one of my favorite audiobooks, and a prize of my personal collection.

a masterpiece by any other name...

The more I read by Stephen King, the more entranced I become by his work as a whole. In particular, I have come to seek out the various threads of the Dark Tower that are woven through many of his books. Rose Madder, which does indeed weave itself into King's masterwork (while maintaining its viability as a "stand-alone" novel) is a masterpiece.Norman Daniels, though thoroughly human, is a monster more horrible that many of King's worst beasts. Cujo has nothing on him when it comes to ferocity. Annie Wilkes looks downright domestic when compared to Normie.Yet evil is not the whole name of the game in Rose Madder. It is more of a story about finding life-even in the shadow of death. Norman's wife Rose is a character for the ages (one of King's greatest creations)-and in spite of Norman-this is her story.I don't want to give away too much of this wonderful story. Rose Madder is a masterpiece of gradual revelation. So rather than sucking the life out of it, I'll just make a few random comments:First, I give this book my full recommendation. There are scenes of horrid nastiness here...yet there are also moments of great hope and beauty. King captures a great truth of life in this.Rose Madder has some wonderfully developed minor characters (one of which becomes a big character in one of King's later novels-Desperation). One character-Gert, is my all time favorite "King" minor character. She sends Norman a great "message."I must finally note that the audio version of this book is wonderfully done by both King (Norman's Perspective) and Blair Brown (Rose's Perspective). Rose Madder is certainly not King's most "important" or even representative novel. That said--it still gets my five stars.

This is an amazing book.

ROSE MADDER has everything. It's:a real life thriller, with real life horrora story of courage and survivala fantasy adventurea love storya dark comedya satirical look at the left liberal political communityI'm sure I could come up with more, given the time.Rosie McClendon is a heroine who gains the reader's utmost sympathy with the insane horror of the abuse she has endured, and her courage in leaving despite her terror. As she builds a new life and digs out her true character, long buried by subjugation to her brutal husband, we admire her and enjoy her humor and spunk. Norman Daniels, the viciously abusive husband she leaves, is one of the most terrifying, compelling, horrifyingly likeable, and darkly funny villians I can imagine. The sections written from his point of view are chilingly enjoyable. He sets out to find her by getting inside her head, "trolling," as he calls it. He imagines he is her, and does everything she would do, tracing her every step with deadly accuracy, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in his wake. When Norman acquires a hokey rubber bull mask at a carnival, uses it as a hand puppet and begins having conversations with it, well, we know he has really lost it. I found these scenes quite funny.When the painting Rosie bought at a pawn shop turns out to be a doorway into a secret world, the novel takes a disconcerting leap from gritty reality to mythic fantasy. When Norman follows Rosie and new boyfriend Bill into the painting, Norm merges with the mask to become a sort of Minotaur.Norman's crimes, and the cunning with which he stalks his prey, are only too believable. In a fully realistic novel, his end would be predictable - lifelong incarceration in a prison for the criminally insane, or getting killed somehow. Only in a fantasy world with the aid of supernatural figures is it possible to wreak satisfying vengeance for such crimes.

King Gets Better With Time

WOW! What a book. I had not read any Stephen King in years, not since The Tommyknockers was released. I think I managed to wade through half of that book, and then could stand no more of the same stuff he had churned out for years. But, what a difference a day, or in this case several years, makes.I read this immediately following Bag of Bones, the best Stephen King I have ever read. After racing through that, Rose Madder was recommended to me, as being another King book that offered something different. Demons of a different kind. Demons of the past, but demons that were just as real as the creatures of his prior novels.Rose, the novel's central character, extricates herself from an abusive marriage, and leaves her life behind to start over when she has finally had enough of her husband, Norman. Suffering physical and emotional torture for years, she finally summons the courage to run. Norman isn't quite so eager to split, though, not until he 'punishes' Rose for daring to mistreat him so.Starting over in a new town, with a new life, and finding new life in herself, Rose sinks into a false security of relative anonymity. She finds an old painting in a junk shop, of a woman in a 'red' dress, which seems to call to her to buy it for her new apartment. The painting continues to haunt and mesmerize her, and eventually becomes her salvation, for just when she thinks she has escaped her former life, found a new career, and perhaps a new love, the demons of her past come back to haunt her, in the form of Norman, bent on making her pay for her 'crimes' against him. This book blends just the right amount of fantasy with reality as the story builds to a rather climactic finish, as hunter becomes hunted, predator becomes prey. This is one of the strongest King novels I can ever recall reading, and proof that his writing gets better with time. In Rose Madder, he takes a very different turn and explores real humans and their emotions just as vividly as his horrific creatures have been. I recommend this book to King fans and non-King fans alike.

A Book That is A Rare Horror Masterpiece...A Gem.

Sttephen Kings book "Rose Madder" is a book that combines, fantasy, reality, gore, and humor. This is the first Stephen King book I've ever read, and it scared me. It is one of the most chilling books on the market. The book takes off right from the beginning. The two main characters; Rose McClendon- Daniels, and Norman Daniels are definetly another couple having problems. What scared me the most about this book is how inhuman Norman Daniels seemed to be. I mean..laughing as your wife has a miscarrage..come on..thats sick.In some places this is a major grossout book, and in some places, scary, but funny, especially the confrontation between a hefty black woman named Gert, and the villian, Norman. Hilarious! I must say this; Stephen king has created a story that will chill you right down to the bone. Go buy this book today and prepare yourself to laugh, cry, hate, and be absolutely terrified.