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 danger immediate and overwhelming” (Publishers Weekly). Rosie Daniels leaves her husband, Norman, after fourteen years in an abusive marriage. She is determined to lose herself in a place where he … a place where he won’t find her. She’ll worry about all the rest later.
Alone in a strange city, she begins to make a new life, and good things finally start to happen. Meeting Bill is o≠ and getting an apartment is another. Still, it’s hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder, and with good reason. Norman is a cop, with the instincts of a predator. He’s very good at finding people, even if he is losing his mind.
Fixed on revenge, Norman Daniels becomes a force of relentless terror and savageness, a man almost mythic in his monstrosity. For Rosie to survive, she must enter her own myth and become a woman she never knew she could be: Rose Madder.
“Riveting, engrossing…packed with suspense” (People), Stephen King infuses this novel with an edge-of-your-seat, chilling atmosphere. Rose Madder is “an eerie, remarkably mature and moving novel” (The Washington Post).
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Rose Matter is the first Stephen King book I ever read. Had never watched a King movie, mostly still don’t. This book caused me to read the rest of King’s books.
Rose Matter is an abused wife of a police officer. She finally decides to leave her husband. She gets to a shelter and meets a bunch of people who populate other King books. At the shelter she learns a lot of things, a lot of them about herself. She goes to a pawn shop to hock her “diamond” that her husband always made such a big deal about. Yep, fake. She trades the ring for a picture and gets a job reading for audio books in the process.
The picture comes to life and changes her life. Up until she trades for the picture everything is normal, or as normal as being an abused wife can be. After the picture, nothing is the same. There are mazes and old gods and a battle to the death. Her sociopath husband is running around trying to find her, killing people in the process. There are no doubts who are the good guys and who are the bad.
I had always thought King was all about horror and gore. Rose Matter had both, but it was a really good story about standing up for yourself and believing in yourself, no matter what you have had beaten into you.
If you love Stephen King, you’ll love this book. He keeps you interested and the story moves at a nice pace. Definitely a fantasy book with some reality. There are some grusome details – which I think is great! – so if you don’t like reading that kind of stuff, then this book isn’t for you.
I usually can’t read a book a second time. And who really wants to when there are so many other new exciting books on all of our lists? One book I can honestly say I go back to read is Rose Madder by Stephen King. It is just a really good book and doesn’t get old reading it over and over again.
Rose Madder was a good book to read, especailly as a woman. It does a very good job of telling a relistic story of an abused woman and her escape. It was a very interesting read and I found it very inspirational.
Rose Madder isn’t one of King’s more celebrated works, but it is an engaging and haunting story. It centers around a woman who is trying to escape her abusive husband and finds an odd painting for sale that keeps changing. As a domestic abuse survivor, I found King’s realistic portrayal of the main character very well done.
I love Stephen King books, always different. You always have to read the whole book for it all to make sense.
Todays’ throwback review is of Stephen King’s Rose Madder. One of his less noted novels, Rose Madder is actually one not to miss. The tale of a woman who escapes serious domestic violence at the hands of her cop husband (other writers have done this before) but King takes this to another level. She disappears, finds a home in a hostel for abused women, gets a job as an audiobook narrator, builds a community around her – and then, of course, it all goes wrong. There’s little supernatural until the latter half of the book, and it’s not much like King’s regular offerings, but it really is utterly compelling and heart-stopping. I didn’t put this book down for hours at a time. No spoilers here, but the way he deals with the husband, his metamorphosis, and the finale is breath-taking. King finds the protagonists voice and locks it in your head, until you can’t sleep, eat or move until you know she’s safe. It’s a work of writing genius. As I said, don’t expect standard horror novel fair (although it is horrible and terrifying in places) but this is something much more. Another masterclass from King, for different reasons. Don’t miss it. And if you want to write fiction, this is one to study.
The great thing about Stephen King is that he can make you read a seven hundred page book in two days. I never liked horror or the supernatural until I read King and now i think i own all his books. This book made my heart race and gave me anxiety, I was so anxious to know what was going to happen next; as always, terrific writing. I cant wait to start his next book.
Without a doubt my all-time favorite by Stephen King!
I was absolutely glued. This novel is so creepily written. Perfect representation of marital trauma. Beautifully eerie.
While it is not the best book written by Mr King, he managed to create once again vivid and realistic characters. A pleasure to read!
I love this book! I read it years ago and couldn’t put it down
Powerful, well written, with real characters.
“Rose Madder” was a story with a draw about it. It was difficult to put down. And then there was the Stephen Kingdom effect–the unexpected in the unexpected place. I love the parts you know can’t be true… The King twist only he can pull-off. Enjoy “Rose Madder” but beware. Don’t read it in an empty house during the bewitching hour.
A must read for a King fan! Probably one of the best.
How he can get into a woman’s mind is amazing. But I loved this story.
As all Steven King books I’ve read, Rose Madder is an amazing read! I was sucked in from the beginning all the way to the last word. I cried for the main character and was swept up in the unique storyline! I don’t know how he thinks up these amazing stories! It seemed to come alive as I read. I don’t want to give any spoilers away so I’ll stop there. Heart felt story for women especially!
Rose Madder, Stephen King, 1995
My favorite quote: “Sometimes men had to learn what it was to be afraid of a woman.”
Notable characters: Rose McClendon Daniels, the woman beginning a new life; Norman Daniels, the husband who won’t allow it
Most memorable scene: When Rose sees that single drop of blood when she’s making the bed
Greatest strengths: Stephen King writes women better than a lot of women do, and Rose Madder illustrates this talent in a way that concretizes all the hype of his literary abilities
Standout achievements: This book opens with one of the most visceral scenes of domestic violence I’ve ever read. The reason I consider this a standout achievement is because that single scene is powerful enough to singularly propel the rest of the story — that scene is the foundation on which the entire plot rests … and everything that happens afterward is justified because of it
Fun Facts: In the prologue, Rose is reading Misery’s Journey — an installment from a fictional series by the equally fictional Paul Sheldon from King’s novel, Misery
Other media: N/A
What it taught me: That if the characters are good, I’ll follow them anywhere. Even into a strange side story about a moving painting that kinda doesn’t make a whole lot of sense …
How it inspired me: It’s because of Stephen King that I always know my ending when I start my story. I know he likes to do a lot of bragging about how he doesn’t know how his stories will end until he gets there, but the problem is, sometimes, it shows. Sometimes, it’s pretty apparent he didn’t really know how to wrap it up. While not the worst example of this by a long shot, this is one of those times
Additional thoughts: Stephen King famously writes fantastic villains, and while most of them get plenty of attention (Jack Torrance, Annie Wilkes, Pennywise, Randall Flagg) some of them fall through the cracks. This is the case with Rose’s husband, Norman Daniels. He’s a great villain who, in my opinion, goes largely ignored, and shouldn’t. He’s not supernatural, he’s worse — he’s an abusive f*cking prick
My rating: 4 of 5
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
I’m a little confused…
Lol, I just walked away from my computer for like an hour and came back to this one sentence that I’d written to start my review, but then got distracted. I’m a little confused… Wow, talk about the truth!! Is it weird to say that most of the Stephen King books that I’ve read – left me feeling a little confused? And then I sit there, and think, and over analyze. Then, I ultimately decide that he made them confusing on purpose so that his readers would sit there, and think, and over analyze…. But for what? To realize that it’s all supposed to blur together and not make sense yet make total sense all at once… Does that make sense?
Rose Madder left me feeling a bit more confused than most, but in a new sort of way. It isn’t because too many knots are left untied, like in lots of King books. It’s more like a, ‘what the f**k just happened?’ sort of way. Dreams are supposed to be confusing, and yet, so are the odd places between reality and alternate dimensions where the people bouncing back and forth wind up with a whirlwind inside them that contains a bit of both worlds.
In Rose Madder there are two main characters. They’re a married couple named Norman and Rose, or Rosie, as her friends call her. Norman is a sadistically abusive man that has basically put her through hell for well over a decade. He beats her regularly, and some of the incidents that Rosie reveals along the way left me in tears! In my opinion, Norman is one of the worst of King’s (human) characters. Anyway, Rosie winds up finding the courage to escape and she does a pretty awesome job at staying low, taking the right busses and even finds a halfway house for abusive women. Unfortunately, Norman’s skills as a true blue detective get the better of her. He’s good – really good! About ¾ of the book is spent with Rosie trying to make herself a fresh start and stay hidden, and Norman is on a mission to track her down.
While in hiding, Rosie finds a painting for her new apartment that contains some very significant details of the book that I shouldn’t really tell, as not to be a spoiler. She also meets a guy while she’s purchasing it. They hit it off, and despite her fear of relationships, and really just men in general, she decides to let him take her out. His name is Bill and he’s sweet, patient and extremely slow moving with Rosie which is both cheesy and refreshing. Norman, on the other hand, gets a big break from a bus station employee who remembers her route. From here things really pick up… and in true King fashion gets extremely super strange. It’s good strange, but definitely a weird strange, and as I mentioned at the beginning it’s just as confusing as it should be — which is awesome, yet all at the same time sucks, because now I’m left sitting here, thinking, and over analyzing, and thats pretty dumb. 4 stars for me. I really loved the story and the characters, but I felt like it was missing something and I really hate to end such books on a lost note.
Typical character development expertly achieved.