The Gingerbread Girl - Question

[adrianmarley]

*Spoilers ahead*

Does anyone else thing The Gingerbread Girl would have been better as a straighforward story without the psycho killer element? I thought it started off really strong with a woman dealing with her grief and her husband's inability to understand her. So she takes up running and, eventually, leaves her husband. It was a great character study and completely absorbing. Unfortnately the psychotic killer element just didn't too it for me. I was far more interested in Emily as a character and whether or not she would be able to get past her loss. I didn't need the thriller element. I thought the story was completely absorbing and gripping until that point.

Anyone else feel the same? Or am I in the minority here?

[~Ally~]

I think the psychotic killer element only amplified Emily's character and showed how strong she really was.
We knew she had already survived what had happened with her child, then her marriage, even if this was by running from her problems. But all that running away was what eventually saved her life. As I stated in a previous thread it was almost as if she was in training for a race she didn't know she was going to compete in. Without attaining the level of fitness she had due to trying to escape her past she would never have managed to escape what was happening in the present.
I enjoyed this story very much, one of my favourites from the collection.

[motocop]

I dont know, I guess it could go either way. You have to feel good at the end when the guy cant swim though.

[GNTLGNT]

Every heroine needs a good nutball to overcome. Having said that, I really do feel that great character study that it is-it would have been diminished without the psycho...

[michal]

I LOVED the psycho killer. It put her running-obsession in a clearer frame. She wasn't running away from herself anymore, but running away from someone and running to something (her life I guess). Without it, it's just a poor woman who's ran herself half to death for no other reason than grief.

[NeuralDefekt]

I thought Emily's encounter with the killer enhanced the development of her character, and the reader's ability to understand her better. She had taken up running and now here we see her having to utilise that for gain rather than to deal with her losses. I thought it was a fundamental element in the story, and don't think it would have worked as well without it.

- ND

[nate_watkins]

I liked the story. The psycho guy was an unexpected twist, but I think it added the story.

[Lina]

Well, I liked the story too. And I liked the phycho killer there, it was unexpected indeed and it made the story even more interesting. Anyway, I think it's a well-written story. When I was reading it, it caught my attention so I couldn't stop while I didn't read it till the end. This story appeared to be one of the most interesting to me.

[Boogiewoo]

I loved this story, and i dont think it would of workd any other way, this is what i kind expect from Stephen King now, I love how he pushes the boundraies ie he got me thinking eps with the gingerbread girl would I be able to run my bkside off like she did. More often than not I actually feel like im in the story sometimes and it scares me too. But the character is made more strong by her facing up tp her fear eventaully instead of keep running.

[tigh66]

I for one agree that the killer aspect almost destroyed this story for me. It felt like King was going to tell a real life story, and the killer comes so far out of left field, and it doesn't feel earned. The Things They Left Behind has been my only other disappointment in this book, I felt like King could have done so much more then this story, though I do like how he ends this one. I'm currently on N. one of the best stories King has ever written, short or long.