Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Holly by Stephen King

51 reviews

elsebeok's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Torture, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hellotheremaryrose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I! Just! Love! Her! So! Much!
“Holly has come a long way from the shy introvert Bill Hodges met lurking outside a funeral home all those years ago, but that woman still lives inside her and always will. That woman is terrified of being wrong and still believes she is wrong as often as she’s right. It’s a quantum advance from the woman who thought she was always wrong, but the insecurity remains.” ❤️

Yes, the Covid stuff was laid on thick, and it was strange that

Emily introduces Barbara to Olivia

but I could look past all that. Holly and Barbara are really strong, likable characters, and they kept the story going. 

I liked the pacing, and how the timelines came together. The book went on a lot of different paths, but they all came together so nicely.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

rferronetti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

kfanucchi's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death and Blood

Minor: Rape, Vomit, Police brutality, and Abortion

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

nicoletiff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

maureenr's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

abbysingh's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

annieisawesome's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I did not expect this book to be so intense. Ive read a few other King novels in the past, but its been a while so the writing was unexpected. 

The plot line was so interesting and kept me going. I didn’t read any of the other books that were adjacent to this one. I’m sure I missed some things, but I didn’t mind much. That doesn’t bother me generally as long as I can still follow the plot. One thing I do have to note is that the over focusing on covid really took me out of the plot. I understand why he wrote covid in, but every time there’d be a part with covid I’d be knocked out of the book and I’d have to put it aside for awhile. Also using covid for the slight amount of plot device felt sloppy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Lesbophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Holly is one of my favorite ever King characters, and I hope to see her again. I’ve loved watching her character progression, and while I was crushed when Bill was taken out of the narrative, I can now understand why that was necessary for Holly to become who she is in this book. I’m also relieved she got to where she was with her out of control family. I also love her friendships with Jerome and Barbara, but I feel like they are written with less depth. I would love to see a spinoff just for Barbara, or let’s give them more prominence in the next Holly installment as more than standby supporting characters. Actually, they were fairly active in this one, but I have a begging feeling that they were underutilized.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic