Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Holly by Stephen King

72 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

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

I was eagerly anticipating listening to this after establishing my appreciation for Holly as a character in the Bill Hodges trilogy, and then the first two books in Holly's trilogy. I am no covid denier or anti-vaxxer, in fact quite the opposite a someone who still routinely masks in 2024, but unfortunately the c o n s t a n t "are ya vaxxed?" "Double!" had even me rolling my eyes hard. That's probably because one of the reasons I read is escapism. I'm already worried enough about covid irl. I'm not worried about elderly cannibal neighbors though - that's the story I'm here for!

It's not that the book was ruined by the frequent mentions of vaxxing, masking, and covid. It was just laid on so thick. The story would have been better served by briefer mentions or letting the reader assume continuity in the characters' behavior. I also felt kinda off about the very black and white, "this person got covid so they died and probably deserved it because they didn't get vaxxed."

Primarily regarding Holly's mother.

Or how the bad guys were staunchly anti-vaxx. Unfortunately(?) reality is much more complicated than that.

An earlier-in-the-pandemic version of myself honestly would probably have appreciated all that, because there was a long chunk of time where it felt uncanny to read or watch anything fictional that didn't mention covid. But this was too much. I also felt like I didn't get enough "oofs" from Holly. She didn't quite seem like herself, but maybe I was just distracted by yet another character encouraging her to unmask because they'd "gotten the jab!"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, and Cannibalism

Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer

kelbel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

sielke's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

viks0_0's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I’m always here for any Stephen King book and especially a Holly book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rcy's review against another edition

adventurous dark

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

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