Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Holly by Stephen King

20 reviews

yellowpurple500's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An incredible book to carry on the Holly Gibney character. The plot kept me hooked throughout, I never wanted to stop reading. King has once again delivered an incredible book. 

At first I was a bit unsure about the inclusion of Covid and some other clear real world parallel events however after reading the end acknowledgements, I'm so glad that's the direction king went, it makes so much sense for the character. Also could someone explain to me why the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT section at the end had me tearing up. 

Definitely read this after the Mr Mercedes trilogy, outsider and the short story in if it bleeds if you want to avoid spoilers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nikogatts's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Police brutality and Mass/school shootings

maimy_santiago99's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Police brutality, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, and Classism

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

King has historically been bad at writing female characters and good endings. I’m pleased that this book is a delightful change! 

I just love Holly Gibney and I’m glad King finally realized he could give a female character a full life and her own story. This is Holly’s 6th appearance and finally one where she’s the star 

King’s storytelling skills are on display here— his crime fiction is always a favorite style for me. This is intense and dark and gnarly (seem out CW for specifics because this has a lot of wild content) 

Know going in that this is a DEEPLY pandemic focused book. Covid is hugely a part of the plot and characters and King’s politics are also deeply embedded in the story. Not everyone will like that. I got past it and his author’s note helped. 

One thing that nagged at me (that I eventually worked through while reading) was how King characterizes the villains by having them use slurs. This is not new for him, but it comes off heavy handed for me personally. But I know his writing is read by a broad mass of folks so maybe that’s ok in the long run. At least he’s moved on from “the bad guys are all fat” so “the villains are super racist”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Abortion

asifsyed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

cannibalism

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

aceofknaves88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, and Death of parent

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zosiablue'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

3.5

Didn't expect Stephen King to write the most COVID-based book I've read yet, but dang. And it's 2021 COVID, too, which was startling in how different we treated it then - people still wore masks and bumped elbows and worked vaccines into every conversation. We were all obsessed without knowing it and King captured that. 

This was also his most openly political book to date - not only does he satirize health nuts who are also anti-vaxxers (an elderly couple turns to cannibalism as a health cure, but thinks COVID is fake), but he spends a good deal of time excoriating the right-wing fringe. Listen, I'm not complaining. I'm on his side! But the murder mystery - which was fascinating! - was often drowned by all this other stuff. And Holly as a character seems dulled in this iteration, though maybe that's part of her arc - the healthier she gets, the more boring she becomes. Not a bad moral.

I had a good time reading (except when I had to think about COVID). And hey, Willa from Succession narrates the audiobook! (She also played Holly in a TV version.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Racism