Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Holly by Stephen King

18 reviews

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

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

---

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”

---

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

---

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

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content

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

---

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

jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

King brings his A game to the story of Holly Gibney's investigation of the disappearance of a young woman amid her own mother's death and her partner's illness. The darkness of the secrets she discovers, along with discoveries about her family,  brings her character new challenges. I deeply appreciate her growth from timid to powerful across multiple books,  and hope she continues to appear in King's books.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Dementia, and Suicide attempt

jemmabrown's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

5.0

I learned a valuable lesson reading this book - read the blurb.

I loved the Mr Mercedes series and really liked the first 2 books in the Finders Keepers series so when I saw this book I probably read the first line of the blurb and that was it. 

As a result I went on a fascinating, dark, mystery ride across American Politics, Literature and attitudes to the pandemic. 

Stephen King winds together so many threads to create a book that leaves you guessing just what will happen next whilst also creating debate on serious social issues. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Please be aware there are very graphic descriptions of things that appear in the content warnings. Particularly racism/racial slurs, homophobia/lesaphobia and graphic violence.