Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

33 reviews

bookishchaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was so good!! I'm a big Stephen King fan and this has gotta be my favorite (so far). 
The beginning was slow but after 100 pages, the story speeds up and I was hooked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

jaimc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Blood, Grief, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Ableism, Confinement, Terminal illness, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad

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

4.0

"I don't wanna be buried in a pet sematary,
I don't want to live my life again."
-The Ramones

Louis Creed has moved his family from Chicago to Maine for a job. The house is idyllic with one exception, the road out front is a throughway for very large tanker trucks. When Louis's daughter's cat, Church, is hit by one of these trucks, the neighbor, Jud, shows Louis what to do. They bury Church in the real pet cemetery, a place where the dead don't stay dead. Church comes back not quite right, but he's definitely back. So, when Louis's 2 year old son gets hit by a different truck, Louis does the unthinkable.

I first read this book back in high school and I remember finishing it and being terrified to be home alone. This time around it was just as eerie, but 20 years has given me some perspective. The trope of the "ancient Indian burial ground" is definitely outdated and a little more than gross as is the use of a Wendigo. But the imagery of everything is still spooky.

I really liked Jud and the relationship he had with Louis. It is always nice to see wholesome relationships between men and I feel like King always does a good job at that. The same with the relationship with the other doctors at the University.

There's a lot of good here, but there is a lot of cringe too. Oh, god the bathtub scene. I forgot it was in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism

ddspirittt's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

0.25

It is the most expository, dull, and boring book I have ever read. I was thankful to avoid any and all plot points before picking this up, but it was so predictable! I got so excited to see where it would go because of that.

Then I read. And read. Read. And read. Read some more. Read. The end.

People keep recommending this as the "scariest" story by King. But if the emotional payoff or lack thereof is "scary" to some, then dear lord, go read some more. The action at the end was neither suspenseful nor emotional but laughable.

Part two could be interesting, but this was the biggest letdown and snoozefest of a book ever. I don't want to read King again because of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Murder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, and Cursing

bomenvernietiger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This isn't a book it's a depression machine. Jesus Christ Stephen. Incredible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Suicide, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Alcohol, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Addiction, Violence, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Infidelity

Louis says some ableist shit. You could interpret this as the author agreeing with that stuff, but since Louis is an asshole in other portions of the book too, I think it's just a symptom of the assholery.

madamenovelist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Sexual content, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, and Car accident

Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism

boggnaver's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, and Infidelity

murderofcrows's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Medical content, Car accident, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Child death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism, Ableism, and Racism

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve seen both movies before so I knew where everything was going to wind up but that didn’t ruin this experience all that much. This story is still horrifying. King does a great job of building dread throughout. Michael C. Hall was also an excellent narrator. I think where this loses a star for me is some of the usual King-isms.

It’s a little hard to take the big confrontation between Gage and Judd at the end seriously or find it terrifying when back-from-the-dead toddler Gage is taunting Judd by saying *checks notes* his wife used to cheat on him and loved taking it up the ass?

Yeah. Kinda kills an otherwise extremely tense moment. I also think Lewis kinda sucks at times. Refusing to get Church neutered because it felt like a slight against his own masculinity is just…lol. But anyway! Really solid book! I have kinda missed reading Stephen King. Maybe I’ll read and reread some more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Racism

smithreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Car accident, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide