Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Shining by Stephen King

24 reviews

abithoughtful's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I so wanted to love this, and I did find it reasonably enjoyable but I do feel it could have been 200 pages shorter and been just... better. I saw the film first and I definitely prefer the more in depth character study the book gives us, and I also enjoyed that the nature of the haunting of the Overlook was less abstract and more coherent, and the symbolism is much tighter, but during the last 100 pages I found myself skimming through the padding (which I think is King trying to build tension with limited success) to get to the real meat. Not enough dense emotion for my taste in horror, verbose with too much mundane filler between the scares. It was fine but if this is among King's best regarded works then I'll be sticking to other writers. Also super male gazey (Wendy is a well rounded character but her breasts are not relevant to the story, Stephen) and racist as hell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Vomit

nasya_4567's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

lillyturmel's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

i totally understand now why stephen king hates the movie so much. the book shows the true relationships and thoughts behind the characters and shows the progression of jack perfectly. i loved it. this story is about more than a haunted hotel, it’s about the flaws of the human psyche 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

chocola's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

bailee_c's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

rosesofthespring's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Vomit

As usual, Stephen King is very weird about stuttering, so watch out for that. No one (as far as I can tell) is actually psychotic, but the content heavily revolves around hallucinations and questioning reality.

corleone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

therowdypi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

zacharie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Only thing keeping this book from 5 stars is the excessive use of n-words, as a black person it made me a bit uncomfortable. Other than that, stellar experience, gave me the spooks and kept me awake for an entire night :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty and Car accident

hcats9's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I really really liked this. A dark, honest monster of a book with poignant reflections about the long-lasting impacts of abuse and substance use disorder. I feel like I could keep unfolding this book and discover new ways it explores human psyche and the way love and abuse often come packaged as one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse