Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Shining by Stephen King

191 reviews

caspian's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Alcoholism

rtthalia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition

dark 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

Truly terrifying,  as the master of horror takes us on a journey of alcoholism,  madness, and violence. Generational abuse meets supernatural evil in ways that will stay with the reader. Danny, his mom Wendy,  and dad Jack had no idea that a seasonal job at a high end hotel could go so wrong. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Violence, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Death of parent

meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Sexual content

roctothorpe's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win.”

This book is INTENSE. The Shining is one of my favorite films (I know, Stephen King famously hates the movie adaptation), and reading the book has put the story into a completely different light for me. It's tense and thrilling, yes, but also heartbreaking, in a way that you really don't expect from a horror classic. This is due in large part to the incredible character work and the slow burn buildup we get even before arriving at the Overlook hotel. 

King gives us an intimate portrait of this family, and you build a painful sense of sympathy for each of them. The supernatural elements actually take a backseat to the normal, human struggles that the Torrance family faces - alcoholism, financial ruin, jealousy, and mistakes from your past that continue to haunt you.

Jack is such a complex character and his slow unraveling throughout the book was one of the most compelling and terrifying character arcs I have ever read. 

Once, during the drinking phase, Wendy had accused him of desiring his own destruction but not possessing the necessary moral fiber to support a full-blown deathwish. So he manufactured ways in which other people could do it, lopping a piece at a time off himself and their family.

This passage stood out to me as so gut-wrenchingly realistic, and despite all of the horrible things Jack says and does, there are parts of his character that are uncomfortably relatable. There are these moments in Jack's descent into madness where he realizes what monstrosities he is capable of, and that for me is where the true horror in this story lies.
 

Spoiler

And then the epilogue was such a surprise! After such a dark, incredibly disturbing story, the conclusion was just so beautiful and pure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Child abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs

tygeis02's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Drug use, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

lolwat's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Murder

overtheedgeofthewild's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

1.0

A slow and long-winded read that is nothing special. This was actually the first time I've read Stephen King and have never seen the entire Shining movie. It was a book club read, and I was not expecting so much endless rambling in this book. The majority of it is psychoanalysis and history for each character. Some parts are sexualized in a disturbing (and sometimes preverted) way. This would have been a DNF for me if it weren't for book club; I got so genuinely sick of "unmask, unmask." It was repeated so often it felt like King was just trying to achieve a certain word count.  And, as other reviews have mentioned, the offensive language/slurs were gross. It was overall boring, and thus difficult for my mind not to wander to literally anything else. I ended up listening on 1.75x speed (which I never do) just to get it done and over with. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

tytrack99's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

This was a pretty good story! Not necessarily scary until the end, but very uneasy. The scene of being with a small family in a giant, creepy hotel was definitely unsettling.
Not quite a 4 star as I just cant get with stephen king’s writing sometimes. like why are you using the n-word SO much HARD R?! also talking about women’s breasts when it has nothing to do with the scene..
so a 3.75 for me due to those things. otherwise could have been higher!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Racial slurs

gossamerchild's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Violence