Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

19 reviews

nightmare_maven's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

i continue to stand by my thoughts on King: the man can sure write a scary scene, but he is long-winded af.
and the over-sexualization of any feminine characters is 🤢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Pedophilia

Moderate: Rape

black_cat_iiix's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

sharkbooiii766's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, and Car accident

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Suicide

bookish_bry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

4.5

I had a lot of fun with this book. King, as always, is great at making your skin crawl. I think I enjoyed it more since I've read Dracula already. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

wykirsty's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, and Religious bigotry

nepentheiii's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Great writing, love the characters, a genuinely scary book. Bit too long and some of the nasty bits felt unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Rape

klsreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is an impressive meditation on everyday evil and the plight of small town America (couched in the classic spooky story). The writing is excellent, and I could really feel the characters and setting. It was somewhat creepy, sometimes gross, and very tense. I knocked 1 star because the first 50% of the book is setting and character exposé. I really wanted something to happen, but when it finally moved, it kicked off. Also, there was only 1 main female character, and she almost exclusively talked about men. Most women characters were defined by men / mothering / their sexuality. It's not surprising for the time, but it's still disappointing. I had fun regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lostinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

This was a bit of a beast and to be honest I don't really think I took it in. Perhaps it's because of the audio narration but by the end I still didn't really feel like I had a grip of who all the characters were and that is a problem for a 17hr+ audiobook. 

I don't think the concept of an ensemble horror had really been honed at this time (before slashers became a popular genre) and the attitudes of the characters are also quite dated. Even once the action ramped up I was still lost as didn't feel like I had a sense of the characters to pin the action to. 

I'm also a bit disappointed as this is an homage to one of my favourite books, Dracula, and Dracula it is not!

I would like to try another Stephen King but perhaps one where the plot is more straightforward. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

cass_lit's review against another edition

3.5

I would like to have a talk with Stephen King’s editor, because I have suggestions. Cut the slurs. Cut any sexual comment about an underage girl (and maybe even the ones about adult women — this man called breasts “jahoovies” MULTIPLE TIMES). Cut ~150 pages because this does not need to be as long as it is. 

I felt about this the same I do about most Stephen King books. The bones are there and so good; he’s unmatched in his breadth of horror plot lines. But my god is this long book filled with writing that you’d think was intentionally trying to alienate women, queer readers, people of color… basically, Stephen King writes for straight, white, cis men and the rest of us just take what we can get from it. I loved the vampires and the haunted mansion on the hill, just hated all the characters and the way they talked and the way they were talked about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Pedophilia and Transphobia

ziopera's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Physical abuse, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia