Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Carrie by Stephen King

38 reviews

pitchafitz's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Body shaming

Minor: Rape, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

hiddenfallacies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Carrie is a landmark achievement in horror for many reasons. It's the start of King's long and celebrated career, a novel that centers around women and places their pain at the epicenter of its plot, and it created a cultural memory that endures to this day - one that empathizes with Carrie rather than demonizes her. Told over three parts that function as three long chapters, the novel tells Carrie's story in retrospect through a collection of articles, interviews, and varying point of views. Going through the past, present, and future of the ill-fated prom night, the reader gets to know Carrie and all she has endured. Above all else, this novel is a tragedy about Carrie White's last hope to become a person and the ways in which society crushed that dream.

The first of the three parts suffers the most, lacking the natural momentum and masterful framing that surrounds the prom night itself and its aftermath in the story. This fact alone is what keeps this novel from garnering five stars for me. The novel is also littered with the artifact of being King's first, lacking some of the grammatical and structural prowess he cultivated over time. It's also important to note that there's a fair bit of racism present throughout the novel, dropped in small phrases and cultural references that leave the modern reader wondering if King meant to include them to indicate moral failings of certain antagonists or the time period itself, or if he simply was ignorant of certain biases he held himself. I believe informing potential readers of this is crucial, as I was blindsided by their sporadic inclusion while reading, taking me out of the story.

Although King has published better novels, as well as worse, I believe Carrie deserves a space not only on an essential reading list for King, but for horror as a whole. It remains culturally significant and moving to this day. May Carrie White never be forgotten. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Religious bigotry, Fatphobia, Self harm, Sexism, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Antisemitism, Alcohol, Cursing, Abortion, Classism, Drug use, Confinement, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Pregnancy

icephoenix44's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

its okay, i guess? i feel like the writing style could be a little better though. some of the parts describing the female characters felt male gazey.

i also dont like the attempt to replicate accents, it makes the writing more weirder and clunkier to read, instead of feeling more authentic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

also i really dont think the attempted sexual assault by billy towards chris near the end of the novel really added anything to the story, i mean yeah they are in a toxic relationship but it doesnt really adds anything and fslt like a random plot point as it was not mentioned afterwards

octagon's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Confinement

Minor: Racial slurs

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

Even though I am way late to reading this and I have already watched he movie. This was still a really great read. It was a bit of a slow start for me, and the writing style didn’t agree with me totally. This is still a solid 4 stars. 

What a horror gruesome lesson about not treating others horribly, because you have no idea what they are going through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Violence, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

nicoletiff'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Car accident, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and Self harm

lay_kone's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Bullying, Death, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the first Stephen King book i’ve ever read and I really enjoyed it! I think this is very well deserving of its horror classic title! 

I really liked the vivid descriptions, I could really see the scenes in my head with how they were written. I also really like Carrie as a character, i think she’s really fascinating and i’m a huge fan of books about religious trauma so this was definitely a good choice for me. 

I’m knocking one star from my rating purely for the unnecessary use of the n word, i don’t think that was needed whatsoever and i know this was written in the 70s but still, it wasn’t acceptable then and it isn’t acceptable now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Grief, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Mental illness, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Car accident, Child abuse, Gore, Murder, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

greenan26's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Body shaming

chiara_dose's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Bullying, Body shaming, Genocide, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Terminal illness