Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Carrie by Stephen King

61 reviews

onyxisalive's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

There are some things about this book I really loved. Stephen King does an amazing job showing how

badly Carrie was treated by both her mother and her peers, it makes you feel really sorry for her and definitely makes you root for her

- making the book much sadder. 

Sue Snell and Tommy

were both very likeable characters-

it was so nice to see Sue try and redeem herself and get Carrie to fit in and the others to accept her. It is so sad that these attempts were inevitably destroyed by Carrie’s peers that refused to let her grow effectively pushing her past the breaking point.

However there are a couple things in this book I didn’t like one much more serious than the other. 
The pacing of this book felt a little all over the place- it starts off relatively fast paced. However when reaching to the main event of prom night it ends up dominating the majority of the book and just feels to slow. With some scenes being retold multiple times from different perspectives- it was a nice idea but ended up making it feel a bit tedious to read.

One thing however that really left a bad taste in my mouth was the way violence against children (not Carrie) were glossed over and normalised.

The violence of the sheriff (slapping) two kids that were just traumatised by seeing all the people they care about die, was completely glossed over and not even discussed- which is really disgusting- the author made no attempt to communicate this was wrong just completely glossed over it. The second is discussed, but the conclusion to this is completely disgusting. When the female teacher is violent with Chris her dad threatens to sue (obviously), however the violence of the female teacher is excused by effectively saying that it was okay because Chris has done horrible things. It is true that Chris’s violence with Carrie is inexcusable and deserves punishment, but none of that is a fitting reason that hitting a child is ever okay.

The fact that it is treated like it is leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth and is completely inexcusable.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

ereich_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

shaneent'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

4.0

This was my first time reading this classic horror novel. 
Having this story being so well-known in pop culture, being aware of the iconic image of Carrie standing in the street covered in blood, it was a pleasant surprise to find that experiencing the story for the first time wasn't ruined and that the threat of Prom Night looms over the town of Chamberlain from the start. The mix between traditional storytelling and epistolary snippets, jumping back and forth in time, built a different kind of tension and horror - not a "what is going to happen?" but a "how much longer until it happens and how bad is it truly going to be?".
The style was appropriately abrasive, having thoughts and psychic moments break into the flow of the story.
Characters, at times, felt overly exaggerated, but ultimately it worked with the high drama of the story.
Overall, Carrie lives up to expectations and is a good horror read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Some outdated racist language is used as imagery on a couple occasions.

hoey_girlboss_queen's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming

autisticmisabel's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Chronic illness and Toxic relationship

nightmare_maven's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Child abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Racial slurs

mhernanan'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

elioolive's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cursing

planetshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

This writing layout is strange and dense, and I can't decide whether I like it.

I’m always upset when I think about Carrie. Her experience on this planet was so fucked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

marthadude's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail