Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Carrie by Stephen King

56 reviews

macabrebookwitch's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I haven’t read really any horror novels before, so thus begins my goal of reading every stephen king book in release order. As it’s the first book, I was a little underwhelmed. I also didn’t expect to feel so bad for Carrie,

honestly like getting me to think the town deserved it. Or at least, her bullies and mother did.

I want to watch the movies now, but I’m cutting King some slack since I know its the first one. The religious trauma is strong in this one. I also feel like there are some questionable phrases and themes in this book (although I know it takes place and was written in the 70s, its not much excuse). But I trek ever onward through King’s bibliography. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

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

jessenicolas's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is Kings first book and it isn't scary by any means. There's no monster waiting in the sewer or under the bed, it's just what one human can do to another and I enjoy it. Its not perfect but it's good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Blood

jem_carstairs's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

This book started off quite slow but it didn’t feel like an issue, but even when I was told it would pick up in the second half it felt quite repetitive. We were given the same information from sometimes three or four different perspectives at times.

Additionally, there were a few passages I felt belonged on r/menwritingwomen

All that said, I did enjoy Carrie - it was a good introduction to Stephen King - and I probably will go on to read more by him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape and Sexual content

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

alexashabit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

kkalicky94's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

add_a_little_spook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

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

rachelle_sheep's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual violence