Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Carrie by Stephen King

123 reviews

ed_moore's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I read Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ as I am involved in a production of the musical in a week, and was honestly surprised how quickly events unfolded in the book. Carrie is about a 17 year old girl who is outcast in school and faces abuse from her fanatically religious mother at home, yet finds she has the power of telekinesis and uses such to get her revenge on the town that wronged her for so many years. 

The primary surprise was how early Carrie’s telekinetic powers were revealed, I was expecting this to be more of a self-discovery plot point and twist in Carrie though I am content to mention it in this review as it was more or less revealed on the first page. The ending also wasn’t left for the readers to theorise as due to fictional extracts from supposed non-fiction books written about the actions of Carrie White on prom night the ending was revealed early on and continually referenced throughout. I really didn’t enjoy the inclusion of these books within books as though aware of the story, it still very much took away from the ending and diverted from the plot, and any comments that foreshadowed were intentionally far too obvious. ‘Carrie’ was not a book written to leave the reader on edge guessing whatsoever, which really defeated its main draw within the thriller genre. 

Despite my prior knowledge of the story the narrative and writing was however still harrowing. Scenes relating to the menstrual cycle and also child and religious abuse were extremely graphic, and the final sequence of events was absolutely brutal and apocalyptic, likely written in a means to mimic the biblical ‘Judgement Day’. It was also enhanced in the graphic imaginings of such as the scenes were often repeated from multiple perspectives, which increased reader exposure to violence but also failed to add much to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Gore, and Death of parent

cyndakeel's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

gethin_burke's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

prymachenk0's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Car accident

lay_kone's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

blark's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

The most horrifying thing I’ve ever read. The only knock I have is the how the “stream of consciousness” sidebars are written. It totally pulled me out of the story every time. This is a masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

ronaefrati's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment