Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Friedhof der Kuscheltiere by Stephen King

14 reviews

chloseencounter's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

Pet Semetery may be the scariest book by King I’ve read so far and it’s definitely the best one I’ve read since The Shining. I think often King’s novels are like the longest build up ever to the world’s saddest orgasm but I actually felt that the pay off was worth it in this novel. I’ll also say that this was some very strong character writing but despite that maybe only two characters were actually likable, though I do at least think the mental decline in Louis over time is articulated well. I was also slightly put off by the completely out of place sex scenes that added literally nothing to the story but King is nothing if not horny. Even though I love to complain about King’s books I really did enjoy this one and would actually recommend it to people especially if you’re new to King or horror in general. I still think it could’ve been edited so much shorter but for the most part it felt more evenly paced than other King novels and I wasn’t often bored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

aliciaroy19's review against another edition

dark

2.5

I'm disappointed in this book because it was fine. People had hyped this book and I was like okay. 

The atmosphere of the book is good and my favourite scene

was when Louis brought Church up to the pet sematry in the dark of night and Jud is acting almost possessed while something is watching them. Which now having read a few King books, creating an atmosphere is one of his strengths.

Meanwhile, the friendship between Jud and Louis was also well written and interesting. I liked the scenes with them just talking. And the pet sematary is an interesting concept (though the Indian Burial ground trope is a bad trope).  

However, I can help but think Louis secretly hates Rachel, at least he doesn't respect his wife, which made the narration tedious and a reason why it took over a month to finish this book. I understand that Rachel doesn’t have a healthy relationship with death and sometimes that fear caused her to make stupid decisions, but I found her husband only showed annoyance with her. Too much of the narration was of Louis complaining about his wife. This couple should divorce. 

I also wished that it was Ellie who died instead of Gage because Louis and Ellie had a strong relationship. They had a lot of scenes together and I could tell they loved each other as Gage was just the toddler in the background. The emotional impact of Ellie’s death would have hit hard. Instead, we had one chapter where Louis and Gage hang out that ends with too bad this would be their last day together.

 

And the random line about being a family doctor isn’t all breast exams and gynecology made me close the book. Though, Louis’ casual misogyny does explain why he dislikes his wife. 

In the end, I do have one question, how the hell did they get that bull up there? And how was it buried? Because Jud couldn’t help Louis while he brought a cat because their owner has to be the one to do that work, so how did the bull work?

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death

Minor: Misogyny and Racism

sleepy_snail's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

ogik's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit