Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Friedhof der Kuscheltiere by Stephen King

51 reviews

ratmaninrut's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Grief, and Car accident

mlkao94697's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

The worst crime of this book was just how boring it was. The exploration style of writing that is used to try to connect us to the characters and set up the plot of the story might work for some people, but not for me. It just made the plot feel really meandering. About 70% of the way through the book,

after Gage died

, things started to pick up a bit, but even then there were only a few parts that were really engaging and the rest just more or less dragged on. The ending did not make up for the rest of the book either.

I thought that the influence of the Wendigo just kind of took the gas out of the whole plot, and in a way, it removed a lot of the responsibility of the events of the book from Louis, which I found kind of annoying.

The other characters besides Louis and Jud were so one-dimensional and basically felt only like tools for the plot. The passive sexism and racism were also super grating. The female characters could basically just be boiled down to sex objects. This was especially prevalent with Rachel, who was only there to serve as a source of pleasure for Louis

and her main contribution to the book is her childhood trauma, which is used as a horror device later in the book

. Also, the evil "Indian" burial grounds wreaking havoc on the poor white people premise is so overdone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity and Racism

drkng31's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

christinaanna's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexism and Suicidal thoughts

arellareads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I like Stephen King books because his literary style is so dependable, and this one is no exception — full of descriptive language and symbolism, insights into the human psyche, and an ever-growing tension that’s rooted in quality rather than cheap thrills.

“Pet Sematary” is powerful because of the overarching themes of grief and its toll on family relationships. King has an exceptional way of merging horror with deep psychological and philosophical questions. Although the surface elements are dark and gore-y, the naivety and curiosity of children when confronted with death is so realistic, and so are the hardships that the family has to endure. 

Part one is a bit slow, but part two has some of the most poignant and bone-chilling writing. King’s recurrent personification of death through “Oz the Gweat and Tewwible” and the physiological turmoil and hysteria of human grief is so visceral and so raw.

The only thing that holds this book back is some of the off-putting language and appropriation. In part one, the women feel like they exist as plot devices; this does get remedied toward part two as we see more of Ellie, and especially Rachel, who actually has a backstory and intrinsic motivators. 

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of “othering” toward different races and cultures. The supernatural elements of this book are built on Indigenous Micmac folklore, twisting a sacred burial site into a place of evil, while the townsfolk often talk about the Natives as un-human. King builds his story on Indigenous lore, but doesn’t properly address or resolve these issues in the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

gizley0420's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Dementia, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

Stephen King said that this is his darkest novel, in his opinion. And he's right, probably? An upsetting concept and a somewhat obscene execution.

Coming back wrong is an interesting premise, but I just didn't like this version. Partially because there's a toddler involved, partially because I didn't like the story in general. idk. King has some fetishes, and I'm tired of hearing about them maybe?

I don't feel like there's much original I can say about this. Like, I'm not put off King books now, but maybe I'll read reviews first?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Suicide

paracosim's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Cannibalism, and Car accident

lizzieinmt's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Excellent writing and pacing. I loved this one. The descriptions were so vivid and engaging I found myself completely wrapped up in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Alcohol

fausticontrelibros's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail