Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

4 reviews

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

I keep reading Stephen King because he's a hell of a storyteller. This story is GOOD. The writing is compelling, the pacing keeps you wanting to turn the pages, and the characters give you whiplash rooting for and against them. 

That being said, I didn't love the first book in the series, but am glad I continued.

However, this book is dated in a lot of ways. There are outdated slurs of all kinds and horrible ableist language. This is hard to overlook, despite the book's publishing date. I can forgive some of it, but not all of it.

Overall, I had a great time reading this and will continue reading the series over time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Hate crime and Islamophobia

misfitnightmare's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Cringed a lot for unnecessary use of n slur in the book. Plus it seems that S. King didn't do very good research about mental disorders because Odetta doesn't have schizophrenia, she has DID. Other than that it was better than the first book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

raginsagein's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

2.25

So I will start by saying that this book is better than its predecessor. During the Eddie arc I was really cheering for King, thinking that maybe this one wouldn’t be racist or sexist. And then we meet Detta/Odetta/Susannah. And Detta is the worst kind of stereotype. And he mentions TWICE that she sounds like a stereotype. And my question is why have her talk like that in the first place when you simply…don’t have to. But all in all, I like the mysticism. I like where this series is headed. I think it’s a really cool and fun premise. I just…wish it was less racist for the sake of being racist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

luciawolfie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

In this book the POV is switched between characters... a lot, slowing down the action in doing so. And while in some parts it is an effective tool to increase suspense, like in the plane scene, making it feel claustrophobic in a way, in some others it just frustrates the reader, like in the shot-out with the drug dealers. In that specific case, the POV changed every few lines from one character to another, and each new change begun with repeating the events we learnt about from the previous voice. It slowed down what was supposed to be an action packed scene, not in a good adrenaline-infused-slow-motion, but in a "will you get on with it already?". In the latter chapters I find that this problem is not so prevalent, probably because there are less characters to switch but also because the author does not repeat the same info while switching from one voice to another anymore.
Another reason why I felt a bit weird about this book is

why the character of Odetta/Detta. It is just weird to me. I am by no means an expert on Dissociative Disorders, but the way she is presented... it does not sit right. It is like a stereotype  of  Jekyll and Hyde but because she is a woman we have to add a Madonna-whore complex. The way she is sexualized is also a classic instance of Men-writing-women. The description is just weird... and kinda fetishizing her dark skin as well. And why was the n-word discussion necessary in the least?

I am very disappointed because otherwise I really enjoyed the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail