Reviews tagging 'Death'

Cujo by Stephen King

34 reviews

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

This took me sooo long to read. The first half just dragged so much, I didn't want to pick it up and I struggled through. But the second half did really pick up especially towards the end. If it wasn't for the incredibly slow start I would've thought the last 150 pages to be brilliant, but that intial drag really brought it down for me, it just didn't seem necessary. The characters weren't particularly memorable, they didn't stand out to me. I liked the action at the end, I liked the tension, I felt we finally knew the characters, but unfortunately I was already too fed up with the book to really enjoy it when it finally got going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jfield351's review against another edition

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

1.0

I wish they all died sooner

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

carissa230's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.5

Going into this book I expected a horror book about a dog that murders people. Imagine my surprise when it turns out to be a dog with rabies. The parts written from Cujo's POV were so sad, I wasn't prepared for that as an animal lover. 

Tad is a little boy that is scared of his closet. His mom has been having an affair and his father is a marketing exec for a company that just had a major issue come up on one of the projects. When he goes out of town to work on it he has just learned of the affair. The mothers car keeps breaking down and she needs to get it fixed. 

Another story line is that of Cujo's owner, Brett. Brett is a little boy that loves Cujo. Cujo was a gift from his alcoholic father. When his mother wins the lotto she gives the father some money to get what he wants so she and Brett can go out of town. Brett's father is a mechanic. 

The scene is set. When Tad's mom shows up to get her car fixed she has no idea that there is anything wrong with Cujo. When the car breaks down and they're stuck in the car for days it's the perfect storm for them. 

It was a good book, but I wouldn't consider it a horror. I think maybe a thriller or even contemporary novel. It was definitely more sad than scary. The book also concentrates more on the peoples lives than on the fact that the dog is killing people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Blood, and Alcohol

pastel_princess's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

jinni's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Toxic relationship

taviarz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Bad but entertaining

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment

agent_of_chaos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

finn_vibing's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

halfmysoul's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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? It's complicated

In terms of writing, this book is indeed worthy of 5 stars but it was genuinely horrifying. I knew to expect nothing less from the author but wow I was not prepared. I love King, I used to really want to read more books with the thriller/horror genre and the ones I read didnt really do it for me but his book's always ALWAYS had me getting chills up my spine, staying up late at night thinking about the story, etc etc. The writing in this book is of course amazing and although its a very interesting read, it isnt my favorite or one I would ever read again. The POV of Cujo is terrifying after he "turns bad" and the scenes of the mother's POV, while she's in the car, is possibly worse than the struggle scenes between her and Cujo. What happened to the little boy, and Cujo himself was horrifying. The way King describes everything is surreal and I had to close the book and get up often due to how graphic it is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Blood

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault