Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Salem

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Salem by Stephen King

70 reviews

zenzi2read's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

King made a few decisions that undercut the tension and destroyed the pacing of this vampire novel. The novel starts with a pre-log that explains that Salems lot is now a Ghost Town. Less than 10 of the towns inhabitants, which numbered more than 1000 are alive in accounted for. Then we flashback. our protagonist arriving, this would be an fine device if we moved into the main plot at that point instead the first half of the book introduces us to more than 20 town people with their own subplots and back stories. Not only is this a lot of material to keep track of, but it’s all for naught. When the action starts in the second half their lives and backstory serve no purpose that moves the plot or makes you mourn their loss. And despite the amount of time spent with our characters before the horror begins, their back stories feel shallow. Ben was married before, but what does that mean? Who is he? he’s nice and he’s a writer. There’s not much more to him than that. Most of the men are in this book. Nice, but homophobic, even tempered men. The women are essentially children each, and every one of them is a brat! that being said, I think Kings take on vampirism is a better one than most. He concentrates on the horror of this Apex predator and removes the idea of seduction entirely. This is much closer to Bram Stoker’s idea then much of what’s been written over the last 50 years. You also see King’s talent and weaving multiple POV’s together in its early stages here.

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bittie_bee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

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wrench_2710's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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joshkiba13's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

4.0

"On the other hand, there may be some truth in that idea that houses absorb the emotions that are spent in them, that they hold a kind of . . . dry charge. Perhaps the right personality, that of an imaginative boy, for instance, could act as a catalyst on that dry charge, and cause it to produce an active manifestation of . . . of something. I'm not talking about ghosts, precisely. I'm talking about a kind of psychic television in three dimensions. Perhaps even something alive. A monster, if you like . . . [T]here are evil men in the world, truly evil men. Sometimes we hear of them, but more often they work in absolute darkness."

This seems to be a fan-favorite among King fan groups - it certainly lived up to its reputation. People often talk about King's talent for immersing readers in a small town (Derry, Castle Rock, Jerusalem's Lot, etc), and now I get it. It was a little overwhelming at first to be introduced to SO many characters across the town (especially with names like Mark, Matt, Mike, Roy, Randy, Richie, Royal, Sandy, Susan, etc.), but it payed off in the long run. We get an overview of the town and its residents at the beginning, and return to them throughout the story as the town falls into ruin. Beautifully done (I just wish the names had been a little more distinct from each other hehe).

King always describes evil so well. Not only are the vampires in the story evil, but there seems to just be a foul air across the whole town. The Marsten house looms above them all on the hill, watching like a black sentinel. Ben's memories of terror inside the house, as well as its omnipresence during all the character vignettes, really solidified that element of the story as foreboding and creepy. But even just regular parts of the town were made freaky. For example:

"The town had a sense, not of history, but of time, and the telephone poles seemed to know this. If you lay your hand against one, you can feel the vibration from the wires deep in the wood, as if souls had been imprisoned in there and were struggling to get out."

Or . . .

"It was as if the dump had gained a heartbeat and that beat was slow yet full of terrible vitality."

I've never been scared reading a book until one night reading this one in the dark with a flashlight a mosquito flew right past my ear and made me jump. That was fun :)

I do wish the relationship between Susan and Ben could have been a little more developed

before she became a vampire - when Ben had to drive a stake into her I didn't quite feel the emotion I would have had we been a little more attached to her.

That's one con of a wide-scope story like this, I suppose, you don't spend as much time with any one character.

It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did I was all in. A great story overall :)

This was my last stop before resuming and completing my Dark Tower journey. Excited to see the return of

Father Callahan

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mightyfrenchbookworm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

King really has a talent for world building almost atmospherical.You really feel like this small town exists. The description of the townies sometimes felt a bit much but retrospectively, I can say it was, for the most part, necessary. BUT .....
It was WAY too long. The edition I had was 380 pages times new roman 9. The ending was quite deceiving ... I was hoping for a big bad dramatic ending and it just felt ok.
I know the book was initially published in 1975 and times were different but USING THE WORDS FAG AND FAGGOT ..... I'm speachless.

Stephen King a réellement un don pour la construction du monde, la description des personnages. On y croit. On a l'impression que ça existe vraiment. J'avais parfois l'impression qu'on passait trop de temps à parler des personnages insignifiants. Rétrospectivement, je comprends que c'était nécessaire pour connaitre la ville, s'attacher (bof) aux personnages. CECI ÉTANT DIT.....
Le livre est beaucoup trop long 380 pages de times new roman 9 simple interligne.
Je sais que c'est un livre initialement publié en '75 et que c'était une autre époque avec des choses acceptables à l'époque qui sont, de nos jours, inacceptable. L'utilisation du mot ''pédé'' et ''pédale'' est juste déconcertant. Surtout quand tu prends le temps d'analyser les personnages et que ce sont tous des hommes. Les femmes sont soit de faible importance ou se font tuer facilement sans même se battre. Est-ce qu'on est homophobe et misogyne en plus ?

La fin était ennuyeuse à souhait. J'aurais préféré une fin épique où tout le monde crève et le méchant gagne.

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ggcd1981's review against another edition

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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? No

4.5

‘Salem’s Lot é a visão de Stephen King de vampiros. Jerusalem´s Lot ou ‘Salem’s Lot é uma cidade fictícia do Maine, nos EUA. A história inicia com o escritor de sucesso Ben Mears se mudando temporariamente de volta para uma cidade do seu passado buscando inspiração em particular numa casa antiga de ‘Salem’s Lot, a Marsten House, que foi cenário de um crime e dizem ser assombrada. King no começo da obra apresenta muitos personagens para dar vida a essa cidade, muitos desses personagens não têm influência direta na história principal, mas foi interessante para realmente dar a sensação de uma cidade habitada por pessoas com suas próprias histórias.

Em ‘Salem’s Lot Ben conhece e se envolve com Susan Norton enquanto simultaneamente ocorre uma sorrateira infiltração na cidade por vampiros transformados pelo poderoso e antigo Kurt Barlow. O vampiro utilizou seu escravo humano Richard Straker para agir em ‘Salem’s Lot. Ben e Susan começam a perceber a mudança sinistra na cidade e logo conhecem outros personagens que também desconfiam de algo e tentam lutar contra o que acontece. O livro é mais sombrio do que esperava, apesar de esse não ser o meu primeiro livro de King. Na obra ocorrem alguns cenários fortes e muitas mortes, por exemplo o cenário do abuso e negligência de um bebê por parte dos pais e a morte dos três. Muitos personagens de destaque também faleceram como Susan, o médico Jimmy Cody e Matt Burke, um professor que se tornou amigo de Ben e foi a mente pensante do grupo contra os vampiros. Esses elementos sombrios contribuíram para a minha opinião de que esse foi um dos melhores livros de King que li até o momento. Não sou particularmente fã de genocídio de personagens por autores, mas nessa obra acredito que as várias mortes contribuíram para a narrativa e deixou o clima urgente e sinistro. Um personagem que fez parte do grupo de Ben e não teve um fim claro foi o padre Callahan. Transformado em vampiro ele deixa a cidade em angustia sem direção clara. Será que irei ver esse personagem novamente na Dark Tower Series? O tempo dirá. O ponto mais fraco nessa obra para mim foram o previsível sexismo e misoginia de King. Ele não é terrivelmente sexista e misógino, mas ainda assim esses elementos figuram em suas histórias. Por exemplo quando homens e mulheres foram transformados em vampiros homens que desejavam uma mulher receberam essas mulheres como companheiras. Por acaso essas mulheres transformadas não desejavam elas mesmas outras pessoas diferentes desses homens? Porque essas mulheres transformadas foram o “prêmio” dos homens transformados? Por exemplo quando Susan se tornou vampira ela se juntou ao seu antigo namorado que ainda a queria, mas Susan não tinha mais sentimentos por ele antes da transformação. Sobre essa situação do ex-namorado de Susan ainda ter interesse nela, inicialmente me preocupou pois achei que seria uma storyline de Ben e Susan lutando contra um ex-namorado ciumento, mas felizmente a narrativa não foi nessa direção, apesar de não ter gostado de vampira Susan ter sido um “prêmio” para seu ex, o final da personagem não foi relacionado a ele. A conclusão da obra como um todo foi, na minha opinião, um dos finais fortes de King. Outro personagem que merece ser mencionado foi Mark Petrie, um menino precoce e inteligente ciente do que ocorria em ‘Salem’s Lot que após uma tentativa fracassada junto a Susan (que resultou na captura da mulher) ele se juntou ao grupo de caça vampiros e acabou por ter seus pais assassinados por Barlow. Ben e Mark ao fim deixaram a cidade que havia sido tomada por vampiros após Ben matar Susan e Barlow, esse último em um confronto final. Após um tempo Ben e Mark retornam a ‘Salem’s Lot para terminar o que começaram, matar os vampiros, e começam um incêndio para consumir a cidade enquanto os vampiros dormem.

No geral esse foi um livro de terror forte de King (nem todos livros dele classificados como terror realmente pertencem ao gênero) com clima sombrio numa cidade menor e sensação de urgência e desespero. O autor não pegou leve e eu posso apreciar isso. Com o característico bom desenvolvimento de personagens do autor e um final sólido esse foi um dos melhores que li de King até o presente momento, dou 4.5 estrelas.

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