Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Salem by Stephen King

30 reviews

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.25

Usually I find Stephen king books a little slow to get into but the ending makes it all worth while. With Salem's Lot, I actually preferred the beginning. I loved reading about the characters and their small town lives in the 70's. I thought it was beautifully written and I would have been happy to read more about their day to day activities. Once shit started to hit the fan, I was interested but I never found myself feeling very afraid or surprised at any point which is why I didn't give it a higher rating.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

There's a dog deaty that some may find upsetting. A lot of people die but many are "off camera deaths" so overall this book isn't too explicit. There's a couple sex scenes but they aren't really graphic.

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Stalking, and Alcohol

ryankaybee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

pussyslayer3000's review against another edition

dark 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? No

1.0

Hated it. Pure disappointment. I had high expectations but it ended up being just boring as hell. Needed to force myself reading it till the ending. Literally one of the worst books I ever read, even though Stephen King is a great author. Wouldn’t recommend.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

How he writes about women and describes minor girls is disgusting

baudi_moovan's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Wew this took me (what felt like) a while. My copy also had Jerusalem's Lot, the short story, in the back, which I didn't actually read. I think I'll appreciate it more if I read it as part of Night Shift. 

I enjoyed this overall, it had the spooky small town vibes I was wanting and it was interesting to see King's take on vampires. I surprisingly enjoyed the priest character, and the exploration of faith and the concept of evil. The other characters were fine, although I wish Susan had a little more to her.

The pacing towards the end was a little odd, though admittedly probably partially because I didn't expect the last 150 pages to actually be a short story and deleted scenes. The build up to the 'big thing' at the end felt a little drawn out, with the end its self feeling almost rushed. But considering its length, it rarely if ever felt like a drag.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, and Blood

jaedia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

 Took much too long to get going though King's writing has a way of making nothing seem readable. There were pages that simply detailed what different families were having for dinner. While I can respect this was to effectively show the slow death of the town, some of it was just boring. Also would be remiss not to mention the sheer amount of homophobic slurs in the book. And this was clearly written when King had a very bleak outlook of the world.

That all said, I did enjoy reading it. The writing was enjoyable, the story compelling, and the dread creeping. A nice dark vampire horror story of a town's slow, sleepy, bloodcurdling death. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mojavetent's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

pescemariana's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.75

Nice book. I love the last chapter. It's kind of a slow burn so the beginning can get pretty boring. I didn't really like the characters, except maybe the priest and the vampire; they are the most interesting ones and they're interaction was pretty cool (maybe the coolest part of the book). It's worth the read. Great story. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide, Medical content, and Alcohol

mark5327's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury