Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Carrie by Stephen King

40 reviews

autisticmisabel's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Chronic illness and Toxic relationship

katdotniche's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 Given the reputation both Stephen King and Carrie have, I was expecting the book to be much more horror-filled; it seemed quite tame in comparison to my expectations, and I don’t know if that is because I was anticipating something much more like IT, or if it was because I sympathised so heavily with Carrie. 

There was of course horrifying parts, including the prom and the aftermath – the image of a girl covered in pig’s blood going on a revengeful rampage is about as horror as you can get, and that’s before you take into account the telepathic broadcast Carrie gave to the entire town, letting them know who she was and why she was doing it. I loved the insight into her thought process through other people’s testimonies of that night, it was the one thing that really made me think it was a horror novel. I suppose it was King’s first published novel and therefore does not have the characteristics he developed in his work, but it did disappoint me. Perhaps if I had read this book when I was younger, the horror aspects would have stood out to me more but reading it now I was more focused on the symbolism King manages to pack into the narrative.

In particular, I enjoyed the contrast between Carrie who is implicitly an avenging angel, come to punish the town for their crimes, and her mother who is a perfect example of religion when it ceases to be religious and transforms into fanaticism. Despite being written in the 70s, it has many observations on religious trauma and abuse that are still applicable today- perhaps that is a little sad, that this is still something that people experience, nearly 50 years later, but I think it says a lot about King’s ability as a writer and his understanding of society that he manages to keep his work relevant so far on.

His use of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, letters, and excerpts from books is another thing that stood out to me from the book; the transcripts from the White Commission were incredibly clever as a narrative device – when Carrie is the leading force of the novel, with everything following her perspective, albeit in third person, the careful input from the other characters and the way it illuminates their perspective and understanding of the events is a chilling cut away from her carefully logical rampage. Using these to push the character of Sue Snell was one of my favourite parts.

 
I enjoyed the first person insight into her retrospective perspective, the quiet acceptance of the events that shone through her words, and it was interesting to see how the perspective had changed in the years since the event happened when comparing her transcript to her own writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny

planetshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

This writing layout is strange and dense, and I can't decide whether I like it.

I’m always upset when I think about Carrie. Her experience on this planet was so fucked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

marthadude's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

abrose2001's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.5

It wasn't quite the dark and gritty horror that I was expecting. The main character is sympahtetic and tragic, making the entire book driven by her character, story, and development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

miachimochi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

sassyshark's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

0.75

The book was not worth the paper it was written on—and I read the e-book.

Oh god, where to start. 

The plot, was fine. A little predictable, but I suppose that lended itself towards the psychological horror aspects. For the first half the new articles were interrupting, abrupt, waste of words, highly ineffective as a method of transition, and insultingly repetitive. In the second half they helped illustrate the story, but were still thrown in seemingly at random and rather abruptly.

It is yet another book reducing the high school experience to bullying, PE, and prom. With some trauma to add some salt to this bland book.

The characters, are all 2D. The mother was such a stereotypical, almost cartoonish, villain that she lost all humanization. Ultimately reducing the drama and unnerving feelings that should have come

when the mom and Carrie snapped, as it felt like the inevitable conclusion—not that any person was capable of thrusting someone into a phycological break. I had the same problem with Chris, she was never humanized so you feel like she was getting her just desserts.

The writing style is a thing. I felt like I was on drugs. Between the seemingly random gaggle of words King has thrown in and the hyper sexualization of any women I am throughly disgusted. Not in a good look-at-the-epitome-of-horror way, but a in a why-are-you-mentioning-her-boobs-for-the-fourth-time-in-a-page way. (Even in necessary actions, like walking, are full of cruel descriptions and hyper sexualized. For example, from page 13 “Carrie stood swaying between the showers and the wall with its dime sanitary-napkin dispenser, slumped over, breasts pointing at the floor, her arms dangling limply. She looked like an ape.“ Let’s keep in mind Carrie is 16.) Even if one ignores the befuddling misrepresentation of how periods function (people with uteri, if you are bleeding that much on your first please speak to medical professional), the spaghetti-wall approach of words will make sure you stay confused. Now I must mention, I am absolutely enamored when authors use unnecessarily ostentatious words just because they ought to be used, if they are used correctly. King flips between a third grade vocabulary and words that would make an English college professor proud, seemingly at random. But this college professor would be appalled at the blatant disregard for the words’ definitions. 

I am genuinely concerned for the horror genre if he is heralded as one of the best writers.

Furthermore King has the audacity to claim this a feminist book, because it has a strong female character. When juxtaposed with sentences like this: “She had bought a special brassiere to go with it, which gave her breasts the proper uplift (not that they actually needed it) but left their top halves uncovered.” That claim is appalling, and

mass murder

is not a “strong” way to deal with your problems.

To summarize, the plot was decent, but stuttering, the characters have personalities akin to a slightly salted wet cabbage, and King would greatly benefit from a female beta reader and a dictionary. Particularly if the female beta reader whacked him with the dictionary for every misused word or hyper sexualized action (but that would cause excessive brain damage). 

The one good thing I can say is I have never had such hate based fixation on a book. I dragged my psyche kicking, screaming, and begging to be sent to hell—as it would be less torturous—through the book, just so I could say this was not a half-baked review. And so begins and ends my foray with Stephen King.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Misogyny, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

seawarrior's review against another edition

Maybe I'll try to finish this some other time... but I truly hated reading it. King has a talent for describing the mundane viscerally to impart a sense of disgust and discomfort, but weaponized it to such an extent that I quickly lost interest in finishing the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

A teenage girl's nudity is described in detail.

deadwitchflying's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny and Racial slurs

madsw14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Confinement and Suicide attempt