Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Carrie by Stephen King

107 reviews

alliekat1976's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 Known for his fantastic imagination- Stephen King makes this story believable with his rich details and characters you either love or love to hate. Bullying, paranormal events, and strict religious beliefs set the background for a horrific outcome that no-one is prepared for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Trigger Warning

julells's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Ich hatte immer ein bisschen Angst vor meinem ersten Stephen King Buch und die was auch vollkommen berechtigt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

booking_along's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

3.5

this reread ended in a bit of a surprise for me: i didn’t dislike this book this time around. 

when i first read this book some years ago, i got hung up on specific moments and situations in the that i think could have been done better -especially the bullying situation about the topic of becoming your  period and getting made fun of for that and that becoming the catalyst for it all. 

i still wish King could have picked something different as the big moment that it can all be pointed back at. 

but at the same time King did a pretty good job in rounding the entire situation out and building it around blood and the release of it. 


this time reading carrie, i just felt horrible for carrie and how horrendously hard her life would have been and how instead of trying to help or getting a child out of the clutches of a horrendous mother that clearly isn’t fit to be rising a child everyone overlook those things and instead just went right on teasing carrie as soon as they could. 

and in many ways sadly those things and reactions are too realistic. 

as i said i still wish King would have chosen a different starting point - i don’t know why but having a man write about a teenage girls body and her breasts and her sensitive reactions of her body in her period… that still gives me a bit of an icky feeling (King is not the only author i have that with, i have that with all (but especially male) authors that sexualize teenage (girl) bodies and describe how they look and how they feel) 

but as i also already mentioned i understand and see how it all rounds up and together, he could have done it differently and still got the same results BUT overall it’s not the worst (he still could have left out the scene werte carrie touches her breast and pinches her nipples for no reason at all?)


i do think that this book -even 50 years later- still packs an incredible punch and showing the consequences of bullying. sure in an unlikely and unrealistic way with the supernatural powers and all that but still, the bullying was the thing that pushed it all into horror. 

the constant harassment and battering, the mistreatment and abuse from everyone in carries life was sadly something realistic and i wish especially those moments would have become as unrealistic as the powers. 


overall the writing was good, the characters horrible but well writing and the story as a whole well done. 
small changes could have made it even better but those moments also added some shock or normality to the story overall.

also the ending was very well done and especially with king that’s something that can’t be taken for granted. 

i think it’s still a very readable and relevant sadly even relatable story for some people. 


and interestingly this book went from one of my least favorite king books to one of the good to better ones of him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

pitchafitz's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Body shaming

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Rape, and Alcohol

nakole'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

𝓒𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓮 

By: Stephen King 

Thriller 

 

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁: 3.5/5

 

𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌:  This is the first Stephen King book I have read, I have a whole bunch on my shelf so that will soon rectify itself though. I have, however, seen several of the movies based on his books, including Carrie. The book, in my opinion, was better than the movie, as is the standard for book to movie adaptions. There is just more emotion when reading than can come though on a screen, especially for a book like this. 

 

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈:  Bullying, death; blood; child abuse; emotional abuse; murder; violence; gore; religious bigotry; fire/fire injury; physical abuse; body shaming; domestice abuse; toxic relationships; child death; sexual assault; gaslighting; car accident; injury detail; grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

hiddenfallacies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Carrie is a landmark achievement in horror for many reasons. It's the start of King's long and celebrated career, a novel that centers around women and places their pain at the epicenter of its plot, and it created a cultural memory that endures to this day - one that empathizes with Carrie rather than demonizes her. Told over three parts that function as three long chapters, the novel tells Carrie's story in retrospect through a collection of articles, interviews, and varying point of views. Going through the past, present, and future of the ill-fated prom night, the reader gets to know Carrie and all she has endured. Above all else, this novel is a tragedy about Carrie White's last hope to become a person and the ways in which society crushed that dream.

The first of the three parts suffers the most, lacking the natural momentum and masterful framing that surrounds the prom night itself and its aftermath in the story. This fact alone is what keeps this novel from garnering five stars for me. The novel is also littered with the artifact of being King's first, lacking some of the grammatical and structural prowess he cultivated over time. It's also important to note that there's a fair bit of racism present throughout the novel, dropped in small phrases and cultural references that leave the modern reader wondering if King meant to include them to indicate moral failings of certain antagonists or the time period itself, or if he simply was ignorant of certain biases he held himself. I believe informing potential readers of this is crucial, as I was blindsided by their sporadic inclusion while reading, taking me out of the story.

Although King has published better novels, as well as worse, I believe Carrie deserves a space not only on an essential reading list for King, but for horror as a whole. It remains culturally significant and moving to this day. May Carrie White never be forgotten. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

rinnaria's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual content

shannonredwine8's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Alot of womanizing/abuse. Mention of animal cruelty. Alot of use of the word GD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

heikosstories's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.5

My first Stephen King novel and here are some thoughts:
- This was super racist. I don't care that the book came out in the 70s. The original passages are giving me the ick and show that Mr. King was viewing characteristics of PoC as a tool to degrade his characters. Not. Cool.
- It's not scary. It had some moments that were chilling and at times I was actually quite hooked but..not scary.
- Stephen King is not a good writer. Especially for an English teacher. His writing style is very simplistic, you can either enjoy or it not, but what bothered me was the frequent repetition of the same literary devices over and over.
- This book felt longer than it should have been. This makes sense after reading the afterword: "Carrie" was originally only 98 pages long and Stephen King was then asked to make this longer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

icephoenix44's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

its okay, i guess? i feel like the writing style could be a little better though. some of the parts describing the female characters felt male gazey.

i also dont like the attempt to replicate accents, it makes the writing more weirder and clunkier to read, instead of feeling more authentic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

also i really dont think the attempted sexual assault by billy towards chris near the end of the novel really added anything to the story, i mean yeah they are in a toxic relationship but it doesnt really adds anything and fslt like a random plot point as it was not mentioned afterwards