Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Talisman by Peter Straub, Stephen King

2 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A chosen one, a quest, an evil uncle. 

Jack Sawyer is the kid all of us in the 90s played pretend at. We were given a magical quest by a mysterious traveler and there were to be no shortcuts. Jack's road is a bit darker than I'm sure most of us pretended, it is a King story after all, but it is both a coming of age tale and a chosen one quest. Being able to flip between our world, or the 1980s version of our world, and a parallel one called simply "the territories" Jack is special because he doesnt have a "twinner" and thus is single natured. His whole goal is to save his mom, and her twinner the Queen of the Territories. Everything tries to stop him. Nothing is easy and he wants to give up many many times. But he presses on. 

I loved this as a teen, I loved it just as much as an adult. I sobbed, I laughed, I rooted for Jack and shouted at the villain. I would definitely read it a third time. 

However, there are some questionable themes. Jack is only 12 and he gets beaten, propositioned, exploited and stalked. He is set on his mission by a common trope of King's "the magical black man." These things are hard to listen to and some made me cringe pretty hard, but the story itself is worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Police brutality, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit

shiv91's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. King really is a master at descriptions and world building. I often felt like I was there with Jack on his adventures. It was a great mix of fantasy/horror and I loved all of the characters. The "bad guys" were well written and exactly what I wanted from villains.

The only reason I didn't give the full 5 stars is because the book had very rare instances of seeming to go on a bit in terms of getting to the end of the main protagonists goal.

I plan on getting the sequel to see where Jack ended up so wanting to continue is always a good sign!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail