Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Apocalipsa by Stephen King

45 reviews

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think it's official — Stephen King is now one of my all-time favorite writers. I used to think his work, just due to genre, wasn't for me, but, boy, was I wrong. He is just such a brilliant writer, so imaginative, so good at pacing and suspense and at creating characters you find yourself desperately attached to. It is so rare now that I find myself as anxious for a cast of characters and their fate as I found myself here.

I have to say that having now lived through a global pandemic, this book hit home all the harder, even made it seem like we all got off pretty easy. Pre-2020, I might have found this a lot less believable and emotionally engrossing than I did. The first part especially really brings you back to March 2020, when everything descended into chaos almost overnight and suddenly all the problems you had before paled in comparison to the fear and uncertainty. That chapter where King traces the spread of the superflu from the one state trooper — wasn't that all what we spent months trying to reconstruct in real life?

I recognize that the classic moral battle between good and evil that King imposes here may not be for everyone, but I found it utterly fascinating, especially against the backdrop of 20th-century America. That being said, I will add that I was rather frustrated that we never hear much about how the superflu affects the rest of the world. I get that there was no way for the characters to really find out and that this is already 1200 pages long, but I found that Americentrism as equally frustrating as I did thematically fascinating.

Okay, I know there are those out there sick of hearing me talk about Ayn Rand, but there was a lot here that honestly reminded me of Atlas Shrugged. There's that same wide, continental, truly American reach, coast to damn coast, the sanctuary in the mountains, the moral crisis at hand. Fran and Stu, I'd argue, even could have been Dagny and Rearden in their previous lives. But thankfully, here King lays off the capitalist crusade (in fact, even seems to argue against).

Let's go back to the characters, though. Stu, Fran, Larry, Glen, Nick, Tom — I loved them all so much, again in a way that's rare for me these days. I also loved how, once we got to the Free Zone, King incorporates such an array of equally vivid side characters and townspeople. This attention to character and detail, science fiction though it may be, really lent the story a sense of reality. The variety of perspectives offered in the early part, where we get a sense of everyone's pre-flu life and early experiences and loss, again reminded me of March 2020. Like the Free Zoners, we all had our own tales of plans that were cancelled and knew exactly what we were doing when we realized just how serious the virus had become.

1200 pages afford a lot of detail, but King did not waste any of it. You get every angle, every ounce of desperation, every inner struggle. Few could take on a book of this magnitude and make it work, but King sure does. It's a commitment and it can get gross, but to me, it was so worth it. Talk about a great American novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

sir_rosalind's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, and Kidnapping

yellowpurple500's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

My new favourite King book.

I went into this expecting to enjoy a story about a pandemic. Nothing prepared me for the emotional journey I was taken on. I love the cast of characters and how everyone gradually links together. I love how all of kings stories have a supernatural element and I enjoyed the "is this supernatural or are we just going insane". 

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. It's not an easy read but it's so worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

urnee's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lilashelly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I generally don't read Stephen King. I don't like his writing style, I find it to be very pretentious. But a friend at work told me this is his favorite horror book so I gave it a shot. I actually did enjoy the plot, but there's so much that feels so dragged out and a lot of filler. And I get that it was written in 1990, but a lot of the racial terms felt unnecessarily added.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

It's hard to put a book like this into words. I tried separating the sections to work out how I felt about each, but without the threads connecting them all they're not as special. So I'll settle for one (probably over-used) word: epic.

I already knew King was a brilliant writer. But for something as grand as this he really let loose. It's a disaster story, a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a journey, the rebuilding of society, war, religion and literally the entire question of good versus evil.

Flagg's presence becomes more insidious as the book goes on, but by then the characters I loved were so in my head that I just had blind faith in them. Even those who don't survive (and my goodness there are a lot of them - no one is safe) seem to leave some part of themselves behind, the connections between them run so deep.

And it was the characters that I really loved. Frannie, Stu, Nick, wonderful Tom Cullen, Larry, Glen and Kojak. People on Flagg's side like Lloyd and poor Trash Can Man were also brilliantly wrought and complex. Even someone who is only relevant to a single chapter has a full and rich back story. This will stay with me a long time. 

M-O-O-N, that spells masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

abimi's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This took me a lifetime to finish. 1325 pages?! What’s crazy is I was gripped for all of them. Characters were heavily developed as was the plot, which I guess is how you end up with 1325 pages.

This book might be my true first horror read, or at least it feels that way. Other horror books I’ve read were not nearly as terrifying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, and Suicide

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Vomit, and Cannibalism

rinanana_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Rape, Suicide, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mcritchett's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A story between good and evil in which survivors of a pandemic split along those very lines.  Fear can drive people together or pull people apart.  A very thorough tail covering a vast number of characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

largeicedtea's review against another edition

Beyond the level of dark and depressing that I was expecting. Can't handle reading about children in torturous agony.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death