Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

3 reviews

klsreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

This is an impressive meditation on everyday evil and the plight of small town America (couched in the classic spooky story). The writing is excellent, and I could really feel the characters and setting. It was somewhat creepy, sometimes gross, and very tense. I knocked 1 star because the first 50% of the book is setting and character exposé. I really wanted something to happen, but when it finally moved, it kicked off. Also, there was only 1 main female character, and she almost exclusively talked about men. Most women characters were defined by men / mothering / their sexuality. It's not surprising for the time, but it's still disappointing. I had fun regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Excellent writing, and the slow pace is absolutely a plus- like building an intricate domino structure before knocking it all down. Found myself particularly attached to Mark. King has a knack for portraying humanity at its most grotesque that is more fascinating than his monsters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, and War

Minor: Addiction, Pedophilia, Rape, Excrement, and Abortion

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. 

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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