Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

29 reviews

sayhar13's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexism

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm a fan of the few Stephen King adaptations I've seen, but this was my first time reading him. He has a very prominent reputation positive and negative, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It ended up a pretty mixed bag. 

I enjoyed the plot and—while at times meandering—his prose was great. I liked the focus on classic vampire lore and how it connects to the characters' tenets of literature and religion in the modern world. But there were things that bogged it down as well. 

To start, there were so many characters referenced it felt like I was expected to learn the names and personalities of the entire town. I liked the main players, and thankfully I got over the confusion once the plot got going and focused more on them. There were a couple relevant female characters, but I wish they had a larger role in the story overall. And of course the casual use of homophobic slurs/mentions of rape/slut shaming really date the book. And I honestly expected it to be scarier. 

I'd heard about his lackluster endings more than once, but I quite enjoyed this one. I thought it worked for the story being told, if a bit simply. And I know horror endings are though to land. 

Overall a good book with flaws. I'm definitely willing to try more of his work, so if anyone has suggestions of where to start, please feel free. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, and Blood

carrionkid's review against another edition

4.0

I actually liked this book a lot however it definitely was written in 2 different periods of time because in the first half, there's 7 uses of queer/queerboy and 6 uses of fag/faggot and by page 300 there are NO SLURS WHATSOEVER so I guess Stephen king had a moral crisis about using slurs somewhere in between halves of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lovelybibliomanic's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying and Blood

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

baudi_moovan's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

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

pescemariana's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Nice book. I love the last chapter. It's kind of a slow burn so the beginning can get pretty boring. I didn't really like the characters, except maybe the priest and the vampire; they are the most interesting ones and they're interaction was pretty cool (maybe the coolest part of the book). It's worth the read. Great story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide, Medical content, and Alcohol

seanajk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder