Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Outsider by Stephen King

48 reviews

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

icieri's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wynnieb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

princessxnicole's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

bethboo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book wasn't bad. I found myself interested and excited to see what happened next. The outsider (main antagonist) was very interesting, but I found myself wishing that he was scarier, because I felt like the main interaction was a little lack luster. It was interesting and written well and a little oddly paced, but worked for the book. 
As always, though, I have many complaints to air. 

1. I keep expecting Stephen King's books to be scary, because they're classified as horror, but this one was a glorified cop show.
2. It seems that this was a crossover with another one of his books, because he was mentioning names and events I have no clue about. It would have been fine if it was on the side, but with Holly becoming a main character, this crossover became center stage and it was annoying bc I don't know anything about it.
3. I get that the beginning crime needed to be heinous, to set the scene, but I feel like the graphic description and the choice to SA a small child with a tree branch was unneeded. Child murder within itself, or even with the hint of SA, would cause enough outrage, but it was nasty. Just my opinion, if that matters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

chloevienna's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

i had fun with this book, but didn’t find it to be anything incredible. the only other king i’ve read is the girl who loved tom gordon, and i thought that was far superior. this had some eerie descriptions, but nothing ever truly scared me or got under my skin like i hoped it would when i started this book. i enjoyed the characters and core ideas, but feel this had too much going on for its own good; it was somewhat convoluted and hard to follow at times. it was a fairly easy read and i enjoyed the experience, but i can’t say i’d confidently recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lpdx's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

pancaaakes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Overall I liked it! I thought it was neat that he was able to turn what could have been a very shot story into a drawn out, detailed account of everything going on. Without knowing anything about the book, I guessed that the outsider was a

shapeshifter

Fairly early in the book. I really liked Holly as a character, and I’m interested in reading the other book about her. Not my favorite King book so far, but it definitely wasn’t bad. Not for someone that likes long, drawn out, wild goose chase type books though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

kimskankwalker's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lukerik's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

3.0

A teacher is arrested for the rape and murder of a child. We’re given pages of incontrovertible evidence that the police have the right man, but on the basis of one ambiguous sentence we know straight away that he’s innocent. Clever idea, and well executed for the most part. There’s a slight problem with the end when King just doesn’t know when to shut up. He seems to get a bit emotional about the characters. Other than that, all good. There are themes of courage and cowardice but they’re not really developed or explored and it’s all fast paced and story story story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail