Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

28 reviews

georgiaaa's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

not surprised by the usual king-isms: fatphobia, sexism, racism and ableism

usually i enjoy the story enough to put up with it, but this time it just wasn’t worth it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Racism, Suicide, and Xenophobia

ashsupahfire's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

My first SK read. Always been familiar with his work but realized I never read a full book. So of course I was shocked by how often the n word and other slurs were dropped. When I looked it up, his fans proclaimed he HAD to do it to show how the bad guy was really the bad guy. A mass murderer who has a sexual relationship with his mother needs to be racist to show he’s bad? Feels like a weird cop out because SK presents himself as so lib that he can’t be accountable for racist acts. 

Anyway, as far as thrillers go, halfway through is when I got hooked. Took me day to finish the first half as I kept putting the book down. I just finished the second half after work because I couldn’t put the book down. Some predictable turns but entertaining nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Murder

linda_wolf's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

michaelavictoria'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

nightstitch96's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

thematicaudience's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

One of my absolute favorites of Stephen Kings novels, especially due to its introduction of one of my favorite characters of his, Holly Gibney. Not only that, but the mass murderer is very well written, and realistically at that. Not to mention how many twist and turns kept me engaged and loving every second of the chase.

That being said, there were a couple too many slurs being thrown around by Brady Hartsfield for personal comfort, even though they had purpose in showing his character, especially aimed at poc throughout, and disabled people later on in the novel. Holly Gibney also does not show up until about 2/3rds of the novel is done, and female love interest leading up to her arrival I did not find nearly as remarkable. Her character was bland and while I was surprised by her sudden death, I could not say I was necessarily upset by it.

 
I also am in general not a fan of sex scenes, and the ones in this were particularly hard to sit through, though skimming helped, however that may be personal preference, and they at least served a purpose.
However, ultimately, the whole thing was incredibly enjoyable and a favorite of mine. Definitely a great start to a trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Almost all horrific acts, ableism, racism, etc are done by the main antagonist or those related to him, though there are minor instances of ableism and fatphobia put forward by who we are rooting for.

sgordon00's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

it took me a while to finish because the first part started out so slow to build the world we were in. crazy for stephen king to use the n word the way he did tho lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

captain_emu's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

theimposter's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty

booking_along's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

first read: 2016 - 3⭐️ a bit slow and unevenly paced and i didn’t love it.

second read: 2023 - 4.5 ⭐️
it’s still a bit bumbling in some places for me - i can see what i disliked in my fist read BUT  i was in the right mood this time apparently because this was great! 


i really enjoyed this! 

after that rather brutal start, the book slowly builds up and up and up and ends in such a fantastic way and even ends in a way that the reader can decide if the want to continue on with this series or not because this book actually closes in a way that works as an ending. 


i really enjoyed the characters - how dislikable the bad guy was (who gets a point of view so it’s not a “who dunne it!”) and how i slowly throughout this book i started to like Hodges. 

but i really loved the side characters in this! Jerome? great characters! and Janey was fantastic and i really love Holly! 


what i disliked was the strange sexualisation that happens in some strange moments in this book. 
the stuff with the bad guy was just …. yuck but okay he’s clearly not a good guy anyways and it adds to the whole character of how horrendously unlikable and disgusting he is. but i just didn’t need to read about it. 
the character would have been just as disgustingly unlikable and horrible without those unnecessary moments! 


but is it necessary to point out the breast of women and how they look? or how someone wouldn’t expect to have a sexual relationship with someone because they are heavier or even fat simply because they are that body type? 

why even include those things then? 



also there is a tone throughout this story that has a good amount of racist and fatphobic comments - mostly done by the bad guy but they are there. 



so i can see why i had issues with this book before because there a things in this book that are noticeable and can be grating outside of the actual main story plot and could have easily be done differently and be done better with those changes. 


but i still enjoyed this book and what the actual main plot done here! i liked how the story build up to the big finally and how it ended! 


it’s a good story, it has flaws and is not for everyone but i really enjoyed it this time around and can’t wait to continue and get more from those characters -especially the side ones!- in the next one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder