Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Lisey's Story by Stephen King

7 reviews

fakespy87's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

I could write at length how the baby talk and pretend language in this book annoyed the hell out of me. Seriously, words like “smucking” (Lisey and Scott’s substitute for fuck) were on nearly every page. And how Scott reverting to childlike language was a poor attempt at showing a man who had experienced childhood trauma. I could say a great deal about all of this but the biggest sin this book commits is simply being boring. It was 200 pages too long and it is the first King book where I cared about none of the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Cursing

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Body horror, Death, Stalking, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Ableism

Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

I loved this book when I read it on release. It had all my favorite Stephen King tropes: Castle Rock, blue chambray work shirts, a story of a novelist, a parallel universe, being able to flip between worlds, dozens of references to other books and songs, and a homicidal stalker. But! It was centered around a woman who was bad ass and she was even in her 50s. It was a story I needed at the time. 

But listening to it 17 years later as a fully fledged bad ass woman myself, it lost some of it's glow. At the time I didnt have a lot of examples of powerful women in lit or media, but since then I've found so many more and better. Some of this did not hold up the test of time. 

Mental health and childhood abuse are huge parts of this story and back in 2006 I loved how it was approached, but in the now of 2023... it's so bad. I caught myself being physically repulsed at some of the description, angry and sad at others. 

Overall, the story still gets me. One woman overcoming her grief and being stalked and attacked by a man out to hurt her just for the sake of hurting her, by finding the strength within herself. She gathered her sister, hollered her back, from a catatonic state, and realized she'd always been the strong one. Always been able to do things she never gave herself credit for. I still love that bit. 

It just... chose the wrong words from the language pool where we all go down to drink. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Sexual violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Classism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Cursing

Minor: Drug use, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Vomit

mxpringle'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book absolutely broke me. It is the best representation of trauma and mental illness that I've ever read, and because of this, it completely and utterly broke me. What makes this Stephen King book scary isn't the supernatural elements in it (which definitely exist within it), but the sheer concept of being constantly tormented by the monsters inside the human mind for the rest of one's life.  It was such a difficult read, but so incredible that I will probably think about it for years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Confinement, Self harm, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

patrickreads89's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault

anb04's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Torture, and Vomit

emily842752's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death