Reviews with content warning for Torture - Lisey's Story

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.

Content Warnings

mxpringle's review against another edition

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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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dakotahrey's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

This book was really sad.

Scott never got the closure and true happiness he desperately needed for his extremely painful childhood. It haunted him physically.

It started off really slow, I read the first couple of pages and put off reading it for weeks, but when it finally started picking up I finished it pretty quickly.

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steepedinbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

I’ve heard that this can be a pretty divisive novel among King fans. It seems it’s one that people either love or hate. I loved it. It was a bit slow to start, but it kept me intrigued throughout. A sure sign of a good book, for me, is when I stop now and again to read passages out loud to my husband, little things I found funny or bits of particularly striking writing. I did that often with this book. I really connected with the way King wrote about grief and loss. I was also struck by how he depicted the twisted up and confused kind of love a child can still have for an abusive parent.

Content Warnings