Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Under the Dome by Stephen King

63 reviews

spicypumpkin24's review against another edition

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? N/A

3.75

3.5-4 ⭐ 

I'm not fully certain if I really enjoyed this book, or just kind of like it.

The ending is honestly probably one of my favorite endings by King, but unlike The Stand, I'm not as impressed by the world and character development. A bunch of meth heads on a power trip, trapped inside a dome, with one veteran, who could have really helped the town survive and make it out relatively safe, but... Meth.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

sortakinda's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

kimmecrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is the first Stephen king book I’ve read, and I am so impressed by the amount of detail he is able to put into all the characters, places, and events. Everything included in this book has a story of its own. I’m not sure if I’ll choose many horror books in the future, but I loved his writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

jrocbutterfly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

A beast of a novel even for King's standard of writing long books, this one comes in at over 1000 pages. But even with its length   the momentum of the book is high paced and doesn't seem to have the mid slow that other long books can have. Though there is a supernatural or otherworldly element to the story.  The real horror of Under the Dome lies in what happens when humans are put, quite literally, with their backs against the wall.  When the outside world is unreachable people's true since of morality comes into play. The scariest part is seeing who rises up as heroes and who rises up as monsters when their is no one to hold anyone accountable.  And how humans truly can be the masters of their own downfall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

It's a horror novel. Be prepared for scary things and scary people.

bookishbeccahale's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

hampshark's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

4.75

This is one of King’s best. Engaging from page 1 to the end. Even with the few weak spots, I come back to this year after year for the study of humanity and the consequences of no consequences. 

Even 15 years later, it feels fresh and pertinent and subversive and possible. 

Of note, due to its scope, there are many (every?) triggers so take care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

I finished this book out of spite, I'm not going to lie. Even when this was published, Stephen King had been in the game far too long to lean on his tired shock value routine. The acts of fictional characters do not reflect on the author, but the author's choices on how those acts are told certainly does in this case. It's lazy storytelling at best.
For a man who has made money offering advice to writers, you'd think he'd a) understand how human beings speak, b) put some respect into writing women, c) learn how to tell a shocking story without slurs, random gross out "humor," and graphically described sexual assault.
This book is a remarkably weak story hiding behind cheap, edgy humor and good worldbuilding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, and Sexual harassment

chloerom's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Police brutality

andrewbarzal's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

Potential Spoilers:

Worth reading if you can stomach some rather intense content. The climax of this book genuinely astonished me, but unfortunately I found the ending a bit weak and drawn out. The “man behind the curtain” if you will, was a tad on the predictable side of things which made the reveal less impactful than it could have been. 

The strong point of this book for me was its characters, specifically its villains. The main bad guy in this book is FUN to read, and he has stuck with me, which is much more than I can say about the main Hero who is sort of your standard chill/cool badass with a dark past who is competent and likable. He serves his purpose in the book well enough, but I found myself wishing I was reading about more colorful characters whenever the book spent much time with him. 

I thought more could have been done with the town. The decay took place over the course of just a few days if my memory serves me, and I just would have liked a bit more sociological content. I think King took a pretty straightforward approach with how the town would react to the dome which is fine, I just wanted a bit more spice I guess.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Parts were genuinely hard to read, and the bits about Big Jim’s heart condition made me squirm and still make me squirm today!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

seeker42's review against another edition

Too disturbing in describing a gang rape scene.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail