Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

15 reviews

wrench_2710's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Excrement

joshkiba13's review against another edition

dark slow-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? No

4.0

"On the other hand, there may be some truth in that idea that houses absorb the emotions that are spent in them, that they hold a kind of . . . dry charge. Perhaps the right personality, that of an imaginative boy, for instance, could act as a catalyst on that dry charge, and cause it to produce an active manifestation of . . . of something. I'm not talking about ghosts, precisely. I'm talking about a kind of psychic television in three dimensions. Perhaps even something alive. A monster, if you like . . . [T]here are evil men in the world, truly evil men. Sometimes we hear of them, but more often they work in absolute darkness."

This seems to be a fan-favorite among King fan groups - it certainly lived up to its reputation. People often talk about King's talent for immersing readers in a small town (Derry, Castle Rock, Jerusalem's Lot, etc), and now I get it. It was a little overwhelming at first to be introduced to SO many characters across the town (especially with names like Mark, Matt, Mike, Roy, Randy, Richie, Royal, Sandy, Susan, etc.), but it payed off in the long run. We get an overview of the town and its residents at the beginning, and return to them throughout the story as the town falls into ruin. Beautifully done (I just wish the names had been a little more distinct from each other hehe).

King always describes evil so well. Not only are the vampires in the story evil, but there seems to just be a foul air across the whole town. The Marsten house looms above them all on the hill, watching like a black sentinel. Ben's memories of terror inside the house, as well as its omnipresence during all the character vignettes, really solidified that element of the story as foreboding and creepy. But even just regular parts of the town were made freaky. For example:

"The town had a sense, not of history, but of time, and the telephone poles seemed to know this. If you lay your hand against one, you can feel the vibration from the wires deep in the wood, as if souls had been imprisoned in there and were struggling to get out."

Or . . .

"It was as if the dump had gained a heartbeat and that beat was slow yet full of terrible vitality."

I've never been scared reading a book until one night reading this one in the dark with a flashlight a mosquito flew right past my ear and made me jump. That was fun :)

I do wish the relationship between Susan and Ben could have been a little more developed

before she became a vampire - when Ben had to drive a stake into her I didn't quite feel the emotion I would have had we been a little more attached to her.

That's one con of a wide-scope story like this, I suppose, you don't spend as much time with any one character. 

It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did I was all in. A great story overall :)

This was my last stop before resuming and completing my Dark Tower journey. Excited to see the return of

Father Callahan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

saarrr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Wat heerlijk om na een maand van bijna alleen maar romcoms weer eens in een spannende horror te duiken. Al waren er in dit verhaal een stuk minder slachtoffers gevallen als iedereen nou eerst goed controleerde wie er voor hun deur stond, in plaats van maar gewoon: "joe joe, kom binnen hoor!" te roepen. 

Dit is één van de eerste boeken die Stephen King heeft geschreven en het is zeker niet perfect, maar ook in dit oudere werk doet hij al waar hij in veel van zijn boeken zo goed in is: realistische horror schrijven, waarbij de enge dingen niet alleen de monsters onder het bed zijn (of in dit geval vampiers), maar ook de doodgewone personages die zo je buren kunnen zijn en een duistere kant hebben. Dit boek heeft een goede combinatie van de twee en ik ben er dol op. 

Waar ik wel moeite mee had, was de enorme hoeveelheid personages. Het verhaal komt wat traag op gang en opeens is er een hoofdstuk waarin in een rap tempo zo'n 20 à 30 personages worden geïntroduceerd. Ik ben een ramp met namen, met als gevolg dat ik regelmatig moest terugbladeren om te controleren wie wie nou is. 

Desondanks een spannend en leuk boek, die ik bij sommige hoofdstukken niet meer kon neerleggen. Het is niet mijn favoriet van hem, maar staat zeker hoog in mijn lijst. Bij de boeken van Stephen King is het altijd afwachten of het einde wel goed is, want eindes schrijven is helaas niet zijn sterkte kant (*kuch* Under the Dome *kuch*), maar gelukkig paste deze prima. Genoten!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: War

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying and Rape

liblibby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I never want to read Stephen King ever again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

scip's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Cannibalism

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

maddypat's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I forgot how much I loved Stephen King's books! It was slow to start - why would I care about some random small town in Maine? But once it got going it was relentless and I simply couldn't put it down. I plowed through the second half of the book last night and this morning. The story is thrilling and it pulls you in before you even realize it. Stephen King is a master at crafting tense and creepy atmospheres and 'Salem's Lot does not disappoint on that front.

One thing to be wary of is this book also is no exception to King's sometimes weird descriptions of what women (and sometimes also girls) look like or behave like. Just weird sexual descriptions that are just uncomfortable. I understand sometimes it's the characters themselves thinking these things (Dud regarding Ruthie is the major example here) but even still it always sticks out as weird to me.

In spite of that, though, this book was thoroughly enjoyable to read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, and Suicide

gflechas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

The book is strongly influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, and is pretty transparent about it in the into. I walked away feeling like I listened to "Steven King does Dracula" which for me was a positive. King goes his own direction with the ideas and makes them his own. I had fun and would recommend it, though there is not the same hope to be found in Salem's Lot as was found for Mr. Harker and his band of heros.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

emma_ann's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Grief