Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

11.22.63 by Stephen King

12 reviews

munky15's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Definitely a unique way to learn some history I was never taught about in school. I’ll soon find myself going down a rabbit hole (not that one!) to learn more. Cool concept with a lot of questions and mystery surrounding to keep me on the edge of my seat. Really made me think of what I would do if I found myself back in 1958, not knowing much about the era. Loved the bonus playlist and recipes at the end of the book to help you feel “part of the time/book”. 800+ pages is no quick read (for me, at least) but definitely worth the commitment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

savage_book_review's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was my first ever Stephen King book, and I had no idea what to expect going in. I picked it up purely on the basis that I liked the premise, and just hoped that I wasn't being fooled into reading a horror story (definitely not my genre of choice!). At best, I was expecting to read it, shrug and unhaul it. But oh, my goodness, what a book. This has more than earned a place on my bookshelf; I am totally blown away by this absolute masterpiece.

For me, it's not so much about the overarching plot of trying to save JFK that makes this stand out. Instead, it's the attention to detail which vividly brings this man's journey to life, both in terms of the factual elements - tracing Lee Harvey Oswald's life in the lead up to the fateful day is fascinating in and if itself - but also the seamless weaving in of the fictional characters and their goings-on to 'harmonise' the past. It's so very easy to fall down your own rabbit hole and come to believe in these characters; it really wouldn't take much to convince me that George Amberson/Jake Epping did actually write his story, and Stephen King is just 'the face'. 

The concept of time travel might be sci-fi, but the writing makes it effortless to just 'go with it'. There's no real explanation as to where this hole in the world came from or why it exists, but there wasn't a single point where I didn't accept the position as plausible. The plot device just works. The exploration of the butterfly effect and the repercussions of George/Jake's actions do drag you into a type of dystopia, and I love how enough detail is given to allow you to understand exactly what has happened, while leaving enough to the imagination to have you thinking of the consequences for a long time after you put the book down. In turn, it inevitably leads to you questioning what you would do if you had the same or a similar opportunity. 

There are some very dark moments throughout, with depictions of murder and domestic violence being important to the story. In some cases it's quite graphic, but it's not gratuitous and these moments are truly gripping to read. They're also important to our main character's development as he learns about the world he's now inhabiting and how the rabbit hole works.

Even in the quieter moments though, he writing remains engaging. I wouldn't say it's a fast paced book, and certainly there are plenty of more 'domestic' interludes that by all accounts should drag, but every moment is beautifully and thoughfully written and really digs into your psyche. I adore the romantic element - definitely not something I was expecting in a Stephen King book! - and to be honest I almost stopped caring about the world in jeopardy! And when the main character finds his 'people', the book develops a sweet small town cozy feel, albeit with shadows looming...

I'll admit to wanting a different ending, but the one we got is absolutely fitting, if heart-wrenching .

I'd thoroughly recommend this to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense 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? No

2.0

What a disappointing thing it is to spend almost 900 pages and weeks of time for a 2 star book. It may have been 3 stars if the ending wasn’t bad, but it was. This was my first Stephen King book, and I chose it because a time travel thriller sounded fun, and definitely more appealing than a 900 page horror like his more famous works. After this experience though, I’m doubtful I’ll ever read a King book again. Even if the others are objectively better (which I doubt, because this one had tons of 5 star reviews so I can’t trust the hype), he gives me creepy old man vibes from the way he wrote women. 

My main complaint is that this book could have been 500 pages shorter. For a book that is supposed to be a thriller, there was so much boring filler. We got a second life built by the main character in the late 1950s, complete with King's fantasies of being a cool English teacher beloved by all his students, having a beautiful, virginal (insert eye roll here) woman he gets to save who falls deeply in love with him, and more. There is so much that did not add anything to the story, and I kept wondering when we'd move on from this romanticization of the mid 1900s. He threw out a couple acknowledgements of the racism that existed but it seemed more perfunctory than real thought-provoking criticisms, espcially when he spent far more time talking about how much better the drinks tasted in that time.

Finally, the ending was awful. I don’t want to give any spoilers but it was not satisfying in the slightest bit. I think I could spitball five different better endings on the spot if I was asked to. Also, the time travel mechanics were lazy and introduced so late that it felt pointless. I’m trying to think of positives for this book, and all I have is that the concept is interesting and the writing style is engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, and Stalking

nenah_elizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

cryptofauna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? No

4.75

i was WAY more into this than i thought i would be. i was thinking about this book at work and i made myself carsick reading it on a road trip.
 it’s got very strong male energy for reasons i cannot fully place but overall i don’t have very many criticisms besides the fact i didn’t really like the ending. i appreciated the sadness of it, but it didn’t hit me quite as hard as i feel like it could have
super interesting take on time travel, i loved the characters, it felt well informed and thought out in incredible depth.
very first steven king novel also!
[ update from a while later, i think about this book like all the time. something about it just sunk into my mind ]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

bambicat234's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It wavers between being hard to put down and hard to keep reading often enough to feel like I'm getting whiplash, and the time traveling aspect could have been fleshed out a LOT more. Not his best but not his worst.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, War, and Classism

travisppe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Though this book has a healthy dose of “things were better back in my day,” King kept me engaged from page 1. This book flies by. Fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol

unboxedjack's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lianavalente's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

jourdanicus's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-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

Not my fave King so far... I struggled to successfully suspend my disbelief enough to buy in to the idea of a guy time traveling with very little preparation or good reason to do so besides that his diner-owning buddy said it had to be done. I think I would have liked this more as a love story if the parts that involved the love weren't so repetitive (I mean really? THREE fund-raising variety shows in three years in ONE small town? That seemed less realistic than time travel) and weren't left until the back half of the book.

I'm sure this is a good read for many out there, if you like a slower plot or you just wanna read anything and anything by Stephen King (there are definitely a LOT of King-isms, many I'm sure I didn't pick up on).

Oh yeah also I really could have done without the antiquated language regarding race. Too much of the context in which it was used was quite a stretch when it comes to justifying that kind of language in such a recent publication.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Medical content, Car accident, and War