grave_liminal's reviews
5 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
If you removed every single female description and sex scene from this book, it would’ve been a solid 4 stars. The repetition of the “breast” descriptions were so frequent that it seemed like a joke, a book written by a 12 year old boy. Disappointed that this was my first experience reading a King novel, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Would never reread it, and would barely recommend it other than the purpose of being able to say you’ve read a horror classic.
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death and Fatphobia
Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Miscarriage
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
For a 430 paged book, the true tense thrill didn’t start until around chapter 92 (roughly about 50 pages until the end) out of 100 chapters. This entire book focuses on the main character’s grief, denial, and severely irresponsible drinking problem. This book is also almost entirely single-location based on the character’s agoraphobia. While the book itself can keep you wondering who’s the murderer, some find it predictable. I also found myself being correct about most of the plot twists. The action in the story is very minimal and slow paced. If it weren’t for wanting to know who the killer was, I would have DNFed it for the pure waste of half the book.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Injury/injury detail
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Spoiler
I was pleasantly surprised upon discovering that the author had enough guts to kill off two members of the friend group.Though the plot is a bit silly in a way, I feel like the book does talk about an extremely underrepresented and dangerous practice. As per another review I read, this book was written in 2003, only a few years after 9/11 and columbine, which is a time period characterized by school shootings and high security.
Spoiler
Those who love true crime podcasts are well aware of wilderness camps/rehabilitation and the horrors that happen within them. I would have never guessed that it would be the focal point of this book and I was grateful to see them have a negative representation in a random fictional book I picked up. It came as a very big and unique surprise.Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Murder
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Spoiler
Writing about a minor discovering their sexuality based on “not hating” the sexual assault he experiences, that he would have realistically been traumatized from, is beyond distasteful.This book also brings up the question of who has the right to write about certain topics. I find it incredibly harmful to write a book of this manor while having minimal experience with suicide, self harm, sexual assault, or psychological wards. As someone who’s experienced most of the content in the book, the character’s experiences and reactions were unrealistic and far from relatable. Also reading the words “cat poop” every 2 pages gets extremely old.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use