Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Shining by Stephen King

133 reviews

funyuns_the_movie's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Racial slurs and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I watched Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining 20 years ago, and I can remember struggling to understand the reasoning behind Jack's descent into madness. Now reading the book all these years later, it's so much clearer to me. King's original hugely outmatches the film in so many ways, but where it is most superior is in the quiet, creeping sense of dread and tension that builds agonisingly slowly, from the ominous beginning right to the conclusion. There are fewer iconic jump-scares (I was surprised by how much was created for the film), but what is there instead lingered, hanging over me long after I'd shut the book.

I always love that King spends time with his characters. Their histories and relationships are laid out in detail, and it makes the whole story rooted in humanity, which in turn makes it all the more scary. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for Jack from the start, but I did sympathise with Wendy's fierce desire to keep her family together and safe, and the way they all shine during their fleeting happy moments at the Overlook, before it's all taken away. It's such clever writing and confirms, as I've said many times before, that King's books are about so much more than the horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Mental illness

sarahlopod's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit and Dementia

ammme's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not necessarily a book I would recommend without a bunch of trigger warnings and disclaimers, but I also get why it was such an influence of horror fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, and Sexism

abibliophilecalledbeth's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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

3.0

The first half of the book was so slow and boring in my opinion and it just seemed like nothing was actually happening. Then in the second half it finally livened up and the second half was brilliant!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

ash_ton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

definite overuse of the n-word for sure. putting that aside (as much as you can), definitely my favorite stephen king book. also different from the movie, which i watched first 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit

arihana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

kups's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

There are so many questionable things in this book. The story was wonderful though and very tense, once the story started to pick up it was hard to put down. The racism in the book and the weird sexual instances were so random though. While the racism could be explained as another way that the hotel was evil, it feels unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide attempt

michaelatrelby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Alcohol

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.75

What I enjoy about King is the character work, he does a good job in creating characters and moving them through strange settings. 

Danny - Poor kid, he really deserved better. I loved his ability to keep hoping against hope that things would turn out okay. 

Jack - Alcoholic father trying to quit drinking. I struggled with him because part of me felt bad for him while the other felt like King gave him no way out so what's the point?

Wendy - The mom who isn't used to standing up for herself or her son until the literal worst starts happening. She also didn't have many resources or anything to help her gain confidence so I can see why she had trouble with it. 

The racism, homophobia, and misogyny was all used without any kind of nuance and the constant use of the n-word was really unnecessary. 

Overall, it's not that scary, at times it's a bit silly (possessed hedges?) and what is scarier is the isolation and the mental states of the characters. 

Neither the book or movie is perfect, but together they make for something a bit more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail