Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Shining by Stephen King

35 reviews

chloeburton's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

4.5

What possessed him to put furries in this?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Racial slurs, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Misogyny and Death of parent

Minor: Racism

erica80hd's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

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

4.0

I do love Stephen King, but I struggled with this one just because I hate Jack so much. Some of the passages were very difficult to read. The book was less spooky and more just full of dread because of the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

shiftycow1313's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Car accident

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, Gore, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content

11black_cats's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

Banging read, handled the topics really well. If youve ever thought a book about family with some supernatural horror would be cool, this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

sfranklinwriting's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The way King moulds together paranormal, drama, and thriller thematics into this twisted and frankly (overall) sad tale of a mentally and emotionally tortured family is a shining example of just how masterful he is with weaving of the written word. His third person omniscient narration and the way he bleeds together the dialogue with the thoughts of Danny, Wendy, Jack, and everyone and everything around them ushers a sense of complete hysteria from the get-go. Soft at first (yet complete) only to truly spiral as the looming messages Danny’s getting only seem to correlate more with reality and (literally) conjure as they eventually move to being shut up in the Overlook (blizzard of their century comin’ for ‘em). Got to Part II and you could feel the absorption of the story pull you forward. It’s a hunk of text but man it is worth the read. Tells a horrible, awful story that (seems to) turn out right at the end…I plan on reading Doctor Sleep this year, so I’ll see how future adult Tony is doing and try to buckle up for that ride as well (hoping it’s at least HALF as good as this block). 

Now, not to be petty or misunderstanding of the era in which the movie version was created in, but after finishing (heck, when I was only about 30% done with) the book I had begun to realize that Kubrick did not even tell the HALF of the Torrance’s story. He gave us a round of incredible performances from Shelly DuVall (so effed up the way he got her into character but damn the parallels to Wendy Torrance are uncanny and I so wish they would have kept her hair blonde!), Danny Lloyd, and Jack Nicholson; but The Shining as a piece of cinema seems more like a hashed up re-telling of the full story King so carefully crafted. Something personal to Kubrick and soiled by his need to succumb to the humdrum of Hollywood’s (then) obsession to always have someone produce “the next cult classic.” 

In terms of today, I think this could be brought back and told in-full (very visually) through the lens of a limited mini series on one of these dang streaming platforms. Could be a very easy way to solidly connect it to a Doctor Sleep limited series as well. Alas, this would totally require very awesome writers and producers who would want to put in the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, and fingertips into WHOLLY honoring King’s classic tale of a failing family at the wrong place at the WRONG time(s). But for the love of all that is holy, keep out all the N words! (<<< this is my only true pet peeve with Mr. Stevie King, I can’t stand it even if it is “only to make the story authentic”)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Violence

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

Moderate: Sexism, Ableism, and Misogyny

slimshaedy92's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

I get why Stephen King hates Kubrick’s version, I really do. It has to be treated as a completely separate entity because Jack Torrance is a completely different character. I *love* this version of Jack and he has so much depth and while he still has a mountain of flaws you can see the internal battle he’s fighting through the entire book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Physical abuse and Suicide

Minor: Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

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

rtthalia's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit