Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Joyland by Stephen King

10 reviews

adiajamille's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I was looking for a horror book for October, and all the ones I wanted were checked out. I found this one and thought I’d give it a try. 

This is more a murder mystery with a little bit of a ghost story. It built up nicely, with a tense conclusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Ableism, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

carlytenille's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Classism, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

aleesquer's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

Pros:

• I love a good coming of age story
• Ghosts
• Setting (amusement park). Very involved in learning the new lingo and how to work there. Immersive and interesting

Cons:

• Predictable (had very few genuine surprises)
• The way the background characters of color are treated is... not ideal.
• Boy howdy, does King not write women well. Jesus christ. 
• That one "gallant men rarely getting pussy" line 🤮

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Rape, Sexual content, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death, Grief, and Medical content

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

4.0

A quick-ish murder mystery with dark undertones. 

I really enjoyed this one, as per usual for King it is heavily character driven, until the last 50 pages when everything happens. We get to really know the main character, Dev, we spend time with him and get down into his soul. We follow him the summer he really grew up, even though he's 21, and watch him go from a whiney infatuated boy to a strong and kind man. A wonderful small theme park, with the colorful cast of characters that brings in, serves as a delightful background. But as per standard, things arent what they seem. A touch of ghost, a touch of sociopath, and a good ol' southern woman with a gun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Ableism, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Rape

stampest's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• 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

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Sexism, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gore, Pregnancy, Ableism, and Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

pkc's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

soobooksalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

There's a reason Stephen King is the master.
 I've read a couple of handfuls of his books over the years, tending toward the well-knowns and classics - Carrie, IT, The Shining, Misery, The Green Mile. On the newer side, the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, 11/22/63 and The Outsider. 
 But Joyland. What an excellent addition to an already-impressive list.
 It's 1973, and Devin Jones is on summer break from college and on the cusp of his first heartbreak. He takes a job at the amusement park Joyland, and all at once makes friends while learning of the park's dark history. Four years prior, Linda Grey was killed by a suitor in the Horror House and he has never been found.
 As King is so ept at doing, he sews together elements of mystery with emotional coming-of-age and a skiff of the supernatural. 
 There are some amazing characters here, and this novel hit me on the perfect level of intrigue and heartstrings. 
 Recommended!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

werewolvesnotswearwolves's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stephen king has the unique ability to give you the very essence of a character in just one sentence. With a single phrase, mannerism or stance his characters are living, breathing people in the readers mind.

This same skill is also translated to King's locations and settings. With Joyland, its name alone tells us this is an amusement park clinging on from a bygone age, we can picture the peeling paint and the tired costumes of the knock off characters. We can feel the irony and smell the desperation.

This incredible efficiency is clever, it's impactful and engrossing. It works incredibly well for King in all of his works but in a novella like Joyland it ensures that you still get the full novel experience in a much shorter read. Note: the copy I read had 178 pages.

Joyland is a spooky mystery about murder, heartbreak, grief and belonging. Like it's amusement park, Joyland is sad and old school but with a pure soul. It deserves so much more recognition amongst King's amazing back catalogue.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts