Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Carrie by Stephen King

16 reviews

eva_rebolledo's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

Not necessarily bad, just gets boring at times. Reading Stephen King in English as a non-native speaker was.. an experience?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Blood

Moderate: Death

Minor: Animal death, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, Miscarriage, and Rape

readwithkel's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was underwhelming. 

I like Stephen King but this was just an awkward read. The format is super weird and just didn’t appeal to me. 

This is the rare case where I’d say the movie is better. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape and Child abuse

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

planetshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

This writing layout is strange and dense, and I can't decide whether I like it.

I’m always upset when I think about Carrie. Her experience on this planet was so fucked.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Racial slurs

miachimochi's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Self harm, Blood, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

sassyshark's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

0.75

The book was not worth the paper it was written on—and I read the e-book.

Oh god, where to start. 

The plot, was fine. A little predictable, but I suppose that lended itself towards the psychological horror aspects. For the first half the new articles were interrupting, abrupt, waste of words, highly ineffective as a method of transition, and insultingly repetitive. In the second half they helped illustrate the story, but were still thrown in seemingly at random and rather abruptly.

It is yet another book reducing the high school experience to bullying, PE, and prom. With some trauma to add some salt to this bland book.

The characters, are all 2D. The mother was such a stereotypical, almost cartoonish, villain that she lost all humanization. Ultimately reducing the drama and unnerving feelings that should have come

when the mom and Carrie snapped, as it felt like the inevitable conclusion—not that any person was capable of thrusting someone into a phycological break. I had the same problem with Chris, she was never humanized so you feel like she was getting her just desserts.

The writing style is a thing. I felt like I was on drugs. Between the seemingly random gaggle of words King has thrown in and the hyper sexualization of any women I am throughly disgusted. Not in a good look-at-the-epitome-of-horror way, but a in a why-are-you-mentioning-her-boobs-for-the-fourth-time-in-a-page way. (Even in necessary actions, like walking, are full of cruel descriptions and hyper sexualized. For example, from page 13 “Carrie stood swaying between the showers and the wall with its dime sanitary-napkin dispenser, slumped over, breasts pointing at the floor, her arms dangling limply. She looked like an ape.“ Let’s keep in mind Carrie is 16.) Even if one ignores the befuddling misrepresentation of how periods function (people with uteri, if you are bleeding that much on your first please speak to medical professional), the spaghetti-wall approach of words will make sure you stay confused. Now I must mention, I am absolutely enamored when authors use unnecessarily ostentatious words just because they ought to be used, if they are used correctly. King flips between a third grade vocabulary and words that would make an English college professor proud, seemingly at random. But this college professor would be appalled at the blatant disregard for the words’ definitions. 

I am genuinely concerned for the horror genre if he is heralded as one of the best writers.

Furthermore King has the audacity to claim this a feminist book, because it has a strong female character. When juxtaposed with sentences like this: “She had bought a special brassiere to go with it, which gave her breasts the proper uplift (not that they actually needed it) but left their top halves uncovered.” That claim is appalling, and

mass murder

is not a “strong” way to deal with your problems.

To summarize, the plot was decent, but stuttering, the characters have personalities akin to a slightly salted wet cabbage, and King would greatly benefit from a female beta reader and a dictionary. Particularly if the female beta reader whacked him with the dictionary for every misused word or hyper sexualized action (but that would cause excessive brain damage). 

The one good thing I can say is I have never had such hate based fixation on a book. I dragged my psyche kicking, screaming, and begging to be sent to hell—as it would be less torturous—through the book, just so I could say this was not a half-baked review. And so begins and ends my foray with Stephen King.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

lavieenrose's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Abortion

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Excrement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Alcohol