Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Carrie by Stephen King

225 reviews

mxpringle's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

I love the concept of this book and I'm a huge King fan, though I read this book and really just want to hear more about Carrie's childhood and more of a buildup to the final prom night event. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Child death

dalek_caan's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I felt like this was an interesting read from the lens of the book being a product of its time. While this may not be the view of the author himself, it is interesting that a lot of academics of the mid 20th century held that superpowers like telekinesis or the like was a plausible and almost inevitable latent human ability. I'm satisfied at having read it, but wouldn't qualify it as a must read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Fatphobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Car accident, and Miscarriage

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Gore, Physical abuse, and Torture

colin_s's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Quote:

“High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really thinks it was great unless they're beered up.”

Setting:

Taking place in Chamberlain Maine in the late 1970s we follow out main character Carrie who is a 16 year old high schooler. While our story focuses on Carrie, the town of Chamberlain is a bit of a character itself and we see several aspects of it in our short time here.

Plot:

Carrie has been bullied most of her life and we join her on one especially tough and painful bulling session. When the teacher realizes what is happen (which takes her a while at first) she jumps in and sends Carrie home while punishing those who bullied her. This leads to the bully getting upset and looking to find a way to get revenge, little does she know Carrie isn't one to mess with.

Writing:

This is the first story I've read that is epistolary in nature and at first I did not care for it at all as it can break up the flow of a story pretty badly. However towards the middle and end I started to come around as the multiple viewpoint can help the emotional pulls of certain events. Stephen King's writing as a whole is very strong for a first published novel, I look forward to reading more of both his writing and epistolary novels as well.

Characters:

Our story Follows Carrie, the books name sake, as well as her mother and several of her bullies at school. Carrie in my opinion is the only fully fleshed out character as the rest sort of fit the singular mold needed for the plot. However Sue Snell, one of the bullies who tries to repent does start to become fleshed out more towards the second half of the book.

Pros:

Very quick read

Rich writing style

Cons:

Constant flipping viewpoint slows action

Fairly one dimensional characters

Recommendation:

First off this book doesn't exactly feel like a first published work. Stephen King's writing is very strong and unique way of telling this story helps it out a lot. I'd often heard that Stephen King doesn't know how or when to end a story and while the ending of Carrie isn't anything to write home about, it certainly doesn't leave you upset either. I strongly recommend this book and plan to read more Stephen King for sure as time permits.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Child abuse and Miscarriage

detroitsouthwestlover's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

TW: for n-word and strong religious themes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Self harm, Murder, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Physical abuse

traceyanderson's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, and Murder

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Miscarriage

venusdapoopiehead's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

not to excuse murder and all but im glad carrie did what she did and got her revenge, she was pushed to her breaking point and had enough, and honestly i would do the same thing. shame on all of them for continuing to bully a teenage girl who was very clearly being abused at home by her insane religious mother, shame. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Bullying

Moderate: Toxic relationship

11black_cats's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Really good book, loved how there were bits from fictional newspapers and informative books cut in there. Going inside people's heads was really cool as well.
I took off half a star because I thought that some of the mentions of breasts were a bit needed - like I get the thing about dirty pillows but do we need to know about Sue Snell's 'firm breasts'? I don't think so?
Loved it anyway though.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Minor: Misogyny and Sexual assault

tylerismisfit's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Animal death