Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

6 reviews

pholcidae's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Aside from the casual racism (using outdated terms for Native American people and unnecessarily bringing people’s skin colour to attention), a near-flawless book.

The story is paced perfectly and I have been reading it nonstop. The author’s use of language to create suspense and terror is reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 

This was my first King novel and I think it was the perfect one to start on! Very tense and lots of fun easter eggs in there :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Murder, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, War, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Excrement, Dementia, Misogyny, Sexism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Religious bigotry

ddspirittt's review

mysterious 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

0.25

It is the most expository, dull, and boring book I have ever read. I was thankful to avoid any and all plot points before picking this up, but it was so predictable! I got so excited to see where it would go because of that.

Then I read. And read. Read. And read. Read some more. Read. The end.

People keep recommending this as the "scariest" story by King. But if the emotional payoff or lack thereof is "scary" to some, then dear lord, go read some more. The action at the end was neither suspenseful nor emotional but laughable.

Part two could be interesting, but this was the biggest letdown and snoozefest of a book ever. I don't want to read King again because of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Murder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, and Cursing

ycboots's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

This book was certainly written in 1983, and readers should be aware of that when going in--ymmv on the amount you can handle of typical Stephen King misogyny (though I personally found it on the lesser side of the scale of "grating" in his books), + as you can imagine, there are issues with his handling of native mythology and peoples (

of course we have the classic "indian burial ground" as a key plot element, though I found it less egregious than it might have been due to the micmac people being just one people who came across this awful place over time, and a wendigo, or the idea of one, is present. From my understanding, folks with the wendigo as a part of their cultural story do not generally approve of the use of this figure by outsiders, especially in a horror/shock value context

). 

That aside (a phrase I use not to dismiss concerns--you may very well be unable to accept those things and need not do so), as a work of storytelling this book is fantastic and one of my favorites. Horrifying, meaningful and emotional, satisfying. It isn't fast paced, if that's your thing (if you have read other longer King books, like The Shining or It, you'll find it about the same in terms of pace), but it builds tension and slowly plants its story in a very skillful, horrifying way. At several moments I felt nauseous from the dawning horror of what was inevitably going to come, and once you know of this inevitability, the story doesn't lose its suspense, its horror, or its shock. If you like to watch a story come together, it is definitely satisfying in that way, and if you enjoy horror relying more on a slow building dread than sudden shock, I think this is excellent for that.

I found what it has to say about death and grief, as well as our small place in the universe, very meaningful. I like that King is (not always, but very often!) able to go to very emotional places about the meaning of life, death, and age (considering both children and the very old especially), without getting so sentimental it cuts off the impact of the horror or keeps him from facing very bleak and terrible places. 

Overall, I think this may be my favorite of his books so far. Many lines and images will stick with me for some time. Stephen King has his faults, for sure, but the thing about him is despite them, damn him, he's a really good writer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny and Alcohol

megselyane's review

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Violence, Mental illness, Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexism, Misogyny, Vomit, and Sexual content

aliciaroy19's review against another edition

dark

2.5

I'm disappointed in this book because it was fine. People had hyped this book and I was like okay. 

The atmosphere of the book is good and my favourite scene

was when Louis brought Church up to the pet sematry in the dark of night and Jud is acting almost possessed while something is watching them. Which now having read a few King books, creating an atmosphere is one of his strengths.

Meanwhile, the friendship between Jud and Louis was also well written and interesting. I liked the scenes with them just talking. And the pet sematary is an interesting concept (though the Indian Burial ground trope is a bad trope).  

However, I can help but think Louis secretly hates Rachel, at least he doesn't respect his wife, which made the narration tedious and a reason why it took over a month to finish this book. I understand that Rachel doesn’t have a healthy relationship with death and sometimes that fear caused her to make stupid decisions, but I found her husband only showed annoyance with her. Too much of the narration was of Louis complaining about his wife. This couple should divorce. 

I also wished that it was Ellie who died instead of Gage because Louis and Ellie had a strong relationship. They had a lot of scenes together and I could tell they loved each other as Gage was just the toddler in the background. The emotional impact of Ellie’s death would have hit hard. Instead, we had one chapter where Louis and Gage hang out that ends with too bad this would be their last day together.

 

And the random line about being a family doctor isn’t all breast exams and gynecology made me close the book. Though, Louis’ casual misogyny does explain why he dislikes his wife. 

In the end, I do have one question, how the hell did they get that bull up there? And how was it buried? Because Jud couldn’t help Louis while he brought a cat because their owner has to be the one to do that work, so how did the bull work?

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Animal death

Minor: Misogyny and Racism

prathamaparab's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

3.25

Not scary enough and this is coming from someone who is petrified at the slightest tone of horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Terminal illness, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Death