Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

76 reviews

truckasaurusb's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Medical content, Death, Blood, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal cruelty

lecheeese's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

A study in the hold grief can have on a person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Cursing, and Gaslighting

joelypop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Cursing, Murder, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Animal death, Child death, and Torture

emimcmanis's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism and Excrement

lmm0's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This is the first Stephen King book I’ve read - I listened to a short story a couple weeks ago (2 hour audiobook), but besides that, I’m still a newcomer to his works. I decided to listen to the audiobook when one of the hosts of Book Talk etc said it was narrated by Michael C Hall - Dexter Morgan? Seriously? Sign me up.

I particularly liked that the author’s note was at the beginning, and it discussed how absolutely haunted King was by this book. To the point where he put it in a drawer when he was finished, seeming to be in disbelief with what he just wrote/completed. I felt like that hooked me before the chapter 1 even started. It truly holds a dark and twisted message - one that is sure to resonate deeply with those who are familiar with grief and loss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Suicidal thoughts

luisaveras's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, Murder, and Chronic illness

Minor: Cultural appropriation

kathleenwho's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

3 stars because, like any other King novel, I could not put it down. Only 3 because this is maybe my least favourite so far - the build-up was suspenseful and well-written, but very long compared to the climax, which was a bit disappointing and cringey.  

There is a lot of outdated language and ideas with regards to Native American cultures, disability, and chronic and terminal illness - mostly in-character for the time and culture of the story, but still jarring. 

Particularly strong book for King's weird horny comparisons that seem completely inappropriate, e.g.

describing hills in a graveyard while the main character is digging up his son's grave as being "as natural and beautiful as a woman's breasts."

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Terminal illness, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

itsjustgrumpy's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

The concept of the Wendigo and the 'sematary' is great... but the slow and laboured execution and anticlimactic ending really soured this book for me. I had to listen at x1.5 to actually finish it. Meh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol

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

drybay's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Horror hasn't been my genre, but this book might have changed that. The horror setting was just a place to handle the themes of loss and grief which was done beautifully. Also the slowly built suspence was great. A really good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and Colonisation