Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

136 reviews

emimcmanis's review against another edition

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

cwgonzales's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Wasn’t expecting to be so annihilated by

the death of a small child that doesn’t heed a parent’s call to stop running before getting plastered to the road by a truck

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Grief, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

corpseuscollision's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Drug use

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

moonbury's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, and Child death

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

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

ee_comins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Gore, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty