Reviews

Sprengstoff by Stephen King, Richard Bachman

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robbydoinwork's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

Contains the most vivid realistic description of diarrhea that I have ever encountered

was0018's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

daisymaytwizell's review against another edition

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2.0

This has the bones of an interesting story, but oh my god the meat around them is rotting.

Dawes' average, unfulfilled but uneventful life collapses around him spectacularly, showing how fragile the veneer is around his discontent and grief. The story escalates almost outlandishly, but without too much real effort from Dawes - it could be a commentary on how easily vulnerable people can slide into an almost soap opera style kind of despair. Except it isn't that, because all of those moments are a) surrounded by nonsense details and b) explicitly stated, sometimes several times.

I'd love to cut this book down to just the interesting parts, bc the reading experience was such a slog I kept catching myself checking how much I had left to go.