Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Stand by Stephen King

23 reviews

ocean_the_reader's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Thus started off really promising and it sounded like it'd be a great pandemic type of book. But at some point (probably when groups started gathering) it switched to being about good vs evil in this world that the survivors had to remake. And I really didn't like that. Because the superflu and all that seemed almost forgotten.

also didn't like the ending with Mother Abigail dying and the evil dude/person/thing (his story was kinda confusing) showed that he was alive and continuing his shit with a new group of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Drug use

snowypineapples's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a very good book, the story and plot and journey were incredible, thought provoking and interesting. However the conclusion to the plot is rather silly:

the literal hand of God appears in the sky

 
The silliness really ruined that part of the boom for me and although I loved the majority, there was lots of areas, not just that, where the boom felt like a chore to read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Miscarriage, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Ableism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Infertility, Sexual violence, War, Death, and Drug abuse

aparizo704's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I chose an interesting time to read this, considering present society is battling a “super flu” of our own. I couldn’t help likening the first two parts to forebodings of Nostradamus

(Naturally, I don’t believe COVID was manufactured as a weapon of biowarfare and turned loose by the military

). I won’t gloss over King’s use of racial slurs and the novel’s nearly complete sanitization of non-White survivors from the plot (it’s glaringly obvious), but I will acknowledge the zeitgeist of the time the book was published (no surprises - this is our parents’s generation, after all). The character tropes that eventually manifest themselves act as devices to further along the plot - chiefly to serve the main protagonists, with little exploration of the personal development afforded to most of the founding Zone members. The point could be made about any PoC almost exclusively, but the same goes for Tom Cullen and Nick. Their “before” story, would have been as insightful as Frannie, Harold, Stu, and Larry - especially considering how key they were to saving every soul in Boulder. Despite how critical I appear, I appreciated the extended edition and can’t imagine reading this through without the sections cut from King’s original manuscript. It’s a worthy cautionary tale, which suggests the answer to a question about humanity I believe we know the truth of deep in our hearts, but continue to hope for despite our record on Earth. Hoping is as natural as breathing for us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Ableism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cursing, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Addiction, Death of parent, Child death, and Drug abuse

ktdakotareads's review

adventurous dark slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

⚠️ TW: racism, ableism, sexism, suicide, drug use, death, violence, murder, rape, cannibalism, graphic content ⚠️ Wow this is one hell of read and I was obsessed with it, when I was reading I couldn't put it down and when I did I couldn't stop thinking about it. It is one of those that is so hard to review without spoilers. This book is about a pandemic caused by a virus called the superflu that wipes out the majority of the population and how the survivors live in a post-apocalyptic America. However, not everything is as it seems and as always there is good and evil in the world fighting side by side to rein supreme but with new societies of both popping up they will not only need to rebuild their societies and lives but will need to take on biblical feats fuelled by ominous dreams whilst fighting for what they believe in. This book is incredible. It is a rollercoaster that plumbs the hopes and fears of the world with unnerving accuracy into every chapter (possibly even more so post-c*vid) and makes you really think about moral and ethical matters. This is one huge chonky boy of a book but I definitely recommend giving it a read. The book follows multiple povs and a lot of characters from all across America and it can be slightly overwhelming at times to keep track of them but it really is worth your full undivided attention because King works his magic and weaves an incredibly compelling and page turning story. And just like when I read 11.22.63 I would be quite happy if this book had another few hundred pages (yes, even though this is the long version), especially at the end iykyk 👀 Overall, I highly recommend reading this book and it is definitely one of my favourites so far this year!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Suicide, Murder, Rape, Drug use, Death, Violence, Sexism, and Cannibalism

traceyanderson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, and Sexual violence

jennifer8632d's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Cannibalism, Violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing

tatitos's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

dont_stop_meow's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

How has Stephen King not been cancelled? I don't agree with cancel culture, but in today's culture, how has  Stephen King not been called out for the sheer number of blatant n words he uses? I'm baffled that nobody has cried out for this book to be removed from shelves, not just for the use of racial slurs, but also of homophobic terminologies. 
This will be the last Stephen King book I'm tempted to read. He's gross and I'm done with him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Violence

kryan1's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-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: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Gore, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use, Child death, and Child abuse