Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Stand by Stephen King

22 reviews

muzik_izak1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

I don't have any words to express how happy I am to finally finish this book. I love King's writing but this was insanity. The sure length of the book was intimidating enough. But the story did not disappoint. From the first second of craziness to the somewhat twist ending, I was enthralled in this story. There were some boring parts, but there always are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, and Racial slurs

mxpringle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Best Stephen King novel of all time. It was so masterful and complex and I think that I'll be thinking about this book for a long long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gore, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Self harm, Racial slurs, Racism, Ableism, Car accident, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, Body horror, Cursing, Miscarriage, Murder, Vomit, Genocide, Infidelity, Sexism, Cannibalism, Medical content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer and Drug use

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

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

I actually enjoyed part of what I read, but things are starting to get too weird. Also, I like the descriptions, but I can't stand the dialogue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

amgfleh's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Death

ripxw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

yodamordecai's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

One of my top three Stephen King books. It did drag a bit(over 1000 pages) but I overall enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction and Trafficking

ggcd1981's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A primeira obra de Stephen King que li foi um de seus contos, mas The stand é o primeiro livro completo de King que leio. Iniciei um pouco intimidada pelo tamanho, também tinha escutado que os finais de King não são bons. Em geral iniciei com cautela. Contudo a história era intrigante, especialmente por lê-la durante a quarentena de COVID. Apesar de ser um livro extenso em nenhum momento me senti entediada com o enredo ou escrita. Não me apeguei a todos os personagens, mas tive meus preferidos (Tom Cullen e Kojak entraram na minha lista de personagens a serem protegidos a qualquer custo).
Minha maior crítica é que somos apresentados a diversos personagens, mas ao final não sabemos o real destino de muitos deles. Também retiraria a última cena do livro que a meu ver foi desnecessaria.
Bom, em resumo, do meu ponto de vista, se Stephen King é conhecido por não ter bons finais para suas obras eu excluíria The stand dessa lista. O final do conflito foi o melhor possível para a situação que se configurou na narrativa. Colocaria The stand na lista de "Bons finais" de Stephen King.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, and Child death

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction

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