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Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical content, Cannibalism, Car accident, War
Minor: Colonisation
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Biphobia, Miscarriage, Sexism, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don’t.
Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug abuse, Cannibalism
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Torture, Vomit
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual content
Minor: Miscarriage
I have to say that having now lived through a global pandemic, this book hit home all the harder, even made it seem like we all got off pretty easy. Pre-2020, I might have found this a lot less believable and emotionally engrossing than I did. The first part especially really brings you back to March 2020, when everything descended into chaos almost overnight and suddenly all the problems you had before paled in comparison to the fear and uncertainty. That chapter where King traces the spread of the superflu from the one state trooper — wasn't that all what we spent months trying to reconstruct in real life?
I recognize that the classic moral battle between good and evil that King imposes here may not be for everyone, but I found it utterly fascinating, especially against the backdrop of 20th-century America. That being said, I will add that I was rather frustrated that we never hear much about how the superflu affects the rest of the world. I get that there was no way for the characters to really find out and that this is already 1200 pages long, but I found that Americentrism as equally frustrating as I did thematically fascinating.
Okay, I know there are those out there sick of hearing me talk about Ayn Rand, but there was a lot here that honestly reminded me of Atlas Shrugged. There's that same wide, continental, truly American reach, coast to damn coast, the sanctuary in the mountains, the moral crisis at hand. Fran and Stu, I'd argue, even could have been Dagny and Rearden in their previous lives. But thankfully, here King lays off the capitalist crusade (in fact, even seems to argue against).
Let's go back to the characters, though. Stu, Fran, Larry, Glen, Nick, Tom — I loved them all so much, again in a way that's rare for me these days. I also loved how, once we got to the Free Zone, King incorporates such an array of equally vivid side characters and townspeople. This attention to character and detail, science fiction though it may be, really lent the story a sense of reality. The variety of perspectives offered in the early part, where we get a sense of everyone's pre-flu life and early experiences and loss, again reminded me of March 2020. Like the Free Zoners, we all had our own tales of plans that were cancelled and knew exactly what we were doing when we realized just how serious the virus had become.
1200 pages afford a lot of detail, but King did not waste any of it. You get every angle, every ounce of desperation, every inner struggle. Few could take on a book of this magnitude and make it work, but King sure does. It's a commitment and it can get gross, but to me, it was so worth it. Talk about a great American novel.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment
Minor: Abortion
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic