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bella613's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence
Moderate: Excrement, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Gun violence
missy_ruth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Excrement, Violence, Confinement, Torture, and Cursing
the_true_monroe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Body horror, Animal death, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Gun violence and Kidnapping
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Addiction
alyssapusateri's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Car accident
Minor: Rape, Sexism, Racial slurs, Excrement, Alcohol, Racism, Misogyny, Vomit, and Antisemitism
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Medical content, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Body horror, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Death, Rape, Gaslighting, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Eating disorder, Car accident, Vomit, Sexism, Murder, Racism, Alcoholism, and Racial slurs
Minor: Death of parent, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Gun violence
chuckyinspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Stalking, Physical abuse, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Gore, Self harm, Addiction, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Death, Animal death, Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Car accident
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Abandonment, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Ableism, Misogyny, Excrement, Vomit, Torture, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Gun violence, Car accident, and Cursing
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
kendalsbookcase's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Mental illness, Torture, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Murder
Minor: Sexism and Misogyny
miky_recensioniburde's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Car accident, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Kidnapping, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
frankiejo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Now, in another novel (written by a different authour—no shade to King, but I feel like he's shown that racism isn't a topic he covers well, I'll get to why in a moment) this could be used to examine the often racist aspects of toxic fandom. This is not that novel. Annie's racism seems to be a trait added to her slapdash in order to make her More Evil. It's not necessary. By the point she says the n-word, she's already (MAJOR SPOILERS)
I'm gonna be honest, that's the main reason I rated this 4 stars. Without the aforementioned things, it would be an easy 5. Maybe that sounds overzealous, I don't know. It just really bothered me while I was reading, and also this is my review so. Yeah.
As for the good stuff, there's a lot of it.
Like I said before, Misery is more poignant now than it was before, largely because of the advent of social media further thinning the veil between our lives and the lives of celebrities. I would hate to touch the masterpiece that is Kathy Bates' Annie, but part of me wants to see a reimagining of Misery set in the modern day. Imagine an Annie with access to Paul's Instagram DMs...brrrrr.
Paul himself is a great protagonist. The whole novel, I was raging at his captor and pleading for his rescue to come sooner. He begs to be rooted for. I don't know a better way to phrase it—he's perhaps not the most layered character, but that's okay. Annie more than makes up for it, enough that I can't get to it all here, and he's likable enough to make up for his relative lack of depth. Besides, his journey from being completely dependent on Novril and hardly able to move to (MAJOR SPOILERS)
Finally, the novel contains many intriguing thoughts on writing. I can't share them all, although I wish I could, so I'll leave you with my favourite:
[...] the increasing dismissal of his work in the critical press as that of a 'popular writer' (which was, as he understood it, one step — a small one — above that of a 'hack') had hurt him quite badly. It didn't jibe with his self-image as a Serious Writer who was only churning out these shitty romances in order to subsidize his (flourish of trumpets, please!) REAL WORK! Had he hated Misery? Had he really? If so, why had it been so easy to slip back into her world? No, more than easy; blissful, like slipping into a warm bath with a good book by one hand and a cold beer by the other. Perhaps all he had hated was the fact that her face on the dust jackets had overshadowed his in his author photographs, not allowing the critics to see that they were dealing with a young Mailer or Cheever here — that they were dealing with a heavyweight here. As a result, hadn't his 'serious fiction' become steadily more self conscious, a sort of scream? Look at me! Look how good this is! Hey, guys! This stuff has got a sliding perspective! This stuff has got stream-of-consciousness interludes! This is my REAL WORK, you assholes! Don't you DARE turn away from me!
Seems to parallel real world reaction to King's work—that his horror is just meaningless genre fiction (just ignore the heavy emotional themes in books like Pet Sematary and Doctor Sleep) and his non-horror work is True Art. All your writing is "Real Writing," no matter if it's a fluffy romance or the next 1984.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Blood
Moderate: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Cursing, Gaslighting, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Cannibalism, Excrement, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Elaboration on a couple of the triggers: