Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Misery by Stephen King

54 reviews

laurataylor's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, and Torture

jossywright's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

5.0

Very good descriptive writing of pain which makes you really understand it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Addiction, Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

finn_vibing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Addiction, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Car accident, Cursing, Animal death, Self harm, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and Death of parent

katiejackson's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I've read a lot of King books, and I have to say, this one is by far one of the best ones I've read so far. I'd say it's now in my top five King books. Unbelievably tense, atmospheric and sad. I've noticed a recurring theme in the books I've his that I've loved, all of them are about an author. Annie is one of the most terrifying unhinged characters I have ever read about, but at the same time, it made her incredibly interesting to read about. I was so tense the whole time reading it I couldn't put it down! So good in a morbid kind of way. One of his best written works to date. Do yourself a favour, if you want isolated, uncomfortable, sad, tense, atmospheric psychological horror, pick this book up as soon as possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Body horror, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

redheadbookgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t even know where to start with reviewing this. I had to leave a day to collect my thoughts together. Although I’ve watched a lot of his movies, this was my first Stephen King novel and it’s kind of exactly what I expected based off his movies.. I felt like I was the one high on drugs reading this (probably not helped by the fact I kept reading this before sleeping after night shifts!)

I found the first third slower in pace and it took me a while to get into the story, but the tension and suspense soon ramped up, and I flew through the rest of the pages on the edge of my seat. 

This was a fascinating and unique plot, in that the entirety was based in one location with only two characters, which added to the feeling of captivity Paul felt. Annie was a truly chilling character; written brilliantly, she was unpredictable, unhinged and depraved, switching within seconds so that the anxiety and fear Paul felt around her was palpable. 

Overall, a dark and chilling story, with a lot of violent + gory scenes (some of which I had to take a second away from), which I did enjoy but which left me with one question.. after all that suspense and build-up, WHAT was that ending!? Is this a King thing? I never understand the endings of any of his stories🤯

𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒚 @ 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 🥀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Drug abuse

storyorc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• 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

4.5

When Steven King wants you to be uncomfortable, you will be uncomfortable. Biggest (pleasant) surprise is that this is a more compelling insight into Steven King's thoughts on writing than his actual memoir, On Writing.

Annie and Paul are forever showing us new layers, making Misery a page-turning character study despite the slim cast. Both are at times repulsive, sometimes even while being relatable, and at times impressive. Annie's fickle moods are a curiosity and a terror in themselves; she deserves to be on all the villain toplists for depth and depravity both.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Torture, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child death and Animal cruelty

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• 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

i felt like i was personally being tortured while reading this 

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Content Warnings

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

vercopaanir's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

Some of the language definitely reflects the fact that this was written in 1985 and it felt kinda weird.  I wouldn’t consider this a scary book, but it’s definitely horrifying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence

ems_booked's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

This book could’ve been 100 pages and I would’ve gotten just as much from it. The writing is very lyrical but it doesn’t need to be. There is no real backstory to justify any of Annie’s actions making her feel more impulsive in a childlike way than scary. Honestly I was either grossed out or bored through the whole book…I have loved thrillers before and I really wanted to like SK but since this is my second try I think maybe I just don’t vibe with his writing🤷🏼‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Car accident, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Violence, Medical trauma, Torture, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Animal cruelty, Murder, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape