Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

25 reviews

elmcee's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Torture, Alcohol, and Addiction

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

spaceykate's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-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

despite my initial misgivings about this being a s.king book, i actually found myself really enjoying it. there are a LOT of references - some oblique, some literally spelled out and quoted (from fairy tales to modern movies to even a name drop of obama) - but i'm a nerd who absolutely loves linking things to other things i already know, so i got over it. although s.king reaaaaally drawing out the jack in the beanstalk and rumpelstiltskin metaphors for 600 pages did get a tick tiring.

part of me was a little "meh" about

an outsider coming in to save the royal family / the world from physical disabilities and his greatest success was not having any disabilities plus being a good ol' midwestern farm boy who was good at football, combined with certain individuals having to "overcome" their disabilities to reach true character potential... it just felt a little eeeeeh to me as someone who has struggled with hearing loss, like damn guess i need a perfectly "whole" human to save the day or to magically somehow overcome my disability to kill my demons /eyeroll

. i really liked charlie's whole "i'm a dark boy" internal narrative because 1) it was funny. this kid is like, 17. from bumfuck illinois. it's not hard to rise to the top when you've only got like 150 kids in your graduating class. and he's so fucking serious because he had to grow up too fast and it's like goddamn whiplash to read a book about a kid who would be your age in your timeline dealing with this shit but also talking about touching boobs. lmao and 2) finally! an idiot (affectionate) protag who thinks they're an antihero! much better than the alternative. it definitely endeared me to his character more that he thought he didn't deserve any of this opportunity to experience and save another world beneath ours, that his past made him unworthy and he had to hold up an imaginative bargain that was never decided upon except in his soul. 

i feel a little cheated because the cover definitely looks like a dragon eye and we didn't really get a dragon in this book (fight me, that one scene was not equivalent - it was an eldritch being) but! i forgive s.king.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Ableism

i need to make this absolutely clear: the dog does not die in this book. IT GETS KINDA DICEY in a few spots but the dog survives the whole book.

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Fantastical. Magical. Unbelievable. Amazing. Wondrous. Delightful. While this isn’t a book I would normally chose, I absolutely fell in love with a young man named Charlie and the pet he didn’t choose but came to love anyway. Too complex for me to even give a synopsis of, I’d just say if you want to read a book about adventure, read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Addiction, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Body horror, Cancer, Murder, Rape, Bullying, Death of parent, and Violence

mitziatratum's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Ableism

halonoid1's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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: Alcoholism, Violence, and Ableism

Moderate: Sexual content

twistykris's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

As a disclaimer, I listened to the ~24-hour audiobook, read by Seth Numrich and Stephen King. For my neurodivergent baddies who have a hard time focusing with audiobooks: try listening at 1.3-1.5x speed. It SINCERELY helped me get through the long patches of King's tendency to go into almost too great detail.

I enjoyed both "parts" of this book, although they had very different vibes. Part one with Charlie and Mr. Bowditch and Radar was wonderful. I loved watching the blossoming, unlikely friendship between a 17-year old and a grumpy old man with a loving, protective dog. It felt very wholesome and heartwarming, until Mr. Bowditch's death, at which point, the magical, fairy tale elements are introduced.

About 40% of the way through the book, I felt like the pacing was off. I almost DNF'd the book merely because I felt it was a case of reading a book at the wrong time (I was on vacation and thought a long audiobook would help with the plane rides.. I almost dozed off on the plane instead). I truly enjoyed the second half, once things picked up, and I consumed the last 30% of the book within a day or so. King does a great job with world-building and it was very easy to connect with Charlie and the characters in Empis.

Along with some of the pacing, I also had issue with the way Charlie spoke. I'm not opposed to swearing or vulgar language but 
1. Charlie does NOT sound like someone born in 1996 (the emphasis on why Charlie say "awesome sauce" is just.. bizarre? I was born in 1990 and this didn't seem like a common phrase used, let alone one I would want to translate in another world)
2. The sexualization is just.. so ridiculous in some of King's novels, and this one is no exception. I get it, Charlie is a 17-year old, and "boys only think about sex", but the fact Charlie describes the breasts of different characters (ones he's attracted to or not) is just.. so weird to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Violence, Death of parent, and Cursing

Moderate: Confinement and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism

viceabbess's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Despite some ableism found in the villains (especially in how ugly appearances are equated with ugly personalities) and some of the reversal of the curse hinges on some disabilities being somewhat reverted, this book is still a dark, exciting reminder that sacrifice and loss of innocence is essential to creating a happy ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Gore, Alcoholism, Alcohol, War, Blood, Torture, Violence, Death, Addiction, Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, and Excrement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Medical content, Car accident, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Animal death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Bullying

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

Be prepared for decaying bodies, half-dead soldiers, and said soldiers exploding. There is also some ableism in terms of how little people are treated in the text.

heyimberbie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This was my first Stephen King novel and I wouldn’t say this book was for me, but I do think it was really good. 
The writing, the characters, the dog, it was purely an adventure.
I feel as though I would have enjoyed Fairy Tale more if I was well versed in traditional fairy tales to begin with, which I’m not. So, as someone who’s never read the true fairy tales that don’t necessarily end in a happily ever after like Disney does, I thought this book was really good.
I liked the high stakes fantasy while also being able to relate to Charlie Reade, the main character. It was pretty easy to understand what was going on, and for the annotators out there, this book was fun to take notes on and theorize about what would happen throughout.
My main problem with this book, is I feel like it could be shorter. I love long books, but as long as the length is necessary, not just full of fluff.
Like, for instance, this book’s chapters are each at least 50 mins-1 hour long, and we don’t get to even meet Mr. Bowditch until chapter 10 or see any real adventure until up to chapter 20.
So I think there could definitely be some editing somewhere to make the chapters much shorter and events happen more sooner.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the book, but I don’t think I’ll be reading it again. And as as someone living on a very low income, I don’t like that it cost $16 just for the ebook version. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Sexual content

Ableism: there is a brief mention of a ‘prank’ pulled on a disabled man that is very sad and could be triggering to those that have physical disabilities Sexual Content: I was a little uncomfortable with the main character, who is a 17 year old boy, having sex. Even though it’s a very brief mention, there really was no need for it. To me it seemed like it was just a plot device.

The reason why I say that it is just a plot device is because Charlie is rewarded with sex as a thank you/celebration for Empis being saved and the story didn’t need it whatsoever. I thought that was rather icky because Stephen King, a 75 year old man, writes a 17 year old kid having sex whenever Fairy Tale isn’t even a romance/hardly has any romantic relationships in the book anyways. Plus, the person who has sex with Charlie isn’t even a main character in the story and hardly has any shining moments whatsoever, so there wasn’t any point. Like why couldn’t this character just say thank you?

lukerik's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

1.0

Just awful. 

The protagonist grows up as a hero with one of a thousand faces, but only begins to realise it when he discovers a portal to a fairy tale world in an old man’s shed. The opening’s actually pretty good. Quite meta, but not too much. 

The problems begin when he goes through the portal and finds himself in the flimsiest, dullest fantasy world world you could imagine. OK, fine: it’s not as bad as Wizard and Glass, but not far off. An undeveloped world is fine in a real fairy tale, but this is a 600 page novel that needs to be a short story. So boring. I actually had to skip a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Violence, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail