Reviews

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

chelseachips's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

oodadoo's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

chimps's review against another edition

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Too slow

sarahrheawerner's review against another edition

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3.0

YOU GUYS. I read Bag of Bones and I was really glad I did. And not just because it was gripping and compelling, etc., but because it’s about a writer and the struggles all writers face.

It’s also about ghosts and lucid dreams and a truly disturbing custody battle.

I won’t give any spoilers here — part of the pleasure of reading this book, of course, is all the twists and turns it takes as it unfolds. But I think you will enjoy the exploration of grief and what it means to be haunted — not only by literal ghosts, but by memories and hidden histories and resounding echoes of lost talents.

Get the full review in Episode 015 of the Write Now podcast! I hope you enjoy it.

danixwrites's review against another edition

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3.0

I wanted to rate this higher, the plot was good, but I have found that in King’s detailed writing style, he kind of takes away from what should be a pretty terrifying book. I teetered back and forth and I’m settling on 3 stars. This is a paranormal story, I am a CHICKEN, & the spooky stuff was the easy parts to get through.
The plot is so good, the story should be amazing, but SK has the tendency to drone on and on about nothing and it really takes away from the story and my attention started to drift a bit.
If you like Stephen King, this is gonna be a 5 star for you.

Long chapters, long-winded thought processes on the main character’s part (that shouldn’t make sense with the fast paced environment that he is usually in) & so detailed it might physically hurt a bit.

Plenty of TRIGGER WARNINGS to go around:


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- Paranormal activity
- child violence (drownings)
- semi vivid rape
- kidnapping
- gore & gun violence
- suicidal ideation
- racism from the true antagonists

amybrooklyn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

joe_couture's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

emmiemopho's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

my “Whyyyy stephenn???” List:

Bag of Bones 1998 
-referring to a child as being an exotic taste
-“Breasts” 
-His classic racism towards Japanese people 
-The way he mansplains what masturbation is 
-Blue balling 
-His sex scenes take me out 
-The question of “did I rape the 5 year old?” In his sleep and wasn’t necessarily upset about it 
-The list of all the things you can (and shouldn’t) call a black man 
-At first screws his wife and then R’s her corpse in dreamland 
-V.C. Andrews is regarded as his professional enemy (interesting) 
-Mal-formed Dwarves might turn him on? Was that a joke? Why was that placed during a fantasy thought??? 
-He always has a tangent about fat people 
-Women in need of help are to be sexualized completely. 
-“Stroking” 
-Just some other proof the main character is him: MC talks about naming the book he’s writing “bag of bones”. 
-Regains a trust point: MC does not like black people being called bad words-although is this black people generally done or is it specific to the band he likes so much? So maybe not so much of a trust point.
-Over half way and he mentions something the little girl says sounds Vietnamese & exotic
-Whenever someone mentions how young the MC’s crush is, he imagines her in a vulgar way and seems to have an obsession with her being just above legal. 

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ludacrystal414's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm in a book coma. I think this one is going to stick with me for a long time. It might take me awhile to get into one of Mr. King's books, but once I'm in, I'm hooked. Bag of Bones is a must read if you're a fan- and even if you're not. Great story. So glad I pushed through the first 50 pages.

smiths2112's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.5