Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Stand by Stephen King

52 reviews

xcinnamonsugar's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

According to my Kobo, it took me 20 reading hours to finish this tome. I've DNF-ed books a fraction of The Stand's length without hesitation, so yes this book is engaging enough to stick to despite being over 1000 pages long (I read the uncut/extended version). 

The Stand is divided into three parts:

• Book I sets the stage. A deadly flu way more contagious and lethal than Covid spreads rapidly throughout the United States and kills 99% of the population.
• Book II focuses on the 1% of survivors. They all have recurring supernatural dreams of two people: "good" is incarnated in an elderly black lady named Mother Abagail, while "evil" takes shape in a man named Randall Flagg. All survivors gravitate toward one of these two people, making gruelling cross-country pilgrimages that claim a few more lives in the process. 
• Book III is the cinematic good-versus-evil conclusion to this epic story. Despite juggling an ambitious number of character arcs, everything ties in together nicely at the end.   

Book I was probably the dullest to get through, given that we've already had first-hand experience with a global pandemic. Reading about quarantines and an overwhelmed public system felt a little too on the nose. There are also separate chapters introducing at least twenty different characters, which can feel a little disorienting. However, I've read enough Stephen King to realise that his books tend to start off very slowly, giving even the NPCs a well-rounded backstory.

Book II is where it gets interesting, since you begin to see how King hypothesises each of the myriad characters in our society makes their choice. One of the characters, Glen Bateman, is a sociologist. His little monologues theorising how human behaviour would inevitably lead to a certain pattern of progression in these little scrappy survivor communities was one of my favourite parts of this book.

Book III was pretty intense, but all's well that ends well. Many main characters died, but I thought the ways that each of them met their deaths was rather poetic and satisfying, even if a little sad.

Knocked a star off because, for all King's storytelling prowess, I cannot in good faith give 5 stars to any book with this much graphic sexual assault and objectification of the female body. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexual assault

Moderate: Torture and Misogyny

scipio_africanus's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Damn good story. My first time reading Stephen King, and he didnt disappoint. From the synopsis I went in expecting it to be overly sentimental, corny, cartoonish, or just plain weak the way The Postman ended up being but was pleasantly surprised with the direction King took the story and the characters. I see why King is so successful. Great writing and a great time. Will def be exploring him more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

catherineelms's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Rape

lo_vana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

zoinkie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, War, Sexual harassment, Death, Suicide, Body horror, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Medical content, and Murder

mon11's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Racism, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Grief, and Sexual content

sophtie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Gore

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I do not see how people say that this is the best King novel that there is. I read the uncut version as is recommended and I can tell you that his publishers were correct for making him cut as much as they did. 

This book starts off so strong. I was gripped from the beginning and couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happened to each of the characters. Everyone was interesting and dynamic. The book moves along at a nice pace until it doesn't. It comes to a screeching halt

the second that they find mother Abigail and start the Safe Zone in Colorado.

The character development stops, the plot does a hard pivot into something that is weirdly political and horrible to sit through. The lull in the middle is so hard to get through. It was just an absolute slog that added nothing to the story. 

Then, the story picks up again finally and there is movement again towards some kind of resolution.

After Nick's death

it feels like things are finally moving but it really doesn't kick off again. The whole back half of the book is a drag. It never got moving for me again. 

There also are some frustratingly huge issues with the ending.

If the end of the Vegas group was just Trash blowing them up with an atomic bomb, which would have happened anyways, why send the four to Vegas? I know that it was explained as "God requiring a sacrifice" but that just felt like such a stupid cop out to what could have been a really cool final battle. For a book titled "The Stand" there is no actual stand against evil. It is in fact the opposite. Evil consumes itself and there was no reason for Good to be involved in any way. If people had just ignored the Vegas group, the ending would have been the same with a lot less character death.

It was just incredibly frustrating to put in so much time to get such a poorly written and plotted ending. 

This book really highlights the best and worst of King. 

• Pro: Characters are amazing and really fleshed out. You end up feeling connected to each of them and rooting for them 
• Pro: It has a great premise and he has great world building at the beginning of the novel 
• Con: The ending blows and falls flat 
• Con: It is so long and needed some heavy editing. I know that people say that it "fleshes out the world" but you know what I didn't need?
  Chapters of council meetings that had literally no hold on the plot.

If you are a die hard King fan and you want to complete all his works, then this book provides some really great highs and I recommend it for the great characters. 

If you are not a huge King fan and are not sure if you are willing to put in the work, just stay away. The pay off is not worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Rape, Pregnancy, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Car accident, Drug abuse, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Medical trauma, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Medical content

uriah's review against another edition

2.0

I'm glad I've read this because it's been on my TBR for nigh on a decade. This was my first King, potentially my last; I was not the biggest fan of how he wrote his women characters, but I did enjoy the various character arcs.

Also theres a pun at the climax of this book that was so silly it really took me out of the experience. It was the audiobook listening format of looking into the camera like you're on the office.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Violence, Cursing, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, and Suicide

Moderate: Colonisation and Racism

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, Murder, Stalking, Alcohol, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Ableism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, War, Cannibalism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Drug abuse, and Trafficking

Minor: Abortion