Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Stand by Stephen King

22 reviews

mswarning's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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

3.75

Omg I finished this M-O-O-N, that spells monster, of a book. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As someone who did not read a book over 500 pages until mid September, I deserve a gold star for reading a book this long. Holy shit.

I know this tells you nothing of what I thought of the book itself. Well, I added a lot of notes while I read this book. Allow me to share:

2%: "The n-word usage is not my fave." - SG
2%: "This one is sooo long. Hoping I can finish in 18 days 😬 " - Instagram
5%: "I'm not super into this narrator." - SG
30%: "I'm getting there, slowly but surely. Waaaaay too many characters and POVs. And I'm so-so on the narrator." - GR
30%: "I'm listening to the extended uncut version, btw. I'm sure the original one is better." - GR. At this point, I was still naïve AF.
30%: "Took awhile to get into it, especially with so many povs. 12 days to finish now.  🤞" - Instagram
43%: "M-O-O-N spells slog." - GR
53%: "The first 40% was way too long. I can't believe I didn't know that this book is over 1100 pages.  😂" - GR
69%: "I have to finish in 5 days, which I think is doable. If I had to do this over again, I would stick to the print." - GR
69%: "Semi-regular 'The Stand' update. Feeling less irritable about the length now. Pretty confident I'll finish in 5 days. I can't say it's been a pleasurable experience racing to the end. I can tell this book sits better on the buildup of anticipation with dread steadily increasing - as all good King books do. Get a copy without a due date and stay away from the audiobook. Or if you do get it, prepare to increase the speed or you'll feel it suck the life out of you. I miss listening to music or letting myself think in silence. I feel guilty when I watch TV, that I should be listening to this book. Ugh." - Instagram
82%: "I might make it? The book is due in 3 days. Less than 9 hours left [in the audiobook]." - GR
95%: "I'm gonna make it after allllll." - GR
100%: "Finished with 5 hours to spare! I feel like all of my complaints were 1) the audiobook narrator and 2) the loan period. So don't make those mistakes, and you'll be fine." - Instagram

Highlights: Walking at the lake this past weekend listening to the book aloud because my bluetooth headphones had no battery left. The, uh, sex scenes and n-word usage while doing so was a bit sketchy. I had to pause the book or turn down the volume as I passed people.

Overall, I still ended up liking this book. You can tell how naïve I was about the length. I mean I knew it was 47 hours long, but I didn't really know ANYTHING about what that meant. I kept thinking I knew where this book was going or how it would end. I think that's the point, you're prepared for certain tropes or plot twists because authors tend to pull the same shenanigans. I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't say it's my favorite King book, but I think it's definitely my favorite King reading experience. Because of all my thoughts and feelings and the fact that I documented it all here.. and on GR and Insta.  😂 

I still stand by all the updates/comments I made while I listened to The Stand. It's too long. As time went by and all the characters met up, I kind of forgot about the slog of the beginning. Part of that is recency bias, I think. But I understand why it's so long. I can appreciate it more on this side of it, even if I hated it while it was happening.

And yeah, check out the content warnings. There are a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Grief, Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Sexism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Pregnancy, Animal death, Medical content, and Suicide

snowypineapples's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a very good book, the story and plot and journey were incredible, thought provoking and interesting. However the conclusion to the plot is rather silly:

the literal hand of God appears in the sky

 
The silliness really ruined that part of the boom for me and although I loved the majority, there was lots of areas, not just that, where the boom felt like a chore to read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Miscarriage, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Ableism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Infertility, Sexual violence, War, Death, and Drug abuse

jaym's review against another edition

After 25 hours of listening I decided I didn't care to hear more about human suffering.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Child death, and Animal death

traceyanderson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, and Sexual violence

lumpyspaceprincess's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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: Death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Vomit

tatitos's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

ggcd1981's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5

A primeira obra de Stephen King que li foi um de seus contos, mas The stand é o primeiro livro completo de King que leio. Iniciei um pouco intimidada pelo tamanho, também tinha escutado que os finais de King não são bons. Em geral iniciei com cautela. Contudo a história era intrigante, especialmente por lê-la durante a quarentena de COVID. Apesar de ser um livro extenso em nenhum momento me senti entediada com o enredo ou escrita. Não me apeguei a todos os personagens, mas tive meus preferidos (Tom Cullen e Kojak entraram na minha lista de personagens a serem protegidos a qualquer custo).
Minha maior crítica é que somos apresentados a diversos personagens, mas ao final não sabemos o real destino de muitos deles. Também retiraria a última cena do livro que a meu ver foi desnecessaria.
Bom, em resumo, do meu ponto de vista, se Stephen King é conhecido por não ter bons finais para suas obras eu excluíria The stand dessa lista. O final do conflito foi o melhor possível para a situação que se configurou na narrativa. Colocaria The stand na lista de "Bons finais" de Stephen King.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, and Child death

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction

dont_stop_meow's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

How has Stephen King not been cancelled? I don't agree with cancel culture, but in today's culture, how has  Stephen King not been called out for the sheer number of blatant n words he uses? I'm baffled that nobody has cried out for this book to be removed from shelves, not just for the use of racial slurs, but also of homophobic terminologies. 
This will be the last Stephen King book I'm tempted to read. He's gross and I'm done with him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Violence

auntbopp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Car accident, and Animal death

cinnamonpizza8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

1/12/2021: This book was good, I'm still letting it sink in so I haven't decided if it has eclipsed It as my favorite Stephen King novel. King gives incredible world-building, manages many complex characters, and layers a multi-level, intertwined journey-focused novel that blew my mind at parts and seemed unnecessarily uncomfortable at other parts. It is the perfect book to be reading right now if you would like to be unsettled about the state of the world and ponder how good versus evil influences the structure of society. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia