Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Varsel by Stephen King

230 reviews

smithjoshua2989's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

gyroshrike's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

dev0225's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

Phenomenal! Maybe King’s best work. SO much better than the movie. The psychological depth of the characters, especially Jack as he spirals and lets evil take hold of the worst parts of him, is so well done! Intense and unnerving but not without hope and important glimmers of goodness all said and done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

marimaria's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I would recommend reading this book if you're a fan of the film. They're very different from each other, so reading this was like a whole different experience to watching the film. I like how fleshed out the characters were, and the scenes were very descriptive. There was definitely a lot of detailed descriptions of violent occurrences in story. And the atmosphere was just so creepy. I think King was able to capture that really well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Blood

pierre7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

alvinsjoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

A very fun and interesting read. Stephen King really shows his creativity and talent for writing suspenseful stories and loveable characters in this book. Some parts felt long and unnecessary but it didn’t bother me that much because the rest was amazing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Racial slurs, Self harm, and Car accident

violents's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

witchnova's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

katie316says's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

The Shining has been one of my favorite movies for years, but  I feel like I’m unable to enjoy it as much now that I’ve read the book and seen how much was left out and changed in the film. Of the two, I preferred the story of the novel. I think King did a great job creating nuanced and interesting characters with clear backstories and motivation. I also think he did an incredible job with the writing of specifically Danny’s scenes. It really brought me back to the feeling of being a scared little kid frozen in fear by my imagination.

For that reason, the scene of Danny staring at the fire house worried it would come after him like a snake really stuck with me.

However my complaint, like many others have said, is King’s long winded writing style. In my opinion this book was just too long for it’s content and would have benefitting from some editing down. I think the story alone would be 5 stars to me but that was lessened by the length. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Racism

coffeekitty37's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, and Violence