Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

41 reviews

z0333's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sapphicmuscaria's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Not really scary, it's more sad, with its scary elements being more interesting and eerie than horror. I don't think that was a bad thing with this book though.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Medical content

sexualedward's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol and War

caylamaureen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Holy smokes! I’ve been a King fan for quite some time now, but I was scared to pick this one up, I’m not gonna lie… especially after King himself said that he thought he had finally “gone too far and threw it in a drawer with no intent to publish I love a good thriller but with a name and a preface like that I thought it would be too gruesome for me.  But I have to say that King really writes in a way that no other writer does anymore and if more people could stomach these complicated topics, we’d be studying them in school hands down. The way he uses metaphors and forces us to think about the world we live in is absolutely unreal and I’m not tired of it yet! 

Okay, Pet Sematery has very little blood and gore and jump scares compared to other King novels and I was left thinking “would I even call this ‘horror?’“ To me it felt more like tragedy. Kind of like a bit of a haunted tragedy? I’m not sure… what it really, actually is at its core is thought-provoking and psychological. More than any other book I’ve ever read, you are going to be pushed right up against the glass to the questions of afterlife, the worst kinds of childhood trauma, and the complex interwoven effects of death in the family. It’s absolutely astounding to me how simply King was able to make me question everything I think I know about death (or don’t know about it) and not only that but FORCE me to think about it. Luckily for me, I love nothing more than to be forced to think about life’s tough questions and then have something to on overthinking about endlessly. So if the hard topics aren’t your thing (or are triggering!! Read the trigger warnings!!) and inevitable haunting tragedy isn’t your thing, you won’t like this book. But it is undoubtedly a literary masterpiece that I can’t stop thinking about!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Funerals, family death, pet death, grave digging, grave robbing

dumaurier's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

kelseyharte'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Really great book, had me captivated from the get-go and for most of the read. Also incredibly disturbing content, definitely would not recommend for the faint of heart. I’m not going to lie, some of it felt a little too similar to “It” (Oz the Gweat and Tewwible), but luckily that wasn’t the whole plotline and it did still maintain originality nonetheless. I’m definitely nit picking though. I knew vaguely what happened but it still didn’t ruin it for me. Very, very emotional story, you definitely can feel the emotions of the characters and have so much sympathy for what they go through. I mostly found the main characters to be likable which makes it more sad, they feel so much like a normal, happy family. Plays with themes of innocence, loss/unbearable grief and strong family/friend bonds. Expect to feel a lot of things. Also I especially liked Jud’s character and the personality he brought to the book and the Creed family, I would argue he’s maybe the most likable character. Side note- I always love the easter eggs Stephen King puts in his books like the references to ‘Salem’s Lot and Derry.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Car accident

Minor: Cannibalism

aoifsdarcy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness and Death of parent

metalcutesolid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, and Drug use

becca_w_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Car accident, and War

adoxi's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.5

It's been a long time since a book has made me afraid to get up and get a drink of water.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death and Abandonment