Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Rose Madder by Stephen King

4 reviews

pkc's review against another edition

3.0

This is a tough one to try and review. On one hand, it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel, but on the other…it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel. This just wasn’t the place for them and as such, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this in good conscience to anyone. However, overall, this was an engaging novel with more than a little air punching from me by the end.

The plot concerns Rose Daniels, nee McLendon as she is impelled by a drop of blood in her bed to flee her abusive marriage, and she does so, armed with her husband’s bank card. However, her husband, a policeman, doesn’t take this well at all and pursues her across hundreds of miles and the boundaries of reality and unreality. It’s the unreality part where my feelers started to go off. The descriptions of the abuse that Rose suffers are gratuitous at best, and as ever, King pulls no punches. I just felt that with the subject matter, it really didn’t sit right with me as I read. I also felt that as the story started to explore more of the fantastical elements (yes you read that right) the abuse was almost a conduit to an expansion of his other mythology and the main story just managed to resolve and make sense by the end. Kind of. I’m not convinced though.

Norman, her husband, as a character was so brashly written and there was no nuance. It seemed like there were attempts at giving his behaviour over to some unspoken mental illness or neurological problem. I’m pretty sure if you can think of any pejorative word against a marginalised person, Norman used it at some stage. He read as a pathetic chauvinistic bigot, which he was in so many ways, but his brute strength and apparent ability to evade consequence gave him an otherworldly slant that felt like too much credit.

Rosie as a character was probably the best realised character in the book and while she made some odd choices in the way she spoke to people (her tone was indecipherable at points) she was ultimately successful as the complex heroine and the fantastical elements worked best as they pertained to the founding of her new life. Special credit also to Bill Steiner who was a gorgeous romantic core, a calm port in really choppy seas.

All in all, to try and sum this up, I enjoyed this book, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone. It’ll be 30 years old next year and I’d say it’s showing its age quite a bit. It feels like the last bastion of a certain era of King’s oeuvre. I adore his work, and I know that he has distanced himself from this book in the intervening years - it’s easy to see why. The three stars come purely from the hopefulness I experienced for Rosie and how the unreality and reality married together in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, and Mental illness

demiag's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

avrorae's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Blood, Gore, Miscarriage, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Death, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit and Death of parent

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Another that I loved as a teen but didnt hit the same way as an adult. 

It made me more emotional this time around for sure but it was... Definitely 90s. Its always hard when King writes from his villain's perspective because they are always truly horrible and its hard to hear the language they use about other people. However it does truly make you hate Norman. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cannibalism, Classism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism