Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Firestarter by Stephen King

5 reviews

hyacinthed's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

Complicated feelings on this one.

Strengths:

• Strong worldbuilding (as always)
• Great structure
• Solid development of Charlie/decent development of Andy
• Dude putting on lingerie and jerking it to a garbage disposal. Lit.

Difficulties:

• Literally everything relating to Rainbird. The overt racism in his characterisation (yes it was the '80s, no it has not aged well), the literal pedophilic overtones of how he thinks and speaks about Charlie.
• The homophobia sprinkled throughout.
• The constant fat-shaming of Andy after he blows up on thorazine (we get it, he's fat, you don't have to remind us once a page).
• The lack of resolution of Vicky's death - I was hoping for some kind of reconciliation/closure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Murder, Suicide attempt, Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Stalking, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Minor: Homophobia

voicenextdoor's review against another edition

slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Misogyny

jonssweater's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Racism, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Homophobia, and War

Minor: Pedophilia and Racial slurs

tfredenburg's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

1.5

It seems that reading many of King's old works is a balancing act between great story concepts and highly-fraught execution. I cared about Charlie, and I wanted to see what would become of her, but that meant slogging through some truly horrendously racist, sexist, homophobic, fatphobic (etc.) material. And I don't mean these were small, annoying lines; I mean John Rainbird is a Native American character portrayed as predatory and frankly inhuman. It was this book that made me decide to let King's older works lie (aside from maybe Carrie, which I'd still like to visit.) I haven't read any of his newer stuff, so I can only hope this tendency has vanished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Suicide, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Homophobia

lauren610's review against another edition

DNF @ 26%. I was just so bored by this book and it wasn't getting any better not to mention it had horribly outdated language including slurs and misogynistic themes. I was waiting for it to redeem itself but I'm only willing to waste so much of my time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Ableism, Racism, and Homophobia