Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Firestarter by Stephen King

15 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

draven_deathcrush's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I've had this book on my shelf for so long and I finally read it! I was debating whether to give it a 4.5 or a 5 star, but I did really love Andy and Charlie, so 5 it is :))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Pedophilia

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cursing, Murder, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

epeolatrist's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Minor: Pedophilia

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

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Racial slurs, War, and Racism

heartshapedbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I've never read a book like, Firestarter, before and I absolutely loved it. The whole plot line of Andy and Charlie running from "the Shop" was eerie and exciting, and I loved how high the stakes were. The insight from all of the different character p.o.v.s made it very entertaining, yet frustrating because I just wanted to inform my favorite characters of what was going on around them. I sped through this book once I got into it, and I would definitely recommend to anyone who is into thrillers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Violence, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, and Drug use

ripxw's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Racism, and Kidnapping

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