Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

25 reviews

julesfromarvs's review against another edition

dark inspiring tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Eccomi qua con un’altra recensione ad un libro di Stephen King. 
Mi trovo ora ad averne letti quattro, e devo ammettere che questo è stato per me il più difficile da leggere. 
Da subito ci vengono presentati una trentina di personaggi diversi ed, essendo io abituata a fare molto affidamento sulla mia memoria visiva, ho avuto difficoltà a distinguerli uno dall’altro, proprio perché molti vengono esplorati e, soprattutto, descritti pochissimo fisicamente. 
Ogni volta che leggo la descrizione di un personaggio, nella mia testa parte un collegamento diretto ad una persona originata dalla mia mente (a volte anche ad un attore) che mi facilita l’immaginarmi l’intera scena; qui purtroppo spesso ho fatto fatica. 
Inoltre, io do moltissima importanza e attenzione allo sviluppo dei personaggi, e qui onestamente ne ho trovato poco. Sono tutti personaggi interessanti, ma che mi abbia preso veramente forse ce n’è stato solo uno, Matt, e comunque anche lui approfondito per modo di dire … sono stati più che altro molti dei suoi discorsi a farmici affezionare. 
Con questo assolutamente non voglio togliere nulla al libro e al tipo di scrittura, semplicemente è proprio un mio gusto personale, forse anche legato al fatto di aver letto, fino ad ora, una maggioranza di racconti tanto centrati sulla crescita dei personaggi. 
La trama è sicuramente interessante, le storie di vampiri catturano sempre la mia attenzione, e così è stato anche qui. Ho solo da aggiungere che forse, avendolo letto nell’anno 2023, oramai con un bagaglio “vampiresco” molto pieno, non l’ho trovata particolarmente originale, anzi, è stato tutto abbastanza prevedibile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

kaimetcalfe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Child death, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Car accident, and Sexism

Moderate: Excrement, Cancer, War, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I thought the town and the characters within the town were fascinating. With that said, the main character was bland… and this book was wayyyy too long. I loved Dracula so I had a bit of hope. This book isn’t terrible, but it definitely isn’t the bed vampire read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Homophobia, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Medical content, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Grief

Minor: War and Vomit

Just assume this book has it all.

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

3.5

I'm a fan of the few Stephen King adaptations I've seen, but this was my first time reading him. He has a very prominent reputation positive and negative, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It ended up a pretty mixed bag. 

I enjoyed the plot and—while at times meandering—his prose was great. I liked the focus on classic vampire lore and how it connects to the characters' tenets of literature and religion in the modern world. But there were things that bogged it down as well. 

To start, there were so many characters referenced it felt like I was expected to learn the names and personalities of the entire town. I liked the main players, and thankfully I got over the confusion once the plot got going and focused more on them. There were a couple relevant female characters, but I wish they had a larger role in the story overall. And of course the casual use of homophobic slurs/mentions of rape/slut shaming really date the book. And I honestly expected it to be scarier. 

I'd heard about his lackluster endings more than once, but I quite enjoyed this one. I thought it worked for the story being told, if a bit simply. And I know horror endings are though to land. 

Overall a good book with flaws. I'm definitely willing to try more of his work, so if anyone has suggestions of where to start, please feel free. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, and Rape

carrionkid's review against another edition

4.0

I actually liked this book a lot however it definitely was written in 2 different periods of time because in the first half, there's 7 uses of queer/queerboy and 6 uses of fag/faggot and by page 300 there are NO SLURS WHATSOEVER so I guess Stephen king had a moral crisis about using slurs somewhere in between halves of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Alcoholism

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.25

Usually I find Stephen king books a little slow to get into but the ending makes it all worth while. With Salem's Lot, I actually preferred the beginning. I loved reading about the characters and their small town lives in the 70's. I thought it was beautifully written and I would have been happy to read more about their day to day activities. Once shit started to hit the fan, I was interested but I never found myself feeling very afraid or surprised at any point which is why I didn't give it a higher rating.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, Infidelity, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, and Addiction

Minor: War, Rape, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

There's a dog deaty that some may find upsetting. A lot of people die but many are "off camera deaths" so overall this book isn't too explicit. There's a couple sex scenes but they aren't really graphic.

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Excellent writing, and the slow pace is absolutely a plus- like building an intricate domino structure before knocking it all down. Found myself particularly attached to Mark. King has a knack for portraying humanity at its most grotesque that is more fascinating than his monsters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Grief, Sexual content, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Ableism, Islamophobia, Transphobia, War, Bullying, Medical content, Racism, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Excrement, Addiction, Rape, Pedophilia, and Abortion

ryankaybee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Blood, Death, Medical content, and Murder

gloombee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Classic King - a good simple spooky book. Had a lot of fun imagery - just didn't stand out as much as some of King's other works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Car accident and Grief

Minor: Medical content