Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

52 reviews

alex60517's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Car accident, Infidelity, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Child death, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Misogyny, Cursing, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Violence

nepentheiii's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Great writing, love the characters, a genuinely scary book. Bit too long and some of the nasty bits felt unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Gore, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Rape

moxiereads'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Car accident, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Suicide, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, Murder, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Gore, Sexual content, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Bullying

liblibby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

I never want to read Stephen King ever again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Murder

klsreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is an impressive meditation on everyday evil and the plight of small town America (couched in the classic spooky story). The writing is excellent, and I could really feel the characters and setting. It was somewhat creepy, sometimes gross, and very tense. I knocked 1 star because the first 50% of the book is setting and character exposé. I really wanted something to happen, but when it finally moved, it kicked off. Also, there was only 1 main female character, and she almost exclusively talked about men. Most women characters were defined by men / mothering / their sexuality. It's not surprising for the time, but it's still disappointing. I had fun regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Rape, Addiction, Gore, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Murder, Blood, Sexual assault, Child death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Car accident

jdhauk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, and Child death

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Sexual content

ktnl22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative 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? No

4.5

It took a little while to get into but then I couldn't put the book down. This is my 2nd Stephen King book I've read and I really enjoyed it, looking forward to reading more of his books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Rape

the_cheerful_necromancer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ported over from my now-abandoned Goodreads:

Quite frankly this is my favourite King book. It's terribly bleak, but it manages to be tentatively hopeful too. The tension and the pacing kept my attention all the time, and I inhaled the book over the course of a day or so.
I found myself really, truly rooting for every one of the POV characters. It's a product of its time, of course, and features quite a few very heavy themes and detestable side characters (what else is new?) but overall this one holds up brilliantly. I know I'll be coming back to it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

Buyer beware: This book was written in the 1970's, and sometimes goes out of its way to make snide remarks about gay people. It's almost funny how much of a non-sequitur every inclusion of homophobia is; literally none of the characters are actually gay, at least as far as we see.