Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Holly by Stephen King

10 reviews

bookishchaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed it! I finished it in one day, which almost never happens when I read Stephen King. It moved at a steady pace that kept me entertained, and I really liked Holly's character. 
I haven't read the other books she's in, (big mistake, I know.) but this was a library loan that was due so I kinda had to read it. From what I've heard, the rest of the series is fantastic so I'm looking forward to reading those next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Stalking and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Vomit

minimicropup's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

Our home was sparkling, our dinners ridiculously complicated (so vegetarian tho) from me seeking every opportunity to listen uninterrupted. I love a good food/consumption horror. Holly and her crew are also such characters. They felt like real people I spent time with; I really miss them. And even though I wasn’t rooting for the villainry, I was captivated by their story too. It wasn’t perfection but I think that’s what I liked about it. The story had its cringe moments, but the Author’s Note, context, and a bit of patience helped me understand the intention.   

 

Energy: Foreboding. Endearing. Ravenous. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Fictional Deerview and surrounding cities in Midwestern USA

Perspective: We mainly follow a private investigator reluctantly taking on the case of a mother searching for her missing young adult daughter, and an elderly academic couple investing in their health.

 

🐕 Howls: The black-and-white split in characters where vaxxed are Democrat and unvaxxed are Republican. However, I haven’t lived an American experience, so I can’t really comment on this; was it over-the-top or true to form? It just felt like a jarring Statement sometimes.   

🐩 Tail Wags: Diverse ages with character development. Immersive, cinematic writing. The story. The balance of gradual suspense-building with high-stakes scenarios that I could effortlessly imagine. Capturing 2021-2022 without me wanting to put it down. The mix of nuanced and in-your-face dangers of ‘science as infallible’ contrasted with the dangers of dismissing science entirely. 

 

🤔 Random Thoughts:

• Check the content heads-up because COVID pandemic times were prominent. It brought out all my gratefulness that we are no longer in 2021-2022, while also giving nostalgic feels for the quieting down of the world. But it could be too soon, too much, or too political depending on reader experiences.
• My favourite tropes + slow-burn made this a perfect match for me. If you’re looking for nuanced (or zero) COVID themes, or something where the stakes remain high and are plot driven, it could feel never-ending.

 

🎬 Tale-Telling: Breezy third-person omniscient narration for most characters. Non-linear but easy to follow going back to 2018. 

👥 Characters: Charmingly unhinged, quirky but likeable, and everything in between 

🤓 Reader Role: In the know. Hovering above the town, lurking in corners, following characters around

🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, sensory, atmospheric, intimate

🔥 Fuel: Driven by character evolution and emotional investment. Why are our villains doing what they’re doing? Does it actually work? Relatable dilemmas, mad scientist intrigue, and characters crossing paths in surprising but not contrived ways. Ultimately leading to well-timed high-stakes survival. 

📖 Cred: Believable, relatable, true to reality. Moments of hyper-realism for the grittier parts of life. The crimes felt like something that could be a Netflix ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ crime doc. 

🚙 Journey: Steady and attention-keeping. Like an unmapped go-with-the-flow road trip with friends, scary stories, and a cozy blanket in serial killer territory, later realizing how easily it could have gone wrong. 

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Forever Young. Footsteps. Car doors. Skateboards. Doorbells. Silence. Knife chopping. Aromatic roast smells. Dessert spoons clinking. Zoom calls.
• Immersive, cinematic style strangeness and descriptive food and body horror
• Demented serial killer psychoanalysis
• Co-sleuthing with private investigator, missing persons mysteries

 

Content Heads-Up: Confinement (kidnapping). Food horror. Vomit, body fluids. Loss of a parent. Dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease. COVID-19 (deaths, masking, vaccinations, mandates, politicization, uncertainty; character opinions; descriptive, thematic, on page). Homophobia (character views and opinions; slurs and rants on page). Racism (character views and opinions; slurs and rants on page). Smoking (nicotine; descriptive, on page, cravings). Medical-Cancer (brief; on page). Medical-Alcoholism (self-medicating; on page, descriptive). 

 

Rep: Gay. Heterosexual. Cisgender. Black and White Americans. Diverse body sizes.  

 

📚 Format: Everand Audio and Digital

 

🥰 Potential Fav of 2024. 

 

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Confinement

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Racism, Dementia, Homophobia, and Cancer

shoshpursley's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Vomit

yellowpurple500's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An incredible book to carry on the Holly Gibney character. The plot kept me hooked throughout, I never wanted to stop reading. King has once again delivered an incredible book. 

At first I was a bit unsure about the inclusion of Covid and some other clear real world parallel events however after reading the end acknowledgements, I'm so glad that's the direction king went, it makes so much sense for the character. Also could someone explain to me why the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT section at the end had me tearing up. 

Definitely read this after the Mr Mercedes trilogy, outsider and the short story in if it bleeds if you want to avoid spoilers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Stalking, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Body horror, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, Death, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, Addiction, Dementia, Medical content, Misogyny, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Child death, Gore, and Hate crime

kotashomelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Cannibalism, Blood, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Hate crime, Racism, Addiction, Confinement, Homophobia, Violence, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Dementia, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Medical content, Murder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, Dementia, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Lesbophobia, Racism, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Police brutality, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Classism, Body horror, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Terminal illness, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

King has historically been bad at writing female characters and good endings. I’m pleased that this book is a delightful change! 

I just love Holly Gibney and I’m glad King finally realized he could give a female character a full life and her own story. This is Holly’s 6th appearance and finally one where she’s the star 

King’s storytelling skills are on display here— his crime fiction is always a favorite style for me. This is intense and dark and gnarly (seem out CW for specifics because this has a lot of wild content) 

Know going in that this is a DEEPLY pandemic focused book. Covid is hugely a part of the plot and characters and King’s politics are also deeply embedded in the story. Not everyone will like that. I got past it and his author’s note helped. 

One thing that nagged at me (that I eventually worked through while reading) was how King characterizes the villains by having them use slurs. This is not new for him, but it comes off heavy handed for me personally. But I know his writing is read by a broad mass of folks so maybe that’s ok in the long run. At least he’s moved on from “the bad guys are all fat” so “the villains are super racist”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Murder, Medical content, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Gaslighting, Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Torture, Ableism, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Vomit

asifsyed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore

Moderate: Death

Minor: Mental illness, Drug use, Police brutality, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Racism, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Dementia, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Medical content

cannibalism

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Stalking, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Grief, Alcohol, Dementia, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, Child death, and Emotional abuse

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, and Torture