Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Holly by Stephen King

33 reviews

eadrianschmitz's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

What a horror! Really enjoyed this and love that Jerome and Barbara are still with us for the ride. Holly didn't seem as neurotic as portrayed in the prior three novels which I kinda miss but it shows her growth which I'm pleased with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Suicide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Outing, Stalking, Violence, Biphobia, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Addiction, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Confinement, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Dementia, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, Kidnapping, and Lesbophobia

mccormicke2's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Cannibalism, and Child death

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Body horror, Violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dementia, Alcoholism, and Mass/school shootings

matty29's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Dementia, Alcoholism, Racism, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Violence

frannieman's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Gore, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, and Chronic illness

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

kalaser's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Dementia

Minor: Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Child death, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

laynerinke's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gore, Confinement, Child death, Dementia, Drug use, and Grief

exhaustedmumma's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, Death, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Dementia

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

alizabethdonalds's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Racism, Violence, Racial slurs, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Dementia