Gina Mobley
asked:
Is this book appropriate for my 13 yr old daughter? Mainly worried about sexual content.
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Doctor Sleep,
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Steve Rahe
To be honest, that would depend upon what she already reads--there's nothing in _Doctor Sleep_ that would shock teens who are familiar with some pop-culture references in the text, such as "Game of Thrones".
The details:
The most potentially disturbing sexual content involves a male character who tells a story of being molested by a family member. This story is told by the victim in a kind of flashback--and is fairly graphic with a few sadistic details that clearly make you empathize with the victim.
There is also another scene similar to this, except the victim is female. It is handled less graphically than the scene mentioned above.
There is no real sexual content regarding Abra (the teen protagonist). The danger to her involves non-sexual torture, which is described as a necessary task for the bad guys .
There is scene set after a one-night stand involving the main adult character, Dan Torrance. This "morning after" happens before Dan joins AA. In addition, a few of the bad guys are bisexual/lesbian--though the handful (~3-4?) of sexual encounters in the text aren't described in much detail.
Overall, there's some sexual content, but you're talking a few paragraphs out of hundreds of pages. If you have a 13-year-old who actually reads books nowadays, I wouldn't worry.
I hope that answered your question without revealing too much. I thought it was the perfect coda to the _The Shining_, and a very entertaining read.
The details:
The most potentially disturbing sexual content involves a male character who tells a story of being molested by a family member. This story is told by the victim in a kind of flashback--and is fairly graphic with a few sadistic details that clearly make you empathize with the victim.
There is also another scene similar to this, except the victim is female. It is handled less graphically than the scene mentioned above.
There is no real sexual content regarding Abra (the teen protagonist). The danger to her involves non-sexual torture, which is described as a necessary task for the bad guys .
There is scene set after a one-night stand involving the main adult character, Dan Torrance. This "morning after" happens before Dan joins AA. In addition, a few of the bad guys are bisexual/lesbian--though the handful (~3-4?) of sexual encounters in the text aren't described in much detail.
Overall, there's some sexual content, but you're talking a few paragraphs out of hundreds of pages. If you have a 13-year-old who actually reads books nowadays, I wouldn't worry.
I hope that answered your question without revealing too much. I thought it was the perfect coda to the _The Shining_, and a very entertaining read.
Tressa
I wouldn't let my 13-year-old son read it. There's also more sex scenes between Rose the Hat and the Crow.
Thomas James
I'm not sure I would let your daughter read this yet.
Here's 2 rather graphic extracts which don't really spoil anything,
"If they weren't alone, he might only tickle. If they were, he'd put his hand between Dick's legs and squeeze his balls until Dick thought he'd faint with the pain".
"He had gone on raping her for that same number of years. Then she had put a stop to it, first popping his balls, one after the other, with one of her mother's knitting needles, and then putting that same needle, red and dripping in her rapist-sire's left eye socket. The balls had been easy, because he was sleeping, but the pain had been enough to wake him up in spite of her special talent".
Among these parts, there's decaying bodies, imagery of dead children, killings of children, sex, gay sex, drugs, alcohol abuse and swearing and more. It's a great book but, i'm not sure it's completely suitable for a 13 year old however that is just my opinion. The graphic details aren't on every page, so it's not a continuous barrage of sex, violence etc. but it is in there.
King is brilliant at making you feel for his characters so the graphic content isn't unjustified, it all builds the characters and the story, however King uses strong imagery to make you feel for his characters and develop the story and so sometimes the imagery is... well strong.
Here's 2 rather graphic extracts which don't really spoil anything,
"If they weren't alone, he might only tickle. If they were, he'd put his hand between Dick's legs and squeeze his balls until Dick thought he'd faint with the pain".
"He had gone on raping her for that same number of years. Then she had put a stop to it, first popping his balls, one after the other, with one of her mother's knitting needles, and then putting that same needle, red and dripping in her rapist-sire's left eye socket. The balls had been easy, because he was sleeping, but the pain had been enough to wake him up in spite of her special talent".
Among these parts, there's decaying bodies, imagery of dead children, killings of children, sex, gay sex, drugs, alcohol abuse and swearing and more. It's a great book but, i'm not sure it's completely suitable for a 13 year old however that is just my opinion. The graphic details aren't on every page, so it's not a continuous barrage of sex, violence etc. but it is in there.
King is brilliant at making you feel for his characters so the graphic content isn't unjustified, it all builds the characters and the story, however King uses strong imagery to make you feel for his characters and develop the story and so sometimes the imagery is... well strong.
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