Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King is packed with racist, sexist, and homophobic language
And I mean packed with it! Like, you're cringing on every or every other page!
Someone recommended the book to me because it features an autistic character, Holly, who is apparently quite likable with a great character arc. But I put the book down after the first dozen-ish chapters (some of which are quite short).
Like, oh my gosh. Ohhh my gosh.
A Black teen is referred to as a "N*gro" and speaks like a minstrel character.
Some women are referred to as "wh*res" or animals like hens and kittens. (Either that or a wife got fed up with her husband getting too many cats.)
In one chapter, a butch woman/transgender man describes getting a homophobe to reconsider things. Which is nice. And then the next chapter or so, our protagonist's friend uses homophobic language to describe a murderer of an unknown sexual orientation. You say "it's nice to hear of a kettle being cleaned up a little" and then you look down and see you've sat yourself in a horribly dirty, blackened pot. And it's just... eww.
There are so many sexist, racist, and homophobic comments from the various characters. Like, I get that sometimes people say bad stuff. But does the story highlight how messed-up it is to say that garbage? No. It is woven into the story and not questioned.
People say the villain of Mr. Mercedes is extra hateable because he is racist and sexist. But in the first dozen chapters, nearly everyone is racist and sexist. The people you're supposed to dislike and the ones you're supposed to like or tolerate. It is pervasive. It is unrelenting.
(You might read the very beginning and think, "these characters, while imperfect, don't seem that bad." But it's coming.)
Look, Stephen King has good turns of phrase and he portrays characters and their feelings in insightful ways. But come on.
I hope Stephen King has learned better, will portray Black characters more respectfully, and can learn to handle prejudiced comments from characters more thoughtfully rather than just throwing them everywhere. You can only cringe through so many comments before you put down the book.
I don't recommend it. If you want a story with horribly depraved villains, awful language that reminds you of more prejudiced centuries, and lots of racism, check out works by Toni Morrison. Unlike King, she portrays the racism as bad instead of normalizing it.
(Disclaimer: Maybe the book gets better after I stopped reading. King is a talented writer. But I can't wade through that much nastiness and still enjoy a book.)
