Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

It by Stephen King

18 reviews

demartinodoc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve surprisingly never read this book in it’s entirety, let alone listen the audiobook, but this is a gem of work from a madman. My overall impression is you have to have some serious screws loose to write this. Makes the movies feel like a preview of the actual story you get here!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Death, Colonisation, Murder, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Blood, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Gore, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Police brutality

sommarborne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Incest, Infidelity, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Homophobia, Drug use, and Rape

theshonz0705's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

If I could pick apart the central plot of this book from its infuriatingly problematic elements, it would be a 5. But I can’t, and It is spoiled by too much that is irredeemable. Take a look at some of the content warnings to see what I mean. I’m the first person to go to bat for King, but this isn’t a case of challenging writing that’s simply hard to read. The author just got this one really wrong. A lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Racism, Self harm, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Antisemitism and Incest

sav_22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Gun violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Excrement, Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Torture, Misogyny, Mental illness, Infidelity, Hate crime, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Body shaming, Body horror, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Medical trauma, Incest, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Alcoholism

bomenvernietiger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

Stephen are you ok

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Stalking, Vomit, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Antisemitism, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Ableism, Cancer, and Islamophobia

rtthalia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Suicide, Alcohol, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Abandonment, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

fatymahsy's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual content, Murder, Child death, Pedophilia, and Gore

gamefroggit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A strange one. IT was certainly a journey, a long one, quite slow and quite deliberate - perhaps too deliberate in places for its own good. 

Derry feels tremendously alive even beyond the creature that dwells there, the goings on and its people often feel quite real amidst the fantastical and bizarre events that call Derry home. To benefit and break the story however, the town and its people are so assured that the creature that stalks them falls back from monster status, as some of the human inhabitants of Derry, and the world itself, are far more terrifying in a far more real manner. The great antagonist, almost akin to its presence in the book, is more on the sidelines, poking ITs head in far too often to make sure we know it's there rather than pulling strings in more meaningful ways in the background. For a being that boasts to cement fear for a day job, ITs sorely lacking. 

The people though and the realities the kids of Derry face, now that sure is unsettling. There is an uncomfortable reality in Derry, not one that a scary clown had anything to do with. Ignorance, abuse, misfortune, are all too abundant with many victims to suffer and those to inflict it. The reality of not ever really knowing beyond the surface of someone, or something, and all the strange ways we come about them stands clear, backed up by our cast of abusers, victims and spectators. This is where the horror of IT truly shines. 

The characters feel quite pulled along, points are elaborated too much in cases, and the true scale of the events of IT feel a bit at odd with the perspective forced upon the people who witness them on one side of the coin. The other is a solid world, one that has a heartbeat and all the horrors that accompany it, and some poor souls trying to find their way through it. It doesn't all quite add up into one clean adventure into the dark, but there are some satisfying, and uncomfortable stories to pull from IT and its playthings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, and Sexual content

hanreadin's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Fatphobia, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Mental illness, and Incest

Minor: Vomit

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Please excuse any typing errors as I am too lazy to edit
There are some good things about this book, but the bad significantly outweigh them. This is one of the most needlessly offensive and problematic books i have ever read. The only thing horrifying about this novel is that King had the audacity to include so much needless hatred and is still being praised for it. The level of racism, sexism, pedophilia/sexualization of minors, anti semitisim, etc is FAR beyond anything that is warranted by the plot and its honestly inexcusable. If you took a shot everytime King used the N word with a hard R, you'd die of alcohol poisoning somewhere between the one third and halfway mark. King is constantly using language and scenarios that sexualize Beverly, constantly mentioning the way her 12 year old body is maturing, painting her as a (and im quoting here) "whore" from almost every chatacters POV. Shes even sexualized in her own POVs.

Bill's catatonic wife is literally likened to a blow up doll at a sex store

Richie is known for doing voices and almost all of them are racist stereotypes, his go to one being the charactature of a black child like you'd see in a minstrel show. They are constantly using Stan being jewish as a punchline. It feels intentional that

the jewish character is the one he kills before they even get together as adults

, the female is the one who spends her whole life abused, and

the black character is the one King cast to stay in Derry and remain poor while the others prosper as adults

. And this isnt even the big shit like the ENTIRE CHILD SEX SCENE. With literal 11 to 12 year olds. Which King has never retracted or apologized for (from what I've seen) but only said it aged poorly cause people now are more sensitive....like its irrational to take offense to an adult writing kids having a, for lack of a better term, gang bang. And again, most of this is completely irrelevant to the plot and could have been excluded with zero detriment to the story. I will admit that if you are writing about minorities and setting it in the 50s, a certain level of bigotry is warranted. But the level to which King took it is gross and uncalled for. He could have just as easily NOT written any minority characters if this is his idea of representation. The fact that he, of his own freewill, wrote this level of offensive stereotypes, micro aggressions, bigotry and full on volatil hate and has never apologized for it, or made a statement against it, is sick. And the fact that it got through editing and publishing and is STILL being praised and rated 5 stars speaks volumes to what we are willing to let straight, cis, white men in power get away with. I can't imagine a single POC, female, or religious minority character writing the story the way King did, even in the 80s.
It is also overlong, it could have easily been 400 pages shorter than it was. It dragged on and on. It doesnt genuinely pick up or reach a true climax til around page 950 (in my edition) so like 150 pages away from the end. That's ridiculous. King is constantly overloading the book with lore building and exposition that really isnt needed past a certain point. It took me 4 months of on and off reading to finally get through this thing. Ive never taken more than a month to read a book, even dense ones like the entire Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series, in my adult life. 
Most people I have seen, even those who praise this book, don't count this as a book they would ever reread. If that's not a red flag i don't know what is. I cant think of a single book, even thick and complex ones, that i loved and wouldn't pick up again. 
PROS: King is a genuinely skilled writer on a technical level and the book is well crafted. There are very thoughtful and interesting themes around childhood vs adulthood, the transition between the two, and the power of faith/belief. It really could have been a gorgeous novel if he leaned more into that earlier in the book and cut down on all the unnecessary bigotry and lore building. I likely would have loved this if it was shorter and less hate filled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Cancer, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

The whole book is a trigger warning. It is full of violence, GRAPHIC bigotry, and the sexualization of women and especially minors.