Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

It by Stephen King

69 reviews

drone232's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective 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

This is an epic of horror literature. It is about a group of children going up against the ills of adult society which have manifested in the form of a horrifying and enjoyably malevolent monster. It is also about their adult selves as they try to remember their childhood and refind their childhood hopes and selves. Interspersed are narratives about a great many side characters and their woes. A deep and expansive work, bogged down by occasional instances of going over the line with the horror and sexism. 

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luvxxly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was absolutely phenomenal.  The only reason it’s not getting a full 5 stars is because of the sheer amount of slurs throughout. There were moments reading when I just couldn’t get past them and I’d say that sort of harmed my reading experience just a bit. But overall, it was a wonderful read and I absolutely loved it.

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sydgolt's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

I loved it. Obviously the gross part when they were kids was vile and imo completely unnecessary. he wanted them to create some deep connection but that felt… wrong. i think that’s when they should’ve made the blood pact. i understand that horror tends to push boundaries to really evoke strong emotions in the readers but this was just not right. 

that being said i absolutely loved reading this book cover to cover. it was so captivating and intricately written, more so than the majority of books i’ve read. stephen king has easily become one of my favorite authors. i loved the characters and their friendships and how strong and unqiue each personality was. sometimes in books they over-develop the main character and under-develop the side characters but everyone got equal effort put into them which i really
appreciated. 

I’m so glad i read this book when i did cuz im starting the year with such a high point. this will definitely be in my top 5 as well!! 

5 stars 

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lilyee929's review against another edition

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

5.0


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mboard's review against another edition

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

3.75

Sigh. This is hard to rate because this book is a monstrous 1200 pages which means there’s just a lot to digest.

First off, I wasn’t scared basically the whole book. Honestly, the scariest scene was adult Bev trying to escape her super abusive husband Tom to get to Derry to kill It once and for all. Tom being so unhinged stressed me the f*** out. My perspective is that It really isn’t that scary to adults hence why It is only visible to children and preys on them. The only reason the gang is terrified as adults is the memories of being attacked when they were young where the imprints of that trauma are carried with them into adulthood. The idea makes sense but I had high expectations of being scared and It did not deliver.

The characters and town of Derry are so real and lived in you feel like Derry was your hometown and you knew of Henry Bower’s to big bully and the nerds like Bill and Richie that were always nice but on the outskirts. But if I didn’t feel like I grew up with these kids after 1200 pages I would be irate. There were definitely some of the kids I liked better than others. Eddie is my boy. His mother pushing psychosomatic illnesses on him his whole life making him belief he’s weak and fragile. When faced with that fact he decides to stay comfortable and allow himself to be babied instead of essentially throwing away everything he thought he knew about himself. I felt that was so authentic and real I just wanted to hug him. 

In terms of plot, I enjoyed the adults storyline over the kids but the way SK weaves the two timelines together especially at the end is masterful. There were times I was just in awe of how perfectly he transitioned between 1958 and 1985. The kids storyline of them just getting bullied wasn’t as interesting to me as the dread of facing It after 27 years and how their lives turned out after such intense trauma. The plot definitely wasn’t perfect though like why in the hell is there a child 0rgy?? Why are we getting descriptions of 12 year old Bev’s tiny t!tties? I don’t wanna hear it. Ew. 

I just don’t know how I feel about it but it’s a book that is definitely memorable for it’s characters and atmosphere. Would I say it’s worth the read? Ehhhhh I don’t know.

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malthe's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Alright… I do think there are weird scenes in this, like THAT scene, but even those have an explanation that makes sense… but it doesn’t make it less weird.

BUT, this is the first book I’ve read after my 3 year reading slump AND I finished it pretty quick for how long it is (I would say). So it was able to keep my interested the whole way through, which is amazing. The writing can also be so so good. 

I really don’t have that many negatives, except for the weird stuff like THAT scene. If you don’t look at those, this book is so fucking good!

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kreglow's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bit overlong, and some of the content is questionable to say the least. Still one hell of a ride.

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ehamlett's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0


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maggiefaerie's review against another edition

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DNF @28%, and the book put me in a reading slump. 

I really wanted to love this book. I'm not scared easily, and everyone I know says this is the most frightening book they've read. I've had some disappointments recently, so I wanted something to scare me at least a little. I finally threw in the towel after chapter 7-6.

This book drags so much. I'm 1/3 of the way in and there's so much bloated writing that I honestly don't feel invested at all. There's a balance between atmosphere and plot, and this book leans heavily on settings before establishing motives or developing the characters. I basically spent 10 hours reading a book with the exact vibes of Stand By Me when I thought I was reading horror. I'm really disappointed because I wanted to be completely and absolutely terrified by the book, and I was, but not because of the monster. 

I honestly cannot get past the homophonia, anti-semitism, fat shaming, mysogony, abuse, and racism. If you want to read this, be aware that this book casually drops many slurs in reference to minority groups. The liberal character descriptors that involve all the really bad slurs you can think of were unnecessary and truly uncomfortable. 

The abuse is also way too explicit for me. There's nothing I've enjoyed about this experience of reading this book. 



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mariana_ct08's review against another edition

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

5.0


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