Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

It by Stephen King

52 reviews

kylee_hegel's review against another edition

So bad I couldn't finish it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Homophobia, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia

leonor_mozo's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Racism, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Alcoholism

stuffo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Drug use, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, and War

livya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

bluejeepbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Self harm

Moderate: Fatphobia, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Infertility, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Antisemitism

reading_ani's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

I love Stephen King, but this book was such a draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. I needed several attempts and a couple of switches between audiobook and normal reading just to make it through. The plot per se was great as always, but the prose was just really unnecessarily complicated and dragged out. Yet I’m just so happy to have finally managed to read the book that scared and scarred me so much when I was 10 years old and watched it with several older friends ages ago.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Murder, Death, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Body horror, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

apxllo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Cancer, Animal death, Sexism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Gore, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

esfjmrk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Blood, Death, Gore, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

sidekicksam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

The King among horror books - IT is a 1376 page long novel about the Losers Club's two-time stand-off with IT, otherwise known as Pennywise the Clown, or Robert Gray.

Wow. This book was exactly the wild ride I imagined it would be. It is scary. It is fucked up. It is funny. It is timeless.

This story surprised me in so many ways, but let me just try to summarize why I love this book (more precisely, King's writing):

1. The world building is superb. King does such a good job visualising the world of Derry as it was in '58 and '85, introducing side characters and backstories to all of them, without making the reader forget the red line of the story, it feels like you've lived the story yourself. And though living through the Age of Pennywise would be awful, reading this story is a delight.

2. The characters are so well-thought out, and not a single one of them is uninteresting to read about. Ben, Richie, Bill, Eddie, Mike, Stan, Beverly, Pennywise/IT - you get to know every one of them so intimately, you almost feel like the 8th member of the Losers Club.

3. The story itself! Man, this story is mad crazy brilliant. To fuck up generations of adults into being terrified of clowns because everyone knows this story is insane. But it wouldn't have happened if the story wasn't so insanely awesome. 

Ok, so I can conclude by saying that I appreciated the book a lot. HOWEVER. It is not my favourite King. I can't exactly put my finger on what it was (maybe it was THAT scene that ruined it for me), but 11.22.63 and The Stand both resonated with me more (though the ending of The Stand is way inferior to IT). 

But if you're looking for a challenge that will be so rewarding you'll want to send me a thank-you note, or if you're looking for the ultimate Spooky Season read, IT is it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Infertility, Infidelity, Gun violence, Abandonment, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Cursing, Child abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Violence, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

m0usey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

5.0

I love this book. I am a sucker for found family and the Losers embody that for me. I love their individual characters as well as their dynamics with each other, and I love the exploration of where their bonds lead them. I laughed and I cried over them, I could write essays about them, they’re really, really good characters and they draw me into the book in a way very few other characters have.

Not only are the characters phenomenal, but the horror is amazing as well. The dread and confusion surrounding Pennywise is amazing, and the individual traumas of the losers (home lives, bullying, homophobia, etc) really add to that horror. At its heart, this book is about trauma and about love and about pain and about hope, and Pennywise is just the facilitator of some of that trauma. 

Now I’m going to rant about this book with spoilers:

The losers club are a group of people who all thought they were unloveable until they found each other. All of them felt like mistakes, like burdens, like they were disgusting or wrong or gross, but all of them looked at each other and accepted all that pain and loved each other anyway. And ya know what? That love? It lasted for one. Summer. They were never all together again, not ever. And they forgot that they were ever loved because of it.

They grew up and forgot their friends and their hometown and forgot that they could be loved, that they were loved, and most of them self destructed for their entire adult life. And even after defeating Pennywise, even after killing It, they forgot again. All that love, all that hope, it was all washed away again. They forgot Eddie existed, they forgot they ever had anyone to grieve and remember for who he really was. They never got to meet adult Stan, and they never got to grieve that lack of knowing. Literally how am I supposed to deal with that.

This book is so fucking sad it’s insane. The losers were so, so loved, and they couldn’t remember any of that at all. And thats what make this book stand out to me, what makes it stick with me. It’s a tragedy and it hurts so much and I love it.

Anyway I love the stupid clown book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Vomit