Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

It by Stephen King

11 reviews

macliffe's review against another edition

Too much sexual content

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Stalking, Antisemitism, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Bullying, Racism, Infertility, Hate crime, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Suicide, Incest, and Vomit

haven_k's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Addiction, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

kreglow's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Stalking, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Incest, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Torture, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

danicampbell0506's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child death, Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, Gore, Pedophilia, Violence, and Rape

Minor: Infertility, Self harm, and Terminal illness

jackbifrost's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Classism, Toxic friendship, and 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.

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.5

First things first, I just need to acknowledge that I devoted four months to reading this book. That's four months of my life I'll never get back.

I honestly think this book is incredibly overhyped: first of all, this is entirely too long. I think that King and his readers would've benefitted if this was written as a duology, with the first novel being form the perspective of when they were children and the second being when they were adults (basically like what they did with the newer film adaptations). I felt way more interested in the chapters that were from when they were children and encountering "It" for the first time, but it just got to be really repetitive and kind of confusing to follow via audiobook at times.

Speaking of the children encountering "It"... I was very disappointed by the lack of Pennywise in this novel. I understand that it was meant to showcase how Derry was the true monster, and that the scariest evils are the ones hidden in plain sight (ie. the bullies in the town, Beverly's dad - hell basically all the adults in the town - and the ideals they represented) but this is sold as a "monster" book so... where he at?

Lastly, this book is HARMFUL. As a cisgender, straight white male, Stephen King is WAYYYYY too comfortable with the use of racial, homophobic, misogynistic and Anti-Semitic slurs. The use of this offensive language added nothing to the narrative in my opinion and none of the characters learned from their mistakes or were punished for the use of the slurs. It felt... personal. Now I am not someone who knows about King personally, or the remarks he has made or his beliefs, but it came across as an excuse to use that language for the sake of using it (before you come in saying "he was just showcasing the time period, etc." he can get that point across without using the n word 8 times in a sentence on every other page). Another big issue that I had was how he sexualized Beverly (our only female main character, might I add) in both her adolescence and adulthood. He talked about her breasts more than her as a person. It was ridiculous. Also don't even get me started on that sex scene between all the kids at the end of the book.... WHY. WHAT PURPOSE DID THAT SERVE?

This is considered a classic for no reason, I said what I said.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Bullying, Sexual harassment, and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Child abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

molestation

ratrug's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

My god this is a bloody tome. If you haven’t read any other King books I would recommend doing so before you start this because it’s a bloody long book if you don’t like his writing style. I enjoyed it but it was a bit of a slog at times, but King used the words he needed to say what he wanted to say

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Terminal illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence