Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

It by Stephen King

80 reviews

shannonleestrouse's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Gore, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Self harm, Animal death, Body shaming, and Emotional abuse

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

sydgolt's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, Cursing, Racial slurs, Suicide, Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Child death, Racism, Murder, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

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

kyliemeyerman's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

After just finishing this, I really feel like I’m leaving a whole real world and want to restart the 1200 pages all over again, which is saying most of what you need to know. It isn’t perfect. There’s things I wanted more of (idyllic childhood fun and maybe some clarification on the supernatural elements) and some I wanted less of (backstory on every side character although kind of fun and stuff I never want to read about children doing). But overall, and awesome, epic, deeply emotional work. And I never got bored, which is a massive feat in such a large volume. There’s some amazing themes here tightly interwoven with an absolutely cracking horror story. I love the characters and would crawl headfirst into a spider’s abdomen to protect baby Ben Hanscom. I would recommend this to everyone - I think anyone CAN find something to love here even if it’s not their thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Infidelity, Medical trauma, and Gun violence

annaofjesup's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Homophobia, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racial slurs, Alcohol, Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, and Infertility

picking_back_up's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Child death, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Grief

dannybailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I believe reading this as a woman is a different experience from reading this as someone of the male sex. But, I suppose, you could argue that for all books, yet I think that this book really has a notable difference in experience compared to all the other books I've experienced/read/listened to.

In saying that, I am aware that it is very much a personal thing and not a problem with King and his story-telling that made it difficult for me to get through and enjoy this book (especially since I was expecting to enjoy this one in-particular). 

I love King's novels and stories, but upon reading this one, I am forever disappointed in the discovery that I do not enjoy all his novels and stories. This one had a lot of upsides— definitely. But the second half of this book really drained me. I was very done with all the sexual references and activities, all the violence often associated with that sexual content and context, it really raised red flags in my head that made me feel sick and deeply disturbed, to a point where it overshadowed a lot of the good stuff in this story, for me.

Aside from my own personal perception and experience (of which I'm sure will be relevant to others who read this book), as a story it is still one I can understand why a lot of people love and find compelling. It is well written, full of vivid detail (which I found both good and bad) and a very epic story that is most certainly an intrigue to take part in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Racial slurs, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Murder, Misogyny, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Sexism

celleke's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

 (so close to 4 stars though)

I once heard that 'IT' is peak wierd Stephen King, and boy is that true, but (mostly) in a good way. Most of the book was really good and REALLY scary, like really really creepy. I never knew I could be terrified in so many different ways. Other parts however were a little bit of a slog to get through. King kan go in to so mutch detail, sometimes it really makes the world and characters feel more real and alive, but other times it makes for paragraphs that are wayyyyy to long and get kind of boring. 
The begenning was kind of hard to get into, then it got really good. Somewhere a little past the midpoint it gets a little repetitive and then towards the end it ramps up again. 
I was glad I finally finished the book because it was getting a little too long, hiwever I dont regret reading 'IT' and look foreward to reading more Stephen King

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Suicide, and Gore

locoemsky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Antisemitism, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Death, Racism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Bullying, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Gore