Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

11/22/63 by Stephen King

22 reviews

bigolscrewup's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I'll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it's yours.

Dancing is life

5/5⭐

I feel so stupid for thinking Stephen King can't write Romance, based on the few books I've read of him before 11/22/63. It wasn't just Jake Epping who went into the past and fell in love with Sadie, I bet it's everyone who read this book. I can't believe that the idea for this book came to King in the early 70's and I'm glad he finally wrote it, four decades later. One of the most beautiful story I've ever read. I read this book in seven days and almost every one of those days, I kept thinking I'll be able to read the next chapter tomorrow and see what happens next. I don't know how I will feel tomorrow, waking up knowing there aren't any more chapters. Utterly compelling and absurdly entertaining. I read this under comment section of some YouTube video and I didn't understand it back then, but now I can. "one of my life's greatest comfort is knowing that there will always be more Stephen King books to read" I only wish this story never ended, I want to live in the world he created and never come back. I even tried to watch the show that was adapted from this book and it's just not the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Suicide, Child death, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

clfenters's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.75

I enjoyed this book because I found the premise exciting and I wanted to know how the story would play out and be resolved. I did not find the main character himself to be that interesting and felt no investment in his personal relationships, so a good chunk of the last two-thirds of the book dragged, but I really thought it was all leading to something worthwhile. I was very curious to see how the story would be resolved once the main character carried out his mission, but I found the ending to be a bit of a letdown - perhaps due to my lack of emotional connection with the main character's love interest. Overall, I rated this 3.75 because I enjoyed much of the journey, but did not get the emotional "hit" I expected at the close of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Sexism

newswoman's review against another edition

from the introduction of the love interest onwards i felt a gradual decline in my enjoyment of the book as i am not a fan of how the romance is written at all. i really liked the beginning a lot but the the main character is very hard to like in my opinion, which gets worse and worse as the story progresses. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Alcohol, Gore, Sexual content, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Chronic illness, Cancer, Body horror, Antisemitism, Animal death, Racial slurs, Drug use, and Cursing

craigpwmoroney's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Classism

amcghig's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Violence, and Blood

yossy_cookie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Stephen King is most known for his horror writing and I don't tend to gravitate to that genre as this is not a horror story but more of a speculative fiction/time travel story. I really enjoyed it. I found the time travel mechanic quite confusing as reading it - it gets explained at the end, but maybe that's the point because time travel is theoretically confusing. If you like these types of themes then you may well enjoy this book. I do think it's a bit long and meandering sometimes though, and could cut 100 or even 200 pages and it wouldn't really have changed the story. The pacing (to me) felt more like it was written as an episodic story. I'd definitely consider reading more (non horror) Stephen King. 

Also check the content warnings  - there are a few.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, Violence, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Gore, Classism, Cancer, Death, and Grief

pwnyboy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Grief, Torture, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident, Toxic relationship, and War

beanqueen_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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? No

5.0

Super intriguing, and I really enjoyed the relationship building! I got attached to the characters and was emotional by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

kelsie_s's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

Is it sad that I learned more about this period.of history from a fictional time travel book than my history classes? 
Either way, I enjoyed learning some of the history along the way. For how long it was, it stayed pretty compelling the whole time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide

bambicat234's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It wavers between being hard to put down and hard to keep reading often enough to feel like I'm getting whiplash, and the time traveling aspect could have been fleshed out a LOT more. Not his best but not his worst.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Gore, Grief, Car accident, Medical content, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, and War