Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

It by Stephen King

30 reviews

bagonballoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

This is my favorite book. It means the world to me, and I’ve read it more times than I can count. The audiobook in particular is a treat. It’s a masterpiece of horror for a reason. But it is also a beautiful meditation on childhood and friendship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.75

I don’t really know how to sum up my feelings on this book. There were some really brilliant aspects of it, but also parts that I utterly hated. 

I’ll start off with saying that in my opinion this was far too long. I’m not opposed to lengthy books, often times I prefer them because you get to spend more time with the characters and story, but this took a ridiculous amount of time to get to the point and often felt like the words I was reading were just there to lengthen the book rather than actually tell the story. There were also quite a few scenes that I found completely unnecessary, such as the sewer orgy at the end. That had absolutely no impact on the story and I think was just added as a bit of shock factor. 

I did like the main characters most of the time, though Richie did irritate me at times. The characterisation of It was also very interesting and I haven’t seen anything like it before. 

I think overall I wouldn’t recommend this book to someone unless they had an interest in reading works that are considered classics in the horror genre. If you’re just looking to get started with horror or want to read this because you enjoyed the movies, I wouldn’t recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

himpersonal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

2.0

The only scary thing about this book was the cover. (I’m going to have to find a longer book to read before the end of the year so that I don’t have to look at this cover anytime I revisit my 2024 year in books!).

Book was difficult to read and weird. There were a lot of characters, and time was too fluid. It wasn’t like many books where chapters vacillate between past and present or future. Time actually would switch within the same chapter (at times, even the same paragraph or scene). It made it hard to follow the events.

Also, I failed to see how Beverly’s act of love did anything at all for any of them, especially given how the book ends. And what was up with the Yoda turtle????, especially its explanation of its stomach ache???? Definite two most WtF moments for me.

I kept thinking I was reading an early version of Stranger Things, but Google assured me this book had no contribution to the show, despite a number of similarities.

I’m glad I didn’t DNF it, but neither am I glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

scheierndevin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

brittanylee0302's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

It took me a long time to figure out how I should rate this monster of a book & I'm settling on 3 because it's right in the middle & that's really how I felt about this whole book. Yes, it was super good but ohmygod it was also awful. I should also mention that I read the audio which boosted it in good terms, otherwise I'm pretty sure I never would have made it 50 pages into the book. Steven Weber does a great job narrating & really puts you in the book. His voices vary & he does an excellent job of showing the emotions of the characters. This book was creepy, but some parts were just so gross & unnecessary & I know the kids were young, but King probably could have focused a little less on the farting. The book was just entirely too long, with way too many characters & I found myself spacing out & not knowing what was going on during very large chunks of the book. The timeline was also incredibly confusing, jumping from past to present, back & forth. Honestly, if I hadn't seen the movies, I'm not sure I would have been able to follow the book closely enough to care. Also, after writing this review I feel like maybe this should have been a 2.5, 2.75 star rating, but I'm still unsure how I feel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Death of parent

fuerdeinestadt's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

kchamberlin04's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

stephen king writes such beautiful things about friendship. unfortunately he also writes graphic misogynistic underage sex scenes so

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

uhh. just be careful

readingmausi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

3.0

This book should have been a lot shorter. There were parts I really liked and parts I really disliked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol

haileyeh's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Once again, the movies are better…if only because you don’t have to put up with King’s egregious sex scenes and over the top racism. Seriously, someone needs to investigate this man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexism, Blood, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism