Reviews tagging 'Rape'

It by Stephen King

62 reviews

skydragxn's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Bullying, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Gun violence

howsheblushed's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

This is one of my favorite Stephen King books to read, but it’s just a liiiittle too long and there’s a bit too much nipple imagery. It’s great if you want to get super invested in a different world, though, because at the end, you’ll know EVERYTHING there is to know. I’d say it’s 100% worth the read if you don’t mind it being a little slow. (It does have just about every big content warning a book can have, the bad guys aren’t just the one monster) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

moosthappi's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gore, and Death

lunasreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

it's MY hyperfixation and I get to choose the rating!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment and Religious bigotry

literal child orgy.

kenna11's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.0

So many thoughts and so little space to write them. The book was well written and the plot was interesting enough that I spent 45 hours of my life listening to the audiobook. I could have done without the slurs every other page, descriptions of a child’s nipples, and other completely unnecessary information. Without all of these things I would give it a solid 5 but it just made me so uncomfortable to read (and not in the way I think he meant it to). I’m basically going to have to select every trigger warning on the list for this review 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

gemmawelton's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

!!BIT OF A RANT REVIEW!!

So this was a tough read for me. I started it last year and got to about 600 pages in before it lost me, and honestly I felt the same struggle to read it this time as then.

I’m not going to comment on just how deeply disturbing this book is, because I do understand that that is the entire point of this book - it’s a horror. You’re not going to get flowers and rainbows.

But I am going to single out the extreme emphasis on child sexuality.

I skipped the scene with all the losers at the end of the book, when they’re trying to get out of the sewers and apparently all have to have sex with Beverly because there’s NO OTHER WAY to resolve it AT ALL, because it literally felt too close to child p*rnography and it made me feel sick.

My second point on this subject is the encounter between Patrick and Henry in the junkyard. They’re twelve. Just because they are bullies/murderers doesn’t diminish that, and I’m not entirely sure why Stephen king included this as I don’t think it actually furthered the plot at all, it just drew more attention to the tones of homophobia.

My third point regarding this is the general theme throughout the book - all of the loser’s experience a ‘s*xual stirring’ when around Beverly or any of the girls who are mentioned in the book and Beverly herself expressed the same feelings a couple of times, one of which is in the junkyard. There’s also the fact that a few times there are mentions of children turning up dead with their s*xual organs mutilated or completely gone.

Edit: just a quick fourth point, the scene between Beverly and her father when he asked to ‘check’ she was still a virgin.

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the amount of homophobia featured in this book. Again, I understand that this was meant to contribute to the theme of the book and of Derry, and there is the whole different eras argument, but I also feel like it cropped up more often than was ‘relevant’ to the plot. I’m not even sure how it was actually relevant, it didn’t really have a lot of influence over the plot, and unlike the films, we didn’t get any characters that were part of the LGBTQ+ community (aside from Adrian and Don (I think)).

I know that Stephen king himself and a some people who are devoted to this storyline have defended these choices, with king citing that times have changed and it’s different millennia, but this was written in the ‘80’s. It wasn’t ok then, it’s not ok now, and it never will be ok.

I’ve seen people say that the scene in the sewers between the losers was each of the boys showing they’re love for her and Beverly herself reclaiming her self/‘sexuality’ after what happened with her father, but there were plenty of other ways for the boys to show they loved her, in fact they did throughout the book multiple times, and Beverly was 11. You can’t tell me she was even fully aware of what exactly sexuality is, let alone that this was the best way to reclaim it.

Overall, I’m not sure this will be something I pick up to read often, if again, and if I do it would probably be just to skim through some parts rather than have an actual read of it. If I get the urge for a story with an awesome bunch of kids who defeat a murderous otherworldly clown, I’ll watch the films as I feel they did the story and the characters much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, and Police brutality

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, and Rape

richardwho's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

2.0

I just want to know what goes through someone’s head to write some of these scenes. It’s not even that the scenes are scary. They were actually disappointing and I found myself falling asleep at times. There was one point where he wrote about two pages of the medicine Eddie takes and it felt irrelevant to the plot. The reader does not need to know this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

mayakinsley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Infidelity and Gun violence

Minor: Antisemitism

twilightsun1125's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

kaylee1957's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Sometimes the plot really lagged on and on. Physically the reading experience of reading such a thick large heavy book made the reading experience even more unpleasant. Children's plot was more engaging and loveable than the adults' plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence