Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

It by Stephen King

46 reviews

fkshg8465'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

julells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ein fesselndes, geniales und verstörendes Buch, das mir an einigen Stellen doch schon fast ein bisschen zu viel war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent

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

aj9moon's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

fadeddpages's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

This could've been half the length and it would've been way better. There's SO MUCH extra/excess information and background. Also major trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

macliffe's review against another edition

Too much sexual content

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

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

tacochelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Putting my thoughts into a list because I have plenty. All the spoilers, because I need to rant.

- The opening chapter with Georgie's death is so good, it's just so frank and brutal, it shows the bond between Bill and Georgie before he dies.

- So damn long. Really needed editing, cut out a lot of repetitive scenes, extra details that only confirms what we already know, etc.

- I love the cosmic horror of what It is, its true form as the Deadlights, how it warps the town of Derry around its existence. 
I even enjoy the cosmic turtle encouraging the Losers, it just furthers the idea that what they are dealing with is so beyond human understanding that it drifts into the absurd.

- I actually like the details on each of It's victims, it shows what it's capable of, the sort of kids that fall on the wayside only to end up it It's path. 

- I liked the friendship between the Losers, King does a really good job of making (most of) them likable, and showing how they become a sort of found family for each other. They help each other with their broken family life and trauma, remind each other that their feelings are valid and does not make them crazy.

- But good lord, Ritchie sucks. He's so obnoxious, with few redeemable moments.

- I didn't mind how sadistic the bullies were. It gave more variety to the sort of prey It feeds on. And part of what made Henry so fucked up was both his racist abusive father, and the influence of It pushing him to madness. It made sense to me.

-Bill's wife Audra feels underused. The ending with her was so weird and feels out of place.

- The gangbang scene was unnecessary. Sure maybe in the mind of a preteen sex can unite them, give you clarity and make you an adult, but for it to actually give them the knowledge of how to leave It's lair is stupid.

-The Losers Club's strong friendship is what ultimately guve them the power to defeat It once and for all. It makes sense when they forget each other the first time because they didn't actually kill It like they thought. But for them to forget each other at the very end when they do kill it feels antithetical to the story. And if they do forget each other, how do Ben and Beverly hook up after that? It doesn't add up, and doesn't make for a satisfying end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

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