Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

»Es«, by Stephen King

18 reviews

alexander_z's review against another edition

the novelty of the horror genre wore off, and I was left with a challenge of a 1,300 page book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Violence, Child death, Homophobia, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Self harm, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Gore, Fatphobia, Blood, and Suicide attempt

snarkandspark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Violence, Suicide, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death, Cursing, Child death, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Gun violence

maddiemarina's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

i despised this book, which is sad cause i‘m a big fan of the movies. there were many things in this book that were offensive and disgusting. the sewer scene is just one of many examples. besides the offensive stuff the characters weren‘t fleshed out well enough. bill felt like a cringe self-insert, bev had no personality, stan didn‘t say more than fifty lines throughout the whole book, ben was a creep and disgusted me to no end.

Spoiler

for example when he got a b/ner when beverly’s ankle bracelet glistened in the sun? they’re eleven for god’s sake

Spoiler

mike and richie were all right though and eddie carried this book. he was the only genuinely good character and his humor was hilarious. i loved his character development, especially when he stood up to his mom. the turtle thing in the book seemed really cool at first, but in the end it was a major disappointment. the end fights with IT were confusing to read too, especially with the flashbacks thrown in but yeah. i‘m not even gonna talk about the sewer scene cause that was the  most disgusting thing i ever read. the whole book wasn‘t written very well either. i‘m sorry for my harsh words, but i didn‘t enjoy this book at all and i wouldn‘t recommend it. in the end this is only my opinion though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Suicide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Racism

stuffo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Drug use, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, and War

bluejeepbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Child death, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Self harm

Moderate: Fatphobia, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Infertility, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Antisemitism

caseylovett's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Gun violence and Homophobia

jackbifrost's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Classism, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

sidekicksam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

The King among horror books - IT is a 1376 page long novel about the Losers Club's two-time stand-off with IT, otherwise known as Pennywise the Clown, or Robert Gray.

Wow. This book was exactly the wild ride I imagined it would be. It is scary. It is fucked up. It is funny. It is timeless.

This story surprised me in so many ways, but let me just try to summarize why I love this book (more precisely, King's writing):

1. The world building is superb. King does such a good job visualising the world of Derry as it was in '58 and '85, introducing side characters and backstories to all of them, without making the reader forget the red line of the story, it feels like you've lived the story yourself. And though living through the Age of Pennywise would be awful, reading this story is a delight.

2. The characters are so well-thought out, and not a single one of them is uninteresting to read about. Ben, Richie, Bill, Eddie, Mike, Stan, Beverly, Pennywise/IT - you get to know every one of them so intimately, you almost feel like the 8th member of the Losers Club.

3. The story itself! Man, this story is mad crazy brilliant. To fuck up generations of adults into being terrified of clowns because everyone knows this story is insane. But it wouldn't have happened if the story wasn't so insanely awesome. 

Ok, so I can conclude by saying that I appreciated the book a lot. HOWEVER. It is not my favourite King. I can't exactly put my finger on what it was (maybe it was THAT scene that ruined it for me), but 11.22.63 and The Stand both resonated with me more (though the ending of The Stand is way inferior to IT). 

But if you're looking for a challenge that will be so rewarding you'll want to send me a thank-you note, or if you're looking for the ultimate Spooky Season read, IT is it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Infertility, Infidelity, Gun violence, Abandonment, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Cursing, Child abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Violence, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

chelseachips's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, and Police brutality

Moderate: Infertility, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Sexism, and Violence

h0neybear's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Overall it's just so lovely, and I know that's a strange way to describe a horror book, and don't get me wrong, it does get dark, but I find that it is truly more character driven than anything. It is an uplifting as well as slightly horrific read, which I believe really showcases the versatility of King as a writer. To me, the horror elements were not too scary

Spoiler

(perhaps something to do with most of them being linked to the fears of children?? I'm not too sure), but it definitely gets disturbing at times for reasons that are not at all supernatural but very grounded in reality. That's the interesting thing about this book; its central antagonist is a monster but it very much explores the things that monster drives the residents of Derry to do. A lot of the disturbing and even distressing comes from people and their disgusting actions, as well as the consequences of these.

  This is a 1000 page book so the pace is SLOW which I do actually love to be honest. It really allows room to create a very developed world as well as a mythology for this world. This one is certainly a page turner, but I found it a bit difficult to pick up at times just because of lack of motivation from the slow, slow pace. An extra note on the world building that I just mentioned is that I wanted to say is that I find it to be soso strong, and remember, this world is just one town. It's fascinating, as is this whole novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Ableism and Suicidal thoughts