rtthalia's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Child death, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Suicide, Alcohol, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Abandonment, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence
apxllo's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Cancer, Animal death, Sexism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Gore, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
jackbifrost's review against another edition
5.0
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
mousey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book is fundamentally about trauma, about growing up, about self-hatred. But it’s also about love, about family, about childhood, about unlearning your deepest self-loathing. This book is devastating, it’s a tragedy at its heart, but that’s what makes it so good. The characters are so loved and none of them know it and all of them suffer and that is the tragedy that draws me in.
I love the stupid clown book. I love it.
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship
m0usey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Not only are the characters phenomenal, but the horror is amazing as well. The dread and confusion surrounding Pennywise is amazing, and the individual traumas of the losers (home lives, bullying, homophobia, etc) really add to that horror. At its heart, this book is about trauma and about love and about pain and about hope, and Pennywise is just the facilitator of some of that trauma.
Now I’m going to rant about this book with spoilers:
Spoiler
The losers club are a group of people who all thought they were unloveable until they found each other. All of them felt like mistakes, like burdens, like they were disgusting or wrong or gross, but all of them looked at each other and accepted all that pain and loved each other anyway. And ya know what? That love? It lasted for one. Summer. They were never all together again, not ever. And they forgot that they were ever loved because of it.They grew up and forgot their friends and their hometown and forgot that they could be loved, that they were loved, and most of them self destructed for their entire adult life. And even after defeating Pennywise, even after killing It, they forgot again. All that love, all that hope, it was all washed away again. They forgot Eddie existed, they forgot they ever had anyone to grieve and remember for who he really was. They never got to meet adult Stan, and they never got to grieve that lack of knowing. Literally how am I supposed to deal with that.
This book is so fucking sad it’s insane. The losers were so, so loved, and they couldn’t remember any of that at all. And thats what make this book stand out to me, what makes it stick with me. It’s a tragedy and it hurts so much and I love it.
Anyway I love the stupid clown book.
Graphic: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Vomit
cinderrunner's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
There are some good things about this book, but the bad significantly outweigh them. This is one of the most needlessly offensive and problematic books i have ever read. The only thing horrifying about this novel is that King had the audacity to include so much needless hatred and is still being praised for it. The level of racism, sexism, pedophilia/sexualization of minors, anti semitisim, etc is FAR beyond anything that is warranted by the plot and its honestly inexcusable. If you took a shot everytime King used the N word with a hard R, you'd die of alcohol poisoning somewhere between the one third and halfway mark. King is constantly using language and scenarios that sexualize Beverly, constantly mentioning the way her 12 year old body is maturing, painting her as a (and im quoting here) "whore" from almost every chatacters POV. Shes even sexualized in her own POVs.
Spoiler
Bill's catatonic wife is literally likened to a blow up doll at a sex storeSpoiler
the jewish character is the one he kills before they even get together as adultsSpoiler
the black character is the one King cast to stay in Derry and remain poor while the others prosper as adultsIt is also overlong, it could have easily been 400 pages shorter than it was. It dragged on and on. It doesnt genuinely pick up or reach a true climax til around page 950 (in my edition) so like 150 pages away from the end. That's ridiculous. King is constantly overloading the book with lore building and exposition that really isnt needed past a certain point. It took me 4 months of on and off reading to finally get through this thing. Ive never taken more than a month to read a book, even dense ones like the entire Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series, in my adult life.
Most people I have seen, even those who praise this book, don't count this as a book they would ever reread. If that's not a red flag i don't know what is. I cant think of a single book, even thick and complex ones, that i loved and wouldn't pick up again.
PROS: King is a genuinely skilled writer on a technical level and the book is well crafted. There are very thoughtful and interesting themes around childhood vs adulthood, the transition between the two, and the power of faith/belief. It really could have been a gorgeous novel if he leaned more into that earlier in the book and cut down on all the unnecessary bigotry and lore building. I likely would have loved this if it was shorter and less hate filled.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Cannibalism, Classism, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Bullying, Alcohol, Child abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
The whole book is a trigger warning. It is full of violence, GRAPHIC bigotry, and the sexualization of women and especially minors.averagesparrow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Classism, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Sexual content, Excrement, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Hate crime, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Death, Suicide, Homophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Child death
amicamerlo's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Gore, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
artiiichoke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Child death, Gore, Classism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury