Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

It by Stephen King

28 reviews

maggiefaerie's review against another edition

DNF @28%, and the book put me in a reading slump. 

I really wanted to love this book. I'm not scared easily, and everyone I know says this is the most frightening book they've read. I've had some disappointments recently, so I wanted something to scare me at least a little. I finally threw in the towel after chapter 7-6.

This book drags so much. I'm 1/3 of the way in and there's so much bloated writing that I honestly don't feel invested at all. There's a balance between atmosphere and plot, and this book leans heavily on settings before establishing motives or developing the characters. I basically spent 10 hours reading a book with the exact vibes of Stand By Me when I thought I was reading horror. I'm really disappointed because I wanted to be completely and absolutely terrified by the book, and I was, but not because of the monster. 

I honestly cannot get past the homophonia, anti-semitism, fat shaming, mysogony, abuse, and racism. If you want to read this, be aware that this book casually drops many slurs in reference to minority groups. The liberal character descriptors that involve all the really bad slurs you can think of were unnecessary and truly uncomfortable. 

The abuse is also way too explicit for me. There's nothing I've enjoyed about this experience of reading this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Dementia, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

bomenvernietiger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

Stephen are you ok

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Islamophobia, Car accident, and Death of parent

esslesmcgee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, and Medical trauma

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

julesfromarvs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

mi sono dovuta un attimo prendere del tempo per scrivere questa recensione, perché ho passato gli ultimi venti minuti (da quando ho finito il libro) a piangere per questo finale. 
inizialmente è come se non avessi bene realizzato quello che avevo appena letto, ma poco dopo è arrivata una vera e propria mazzata emotiva al cuore. 

in questo momento l’emozione che riuscirebbe meglio a descrivere come mi sento sarebbe una: l’odio; ma questo odio è nei miei confronti. 

continuo a ripetermi che questo finale non mi piace, che lo trovo quasi deludente, ma questo semplicemente perché a parlare è la parte egoista di me, una parte che non avrebbe voluto soffrire così tanto per quest’ultimo capitolo, e che forse era pronta a leggere altro, ma non questo. 

la parte più razionale della mia testa riconosce benissimo quanto in realtà questo finale sia perfetto per il genere di storia che ci viene raccontato, e quanto poi sia effettivamente coerente con tutto. 

per tutto il libro permane questo tema del passaggio dall’infanzia all’età adulta e, proprio come i losers, il lettore man mano che va avanti assume sempre un po’ di più questa consapevolezza della perdita, che sia concreta o astratta, impara a leggere con altri occhi. 

inoltre, sin dall’inizio stephen king ti fa capire che questi personaggi non sono del tutto padroni delle scelte che prendono e delle azioni che compiono, proprio come se ci fosse questa forza sovrannaturale ad unirli, e tenerli uniti. una sorta di bolla di magia, che solo loro 7 potevano creare. 

effettivamente, se ci pensate, tutti loro riconoscono che al momento dell’incontro di ciascuno, è come se fosse giusto. non c’è bisogno di domande. basta sapere che è giusto così. 

e 27 anni dopo, una volta che la promessa è stata mantenuta, una volta che IT è morto e che la tartaruga non c’è più, è ovvio che anche questa magia stia svanendo. e onestamente dovevo anche aspettarmelo che finisse così, con questi oramai adulti che si dimenticano (o quasi) l’uno dell’altro, perché è esattamente il messaggio che stephen king vuole trasmetterci, questo sentimento di perdita, questa consapevolezza che le amicizie e l’amore dell’infanzia non sempre possono durare. lui vuole farci guardare con gli occhi di un adulto. questi personaggi crescono con te, ma anche tu cresci con loro. 

poi effettivamente già da piccoli, per quanto mi faccia male accettarlo, nella scena del combattimento con IT, una volta credutolo morto, stavano già iniziando a sfaldarsi … a perdere quella magia appunto … 

e con questo ovviamente non voglio pensare che fosse solo quella a tenerli così uniti, perché la cosa che più mi ha fatta affezionare a questo libro è proprio il bellissimo rapporto di unione che c’è tra loro. 

e quindi è per questo che mi sto odiando e definendo egoista. è in realtà un bellissimo finale, soprattutto coerente, ma siccome mi sta facendo così male, sto facendo tanta fatica ad accettarlo. 

a parte questo, sono dell’idea che rileggendolo (tra tanto tempo) sicuro mi piacerebbe di più, perché è un libro talmente tanto carico di sentimento, che leggerlo una sola volta probabilmente sfuggono molte piccole cose … 

concludo solo col dire che Eddie e Richie si confermano miei personaggi preferiti (avevo potuto constatarlo già con la vecchia miniserie e ovviamente poi con i due recenti film), ma una grande aggiunta a questa lista è sicuramente Bill. 

Bill per me è stata una piacevole scoperta, perché nelle due trasposizioni spesso e volentieri mi faceva arrabbiare. è più che altro caratterizzato come un’enorme testa di cazzo che non vuole ascoltare gli altri, e soprattutto come un capo che prende decisioni da solo. qui invece è molto più sfaccettato. 

sin dall’inizio lui esplicita che mai avrebbe voluto quella posizione, ma che per un modo o per l’altro ci era finito, perché gli altri hanno da subito riposto tanta fiducia in lui. ma poi … quanto dolore a leggere quanto quest’uomo è avvolto dai sensi di colpa … ho sottolineato alcune parti inerenti a questa cosa che sono troppo strazianti (in generale, mi piace sottolineare le parti che più mi colpiscono).

Bill è così diventato assolutamente un mio protetto e mi viene anche da dire che lui e Eddie sono sicuramente i due che sento anche proprio più vicini a me come tipo di persona. 

infine, voglio solo mandare un grande bacio a questi personaggi, e a Stephen King che, sebbene in maniera diversa, è riuscito a descriverli così tanto nel dettaglio e a farmici affezionare su tutto un altro livello. 

è sempre bello trovare personaggi così diversi tra loro ma allo stesso tempo così tanto amabili <3 

mi scuso in caso di errori, ma questa recensione è proprio una gettata di sentimenti vivi.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

livya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

m0usey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

I love this book. I am a sucker for found family and the Losers embody that for me. I love their individual characters as well as their dynamics with each other, and I love the exploration of where their bonds lead them. I laughed and I cried over them, I could write essays about them, they’re really, really good characters and they draw me into the book in a way very few other characters have.

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:

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, 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, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• 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

1.0

Please excuse any typing errors as I am too lazy to edit
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.

Bill's catatonic wife is literally likened to a blow up doll at a sex store

Richie is known for doing voices and almost all of them are racist stereotypes, his go to one being the charactature of a black child like you'd see in a minstrel show. They are constantly using Stan being jewish as a punchline. It feels intentional that

the jewish character is the one he kills before they even get together as adults

, the female is the one who spends her whole life abused, and

the black character is the one King cast to stay in Derry and remain poor while the others prosper as adults

. And this isnt even the big shit like the ENTIRE CHILD SEX SCENE. With literal 11 to 12 year olds. Which King has never retracted or apologized for (from what I've seen) but only said it aged poorly cause people now are more sensitive....like its irrational to take offense to an adult writing kids having a, for lack of a better term, gang bang. And again, most of this is completely irrelevant to the plot and could have been excluded with zero detriment to the story. I will admit that if you are writing about minorities and setting it in the 50s, a certain level of bigotry is warranted. But the level to which King took it is gross and uncalled for. He could have just as easily NOT written any minority characters if this is his idea of representation. The fact that he, of his own freewill, wrote this level of offensive stereotypes, micro aggressions, bigotry and full on volatil hate and has never apologized for it, or made a statement against it, is sick. And the fact that it got through editing and publishing and is STILL being praised and rated 5 stars speaks volumes to what we are willing to let straight, cis, white men in power get away with. I can't imagine a single POC, female, or religious minority character writing the story the way King did, even in the 80s.
It 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

The whole book is a trigger warning. It is full of violence, GRAPHIC bigotry, and the sexualization of women and especially minors.