Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

It by Stephen King

89 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

scheierndevin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

aech's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

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

kitkatdub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

gizley0420's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content

vicreads24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

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

roman_castavet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-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

4.5

This is a long book and one which I would maybe say could due to be a few hundred pages shorter. This book took me over a year to read particularly due to the extensive "Derry history" parts and boomerangs between very fast pacing and aggressively slow dry parts, but in the end, I loved it. This is my second King read after The Shining, which I did love more in the moment but this book is less horror than it is adventure and a really beautiful coming of age story. At points, this read was a slog, but the character development is so special. I don't know if I would ever return to this book, but I am so glad to have finally finished it after a year, and the world building and character study is genuinely impressive and has truly loveable people to relate to. I think I maybe love this book? Despite being one of the reads that has taken me the longest to finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

Minor: Pedophilia

davidsimpier777's review against another edition

Many scenes in it went to far and were depressing to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Homophobia

The horror was well written, the characters were fun to read, and I love the ambitious story, but there is a lot of stuff here that felt unnecessary and went to far. I would recommend this book to anyone.