Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

It by Stephen King

91 reviews

danibee123's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Antisemitism

shannonleestrouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sommarborne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sydgolt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I loved it. Obviously the gross part when they were kids was vile and imo completely unnecessary. he wanted them to create some deep connection but that felt… wrong. i think that’s when they should’ve made the blood pact. i understand that horror tends to push boundaries to really evoke strong emotions in the readers but this was just not right. 

that being said i absolutely loved reading this book cover to cover. it was so captivating and intricately written, more so than the majority of books i’ve read. stephen king has easily become one of my favorite authors. i loved the characters and their friendships and how strong and unqiue each personality was. sometimes in books they over-develop the main character and under-develop the side characters but everyone got equal effort put into them which i really
appreciated. 

I’m so glad i read this book when i did cuz im starting the year with such a high point. this will definitely be in my top 5 as well!! 

5 stars 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

haven_k's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

kyliemeyerman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

After just finishing this, I really feel like I’m leaving a whole real world and want to restart the 1200 pages all over again, which is saying most of what you need to know. It isn’t perfect. There’s things I wanted more of (idyllic childhood fun and maybe some clarification on the supernatural elements) and some I wanted less of (backstory on every side character although kind of fun and stuff I never want to read about children doing). But overall, and awesome, epic, deeply emotional work. And I never got bored, which is a massive feat in such a large volume. There’s some amazing themes here tightly interwoven with an absolutely cracking horror story. I love the characters and would crawl headfirst into a spider’s abdomen to protect baby Ben Hanscom. I would recommend this to everyone - I think anyone CAN find something to love here even if it’s not their thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Child death

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Vomit, and Medical trauma

annaofjesup's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

picking_back_up's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

dannybailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I believe reading this as a woman is a different experience from reading this as someone of the male sex. But, I suppose, you could argue that for all books, yet I think that this book really has a notable difference in experience compared to all the other books I've experienced/read/listened to.

In saying that, I am aware that it is very much a personal thing and not a problem with King and his story-telling that made it difficult for me to get through and enjoy this book (especially since I was expecting to enjoy this one in-particular). 

I love King's novels and stories, but upon reading this one, I am forever disappointed in the discovery that I do not enjoy all his novels and stories. This one had a lot of upsides— definitely. But the second half of this book really drained me. I was very done with all the sexual references and activities, all the violence often associated with that sexual content and context, it really raised red flags in my head that made me feel sick and deeply disturbed, to a point where it overshadowed a lot of the good stuff in this story, for me.

Aside from my own personal perception and experience (of which I'm sure will be relevant to others who read this book), as a story it is still one I can understand why a lot of people love and find compelling. It is well written, full of vivid detail (which I found both good and bad) and a very epic story that is most certainly an intrigue to take part in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

celleke's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.75

 (so close to 4 stars though)

I once heard that 'IT' is peak wierd Stephen King, and boy is that true, but (mostly) in a good way. Most of the book was really good and REALLY scary, like really really creepy. I never knew I could be terrified in so many different ways. Other parts however were a little bit of a slog to get through. King kan go in to so mutch detail, sometimes it really makes the world and characters feel more real and alive, but other times it makes for paragraphs that are wayyyyy to long and get kind of boring. 
The begenning was kind of hard to get into, then it got really good. Somewhere a little past the midpoint it gets a little repetitive and then towards the end it ramps up again. 
I was glad I finally finished the book because it was getting a little too long, hiwever I dont regret reading 'IT' and look foreward to reading more Stephen King

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence