Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

It by Stephen King

53 reviews

thatgirlinblack's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

Can an entire city be haunted?” questions Mike Hanlon. What else do you call it when memories of a childhood summer vanish from the minds of a group of friends? What else do you call it when the thought of returning to that town causes a suicide, violent bodily reactions, a possibly fatal drinking binge, a no-holds-barred domestic brawl, and countless tears and dread? What else do you call it when an orange-haired, white-faced clown emerges from storm drains with sharp teeth and murderous intent? 

In the midst of the inexplicable Derry, Maine, a group of seven ragtag ‘Losers’ grapple with not just their strangely vicious childhood bullies and clueless or sinister parents, but the purposeful machinations of an ancient cosmic evil that came from the skies and rules the sewers. 

It’s most frightening ability is of course to take the shape of its victim’s greatest fear, appearing sometimes simultaneously in different forms to different people. A terrifying side effect is the horrific zombied or bloody appearance that deceased family members take, proof of Pennywise’s corruption of pure human love. But the reveal of how deep the evil goes is sobering. Certainly Derry isn’t alone in its share of racist and bigoted (and violent) townspeople but the violence is somehow both shocking and run-of-the-mill because, well, it’s Derry. Has It corrupted the town or has the town created It? 

The 2 timelines in this book, now and 27-years ago, are expertly interwoven and all the more mysteriously horrific because the memory of “then” has been erased from the memories of the adult Losers Club, and only slowly come back to them as they traverse their childhood haunts (and have terrifying encounters showing that It is very much alive and well and malevolent. The events of that fateful summer are slowly revealed with the 2 parallel climaxes building toward an explosive end. 

King definitely gets long-winded in parts, continuing on with stories of people only tangentially involved in the main one. But it does flesh out the inhabitants of Derry more. 

Still, King makes some weird leaps. Firstly, it’s a coming-of-age book and the 1958 parts are certainly told through the eyes of the children who experienced them, evidenced through indecorous parts like pubescent kids’ blooming sexual thoughts and masturbation. And secondly, for all its naturalness, sex is still sex and sex isn’t childlike. I can understand childhood beliefs enabling the defeat of a fear that adults can’t even see. And I can understand physical closeness mirroring the emotional closeness the Losers feel. The infamous childhood gangbang scene plus a corresponding adulthood infidelity felt like an unnecessary step too far. 

Nevertheless, it’s an iconic story that stays with you long after the last page is turned. You get to know these characters, to feel for them, and you’re right there with them fighting for their lives in Its subterranean passageways. 

“It was like adults thought that real life only started when a person was five feet tall.” Well this book proves that there is definitely a lot of life to live and monsters to slay before you get five feet tall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicide

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

sabrena_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was very well written and held my attention. I very much enjoy Stephen Kings style of writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

kchamberlin04's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

stephen king writes such beautiful things about friendship. unfortunately he also writes graphic misogynistic underage sex scenes so

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

uhh. just be careful

tacochelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Putting my thoughts into a list because I have plenty. All the spoilers, because I need to rant.

- The opening chapter with Georgie's death is so good, it's just so frank and brutal, it shows the bond between Bill and Georgie before he dies.

- So damn long. Really needed editing, cut out a lot of repetitive scenes, extra details that only confirms what we already know, etc.

- I love the cosmic horror of what It is, its true form as the Deadlights, how it warps the town of Derry around its existence. 
I even enjoy the cosmic turtle encouraging the Losers, it just furthers the idea that what they are dealing with is so beyond human understanding that it drifts into the absurd.

- I actually like the details on each of It's victims, it shows what it's capable of, the sort of kids that fall on the wayside only to end up it It's path. 

- I liked the friendship between the Losers, King does a really good job of making (most of) them likable, and showing how they become a sort of found family for each other. They help each other with their broken family life and trauma, remind each other that their feelings are valid and does not make them crazy.

- But good lord, Ritchie sucks. He's so obnoxious, with few redeemable moments.

- I didn't mind how sadistic the bullies were. It gave more variety to the sort of prey It feeds on. And part of what made Henry so fucked up was both his racist abusive father, and the influence of It pushing him to madness. It made sense to me.

-Bill's wife Audra feels underused. The ending with her was so weird and feels out of place.

- The gangbang scene was unnecessary. Sure maybe in the mind of a preteen sex can unite them, give you clarity and make you an adult, but for it to actually give them the knowledge of how to leave It's lair is stupid.

-The Losers Club's strong friendship is what ultimately guve them the power to defeat It once and for all. It makes sense when they forget each other the first time because they didn't actually kill It like they thought. But for them to forget each other at the very end when they do kill it feels antithetical to the story. And if they do forget each other, how do Ben and Beverly hook up after that? It doesn't add up, and doesn't make for a satisfying end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

aminami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

lucual20's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment

_seanna_nicole_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment

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