Reviews tagging 'Racism'

It by Stephen King

275 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

jhutch1324's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

I am having a hard time rating this book. I read it multiple times as a teenager and enjoyed it. This time I decided to listen to it and I'm not sure if that affected my perception but I am no longer a fan of this novel. I am a King fan and so enjoy his writing but this one is a little too much for me. Lots of racial slurs, which when reading I guess I skimmed, but when listening it made me cringe every time. Now this is normal for King and it's always terrible characters that we hate using them but it doesn't change the fact that listening to them repeatedly was rough (and I'm white). Also, I didn't remember the amount of sex talked about by children which as an adult felt weird to listen to. Especially one scene, and if you've read it you know exactly which part, that I must have blocked out because wtf, why was that part necessary, it didn't add anything to the plot that couldn't have been added another way.

I will continue to be a King fan and even a fan of this movie but I think I may have accidentally ruined the book for myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

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

harry_ballantyne7's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Gore

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

mostly_present's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

magicandmanuscripts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia and Mental illness

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