It Author:Stephen King "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years--if it ever did end--began, so far as I can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain." — This is the first line of "It," the beginning of one of Stephen King's masterpieces. — In the summer of 1958, seven friends... more » encountered something horrible in their town of Derry, Maine. This something fed on children, hunting them, preying on them, and devouring them. It could shape itself in any way It liked, whatever their nightmares suited, but always with one trademark: the semblance of a clown. The seven friends all had something in common: They had all escaped It at some point. And in that summer, they learned about It, confronted It, and killed It... or so they thought.
28 years later... A boy named Adrian Mellon is apparently thrown off a bridge by two other boys for his sexuality. It seems like an open-and-shut case, but the boys claim that there was something down below... a clown and a cloud of balloons.
Soon the friends are being called back to Derry, told that It is back. They made a vow, sealed in blood, to return if It wasn't dead.
"It" is two stories being told at once. One is the story of their childhood, of their first encounter with Pennywise the Clown, their troubles with the local bullies, the impact of It upon their lives, their own personal struggles, and the eventual defeat of It. At the same time, it is the story of the return to Derry, of the research they did to see what It was and subsequent events that followed.« less
I needed therapy after reading this book in the 7th grade, I slept with the lights on for 3 weeks. I am not entirely sure there is a book that has shaken me more. Great read!
This was the first Stephen King novel I ever read. It is huge- over 1000 pages if I remember right. I loved every minute of it and have been a fan of King's ever since.
In my opinion this is the best book Stephen King has ever written. Dark, disturbing and emotional. This is not a very easy book to read but well worth reading.
This one is hard for me to rate. I feel that if I would have read this book when I was younger (late teens maybe) I would have probably had nightmares for a long time. After reading it now though it didn't do much to scare me. I think I also had very high expectations for this book as well. Horror is such a wide diverse area. What scares one may not scare the other. So this is just my review on what this book did for me. I know others who have read it and never were the same afterwards. Same goes for the movie made based on the book.
As for my likes... my favorite part of the book are the characters and their wonderful friendship. I really enjoyed reading their moments together. It brought back memories of my childhood. Also IT was creepy! Some of the scenes involving IT had me cringing.
Dislikes... book was too long. I have read large books and have been totally entertained the whole way through but with this one I felt dragged in many places. I really think it could have been condensed and ended up being a much better book. The ended was a bit too far fetched for my tastes. The idea of where IT came from just made it less scary for me.
All in all it was a good book and I'm glad I read it. Even though it didn't terrify me, it might terrify you. Think it should be a definite read for horror fans.
Take a TOWN...Take a CLOWN and make them blood chilling evil. Does this step over your bounds when children go missing and dead and the whole town blanks it out. This is a title that reaffirms KING as KING of HORROR!...Book of the Month Main Selection
I thought this was a great book. While it is absolutely huge and took me about a month to read, I found it addicting and read any chance I had. I haven't read many books by Stephen King, but so far he has not let my expectations down. However, I do feel as if some chapters and minute details could have been left out. But this is the kind of writing that sucks you into the story and makes you a part of it. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. Maybe not kids, though, because there are some gruesome parts!
I was a little wary of reading this book at first, because I'd seen the movie first and it bored me to tears. It was a little hard to start reading, but once I got into it, I found I loved the book. I could hardly put it down and by the time I got to the end I saw where King had gotten his reputation.
This was the book that hooked me on King's writing, and I've found this same gift to hold the reader to pages in many of his other books. :D
Great book! I couldn't wait to get to the end of it. I was intimidated at first because the size of it. It is a very lengthy read but with the way Stephen King's describes everything it makes you feel like you are there battling "It" along with them. I was a little dissapointed with what "It" actually turned out to be but each their own. If I would have read this when I was younger I probably would have had nightmares about clowns for weeks. :)
