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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not a book I'd recommend to everyone, because it's quite dense and meandering throughout the entire book. I loved it though, unexpectedly as I usually despise King's books. I've never really read one I loved, or even liked but IT is a masterpiece to me. Yes it's overly long and could've used an editor, but King's cocaine-fueled madness seeps through its pages and it's a lot better for IT(Pun).
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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:
No
One of King’s finest horror novels.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
too many words. my guy stephen (/derogatory), less words please
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was one I have been looking forward to reading for almost 30 years (27?). It's shear length was always intimidating considering I wasn't a huge fan of reading growing up or even into early adulthood.
My father was an avid reader, and was a big fan of Stephen King throughout the 80s and into the 90s. I remember him reading a lot of Peter Straub and Dean Koontz as well. When I was maybe 8 or 9, hovering around the year 1990 or so (although I wish I could remember the precise year), my dad brought home this behemoth of a book from the town library. On the cover was a green reptilian-like claw coming out of a storm drain with the word "IT" plastered in large red letters across the top. The cover frightened me, but also intrigued me.
I recall my dad reading this book, and others by King, and proceed to give me high-level summaries of what it was about. It was this book specifically, which began my interest in the horror genre. I never got around to reading much, but I did read Cujo, and maybe a Koontz book here and there in my teens. However, I never actually read IT. My interest in horror primarily focused on movies.
My father passed away in 2010, which was devastating of course. In late 2017, nearing 8 years after losing my dad, and going through various phases of grief, something clicked in me and made me want to revisit Stephen King, and read the books my dad read in an attempt to have some sort of "reconnection" with him. While he hadn't read absolutely every Stephen King novel, I know for certain he read a lot of them. I can dig back into memories of browsing the King section of the local library with him and being enthralled by the various cover art of the books he would check out.
So I've been reading King books for the past few years, checking off the ones I know dad had read, and adding others in. Most recently, going in somewhat chronological order to participate in the "Stephen King Fans" Goodreads group book club. For January 2020 the group read finally reached IT and I was ready.
Reading off a Kindle has removed some of the length intimidation these longer books sometimes have, and as I've gotten older and have read a lot more, I can cope with the length by saying to myself "every page I read is one less to the end".
Having seen both the 1990 tv miniseries and the feature film adaptations of IT, and from what my dad had told me, I knew the story well. However, reading the book provided a much more in-depth look into the lives of the seven children and the lore of Derry, Maine. I ran the gamut of emotions while reading this book. From sympathy for each of the characters various struggles with bullies and abusive parents, to joy seeing the friends reunite and fall right back into childhood roles, to fear while they faced the many faces of Pennywise (the enormous eye ball in the tunnels was a fun one).
At times I could see room for edits in the book, however. For instance, the explanations of how Mike works on his father's farm seemed to drone on for far too many pages, and Mike's "journal" outlining all of Derry's horrors of the previous century seemed unnecessarily lengthy. However, all of the detail just goes into providing the reader a complete immersive experience into the character's lives and the history of the town. The layout of Derry is fully realized as well making me imagine that I live there along with the kids.
After reading over 20 of King's books so far, including the entire Dark Tower series of which there are several key references here (Maturin the turtle being the big connection), IT may be the best one and might be my favorite full-length novel of his. This will be a re-read in my future for sure, perhaps in 27 years.
My father was an avid reader, and was a big fan of Stephen King throughout the 80s and into the 90s. I remember him reading a lot of Peter Straub and Dean Koontz as well. When I was maybe 8 or 9, hovering around the year 1990 or so (although I wish I could remember the precise year), my dad brought home this behemoth of a book from the town library. On the cover was a green reptilian-like claw coming out of a storm drain with the word "IT" plastered in large red letters across the top. The cover frightened me, but also intrigued me.
I recall my dad reading this book, and others by King, and proceed to give me high-level summaries of what it was about. It was this book specifically, which began my interest in the horror genre. I never got around to reading much, but I did read Cujo, and maybe a Koontz book here and there in my teens. However, I never actually read IT. My interest in horror primarily focused on movies.
My father passed away in 2010, which was devastating of course. In late 2017, nearing 8 years after losing my dad, and going through various phases of grief, something clicked in me and made me want to revisit Stephen King, and read the books my dad read in an attempt to have some sort of "reconnection" with him. While he hadn't read absolutely every Stephen King novel, I know for certain he read a lot of them. I can dig back into memories of browsing the King section of the local library with him and being enthralled by the various cover art of the books he would check out.
So I've been reading King books for the past few years, checking off the ones I know dad had read, and adding others in. Most recently, going in somewhat chronological order to participate in the "Stephen King Fans" Goodreads group book club. For January 2020 the group read finally reached IT and I was ready.
Reading off a Kindle has removed some of the length intimidation these longer books sometimes have, and as I've gotten older and have read a lot more, I can cope with the length by saying to myself "every page I read is one less to the end".
Having seen both the 1990 tv miniseries and the feature film adaptations of IT, and from what my dad had told me, I knew the story well. However, reading the book provided a much more in-depth look into the lives of the seven children and the lore of Derry, Maine. I ran the gamut of emotions while reading this book. From sympathy for each of the characters various struggles with bullies and abusive parents, to joy seeing the friends reunite and fall right back into childhood roles, to fear while they faced the many faces of Pennywise (the enormous eye ball in the tunnels was a fun one).
At times I could see room for edits in the book, however. For instance, the explanations of how Mike works on his father's farm seemed to drone on for far too many pages, and Mike's "journal" outlining all of Derry's horrors of the previous century seemed unnecessarily lengthy. However, all of the detail just goes into providing the reader a complete immersive experience into the character's lives and the history of the town. The layout of Derry is fully realized as well making me imagine that I live there along with the kids.
After reading over 20 of King's books so far, including the entire Dark Tower series of which there are several key references here (Maturin the turtle being the big connection), IT may be the best one and might be my favorite full-length novel of his. This will be a re-read in my future for sure, perhaps in 27 years.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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:
Complicated
It was so good, but so long. So many great characters to relate to.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes