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adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
CW: homophobia, graphic gay bashing, domestic violence, sexual assault, racism, violence, gore, and many other triggers
Not now, Pennywise. I'm going to start off with a story.
The first time I encountered IT, I was around the age of Bill, Ben, Richie, Bev, Eddie, Stan, and Mike. It was around Halloween. My dad was getting ready to go to a party at his friend's place, so my mom and I were downstairs channel surfing. I wanted to watch something a bit scary. On ABC Family of all places, this was coming on. "Oh, I remember this one," my mom told me. "It's not that scary."
Liar.
For the next however many hours the damn miniseries is, I was terrified. My dad went out to his party. My mom fell asleep. My dogs refused to be with me. I was completely alone. Let's just say that I didn't sleep well that night. I was too scared to move. At one point, I thought I was going to wet myself because I didn't want to get up and go to the bathroom. (I didn't, FYI. I didn't pee the bed.)
A few years later, I tried to read the book. Got around to the point with the gay bashing, then gave up because it was too much and I understood what was going on yet I didn't at all. If that makes any sense. Even later, I decided to watch the movie again. Scared me, but not as much as before.
To this day, Pennywise is the only clown that scares me.
Yeah, yeah. Be flattered. Also to this day, I hate storm drains. I walk around them if I can. If it's dark, I don't even look at them. Storm drains has to be one of the weirdest fears out there, and Stephen King gave it to me. So... thanks for that one.
I've been meaning to read this book for years. I own a Kindle copy of this book because it was insanely cheap one day. I own a paperback as well. Just, with my schedule, delving into a 1000 page book seemed dumb. So, when I saw my library had this as a downloadable audiobook, I jumped at the chance because I knew that since I work at a chill place, I would be able to listen to it every day I work.
What I wasn't entirely expecting was to make this one of my favorite books. While it's far from perfect -- too long, sometimes it's awkward in the way it's told, the tie-ins annoy me because I haven't read the Dark Tower series, wasn't a fan on the discovery of what IT really is, and I thought it was a bit too sexual (not that the last scene with the kids bothered me, just that I don't really need a lot of sex in books) -- I really enjoyed it.
At its heart, King really makes a great coming-of-age story. Because, that's all this is. A group of kids who band together during rough times. They're on the brink of adulthood and have to be children, yet also be adults. Isn't that what we all get to? That's why I think that to really enjoy a coming-of-age story, you have to be an adult. You have to have gone through that time and then look back through a story to see how true it is. I read many coming of age stories as a teen, and none of them ever connected with me because I was living it.
Then, beyond the coming-of-age story, you have a great meditation (as usual) about small town life. I grew up in a small town. Not Derry small, but only 20,000 people live here. The kids I went to elementary school with, I went to high school with. I graduated with them. I see them around town and the community college I went to. And, King loves meditating on the darker side of small towns. Given that I grew up in a small town, I know it pretty well. When I was maybe ten, some kid was beat up and his attackers didn't give him his inhaler so he died. Or, when, in my freshman year of high school, we had a spate of deaths; someone died in a car crash, a kid in my grade died from heart failure, then another huge accident, a kid got hit by a car crossing the street. Just this year, my high school tried covering up that a student hung the Confederate flag in the cafeteria. I can connect with what King's doing, and he does it well.
Even more than that, he really writes well about childhood and what happens when you grow up. You move away from friends, you lose contact, you talk maybe a few times a year, and then you can even forget about them completely. Your childhood memories fade away, too. You may not remember who you were with or what even happened. And, that's another thing this book is about. The fading of childhood.
Basically, you have to be an adult to get this book.
The horror, though. Oh, that was good. There were times where I had to blink a few times and force myself to focus on imputing location changes into the system or to stop looking so dumb with my mouth hanging open. It's not even all to do with IT either. Racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, psychopaths. That's enough to make my blood run cold any day just by reading a news article. While I already said I didn't enjoy the revelation of what IT is -- although, I enjoyed the tie-in because of King's universe -- nor was I a huge fan with Dark Towers being in there, I thought IT was creepy and scary up until the alien stuff started.
In other words, read this book. You really won't regret it, whether you recognize his tie-ins or you don't. Or, even, if you don't like horror. Horror, while it is a major part of the story, isn't the full one. It's much better than I anticipated it would be, so Pennywise ought to be pleased.
Not now, Pennywise. I'm going to start off with a story.
The first time I encountered IT, I was around the age of Bill, Ben, Richie, Bev, Eddie, Stan, and Mike. It was around Halloween. My dad was getting ready to go to a party at his friend's place, so my mom and I were downstairs channel surfing. I wanted to watch something a bit scary. On ABC Family of all places, this was coming on. "Oh, I remember this one," my mom told me. "It's not that scary."
Liar.
For the next however many hours the damn miniseries is, I was terrified. My dad went out to his party. My mom fell asleep. My dogs refused to be with me. I was completely alone. Let's just say that I didn't sleep well that night. I was too scared to move. At one point, I thought I was going to wet myself because I didn't want to get up and go to the bathroom. (I didn't, FYI. I didn't pee the bed.)
A few years later, I tried to read the book. Got around to the point with the gay bashing, then gave up because it was too much and I understood what was going on yet I didn't at all. If that makes any sense. Even later, I decided to watch the movie again. Scared me, but not as much as before.
To this day, Pennywise is the only clown that scares me.
Yeah, yeah. Be flattered. Also to this day, I hate storm drains. I walk around them if I can. If it's dark, I don't even look at them. Storm drains has to be one of the weirdest fears out there, and Stephen King gave it to me. So... thanks for that one.
I've been meaning to read this book for years. I own a Kindle copy of this book because it was insanely cheap one day. I own a paperback as well. Just, with my schedule, delving into a 1000 page book seemed dumb. So, when I saw my library had this as a downloadable audiobook, I jumped at the chance because I knew that since I work at a chill place, I would be able to listen to it every day I work.
What I wasn't entirely expecting was to make this one of my favorite books. While it's far from perfect -- too long, sometimes it's awkward in the way it's told, the tie-ins annoy me because I haven't read the Dark Tower series, wasn't a fan on the discovery of what IT really is, and I thought it was a bit too sexual (not that the last scene with the kids bothered me, just that I don't really need a lot of sex in books) -- I really enjoyed it.
At its heart, King really makes a great coming-of-age story. Because, that's all this is. A group of kids who band together during rough times. They're on the brink of adulthood and have to be children, yet also be adults. Isn't that what we all get to? That's why I think that to really enjoy a coming-of-age story, you have to be an adult. You have to have gone through that time and then look back through a story to see how true it is. I read many coming of age stories as a teen, and none of them ever connected with me because I was living it.
Then, beyond the coming-of-age story, you have a great meditation (as usual) about small town life. I grew up in a small town. Not Derry small, but only 20,000 people live here. The kids I went to elementary school with, I went to high school with. I graduated with them. I see them around town and the community college I went to. And, King loves meditating on the darker side of small towns. Given that I grew up in a small town, I know it pretty well. When I was maybe ten, some kid was beat up and his attackers didn't give him his inhaler so he died. Or, when, in my freshman year of high school, we had a spate of deaths; someone died in a car crash, a kid in my grade died from heart failure, then another huge accident, a kid got hit by a car crossing the street. Just this year, my high school tried covering up that a student hung the Confederate flag in the cafeteria. I can connect with what King's doing, and he does it well.
Even more than that, he really writes well about childhood and what happens when you grow up. You move away from friends, you lose contact, you talk maybe a few times a year, and then you can even forget about them completely. Your childhood memories fade away, too. You may not remember who you were with or what even happened. And, that's another thing this book is about. The fading of childhood.
Basically, you have to be an adult to get this book.
The horror, though. Oh, that was good. There were times where I had to blink a few times and force myself to focus on imputing location changes into the system or to stop looking so dumb with my mouth hanging open. It's not even all to do with IT either. Racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, psychopaths. That's enough to make my blood run cold any day just by reading a news article. While I already said I didn't enjoy the revelation of what IT is -- although, I enjoyed the tie-in because of King's universe -- nor was I a huge fan with Dark Towers being in there, I thought IT was creepy and scary up until the alien stuff started.
In other words, read this book. You really won't regret it, whether you recognize his tie-ins or you don't. Or, even, if you don't like horror. Horror, while it is a major part of the story, isn't the full one. It's much better than I anticipated it would be, so Pennywise ought to be pleased.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Murder