It

They were just kids when they stumbled upon the horror within their hometown. Now, as adults, none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them all back to Derry, Maine, to face the nightmare without end, and the evil without a name...

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This is the first line of "It," the beginning to one of Stephen King's masterpieces, and probably the most incredible story I've ever read. Those who complain about it's length... they need patience. Those who complain about its characters... they need to look around at themselves and others. Those who complain about it being vulgar, vile, or horrific... that's part of the story, and not to embrace it means you miss out on something extraordinary.

In the summer of 1958, seven friends 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. Each of them is now very successful, and the thought of returning to Derry, of going back to the horror that they'd all forgotten, is more than they can bear, but they had made a promise.

"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. This is told from the beginning of the book to the near end of it. At the same time, the story of the return to Derry, of the research done to see what It was, the memories that were now urging to return, and subsequent events that followed which I won't spoil here. Both timelines alternate in their tellings to fit one another perfectly, even if not in perfect chronological order, and they're even further juiced with quick points of time long before their own, dipping into what else It has been up to. This construction is utterly beautiful in how it's placed, and completely builds the story up for all its plot points and climax. "It" also easily avoids a problem with many long Stephen King books: Plot threads that go nowhere.

The characters are completely immersive and none are the all-too-well-known cliches. Bill Denbrough is the leader of the group, with a bone to pick with It, and his own problem of stuttering. Richie Tozier has a smart mouth and a big ego, one that hides things from the others that he's ashamed of, even in denial of. Eddie Kaspbrak is asmathic and weak, but he has courage within him to help his friends. Stan Uris is a sensible and supportive friend, who helps bring understanding of things. Ben Hanscom is an overweight and loving boy who brings his own ingenuity to the group. Beverly Marsh is a tough, yet sweet girl, whose own problems at home help prepare her for what she must face with the others. And Mike Hanlon, a boy chased by the bullies for the color of his skin, who comes across the group with a desire to help, and also leading to one of the more emotional parts of the story, the Great Rock Fight. These are the seven friends whose unity and circumstances held them together against It, and who vowed to return. It isn't long before they feel familiar, as if you've known them all your life, as well as the troubles they've faced, especially those of punk and bully Henry Bowers, whose endless torment drives them into the very heart of It's lair.

"It" is a story that does take some patience to get into after the initial hook, but afterward, you'll have trouble putting it down. The night I finished it for the first time, I was 200 pages from the end and it was already midnight, but I just had to keep going. I couldn't wait until morning. I had to read, see, feel... I had to know. Everything builds and builds, as well as giving off the love, excitement, and horror that abounds, and it doesn't let down. Every single event, be it touching, scary, or vulgar, is necessary to form the complete picture of what may be one of the greatest books you will ever read.

-Escushion

54 of 57 found the following review helpful:

Without doubt the best novel ever written by Stephen KingJun 14, 2000
By Gabor Lake
I was 12 years old when I was reading this book and, having a vivid imagination, it scared the hell out of me. I slept for weeks with lights on in my room and I always had a slightly bad feeling while going to the toilet (read the book to know why)...

I guess why this book captivated me so much is that the heroes are children, young and not among the most popular, smartest or strongest. Young boys and a girl you could yourself identify with. They arent the most popular, strongest or smartest kids... All are haunted because of their bad family situation, rough pupils, health problems... And its those loners, finding together and finally confronting a century-old evil force living in the Derry canalisation... An evil force, IT, that the adults of Derry dont want to realize it exists...

The books is cleverly made, offering insight in the life of the main charcters both as youngsters and adults, confronted again 20 years later by the evil they thought they had destroyed in a memorable fight a long time ago...

This is the best Stephen King ever achieved.

48 of 51 found the following review helpful:

An Incredible JourneyMar 27, 2000
By Will McCammon
After finishing IT for only the second time, I feel I must add my comments to those listed below. I found this book to be one of the greatest fiction books I have ever had the pleasure of curling up with for several weeks and reading (any book that can have me go through the full range of emotions over and over again and then get me to spend weeks reflecting on thoughts from the last two paragraphs has to rank up there). SK has managed to write the scariest novel I have ever read but also weave in multiple underlying themes (Good vs Evil, racial discrimination, the reality of childhood as seen through the eyes of a child - who can forget the schoolyard bullies?) that kept me thinking the whole way through the book. Rather than bore you with a long review - just read the book you'll be glad you did (although due to the mature and sometimes inappropriate content of a number of scenes, I don't recommend this book for anyone under 13/14). As a parting comment, the book is best summed up by my dilema - Which is scarier: Pennywise or the reality of what happens to us as we grow up and leave childhood behind?

13 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Stunning effortJul 19, 2002
By LittleDee
"IT" is, bar none, the best Stephen King novel I've ever read.

Since most readers are probably at least somewhat familiar with the book, I'll briefly say that "IT" is about a group of eleven-year-olds menaced by a monster (also called IT) on a child-killing rampage, which takes the shape of whatever will scare the victim most -- then, the same people reunite in their hometown as adults, to confront the thing in hopes of defeating IT once and for all.

At the very least, the book is jim-dandy entertainment, a riveting page-turner. The writing is Stephen King (admittedly not everyone's cup of hemlock) at the top of his form; the idea of a Mobius strip story/ies is clever; the stories themselves are both gripping and skillfully interwoven; the thrills and scares (and gross-outs, of course) come without letup; and the plot, though based on a simplistic and slender premise (Good Guys confront Bad Guy; who will prevail?), is a quite satisfactory cliff-hanger...

But what really puts "IT" severed head and shoulders above King's other books is the authenticity of the emotion. "IT" is the Stephen King novel with a heart -- a bloody, still-beating heart ripped out of its owner's chest -- but a heart nonetheless.

What distinguishes King's books in general from those of, say, Dean Koontz or John Coyne; and "IT" from the more mediocre of King's books; is the sensitivity and compassion (odd words for King, but in this context, I think they're fitting) with which he writes about his characters. They're kids (at least throughout the majority of the book), but they're also real people -- individuals with thoughts and feelings and likes and dislikes and hobbies and ambitions and (usually dysfunctional) families. We care about them. We laugh when Richie tries to charm the ticket taker at the movies. We quail when Beverly's irrational father rages at her. Our hearts ache with pity for Ben when he denies writing the haiku because, "if a fat kid like me wrote a poem to a girl, she'd probably laugh herself sick". And when they successfully stand up for themselves (as in the rockfight scene), we stand up and cheer for them. They're brave, they're flawed, they're sweet, they're smartassed, they're goofy. The kids' part of the story would make a great Spielberg movie!

King takes the readers into the world of his book in a way that's nothing short of phenomenal. We're transported back to middle school days: the sights, the sounds, the smells; the teachers, the classmates; watching the clock on the last day of school, the barrel of sawdust that the custodian sprinkles on the floor before sweeping (which I'd completely forgotten about until the moment I read that!). King remembers it all, and evokes it vividly here.

IT is a thoroughly fascinating and horrifying nemesis (especially in ITs werewolf and hobo forms; others, such as the bird, are less effective) -- but as is often the case in King's novels, the human monsters are by far the most frightening and best portrayed. Brutish school bully Henry Bowers, vacuous and crazy Patrick Hockstetter, the distressingly numerous abusive fathers (Beverly Marsh's and Eddie Corcoran's and Henry Bowers', and I'm probably forgetting someone), the adult Beverly's abusive husband -- all are crueler, creepier, and more malevolent than any supernatural creature could possibly be. The section with the gay-bashing teenage hoodlums was also superb -- perfectly capturing every detail of the wretched boys' speech, clothes, and homelife -- rendering them empathetic without mitigating their loathsomeness.

There's also quite a bit of humor (thank goodness). Richie, the class clown, provides many of the "chucks", but most everybody gets their moment in the spotlight. Eddie Kaspbrak is usually meek and depressed, but when his overprotective mother won't let him take gym, he sardonically wishes she could see how fast he runs with IT chasing him. The scene where Henry's sidekick tries to explain that he can't join the gang for bullying and mayhem the next day because he's got a job delivering the local "Weekly Shopper" newspaper was hilarious, though in a dark way. King's gift for language, and memory for how childhood really feels, combine to recapture the humor of the days when the very word "girdle" was enough to reduce everyone to hysteria.

A few quibbles: First, the book's supposed climax and denouement were disappointing -- muddled and uninteresting -- a real letdown, especially after eleven hundred pages on a roller coaster. Second, the Corcoran boy (Dorsey's brother) should have been named Jack, Charlie, Bob, etc.; introducing a new "Eddie" after we'd already read several hundred pages containing a main character with the same name created needless confusion. Third, some gross-outs were overdone. Over-the-top descriptions are part of King's charm, but the book was already well-written and interesting enough that including the literary equivalent of plastic doggie-doo detracted from the overall quality. Fourth, the editing is downright sloppy in spots, e.g., "this fact or concept or whatever it was to him" when "this concept" was all that was needed; or when Richie is Catholic on one page and Methodist on another. And finally, the scene in the tunnel was rather dismaying. It's King's book; he can put all the sex he wants in it -- between consenting adults. A scene depicting group sex with an eleven-year-old girl is a bit outside my comfort zone.

Those considerations aside, though, "IT" is King's best book, hands down. Highly recommended to all King fans -- "IT" is scary, sad, funny, heart-tugging, rousing, compulsively readable -- all the reasons why Stephen King *has* fans. If you've never read him, this is the book to start with (sure, it's a 500-pound gorilla -- but there's no such thing as a short, palatable Stephen King novel suitable for newbies). Amazing what the man is capable of doing when he rolls up his sleeves and gives it his best shot.

57 of 72 found the following review helpful:

Amazing book, but the worst ending I have ever readFeb 13, 2007
By ThePeoplesReviewer "Brad"
I feel that it is fair to warn anyone that is planning to invest their time in a book of this scope and magnitude that you may not be happy in the end. I have never written an online review before because usually when I read a great book most people already feel that its great and the existing reviews speak for themselves. However, as I was reading through these reviews, I could not believe how many 5 star ratings people gave. This is not nearly the masterpiece that it could have been and I think people deserve fair warning and a review that is more than: greatest book ever man! First off let me say this, I love horror stories, I am not easily offended, and I have read and enjoyed many other King books in the past. With that in mind, I started reading IT and was immediately absorbed into the tale.

SO FIRST THE GOOD (EVEN GREAT):

1) great buildup, some genuinely scary and disturbing scenes

2) realistic character development and compelling characters in general

3) IT is a very original, strange and frightening creature...most of the way through

4) childhood events, friendships, conflicts, and experiences are realistically portrayed and sometimes even more frightening and tense than the encounters with the supernatural.

5) Despite other peoples complaints with the length, I feel that it flowed nicely and the way the novel slowly revealed events of the past while building suspense in the present time was wonderfully done.

SO WHY DID I GIVE THE BOOK 2 STARS? -- This book COMPLETELY falls apart in the last 100 pages or so. So much so that I had to shake my head and wonder if I was even reading the same book. I knew the ending would never live up to the buildup and I was willing to accept that, but what King came up with could not have been written any worse. When IT is revealed, the revelation is anti-climactic to say the least. Even then however, I still would have given the book 5 stars. What angered me to no end was the direction the book went from here. What was a scary foray into a world of creatures, nightmares, and psychological intrigue became a laughably bad mystical and celestial mess that changed the tone of the entire novel. Be warned, the final conflict and resolution is completely ridiculous and ruins what was a masterpiece of horror.

PARTIAL SPOILERS (though they dont give away anything major, heres a little of what you are in for)

1) a turtle god that barfed up our universe

2) floating disembodied tongue the someone bites into

3) the deadlights (dont ask, it won't matter)

4) a weak and pitiful IT that can simply not be the same cunning and dastardly creature from the first 3/4s of the novel (yet is)

5)unsatisfying and weak explanation as to how IT is hurt (I understand what King was trying to do, but it doesnt come across well in the end)

LASTLY: IF NONE OF THAT TURNED YOU OFF, PICTURE THIS: A group of six 11 year olds (yes, thats right 11!--all boys, 1 girl) are running around lost in some tunnels. And what is their solution for finding their why out?? Why, a group orgy of course. Im sorry, but even if it had something to do with the story line (which it doesn't) a scene like that is sick and uncalled for on so many levels. Beyond that, it makes no sense and is completely unrealistic after all the previous wonderful character development. Further, the scene is not even merely alluded to, it is specific and explicit bordering on child porn. Why that was included, I cannot begin to guess. It does make good evidence for my theory though: King HAD to have been on something when he wrote in the whole ending.

Read if you must, but realize, I am not making any of this up. I sit here stunned and in disbelief as to how such a great novel could turn into such a train wreck. In an epic of this depth, a complete, sloppy letdown in the end is simply inexcusable.

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