In the city of Derry, Maine, someone is killing the children. But is “It” really someone? Is it a human being the one lurking through the sewers and pipes, coming out as an apparently harmless clown every 27 years, and seemingly nurturing from the kids’ most hideous fears? In 1958 seven youngsters were gathered together by an unknown force to confront It... 27 years later, all of them grown-ups and having forgotten the horror they lived in Derry, a phone call summons them to fulfil the promise they all made: “if it’s not over, we will all come back to fight It again”.
I am writing about which I consider Stephen King’s best book ever. A masterpiece that, after 13 years of having read it for the first time, doesn’t fail to horrify me again and again whenever I dare opening its cover... and that happens once every 6 months or so. There are loads of information that we use to miss the first time we read a novel, either because we are too interested on the main plot (and hence we unnoticedly tend to skip the “waffle”), or just because there is too much information in a book – specially in one as long as this, with more than a thousand pages – and our brain forgets much of it. That’s why I never fail to find in it a new fact, or detail that had went unnoticed the previous time I had read it, and that helps me understand
the secrets of its story a little bit better.
If other King’s novels, such as “The Shining” (see review), “The Body” or “Firestarter”, inquire at one stage into child psychology and fears, “It” could be considered as a masterly essay on the subject. All the old stories about the monster in the cellar, the bogeyman in the closet or the hand that grabs yours if you let it poke out over the mattress seem to turn pale when you face the horror living beneath Derry. Reading about Bill, Richie, Ben, Eddie, Beverly, Mike and Stan - I don’t know any other writer capable of keeping seven different main characters with their own personal stories and personalities, and not confusing the reader at any moment – and their continuous struggle to keep sane against the worst enemy they could conceive, I felt my own fears from childhood trying to come back to me... I spent night after night forcing myself to dare looking through the window knowing that no clownish face would be there offering me some balloons (“they float... we all float down here”)... But what if...?
The story in this novel is told from three different perspectives: one of them is a diary written by Mike Hanlon, the only one of the seven children who stayed at Derry to watch and make sure that It wouldn’t come back. As he himself likes to consider, “I am the lighthouse man, the one who keeps the light on”. In this diary he sets out Derry’s history and tries to analyze the origin of the dark force that seems to have grown with and within the city. He also shows his growing fear of being entering a new cycle of children murders, and tries to delay the moment in which he will have to start the phone calls to his old friends. This part of the novel is probably the hardest to read, and I admit just reading over it the first time. However, it contains very important information, essential to understand what It is and how It has evolved through the years.
The second and third perspectives are those from the seven main characters, which live the “present time” in 1985, when they are all reunited back, but also start remembering all that happened 27 years ago. Each of them tells the others the “chapter” of his/her childhood that he/she remembers, and so a sequence of flashbacks makes the reader fly between past and present, at a speed that can sometimes become dizzying. Once again, only Stephen King could have done it ;).
Unlike many other reviewers in this webpage, I didn’t happen to like the film at all. Many of you could infer that, being one of my favourite books so far, it would have been nearly impossible to make an adaptation which I found “faithful”... and you’re probably right! But I was utterly unable to find the movie a 5% as horrifying as the book was, of identify the actors in the film with the kids and grown-ups I had learnt to know and love from the novel. Many of the facts that made the book so good were also dramatically modified on the screen... the “monster” itself lost its own meaning or reason of existence - but of course... which director would ever have been able to adapt the awesome passage of the spider and the turtle? Or the deep meaning hidden in It’s origin or behaviour? – and many of the screen characters seemed to be just parodies of their novel counterparts... I didn’t like Richie Tozier on the screen, he just seemed a stupid snotty-nosed joker brat with no charm at all... Nonetheless, “my” Richie, the one in the book, was funny and sad at the same time, he did have a charm that came from using his sense of humor to fight against something that could drive him crazy and then eat his mind and body as if he was no more than a tiny hamburger-spirit to feed an insatiable soul-eater. The same happened to me with most of the other kids in the film... but I recognize it was a good try :)
I still read "It" every so often; Stephen King has achieved a book in which the gory moments (there are many of them, and extremely crude) don’t spoil the good story and the fabulous writing style. Horror fans will love It (the few of them who haven’t read it yet), gore fans will gloat over the bloody passages and some puritans will probably attack it as “gratuitous and unhidden violence”. Opinions – mine also - are free, but if you’re one of these readers who still haven’t bitten into this novel, I insistently advice you to do it... It’s magic, it’s awesome... it’s pure horror.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Very good review. I've not read this one in a while, must get round to re-reading it, and agree with you that the film did not match this novel in any way. Ellie.
salem_witch 26.01.2004 11:10
I haven't actually read this but I have seen the film a few times.
bubblegum_princess 26.01.2004 10:39
I read this years ago and my friend keeps trying to make me watch the film- but I'm terrified of clowns! I think it's best I stick with the book anyway from what you've said!
Stephen King's idea forItcame from a favorite childhood image: the entire cast of theBugs ... more
Bunny Showcoming on at the beginning. He thought of bringing on all the monsters, one last time: Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, the Werewolf, the Crawling Eye...
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Stephen King's idea for It came from a favorite childhood image: the entire cast of the ... more
Bugs Bunny Show coming on at the beginning. He thought of bringing on all the monsters, one last time: Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, the Werewolf, the Crawlin...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Stephen King's idea for It came from a favorite childhood image: the entire cast of the ... more
Bugs Bunny Show coming on at the beginning. He thought of bringing on all the monsters, one last time: Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, the Werewolf, the Crawlin...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Ambitious, nostalgic, even touching Disadvantages: May be overwhelming for first-timers and short attention spans; the truly prudish may wish to steer clear of CHAPTER 22, part 12
Doctor_Belch 16.02.2004 (16.02.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of It - Stephen King
Advantages: Terrifying, charming, utterly real, with a cast of characters ou'll hate saying goodbye to come the novel's end. Disadvantages: It's a biggie - not overwritten at all though, in my opinion. Well-judged, but not a quick read.
RichardW 06.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of It - Stephen King
Advantages: Ambitious, nostalgic, even touching Disadvantages: May be overwhelming for first-timers and short attention spans; the truly prudish may wish to steer clear of CHAPTER 22, part 12
Doctor_Belch 16.02.2004 (16.02.2004)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of It - Stephen King
Advantages: Terrifying, charming, utterly real, with a cast of characters ou'll hate saying goodbye to come the novel's end. Disadvantages: It's a biggie - not overwritten at all though, in my opinion. Well-judged, but not a quick read.
RichardW 06.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of It - Stephen King
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