Love this book. ( )

I read Stephen King's It last summer, for the first time. It's great summer reading, a good followup to reading Dan Simmons' Summer of Night during summer 2007.

I noticed a couple of things in reading it. Number one, practically ALL my friends read it when they were young, somewhere around 12 or 13 years old. At that age I was pathologically opposed to reading horror on the scale of Stephen King, after an abortive attempt at reading Salem's Lot. It terrified me. I didn't realize until in my 20s that fighting against that horror and working through it is good. REALLY good.

Number two, and leading from that, I think I would have been better off if I had read some horror then, especially It. I mean, yes, I enjoyed a singularly naive childhood, which in some ways (many ways) touches the quality of my life now. And I don't think it's always a good thing to grow up quickly as a child. But a little bit of the experiential information that Stephen King codes into his child characters probably would have helped me a lot.

For instance: the segment where Eddie Kaspbrak is recalling his beating by Henry (Harry?) Bowers, and his epiphany about placebos and the needs of his mother. His instruction, both by himself, the adults, and the circumstances surrounding him is... well it's hard to describe, but reading it, the sense of empowerment and truth is palpable. I think I could have benefited from that as a kid. I spent too much time simply allowing myself to be led along, and then suffered when it came time to effect great changes on my own all at once.

Musings... ( )

Confirmed my fear of clowns. ( )

this is the first novel out of school that i read. It was amazing. I still walk past street drains and think of clowns. A must read

I was rather disdainful of horror writers and King in particular before I read this - but you really do have to admire both his craftmanship and his portrayal of small town Maine. The man knows how to write. ( )