It (original 1986; edition 1987)

One thing that puzzled me as I read It was, Why wasn't it scary? I finally came to the conclusion that the problem is that It is meant for kids or at least teenagers. When Pennywise makes his first appearance, he entices his young victim with the promise that once in Pennywise's realm, he will have lots of cotton candy and games and won't ever have to grow old. The echo of Peter Pan and Pinocchio's Pleasure Island is clear, and I think It makes much more sense when you consider it along those lines.

I have to admit that while some people find Pennywise completely terrifying, I thought he didn't quite work. Part of it is the way King structures the story. Our first sighting of the clown is when he murders someone when he's clearly some sort of monster, so there's no frisson, no ambiguity, when he starts showing up in his various guises. His habit of changing into cinematic villains to stalk the young protagonists also struck me as counterproductive, a postmodern sort of move which served mainly to remind me that Pennywise, like the Wolfman, the Mummy or the Creature from the Black Lagoon, is just another pop cultural artifact.

King also errs in going Lovecraftian, as he doesn't really have the temperament to pull it off. It is closer to Smaug than to Cthulhu, though I wonder if it would be possible to write a horror story that encompasses King's humanistic approach when dealing with its characters and Lovecraft's cosmic approach when dealing with its outer beings.

Anyway, I give it four stars because I acknowledge I'm not really the audience for it but still think it's good at what it sets out to do. ( )

This was some messed up shit. I thought reading a book about a clown would make me realize just how irrational my fear of them is. Nope. Uh uh. I now know with absolute certainty that fear of clowns is the most natural, rational thing in the world. Thank you Stephen King. ( )

This is my first horror book... and the five stars(i re-edited my four star rating to a five lately) i've given to it are not at all based on the scaring or creeping abilities of the book, though the book really is creepy at some points but for me atleast i think its always hard to be really scared from a book cause you know in the back of your mind that this is not real, its fiction. So i was telling you why actually i gave it five stars. I just love the characters and their conversations and the world building which surrounds them.
This book is narrated beautifully, all credit to Mr. King..He really binds the reader (though too descriptive sometimes) , especially in the 'childhood' sections of the book.
It really is long, but it will touch your heart before the last page is turned. The friendship of six children facing their personal fears via a common evil which terrifies the whole town is a gratifying plot to read.
However, i must say the ending is a bit less satisfactory than the whole novel and an unnecessary scene at the end of the book might disturb you.Nonetheless the book is quite a read. I recommend it completely to all 'pulp' and 'literary' readers. It has something for everyone.

( )

Oh how much I loved this book. No idea how many times I have read it, but it must have been at least 3 times and I am sure I will read it again.

This is one of my favourite books by King. Love the way he describes how the friendship between the children evolve. He makes them so real. How alone they felt in their guest and later when they meet as adults. Interesting to see how they have changed.

Yes I must re read soon. Love love Love it! ( )

This book was a bit like a rollercoaster I've been on. It started off slowly, slowly, until you think, "oh god, maybe I'm wasting my time", and then it gets to the top and starts to roll down and twist about and sometimes seems to throw you upside down, and you're going to be sick, and if you're a braver person than me, when it rolls to a halt, you decide you're going to do it all again right away.

It is a seriously dense book. There's layers and layers of setting the scene, building the characters, placing you firmly in Derry yourself. There's so much background that, like the characters of the book, I think I'm starting to forget a lot of it now that I've reached the end.

I loved it. It certainly has its flaws -- it gets too dense, in parts, goes too slow, and sometimes it's just too obvious. We get told over and over again that Bill Denborough is the big leaderman, that Ben's the one who can build things, etc, etc. But I enjoy really solidly built characters and really deep world-building, so this was really my thing. I thought parts of it, like the Turtle, were really pushing it, but it was worked in, in little bits, throughout the story, so I could go with that.

At first I thought it wasn't going to freak me out that much, but then it did. Ohboy, it freaked me out. And now I have to walk to dinner in the pitch-dark...! ( )