The King's greatest work. Extraordinary story of friendship and courage with some seriously powerful imagery. As King states in his preface, "The Magic exists".
It does folks. ( )

'IT' was an evil identity with no real shape or form in this world. It expressed itself mostly by messing with children’s minds and altering their perception, giving only those it wants horrible visions or making them do horrible things.
It was also able to take on a 'solid' form when it wished to harm it's victims physically.
And as IT had a taste for children, it used the appearance of Pennywise the clown to lure them and eat their souls. In this state it could also be harmed itself, as was done with the silver earrings and asthma-spray.
Still that was only possible because of the combined faith the kids had in these weapons, not the items themselves (the reason why each of them had to vow that they would stick together no matter what and keep faith in their power as a team).
As for the spider, that was supposed to be a physical form that reflected IT's true evilness. In the book the description of this shape was kept a bit vague, they had to think up something for the movie, so voila big spider.
As the gang eventually destroyed this touchable form (or spider) they did not kill IT but only destroyed IT's capability to enter this world in any form again. ( )

Stephen King does what few others manage to do; he gives you a large number of main characters who are full, rounded characters, characters that you can actually see and care about. It may take him over 1000 pages to do it, but It, as with The Stand, is totally worth it. I remember seeing the movie when I was younger and being scared senseless, and the book was so much better. ( )

'IT' is a mind blowing horror book that has been turned into a movie. Twisted story with interesting theme, from front to back.

Wow, what a book! There's a lot to condense down into a brief review, but more than anything else, the characters made this book. The story was an interesting one, but the characters are what brought it to life. The book was not at all what I expected it to be: a book about an evil clown that goes around killing people. I was surprised by it at every turn, and the fact that it took me a month to read is a testament to how much I enjoyed it. I was so busy with other stuff that I would have ordinarily given up on it, but I stuck with it to the end and it was well worth the trip. ( )

Next to The Stand, this is my favorite Stephen King book. I have reread it several times and could read it many more without growing tired of it. It has a lot to say about childhood, growing up, what we're afraid of and how we overcome that fear. The bittersweet ending always makes me cry. ( )

I loved the movie, so I was afraid to read the book for fear that I wouldn't be able to watch the movie anymore. I was mistaken. The book only intensified the movie. SO much more happens in the book, the ending is totally different (much weirder than the movie), but at the same time, you can't help but appreciate both. The novel goes in depth in a way that the movie never could (unless it were five and a half hours long), but still without ruining the film for you. I definitely recommend it. If you're not afraid of clowns now, you will be soon. 4/5 clowns that you can't help but picture in fishnets. ( )

I read this when I was 16, in high school.
It took me about 3 months to read (and I considered myself a fast reader!), but it was so worth it.
I had seen the movie first (I practically grew up watching it!), but the book was just...fantastic.
It was the first Stephen King novel I read, so I wasn't used to his style of writing, which took some getting used to.
I loved how he created this world that I felt so involved in, I felt like I lived there, and really CARED about these characters.
I am glad I didn't let the size of it intimidate me, because I enjoyed every single second of reading it- it had me scared from the first page. ( )

Stephen King's It is a horror novel set in the small, fictional town of Derry, Maine. The story revolves around six children and their encounters with It during the summer of 1958. Later on they return to Derry as adults to destroy It, once and for all.

[SPOILER] 'It' is in actual fact a shapeshifting Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller who appears to have hibernated beneath Derry for millions of years since before even the arrival of humans. It frequently takes on the appearance of Pennywise the Clown, in which disquise he often tricks children and eats them. But Pennywise has been known to take on the shape of vampires, werewolves and such. [END].

It, consists of around 1116 pages, the longest novel I have read to date, and if I'm honest however much I love this book, the length of it is, somewhat painful. Reason being is King takes pride in the creation of his storyline and the developement of his characters, many characters who appear for sometimes only a chapter of so have there own unique personality, no character is the same. The build-up to the climax, which is how you could say 'kick-ass', requires too much description so the reader is able to understand.

This book was one of the best I've ever read and I had a feel of great self-satisfaction once I'd finished it, because I didn't let it beat me. Remember it has 1116 pages, I wouldn't recommend it to a person who has little time on their hands, but I would to those who are up for a challenge. ( )

Although it's not Stephen King's best horror novel -- Salem's Lot and The Stand slug it out for that honor -- it's perhaps his most characteristic. All of King's major themes and tropes are on their fullest display here: the Derry, Maine setting; the child heroes; the heavily-described yet still mysterious monster; and the astonishing breadth of story development, with innumerable subplots and memorable minor characters.

I reread this recently, having not given it a look in many years. I was struck by how politically-incorrect it is! King has his child characters slinging racial slurs, mocking each others' physical flaws and disabilities, and never doubting that some people are simply evil, crazy or both. It left me wondering if some of the lameness that's crept gradually into his later novels is due to his need to tone things down, at the price of his ability to depict how people -- especially the child characters of which he's so fond -- really think.

It's only flaw is its colossal length. At 1116 fairly closely-printed pages in paperback, it's quite an undertaking. Although no one section of the book really flags, I did occasionally lose patience just a bit with King stringing out the storyline with scenes that were if not exactly repetitive, at least similar.

But don't let this one very minor criticism put you off -- this a superb read, and highly recommended. ( )

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. ( )

My all-time SK's favorite ( )

Stephen King is a master storyteller, and although this isn't among his very best it's an enjoyable brick of a book, with a dark tale running through the lives of 7 childhood friends, and coming back to haunt them nearly 30 years later. Good old fashioned gory scary fun. ( )

I've just finished my first Stephen King novel. I'm totally blown away. The characters in this book are top notch. The story, though at first seeming excessively long, really brought me closer to the Losers Club and to a deep understanding of what they were up against in the town of Derry. I was instantly transported to parts of my childhood and reminded of the fears that used to grip my naive little mind. I would definitely recommend this book to first-time King readers. ( )

the fears of youth coming to get you. ( )

IT by Stephen KIng is the essence of horror. It encapsulates almost every aspect of one's psyche and how to distort and ultimately destroy it. A pinch gorier and a tad lengtheir than the movie, IT, the novel, is and will most likely be the scariest novel that I have ever had the... pleasure to read.

Just like there is a slap-stick genre of humor, there is a bloody-mess genre of horror too. IT is nothing like this. Do not get me wrong. It has IT's fair share of blood in it (it basically seeps off the page), but it goes so much further than that. Now, whenever I hear the words penny and wise in the same sentence I bug out waiting for my worst fear to come true. Because, that is truly what IT is. Your worst fear coming to life.

My favorite King book. I love a good scary story, but this book actually scared me! ( )

I was never afraid of Clowns or storm drains before I read this. Pennywise is here. ( )

I made it 300 pages and had to stop. Sadism and gore for gore's sake is apparently not one of my literary interests. ( )

I have been a Stephen King fan for many years now, but for some reason It was always placed on the backburner. I finally finished It and It is probably my second favorite King novel (The number one slot remains with The Stand).

It tells the story of a primeval entity that haunts Derry, Maine approximately every 30 years. King breaks the story into two basic parts; what happened to It when the main characters were kids and what happens to It now that the kids have grown up. There are some fantastic scary bits to the story, but my favorite element is King's perspective on the old versus the young. Yes, the story is clearly a horror novel with all the gruesome gore we have grown accustomed to, but there is much more to this particular novel. I had to take pause towards the end of the book to try and remember some of the moments from my early teenage years and I was quite surprised how distant some of those memories have become.

It is a must read for fans of the horror genre. ( )

To this day, I'm still scared of clowns. ( )