IT By Stephen King || Book Review

Hey Guys! It is Max here and I will be doing a review for ‘IT’ by Stephen King today! I bet most or maybe all of you know who Stephen King is, unless you live under a rock. So, if you really have no idea who Stephen King is, he is the author of numerous famous horror books such as The Running Man, Carrie, The Shining, etc. and all of them are successful horror novels which I originally thought that I will not read… until ‘IT’ came along and changed my mind about that thought. So, let us jump into my mini summary for ‘IT’ before we dive into the review!

IT is a Horror novel following seven kids who were named Bill, Ben, Beverly, Stan, Richie, Eddie and Mike as the place- Derry, they were living in was haunted by a creature which killed children every 27 years and it was up to them to destroy that thing- IT, they called.

Now, without further ado, let us get into the review for ‘IT’!

Disclaimer:

• All thoughts and opinions are on my own and…
• This is a spoiler-free review. So, feel free to stay until the end!

“Kill you all!” The clown was laughing and screaming. “Try to stop me and I’ll kill you all! Drive you crazy and then kill you all! You can’t stop me!”- IT, Stephen King.

Synopsis:

To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part. A good place to live.

It was the children who saw – and felt – what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one’s deepest dread. Sometimes IT reached up, seizing, tearing, killing . . .

The adults, knowing better, knew nothing.

Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of IT was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until they were called back, once more to confront IT as IT stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.

My thoughts: Introduction

Let us start off with the pacing of the book. I would not say that the beginning of this novel, let’s say 300+ pages of the novel, is fast paced because those pages are for you to learn about each of the characters and how they will react to the monstrous nightmare of their childhood. However, as you venture deeper into the novel, for example: 400-500+ pages, the pacing will start to pick up and eventually, it will become neutral again. Therefore, I did not like the pacing in the beginning but loved the others besides of the beginning of the novel.

Moving on, we are now going to talk about the tone of the book. The tone which is very underrated in reviews, was very complexed and sometimes demeaning because it contained a bunch of slurs directed towards black, Jewish, and gay people which was hard to read at times but other than that, I found the book to be a great read.

Furthermore, we are now going to discuss about the scary portion of this novel. Personally, I do not find this novel to be the ‘scared-the-crap-out-of-me’ type of horror books because I have watched numerous horror movies with my family since I was a child and I am now very hard to be scared due to the reason that I have stated above. However, some scenes in the book really did scare me and I found those scenes to be fantastically written! Therefore, I am a little disappointed with the scary segment of this novel. 

Moreover, it is time to talk about the atmosphere and world building that this blockbuster had contained within its pages. So, the atmosphere of this novel was filled with mysteries of the deaths of the children in Derry and it also had this chilling vibe to it that will make you turn and look at your back while you are reading this book because you cannot stop thinking about IT in your house. Therefore, I liked how well-rounded the atmosphere of the book was.

In addition, the world-building for this book was executed perfectly! Stephen King described the town with words that appeared to be springing into live and it actually felt like I was in there with those characters instead of reading about them! Therefore, I loved how well executed the world-building was.

Moreover, we will now give voice to the plot of the novel. I found the book to be extremely intriguing because it is about this town which children are murdered every 27 years. I did, in fact, enjoy everything that was placed in this story. However, the ending set me off a little because it felt like a weak ending and there were some unexplained things, also known as plot holes, that were a major part of the story left unexplained. Therefore, I did not enjoy the plot holes but the overall plot of the book was great!

On top of that, we have the relationships that were presented in this book. Everyone in this book had a great relationship and I was glad that it was so because I really loved it when all of them were happy together. However, when I read the ending for this novel.. *sigh*… I felt that the relationships were forced and it just does not sum up to what I was expecting and I know I sound like an old man saying this but the ending felt disjointed from the rest of the novel. Therefore, I did enjoy the relationships in this book except for the ending. 

Diving deeper into the review, I discovered that there were mini illustrations in the book that I really loved because they were a great substitution to the story which I also meant by saying: making the book more livelier than it already was. So, if you have no idea what illustrations I am talking about, I will display a photo to you now:

Unfortunately, I cannot find the mini-illustrations that I wanted to show you all on the internet but the above picture is a 25th anniversary edition of ‘IT’ with colourful illustrations that I, personally, think that they are beautiful. So, I am sorry that I cannot find what I have originally intended to show you all.

Finally, I would like to share an iconic quote (which I loved) that this book had contained within its pages and the quote starts and closes off with:

“Want your boat, Georgie?’ Pennywise asked. ‘I only repeat myself because you really do not seem that eager.’ He held it up, smiling. He was wearing a baggy silk suit with great big orange buttons. A bright tie, electric-blue, flopped down his front, and on his hands were big white gloves, like the kind Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck always wore.

Yes, sure,’ George said, looking into the stormdrain.

And a balloon? I’ve got red and green and yellow and blue…’

Do they float?’

Float?’ The clown’s grin widened. ‘Oh yes, indeed they do. They float! And there’s cotton candy…’”- IT, Stephen King.

Is that quote not iconic? To me, it is and I loved it! And… Now, let us move into the audiobook section of this review!

Blink! Blink! Blink!

Sorry guys! I know I have already stated that ‘Finally’ word out, but I have one more topic that I would like to discuss before we move on with the review and what I would like to debate is the cheating element in this novel.

[Minor Spoiler coming your way]

Well, I disliked it because Bill cheated on his wife by having *a thing* with Beverly and as you can see, cheating is never a good thing and I do not see why this element had to be in the book because it just does not fit the overall story. Therefore, I am wholly dissatisfied with this element in the book.

Now, let us proceed into the Audiobook section of this review!

Audiobook:

The audiobook which was narrated by Steven Weber was fantastic! He had all sorts of emotions poured out while he was narrating the book. For example, when Beverly cried and mumbled a few words, Steven Weber was able to capture the emotions perfectly!

Also, his accents for the book were rich and strong. It just held on until the novel ended. Therefore, I loved the audiobook and I highly recommend you to listen to it while you are reading this thick novel or listen to it while you are doing the chores but I would also like to say this: The narration for Pennywise the dancing clown voice was freaking freaky and scary.

So, I will say this again, listen to the audiobook on audible!

Now, let us move into the writing section of this review!

Writing:

“No good friends, no bad friends; only people you want, need to be with. People who build their houses in your heart.”- IT, Stephen King.

I, for once, am really surprised by the style of writing in this book! It was able to capture every scene perfectly in my mind and the visualizations in my brain were so clear that I found myself reading page after page and just.. Not stopping. Also, the descriptions were fantastic and they were part of what kept me on the edge of my seat when I was reading the book because it felt like I was there, with the characters even though I was sitting on the sofa, reading.

Furthermore, I loved the flip between their childhood and adulthood. It was truly magical because it was not confusing and everything fell right into place except for a few scenes but still, all the scenes clicked together easily with a nice clicking sound.

In addition, the writing style was not clean because there were sex scenes and a huge amount of vulgar words which did not add much to the story but they are there. So, if you are below 15 or so, you should not read this book or if you still insist on reading the book, just keep in mind that the writing style is not clean. That is all. 

Finally, I found the writing style to be very articulate and descriptive because as I have said earlier, all the scenes were represented clearly and due to the fact that they were encapsulated clearly, everything felt real. Therefore, I really liked the Stephen King’s writing style!

Now, let us get into the characters section of this review!

Characters:

“Eddie discovered one of his childhood’s great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.”- IT, Stephen King.

Bill: I do think that he was the perfect leader and the perfect protagonist because he had one of the most memorable personality among all the other personalities that he had and it was his focus and trust. Everything that he did was all according to the focus and trust of his friends because if you do not trust your friends, how are you going to defeat Pennywise? Therefore, I loved his character in this book!

Beverly: She is one of my favourite character in this book! I loved how brave she was and how she fought for her rights and although some actions that were brought out by her were stupid and inexcusable but she learned from her mistakes and that was what it took me to love her more than ever. However, there was a scene near the end of the book that she had suggested doing that I really cannot understand why and if you have read the book, you will know what scene I am talking about so.. Just a tip for the scene: pleasure. 

Eddie: I liked him enough although I think that he was the softest among his friends and he was, also, very obedient to his mother which I loved because many books had shy away from parents love for their children in the book’s plot line and I am glad that Stephen King brought it breathe life into Eddie’s mother. Therefore, I do think that he had a great personality and character!  

Richie: He was hilarious and I think, at least to me, he is the third most likable character in this book because his sincerity for Pennywise and his friends were always wandering off to somewhere and due to that fact, he had a special personality which some of you guys can relate to. So, I liked his characterization in this book! 

Mike: I did not appear until 500 pages or so into the book because Stephen King wanted to show how Bill buddies’ lives intersect with Mike and the intersection was a great part of the story (which I will not spoil). To comment more on his personalities, I thought he was friendly and sometimes, awkward because the no one was talking. Therefore, he was a remarkable character in this book!

Ben: He was gentle, curious and the only thing I did not like about him was the jealousy that he had between Bill and Beverly. I felt pretty unnecessary and I know that he liked Beverly very much but sometimes, you just have to let it go. Other than that, he was a great character! Therefore, I will give a 45/50% rating for his character.

Stanly: He did not appear much in this gigantic novel but I relished his character nevertheless because he had a down-to-earth personality that I rejoiced about in books! Thus, great element to his character!

Henry: Ew. I hated him. He was a mischievous, sinister, brutal bully who enjoyed watching people fall and he also adored abusing animals which disgusted me so badly because those people and animals were innocent and Henry just… UGH. Thus, I hated him in this book!

Pennywise: Need I say more? Okay, fine. I will just say that it had so many layers of evil personalities under its many appearances in the same skin. So, yeah. 

Overall:

I really loved the book although there were a few unnecessary scenes and some actions in which the characters had taken that I disliked but still, I  loved the book! So, my rating for IT will be given as a solid 80% and I highly recommend you to read this book if you have yet to read it!

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This is the end of my spoiler-free review for IT By Stephen King! I hope you all enjoyed it and follow me with your email/wordpress account to get notifications when I post a new article! Bye!