IT-Stephen King (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

Well, I read The Stand due to recommendations (one of my top 3 books now), and now I'm reading IT. I'm about 100 pages into it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

A lot of people enjoyed discussing The Stand, so here we can discuss IT.

Just if you think it will spoil something, please put it in spoilers.

 

[Christopher P]

If there is one book I wish I could go back and read again for the first time, this is it. I love how this book is written, and constructed. The reader knows the purpose behind the 6 phone calls early in the book, and pick up hints about the promise, to the point of pretty much knowing what the promise was. Then we get nearly 1000 pages to find out how the kids got to the point of the promise, and how that promise made them the people they are as adults.

Enjoy Mike's "Interlude" segments, they are wonderful.

Chris

 

[Carlo_M]

I do remember liking "IT" very much.

But I also remember it freaking the hell out of me. I read it at the age of 24, and you'd think I could turn off the light and go to sleep after a chapter or two and not get freaked out...wrong!

As such, I haven't picked it up since the initial reading. But I do remember that it was a great read. Just one I won't re-read until I grow more courage.

 

[Dominik Droscher]

I read it at the age of 12 or 13. Never would have thought that reading could be so scary.

 

[Jordan_E]

IT ranks right up with my favorite reading experiences. There is one image that still remains in my mind years later, the scene with Pennywise and the mouth full of broken razor blades for teeth and when he slams shut his mouth!

 

[Christopher P]

I think the most horrible scene is the death of Patrick Hockstetter (not a spoiler, it's the title of a chapter).

The final scene in the barrens when the kids make their promise
and the scenes of Bill leaving Derry as he looks back and sees the ghosts of his childhood
are the most moving, haunting, wonderful scenes I've ever read.

Chris

 

[Steve_Tk]

I'd have to say so far that Bev is my favorite character after kicking the shit out of her husband

Oh and I had a dream about Pennywise last night. I don't know much about him from the book, but after seeing how much that guy got freaked out and killed himself when he got the phone call, it was kinda disturbing
. Not my most favorite dream I've ever had either, that's for sure.

I'll tell you about it for you amusement. I was dreaming that I was visiting my parents. They have a very large house, and at night I walk around with all the lights off and make sure the doors are locked. Well, when I get to my bed room to lay down and read, I noticed that the closet was open, and it's never open. I layed down anyway and out of the corner of my eye a red baloon came floating out of the closet with the "I love Derby" written on it. Can't remember much after that, or at least it wouldn't make sense.

 

[ChuckDeLa]

IT was the book that put me off Stephen King. I hated it. The part with the

pre-teen group sex

was absolutely unnecessary and disgusting. The justification for it was totally, completely, pathetically lame. Never have I seen such a blatant and depraved example of

gratuitous sex.


It ruined Stephen King for me.

 

[Chris Knox]

I didn't see it that way at all, but I understand how someone might confuse it.

It, The Stand, and The Shining are my top three books of all time. I am constantly reading them over and over. And yes, Mike's Interludes are arguably the best parts of the book. I particularly like how in some of King's books African Americans are the target of some of the most creative and hate-filled words that I have ever read. Some of his characters obviously hate blacks with a passion that leaves you thinking that King MUST share some of that hatred. Then when you spend just a little time with some of King's black characters, you find that they are some of the most richly written and beautifully drawn characters ever devised in text (e.g. Mother Abigale, Mike Hanolan, Dick Haloran).

With so many writers out there too scared to write anything bad about someone of race for fear of backlash, King pulls no punches, literally slamming people of color with racist remarks that come from some of his meanest characters (Rose Madder), then he deftly illustrates how he seems to favor his black characters with the greatest punch lines, the most noble acts, and he makes us cherish those people of color most of all. I want to be friends with Dick Haloran so much that it hurts me to think he's not real. I want to get drunk with Mike at the public library, and sit up till morning telling ghost stories until the slant rays of sunlight pierce through the reading room windows like a quiet narrow lane into heaven, and I want to play guitar alongside Mother Abigale until the sky turns purple and the evening breeze becomes the music for which the fall leaves begin to dance.

I've said it a thousand times, There is a reason that he is the most successful novelist of all time. His supernatural is terrifying, no doubt, but it's how he writes about the NATURAL that makes King so damned fantastic a writer.

 

[Carlo_M]

Nice post Chris (and I don't mean to say that Chuck doesn't have a point, because he does). If I'm ever in Georgia, or if you come out to Los Angeles, drop me a line. We should hang out and talk King. I think it'd be fun. (judging on reading some of your posts in past King threads, I think we like a lot of the same things about King as an author)

Just started my girlfriend on liking King. She's reading Bag of Bones right now.

 

[Chris Knox]

Deal!

I actually liked Bag of bones a great deal as well.

 

[Evan S]

IT is my favorite book of all time...bar none. I read it in high school at age 14 or so and it was an amazing read, my first King novel and spurred me onto about 10 or 12 more of his books. I totally relate to this book and empithise with it's characters. It's one of the few books that absolutely made me feel like I was a part of the story, that I wasn't just looking through a window, but was actually in the living room with the characters.

She's reading Bag of Bones right now.

For some reason, this was my least favorite King book. Can't put my finger on it, it just didn't grab me.

 

[McPaul]

I haven't read King in a long time. Reading this thread has reminded me how much I loved IT when I read it as a teenager. I think I'll pick up some King novels, starting with IT and give them another read.