“What can be done when you’re eleven can often never be done again.”
I enjoyed IT a whole lot more than Carrie. Even though it was a stonker of a listen at 45 hours, I was invested in the story, the kids, as they navigated their way through their traumatic teenage years in Derry. Twenty-eight years later, when they returned to their hometown to fight whatever the monster is, all over again.
Occasionally I got lost in the narration as the story skipped from the past to the present and occasionally somewhere in-between, but aside from that, I did actually like it. I definitely wouldn't like the movie version, but I treated the monster as some sort of paranormal fantasy creature that I've encountered in numerous other books, and it was all good.
I'm sure I'm not the first person who's thought this, but whether intentional or not, I think some of J.K. Rowling's ideas came from this book. The monster is eerily reminiscent of Aragog, and, she moves around in the pipes, just as the monster does in Chamber of Secrets. Anyone else??
Thank you to #thatindiebookclub for the decision to try a Stephen King club for people who were maybe a little sceptical!
About the Book
Stephen King's terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, "a landmark in American literature" (Chicago Sun-Times)—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It.
Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.
They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers.
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1971, he began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 50 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers. King is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.
Stephen lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. They are regular contributors to a number of charities including many libraries and have been honored locally for their philanthropic activities.
