It by Stephen King
Introduction
It by Stephen King is the horror story of seven people who faced horror in two time periods in the fictional Maine town of Derry. The chapters alternate between the two time periods, 1957 to 1958 and 1984 to 1985. The seven people call themselves the Losers Club. They are kids in the first period and adults in the second. They face a horror that manifests itself as Pennywise the Clown. It feeds on their fears. Will the Losers Club defeat the hidden evil in the Derry sewers, or will they perish?
Summary
In It by Stephen King, there’s horror in the sewers of Derry, Maine. The horror preys on the fears of children taking the image of what they fear. Mostly It takes the form of Pennywise the Clown.
In 1957, seven kids come together to defeat It. They call themselves the Losers club. After the battle, they lose their memories of the encounter with It. In 1985, they return to Derry to fight it again.
Bill Denbrough is the leader of the Losers Club, who feels responsible for the disappearance and death of his younger brother, Georgie. He likes Bev but doesn’t end up with her. He becomes a horror writer and returns to Derry to finish what they started.
Ben Hanscom is the most intelligent of the Losers and he has an engineering talent. He has a crush on Bev. Ben was obese as a child but loses weight as an adult. He made a lot of money as an architect and lives in Texas.
Bev Marsh is the only girl in the Loser’s Club. All the boys have a crush on her. She becomes a fashion designer in Chicago. She gets married and her husband physically abuses her.
Summary Continued
Richie Tozier is the comic of the club. He becomes a successful DJ in Los Angeles.
Eddie Kaspbrak is a hypochondriac with an inhaler. He runs a successful limousine business in New York.
Mike Hanlon is the only African American in the club. He is the only member who stays in Derry after high school and becomes the town librarian. He researches the history of Derry and calls back all the Losers when he realizes It has returned.
Stan Uris is Jewish and a Boy Scout. He’s skeptical and logical. He becomes an accountant in Atlanta.
Recommendation
It by Stephen King is a long, good novel. The novel explores the themes of coming of age and adult reflection on childhood. It reminds me of Stephen King’s novella, The Body, adapted into the movie Stand by Me. Both stories feature a group of misfit kids trying to solve a problem. They adapted it as a miniseries and also into two movies. The 1958 story in It, and the 1985 story in It: Chapter Two. The miniseries alternates the stories. The part of the story I didn’t like was an incident near the end of the 1958 story. You will know what I’m talking about if you read it. I don’t think the incident was earned or warranted. I know that my opinion of the novel would change for the better if the author had eliminated that incident or changed it into something else.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of It by Stephen King.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/644173.It
Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.
