While most human beings are celebrating the end of 2019 with their families and/or friends, I'm sitting at a desk, sipping on a coffee, and attempting to get myself in the mood to write belated reviews for three Stephen King titles — IT, The Shining, and Doctor Sleep — which I'd reread this year.
I've owned an IT paperback for many years but I always made some sort of an excuse to avoid reading it. I have some bad memories (or more like nightmares) of watching part 1 of the 1989 miniseries when I was a little kid. Yep, Tim Curry's version of Pennywise the clown scared the crap out me. I didn't even attempt to watch the last half of the miniseries. It wasn't until I was a teenager when I finally finished watching IT!
IT is a tale of good vs. evil. The novel is set in two different time periods — 1957-1958 and 1984-1985. During the late '50s, seven Derry Maine middle graders (Bill, Stan, Eddie, Ben, Richie, Mike, and Beverly), or otherwise known as "The Losers Club," are stalked by an alien creature, Pennywise, that has taken the form of a clown. Pennywise has killed many children and residents of Derry, including Bill's younger brother Georgie. Together, the group locate the creature's hideout and attempt to kill it. Derry is pretty much a peaceful time until the mid-1980s when several murders occur. Mike is the only member of "The Losers Club" still living in Derry and takes it upon himself to reach out to his old friends as they made a blood pack when they were children that if Pennywise returned, then they would return to kill it!
Like many of King's works, IT focuses heavily on character development and with 1,138 pages there's plenty of time to get know the "The Losers Club." Warning for those who have never read IT before — this novel is extremely graphic. And I'm not just referring to the violence. Spoiler Alert: The way "The Loser's Club" gets out of the tunnels is by having an orgy! The last thing I want to read about is minors having sex! Unfortunately, the scene is in the novel! King did have a reason for the orgy as it was the only way the children could remember what occurred inside the tunnels — a.k.a. Pennywise.
Final Thoughts
IT has been on my reading list for nearly two years and I'm glad I finally took the time to read the epic novel. It's right up there with Pet Sematary as one of the scariest books Stephen King has ever written. Pennywise the clown is the scariest "baddie" I have ever read or seen on screen. FYI: The 1989 miniseries scared me to death during my childhood.
