It

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Summary: Memories
Review: "It" is a book that must be read. This book stirs up so many emotions it's unbelievable. Look the past the size of this book, pick it up, and enter King's world. 7 children each with their own identities who demand your affection. Though some pages could have been omitted, I agree with some of the other viewers, but then again I'm not a best selling author, not yet anyway. Read this book and Judge for yourself, "It" won't disappoint.
Also recommend The Eternal Battle, Clownwhite: A comedy of Horrors, and Sins of Blood and Stone.

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Summary: EPIC HORROR
Review: I hate 1000+ page books, but this rounds out my favorite three of Steven King books (the others being Pet Semetary & Salems Lot). Forget a long book chapter for chapter review, here's why you should read IT...
Characters. I hate when people tell you the caracters are great in a horror novel, I want to be scared. But the caracters are better in this than any other King novel. He makes you recall your childhood, makes you one of the pack, then sends you down scary missions against an unspeakable horror.
Enough said? IT is wonderful, scary, and a suprisingly fast read, get IT!

Rating:
Summary: un-putdownable
Review: I've read this book a number of times now and each time I pick up new details and nuances. "It", quite simply, is magical. To me,the horror was a sideline. The real story lay in the unbreakable bond between the children and the world King created. Who can read this book without remembering their own childhood? King perfectly recreates that wide eyed innocence,the way adults just weren't quite real and not a part of your world, and the way laughter could destroy anything. A few reviewers have commented that it's unrealistic and too coincidental to have all (except one) character growing to be rich and/or famous; this is explained in the book as a direct result of their contact with "It". This, and the fact that none of the group were able to have children, were not coincidental but rather the effect "It" had on all of them. I had tears in my eyes when I finished "It", devastated that the friends finally grew up completely and as a result, started to forget about the childhood they shared. Truly a book to treasure.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece.....if you discount the last 200 pages
Review: I am a 15 year old reader and 'IT' was the first book by Stephen King which I read. It was amazing at first, totally living up to my expectations, until I read the last 200 or so pages. I wasn't put off by the great length of the book, in fact I loved books which allowed time to develop the characters and storylines. Initially, I was drawn into the world of the 7 children, and adults, battling the unknown horror of IT, and the book was a constant page-turner. The characters had depth and realism, and the monster was pleasingly frightening. The mystery of IT is the book's strengh. I turned the pages, impatient to discover what It is when It is finally revealed in its true form.
But the book could not maintain its high standard and began to fizzle out. One of the major downfalls of the book was King's portrayal of the only female character of the book, Beverly. I tolerated the character at first, enduring her whiny and irritating depiction. But when I read the disturbing account of the group sex in the sewers involving her and six boys, all around 11 years old, I just couldn't take the book seriously. I am not sensitive towards sex, but the account obviously served no purpose in the book and only degraded and insulted the previous splendour of the story. Not to mention the lame ending, involving the children fighting IT off by shouting at IT and an even lamer explanation of IT's origins, something about the Turtle vomiting out the universe(???). Nothing made any sense in the last hundred pages and it seemed like King had written it just so that he could finally finish the book. I felt that all of the important 800 pages of build-up were for nothing, and was deeply disappointed. However, the book, overall, is worth reading. But I suggest you stop reading three-quarters of the way through so that the story won't be spoilt by the ill-written ending.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Swallow
Review: My appreciation for this book was greatly influenced by its cumbersome length. I felt like I was trying to finish a 7 pound steak. Sure it's delicious, but after awhile you just get tired of chewing. Appearantly King never wrote a word he didn't like. It took him four years to finish IT and I respect that, but I don't think anything would have been lost by omitting some passages. Secondly, I was uncomfortable with the mature depiction of love and sexuality in his eleven-year old protagonists. I just kept wishing he had placed them in their teens. Lastly, IT in it's pseudo-true form was a bit anti-climactic for me.

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Summary: The first and last time I was truly terrified by ANY book
Review: This should tell you something.....despite having, hands down, the worst final few pages of any King book IT remains the best pure horror novel he has yet written. While Bag Of Bones is (in my mind) the best novel overall, IT is the best in many respects. Never, ever have the fragile, bittersweet relationships between childhood friends been so beautifully painted by any other author I've read, and I've read tons. Oddly, miraculously, and suprisingly this portrait of childhood life is sprinkled like wonderful pure snow into an absolute inferno of horror. I mean this book will scare the hell out of ANYONE. Forget the appallingly pathetic TV movie that happened to have the same name (a sham of an adaptation).....this book will blow your mind, slam your back against a wall, keep you looking over your shoulder (literally), and smile (or sometimes weep) at memories it evokes of your own childhood friendships.

As powerful as a wizard with a wand or God with 7 days to kill, so is Stephen King with the pen. Bow down folks because there is no better and there will never be another.

Rating:
Summary: IT !!!!!
Review: EXCELLENT BOOK. GOOD TO READ LATE AT NIGHT, YOU'LL CATCH YOURSELF LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: First of all, let me say that I'm not an avid reader of horror by any means. Hopefully this review will be useful for people like me. Frankly, I was surprised by IT. I knew the book would be scary, but I wasn't prepared to be nearly as freaked out as I quickly became. My extremely vivid imagination kept me on my toes for the entire novel.

I could go on writing about how this book scared the bejeezus out of me, but what really struck me about IT was the characters. It's a truly beautiful story of a group of childhood friends and the evils they must face together. The characters are lovingly built, and surprisingly endearing. I'm really realizing that (for me at least) the best thing about (some) King novels is the element of friendship and solidarity--of standing together against a common enemy. "The Stand" is another great novel that incorporates the same sorts of theme, although there it's the solidarity of humanity instead of a few friends. Then, of course, there's always "Stand By Me", also about a group of childhood friends.

Anyway, IT is remarkable for its ability to scare you yet warm your heart at the same time. May not be appropriate for your 12-year old nephew, as there's some pretty disturbing imagery and no small amount of sex.

By the way, stay away from the TV movie until you've read the book. Not only is the former vastly inferior, but part of the beauty of reading the novel is not knowing (and consequently finding out) what IT is.

Rating:
Summary: So Much More Than "Horror."
Review: I've heard many people say this is the most frightening King novel they've ever read. What's interesting, is that it isn't so much the villian in the story, as it is the almost eerie realism of the characters and the way the reader relates to their dilemma that makes this book hit home on so many levels. After reading it cover to cover several times, I still come to new in- depth realizations about the story and the true meaning of it. On the surface, yes, it is a rather graphic and intense horror story; yet the deeper you look, the more you begin to understand that King inteneded this story to be so much more than what it initially appears to be. In this masterpiece (and no, I don't use that word lightly), King presents to us an extremely sad and bittersweet truth about life, a truth that is sometimes realized in childhood as is the case of the seven main characters in this novel. Every child's universal fear revolves around the existence of monsters. It is a fascination that is rarely examined, and usually disregarded. Here, King challenges the notion in a profound and adult way. Perhaps King is on to something. Monsters do in fact exist. Some of them live in our house, some of them are teachers, some of them live next door. Children are aware of evil, much more so than adults, and yet their innocence prevents them from tying their suspicions about "monsters" to the harsh realities of day to day life. They recognize the source as something rightfully non-human and devastating, while at the same time they right off the catalysts of it's power as simply victims themselves. In a child's eyes, it's impossible to lay blame on a trusted adult or friend. "It" is responsible, whatever it may be. This inner turmoil often spawns itself into adulthood, the struggle between innocence and trust and the atomic blast of reality. And the truth is, as King knows, that it never really is resolved. Every day we struggle with good and evil, and it is in the journey itself and the relationships we form that we find our redemption. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly recommend this novel. I must warn you however, that the book touches on extremely controversial topics such as child abuse, teen sex, and graphic violence. It must be approached with an open mind and mature outlook. Regardless of the tone at times, it is definitely worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Best there is
Review: Clearly put, IT is my favourite book. And I've read a lot of horror. King's story about a group of outcast kids who are forced to face an evil supernatural shape-shifter surpasses all. It skips between the characters as kid and as grown-ups, having to face the horror buried in their childhood. Beyond doubt the childhood storyline is much more powerful and better than the grown-up. There are points that could need some polishing, but the things it does good it does with so tremendous success and brilliance the book stays long in memory after the last page is read.