It

Rating:
Summary: no doubt one of my absolute favorites
Review: I loved this book. I bought it a long time ago and always wanted to read it but never had the time so when i finally started it i was hoping for something good. I was definitely VERY,VERY, impressed. This book has everything; great character developement and great characters, pretty good writing, lots of explanation through subplots and such things, great story, lots of imagination (not to mention plenty of images left to the imagination of the reader). You know, I mean I laughed, I cried, I felt for all the characters in one way or another. When I read this, I got much more than I bargained for (definitely in a good way!).

IT, taking place in Derry, Maine, is about a group of misfits and loners who call themselves the Losers Club. It begins with the death of one of the losers' brothers being killed by a mysterious clown in the sewer. IT can take the shape of your deepest fears, but most frequently appears as either Bob Gray, or Pennywise the Dancing Clown. After the Losers form the final 7 (lucky seven), they try desperately to beat IT by going down to the sewers and facing IT in IT's true form. They supposedly kill IT. Flash to 1985; IT's back and killin' little kids once again. They all come back to Derry to defeat the eternal evil without a name, known only as IT, once and for all. Read this book to find out what happens.

Of course, I can't sum up the entire 1093-page novel in one paragraph, for it's too long and complicated. All I can say is read this great book.

CAUTION (for the easily offended)---------there is much violence and some sex and language in this book.

Rating:
Summary: The scariest book ever!
Review: I first read this book when I was 13, I was so terrified that I couldn't pass page 30. 4 years later, after reading many others of King's books, I felt brave enough to deal with maybe the scariest charecter in any of the master of horror's books. It was great. This books kept me in tension to the very last page, and it is, surely the scariest book I've ever read.

However, it is also an important book. The kids are not the usual kind of heros, they are nerds and outsiders, ... More than it is a book about a monster that is killing people it is a story about the power of friendship, the power of dreaming and of love. It is a story about childhood and about growing up, and about the combination of the two worlds. It is a story about all of us, that with a little help from our friends, defeating our inner demons and outer troubles. A great book, that would give you a good fright, and make you fall in love with it.

Rating:
Summary: bozo?
Review: Great book. All about the stuff that kids do in that magical tween age. Great monster too! The parallel to real life monsters that we all face is uncanny. A bit longer than necessary but with enough other stuff to keep you interested. Great climax. probably #3or 4 on my King list.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning effort
Review: "IT" is, bar none, the best Stephen King novel I've ever read.

Since most readers are probably at least somewhat familiar with the book, I'll briefly say that "IT" is about a group of eleven-year-olds menaced by a monster (also called IT) on a child-killing rampage, which takes the shape of whatever will scare the victim most -- then, the same people reunite in their hometown as adults, to confront the thing in hopes of defeating IT once and for all.

At the very least, the book is jim-dandy entertainment, a riveting page-turner. The writing is Stephen King (admittedly not everyone's cup of hemlock) at the top of his form; the idea of a Mobius strip story/ies is clever; the stories themselves are both gripping and skillfully interwoven; the thrills and scares (and gross-outs, of course) come without letup; and the plot, though based on a simplistic and slender premise (Good Guys confront Bad Guy; who will prevail?), is a quite satisfactory cliff-hanger...

But what really puts "IT" severed head and shoulders above King's other books is the authenticity of the emotion. "IT" is the Stephen King novel with a heart -- a bloody, still-beating heart ripped out of its owner's chest -- but a heart nonetheless.

What distinguishes King's books in general from those of, say, Dean Koontz or John Coyne; and "IT" from the more mediocre of King's books; is the sensitivity and compassion (odd words for King, but in this context, I think they're fitting) with which he writes about his characters. They're kids (at least throughout the majority of the book), but they're also real people -- individuals with thoughts and feelings and likes and dislikes and hobbies and ambitions and (usually dysfunctional) families. We care about them. We laugh when Richie tries to charm the ticket taker at the movies. We quail when Beverly's irrational father rages at her. Our hearts ache with pity for Ben when he denies writing the haiku because, "if a fat kid like me wrote a poem to a girl, she'd probably laugh herself sick". And when they successfully stand up for themselves (as in the rockfight scene), we stand up and cheer for them. They're brave, they're flawed, they're sweet, they're smartassed, they're goofy. The kids' part of the story would make a great Spielberg movie!

King takes the readers into the world of his book in a way that's nothing short of phenomenal. We're transported back to middle school days: the sights, the sounds, the smells; the teachers, the classmates; watching the clock on the last day of school, the barrel of sawdust that the custodian sprinkles on the floor before sweeping (which I'd completely forgotten about until the moment I read that!). King remembers it all, and evokes it vividly here.

IT is a thoroughly fascinating and horrifying nemesis (especially in ITs werewolf and hobo forms; others, such as the bird, are less effective) -- but as is often the case in King's novels, the human monsters are by far the most frightening and best portrayed. Brutish school bully Henry Bowers, vacuous and crazy Patrick Hockstetter, the distressingly numerous abusive fathers (Beverly Marsh's and Eddie Corcoran's and Henry Bowers', and I'm probably forgetting someone), the adult Beverly's abusive husband -- all are crueler, creepier, and more malevolent than any supernatural creature could possibly be. The section with the gay-bashing teenage hoodlums was also superb -- perfectly capturing every detail of the wretched boys' speech, clothes, and homelife -- rendering them empathetic without mitigating their loathsomeness.

There's also quite a bit of humor (thank goodness). Richie, the class clown, provides many of the "chucks", but most everybody gets their moment in the spotlight. Eddie Kaspbrak is usually meek and depressed, but when his overprotective mother won't let him take gym, he sardonically wishes she could see how fast he runs with IT chasing him. The scene where Henry's sidekick tries to explain that he can't join the gang for bullying and mayhem the next day because he's got a job delivering the local "Weekly Shopper" newspaper was hilarious, though in a dark way. King's gift for language, and memory for how childhood really feels, combine to recapture the humor of the days when the very word "girdle" was enough to reduce everyone to hysteria.

A few quibbles: First, the book's supposed climax and denouement were disappointing -- muddled and uninteresting -- a real letdown, especially after eleven hundred pages on a roller coaster. Second, the Corcoran boy (Dorsey's brother) should have been named Jack, Charlie, Bob, etc.; introducing a new "Eddie" after we'd already read several hundred pages containing a main character with the same name created needless confusion. Third, some gross-outs were overdone. Over-the-top descriptions are part of King's charm, but the book was already well-written and interesting enough that including the literary equivalent of plastic doggie-doo detracted from the overall quality. Fourth, the editing is downright sloppy in spots, e.g., "this fact or concept or whatever it was to him" when "this concept" was all that was needed; or when Richie is Catholic on one page and Methodist on another. And finally, the scene in the tunnel was rather dismaying. It's King's book; he can put all the sex he wants in it -- between consenting adults. A scene depicting group sex with an eleven-year-old girl is a bit outside my comfort zone.

Those considerations aside, though, "IT" is King's best book, hands down. Highly recommended to all King fans -- "IT" is scary, sad, funny, heart-tugging, rousing, compulsively readable -- all the reasons why Stephen King *has* fans. If you've never read him, this is the book to start with (sure, it's a 500-pound gorilla -- but there's no such thing as a short, palatable Stephen King novel suitable for newbies). Amazing what the man is capable of doing when he rolls up his sleeves and gives it his best shot.

Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: i just finished the book about an hour ago. Ill be honest when i say i don't read usually if i dont have to. I picked up this book on May 28, 2002 (ironically enough that's the same day that the events of the book start, on May 28th of 1985), and just finished. I have never read anything so realistic in my life. I'm actually kind of sad to be done with it. I want MORE...how about IT part 2?? The book was terrifying, but there was more to it then that. It focused on friendships, and childhood. I'm 19 and it left me wishing that i had friends like the ones in this book. I actually remember watching the made for television movie back when it was on. I would have been about seven, and it scared the crap out of me. I watched it again recently, and i've decided that the movie has got to be the worst screen play adaption of any novel ever. Too many parts were left out (mostly im sure because it was "made for TV"). But for those of you that have seen the movie and are afraid that it will ruin the book, have no fear. The book has lots more action, and events that you never heard about in the movie. I will reccommend this book to any close friend or relative i have. Do not let the size of the book intimidate you....it's FAST reading. I miss the book already, maybe ill read it again in a few years.

Rating:
Summary: A King Classic
Review: I have read every book Stephen King has ever written, and this is probably my favorite. It has everything you could possibly want in a book -- it is filled with characters that move you (good and bad), the story is phenomenal, and it scares the [daylights] out of you. All in all, this is one of the most captivating stories I have ever read -- it is long, but in a good way. You don't want the book to end. In addition, unlike many long, excellently written stories, the ending to this book does not disappoint. After all the build-up, you wonder whether the end of this book will really deliver, but it does. The book is truly amazing. If you are a Stephen King fan, this is King at his absolute best. But don't watch the movie -- it does not hold a candle to the book.

Rating:
Summary: King's best novel
Review: I've read a lot of King's stuff, and this is his best book...it's the only one that feels completely, totally whole and complete. It's mammoth in size and scope--granted, the book is over 1,000 pages (even longer than Mailer's Executioner's Song) but the story is so huge that it really requires that many pages to tell. The result is an enormous, enormously entertaining reading experience. In fact, I believe that this book is powerful in a way that many others are not; I read it a few years ago, and completely forgot about it. Now that I'm reading it again, though, everything has come flooding back and it feels incredibly frightening, most of all incredibly sad in that lost-innocence sort of way. It may be one of the most poignant, beautiful, and terrifyingly depressing growing-up stories ever written. Don't let that dissuade you from reading IT, though; it's a truly powerful, indescribable, very strange experience that, in ways that I can't explain, is affecting on some sort of subliminal level. While IT is not an intellectual or really "important" book by any means--it's well-written pulp--it still had an effect on me like no other book that I've read.

Rating:
Summary: so many forms so little time
Review: Well, first off if i havn't heard of the movie It, I probaly wound have never heard of Stephen King's existence. You see, when I first started It i liked it. And so on and so forth... anyway i was blown away of how King could create characters that seem so real. That including Pennywise ( gulp )... After a few months of deciphering It's meaning. ( mind you, every book has a meaning and i usually solve them in a few days or so ) A few months and it took me to do that, since i have bacicly no socail life...then it hit me It was a minor character this book is about how each kid dealt with that psycological horror haunting Derry for eons. Though i wouldn't reccomend people who hate long stories i still do. Remember THERE ARE OTHER BOOKS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE................

Rating:
Summary: a great horror story
Review: This was an awsome book! One of my favorites, and although it was long and slow at times, it keeps you reading constantly. There is always something you didn't expect. The story is about a bunch of kids and their fight against evil. Something that you should be aware of is that there is death of children, that my bother some parents, but like most King books, even children aren't safe. But something that is really improtant for anyone who has watched the movie and is thinking that the book might be cheesy you're so wrong. This book is so much better then the movie could be, there are just some things you can't get from movies.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most entertaining stories I have ever read
Review: Of all the King stories I have read, this one is my favorite. The story is very well written, and follows two time lines at once, coming to a very strong climax. As usual with King, he can't finish a story very well, however if you are going to be a fan of his you have to overlook those minute short comings. Keep a light on!