It

Rating:
Summary: A big let down
Review: Now, I admit, I waited a long time to read this book. I've read almost all of King's other books (The Stand and Carrie being my favorites) but this story never appealed to me. Maybe I was just sick the Stand By Me type of stories that are out there these days. Then one summer's day, I finally broke down...fished the book out of my closet and began to read.

After finishing it, I was pretty unimpressed. I think King had the right idea, but he could have spent more time on it. The 1958 era was fine. I thought King did a great job fleshing out the characters. I fell in love with those kids and wished I could see them on "normal" days when they weren't worried about getting killed by a bully or a clown.

The thing that really disappointed me was the true identity of IT. I was expecting something like Randall Flagg. Some monsterous demon that chose Derry as his country home. Instead, IT is really...I'm not quite sure. To make that creature some kind of "other" from space felt cheap and contrived to me. I thought the idea was more frightening to have IT be the demon who can turn into a clown or whatever our fears believe. To make the final battle some cosmic thing was too hokey and lame for me.

Finally, I didn't like how King used sex to "unite" things in the book. Some of it seemed really pointles...like the Henry and Patrick bit.

Overall, I was hugely disappointed by this book. It's alright to read if you want to cover all of King's books, but I'd recommend "The Stand" or even the weepy "Green Mile" if you want a good King experience.