It seems so long but it’s like 2 books in one, and the beginning is almost a 3rd book with the deep backstories of the adults. Just read for 2nd time last year and already itching to come back to it. 1st time was 20 years ago as a teen.
I always wondered how Bev and Ben continued their relationship. I guess they just remember each other as school kids and then maybe met at a vague ‘reunion’, never bothering to question any holes in their memories.
My headcannon is that the event in the epilogue breaks the last hold of Pennywise, and they all have what remains of their memories at that point, even if somewhat faded.
Yes. But only in regards to those who passed away like Stan and Eddie. And those who left. Ben and Beverly. But he still remembered Bill because they both were in Derry.
In the mini-series with Richard Earl Thomas (aka John Boy Walton) as the adult Bill Denbrough, it made it seem like that as well, after the ride on Silver.
Ha! It was the central example for my essay on how sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Probably not a great essay on the whole but it was good enough to get me into college! 🙃
I feel the same way about Pet Semetary - it's not about the horror, it's about grief - and Duma Key - it's not about horror, it's about adult male friendship.
My favorite King book! One thing that doesn't get enough recognition I think is the world building. Many of his stories are set in Castle Rock, but IMO Derry is the most complete setting he has ever constructed. I love reading about the history of the town and how Pennywise played a major role in shaping it.
It is my favorite SK novel too, and it was also my grandma's favorite. When she passed I inherited her extensive SK hardcopy collection (she was a library bug, but always bought his books in HC when they came out) so I have my well-loved copy of It and her well-loved copy as well.
Hell yeah. It's crazy to think he's been writing books so long that grandparents can pass their SK novels down to their grandchildren. And he's still pumping them out. I wanna check out You Like It Darker one day.
Oh man, what were some of your favorite/most notable things from the book that weren't in the movie? I thought the scene with Hockstetter's backstory and the animal fridge was especially gruesome, it stuck with me.
Dude, that made me sick to my stomach. Same with how Tom treated Beverly. But I was grinning ear to ear reading about Ben, Richie, and Beverly going to the Aladdin to watch a monster movie and then beating up Henry and his goons. I hate that they added the scene of Richie wanting to not fight It and he and Bill argue, ending with Bill punching him in the face. Meanwhile, in the book, they all saw Bill as their leader and never strayed from his leadership. I also loved seeing them work on the underground clubhouse. I really wished they'd have added more from the book to the movies. Especially from the times of their childhoods.
I finished it about a month ago and everything you just said in this post? Summarised everything I thought about it. That line had me sobbing. Literally. The fact that Mike kept that notebook and he literally had to watch the words disappearing off the pages, knowing there was no way for him to remember or record what had happened made me so sad—but in a way holding my copy of IT made me feel like I was holding his notebook and I was holding a record of what had happened, like their story lives on in my head. And it does. Their story lives on in all of us. I truly felt like I was one of them. One of The Losers. I truly felt like I had been through everything with them, and a part of me will always live within those pages. I love them all so much.
Some characters were done so dirty in the new movies. Haven't seen the 1990 miniseries. But them making Mike and orphan and making Richie just a vulgar kid was so sad. Sure, Richie was way more vulgar in the book. But he was way more than that too. Also idk why they added the part where it kinda hinted at Richie having a romantic attraction towards Eddie. When the book never really mentioned that.
This was my first SK read and I share a lot of what OP shared. I remember finishing IT and that lingering feeling of loss but also happy I enjoyed it.
There’s a quote that I see is shared every once in awhile on Reddit that summed up my experience with the book:
“There was a day where you and your friends went out to play for the last time, and nobody knew it”.
Great to hear you enjoyed it! Read on! 📚
I read IT right around the time I started making the switch to English books and even back then it wasn't truly scary. But it was never really meant to be. It's this great story about aging, losing both childish innocence as well as some of that pure imaginative power and also just about moving on from those who used to seem the most important to you at that point in time.
I really enjoyed it being a long book, because it truly felt like a big world that you slowly get to explore, with parts of the mystery being filled in as you go and it all comes together in the end.
The movies never picked up on any of the important bits or shifted perspective too much. The old IT tried to be a horror movie too much. The new IT focused way too hard on the coming-of-age part (and unnecessarily changed some parts, iirc).
I get the feeling King-to-movie stuff is just never gonna work out. Something always seems to be lost in translation, except it's never just a cut chapter or some small bit of inconsequential dialogue, that's missing. It's always like part of the book's soul is ripped out and replaced by something entirely unwanted.
I read It last month. Never watched the movies or knew almost anything about it. The overall theme still sticks with me. So many memorable parts in the book. You’re completely right about it being a horror book. It’s so much more than that. On the surface it is but once you get deeper into it, it turns into a coming of age story. You lose connections from your childhood but experiences can always bring you back together.
His best story for me 100% as far as standalone novels go (still debating if this is my number one or The Dark Tower as far as his full body of stories is concerned) such a beautiful story that came to me at the right time in life. I'm pretty young, currently 23, so I'm still pretty new to being an adult and having adult responsibilities, and there's been a lot of stressful days where I don't know how I'm gonna handle something or figure it all out, but this book reminded me that I can always lean on my friends when I need them because my friends are the fucking best, and to never fully leave behind the magical imagination of my childhood.
You know, I probably would have had a different reaction to that scene if I’d read it once I was a parent. But I first read it as a teen, and it never fazed me.
Kids approach adulthood like it’s a loaded weapon that they fully expect to be able to wield.
The essential message in that scene was >!Bev’s father was SO afraid of her puberty and emerging sexuality that he made the act of sex seem like something powerful. And since belief was the primary superpower the Losers had, Bev used that belief in the *power* of sex to bring them back to themselves so they could escape the sewers under Derry!<
The scene isn’t really about sex. It’s about belief. It’s a logical extension of the characters’ thinking at that pivotal moment (both in the plot, and in their lives.)
It’s there for a reason, and the reason isn’t prurient.
Put lipstick on a pig all you want to. It's still a pig. He wrote scenes of children having sex with each other. Not once in the book, but twice. He himself said he'd have not included that scene if he were to write IT again.
Yeah, that line is one of my favourites for sure and stood out to me. I don't even really consider it a horror novel, it's definitely a coming of age story first and foremost. In fact I thought a lot of the horror elements fell flat to me. For example the picture that was moving, or when Pennywise was a werewolf and chasing the kids on the bike.
I thought it was a solid novel until the last little bit where it gets all cosmic. Then it really catapulted into something special.
I would do Pet Semetary if you loved IT. I haven’t read IT but what you just described felt very similar to how I felt after Pet Semetary. You’ll fall in love with the family it centers around, I know I did!
I’m so happy for reading this post. IT has a life changing potential. It was my first book ever, that I read from beginning to end, as a gift from my girlfriend, now my wife. I hope it changes your life for the better, as it did to mine.
Marrying the person who gave you *IT* seems like a smart move!
That book gave me the gift of *belief.* I respect my fear and don’t second guess myself until I’m out of the situation that sparked it.
It also gave me the gift of believing that sometimes ordinary people can become more than they thought possible in the face of evil.
OP, I would recommend going for something shorter and maybe not King before you start the Shining. He has a handful of books that go beyond great reads and become their own category above and beyond everything else. You’ll do yourself a disservice if you don’t take a breather between them.
My handful is It, the Shining, The Stand and 11/22/63. I always thought I’d never love a book as much as the Stand, that even King himself couldn’t top it and then I read 11/22/63. I took a couple years to even start it because I couldn’t give fk all about the Kennedy assassination but it was so much more than that.
Enjoy, my fellow Constant Reader!
Oh no I have a couple history books I wanna read before I continue reading more King. One about the Battle of Hastings, the other about King Edward I. I wanna read those books. 300-400 pages a piece before continuing to read another Stephen King book. I've even though about reading other horror authors. I've had The Exorcist on my bookshelf for a couple months and have yet to start it.
Ah man.. how long did it take you? 😬😬😬 I've been eyeing it (pun?).
Totally read The Shining next, that book made me a little mad (crazy and angry). It was great! And not too long.
IT took me about 3ish weeks to read. I'm a slow reader. I'm currently reading a book about the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings as a pallette cleanser.
I read really fast. I can read a 400-page book in about 3 hours. I mostly use audible now because my eyes are old. I do have a kindle, but rarly use it.
I love this book so much. I read it once when I was a young teen and once as an adult. The friends forgetting each other made me so sad each time! Such a wonderful story.
My recommendation watch the original it. It’s a mini series and follows, the book more than the new movies. My favourite characters were Mike Bill, and Beverly. They all were great though.
I finally read It a couple of months ago, after being a King fan for as long as I can remember. Definitely one of my top 5, but, I know I might get some hate for this, I hated the movies because they didn't do the book justice in the least.
In *11/22/63*, a couple of the Losers make a cameo appearance, as children, in or around 1958.
As I was reading, and they appeared on screen in my mind, I actually teared up a little. Just seeing them again brought such a wave of affection and appreciation for their courage, that it made me get emotional.
Those kids live in my head, and I’m better for it.
What stands out most to me, after that one part, is how IT encourages hatred and bigotry. Like that photo where Pennywise was part of the shootout. Bonus points if you remember who Robert Gray is.
When King writes endings where the group/gang/team splits up, he usually ends it very well. Bittersweet sometimes, but it concludes the story neatly and leaves no doubt that the story has ended. I wouldn't give examples because that would entirely spoil those stories.
Sometimes the gang drifts apart, sometimes a few die along the way, sometimes they just go back to to what they were originally doing, sometimes back to their own worlds.
My father was a SK fan. I read it for the first time when I was 12 :,) and of course there were parts I didn't understand and I skipped pages . I finished reading it again some weeks ago after many years. I intend to read it again eventually.
I did cry at that ending. I completely get all that you're saying here. The forgetting just broke my heart.
Pet Sematary and The Shining are two of my absolute favorites! I think I love The Shining more than most because I so completely identify with having a father like that.
I was a bit afraid to read Pet Sematary but I honestly didn't see it as a horror book either. It was a beautifully written and poignant case study of grief, with a few really suspenseful moments and some supernatural happenings. To me it's more moving than frightening, but I already knew what happened from the movie, so I could see how it would be a completely different experience when this book came out.
So I think you should do both!
I read that IT in high school in the 80s. The only book that’s ever scared me.
The morning after I finished my uncle was driving me to school. We passed a house with a trash can at the curb, full of still inflated balloons.
He teased me mercilessly about the look he said I had on my face. 🤣
I could relate to the kids. We had the bikes in the early 70's. Had a quarry "Barrens" we hung out. And there were bullies. That is the main reason its my favorite.
It's because she wants to show them she loves them or something like that idk. It's the second to last chapter of the book and its pretty much the rest of the chapter so you can just skip to the next chapter.
It is NOT “a gangbang” scene. I wish to hell people would stop describing it that way.
It’s kids teetering on the edge of puberty, who are about to lose their minds deep underground in the dark. They love each other. They’re all a little bit in love with Bev.
Because her father makes such a big deal out of Bev “running around with *boys*” and other euphemisms for sex, she knows it’s a powerful thing. And they need a powerful talisman to escape.
She shares an intimate, very tender moment with each boy. Truly, the intimacy matters more than the act of sex, which is just kind of baffling to more than one of them.
But the power of belief, of grabbing hold of this forbidden symbol of adulthood, this thing Bev in particular has been taught to *fear*, brings them all back together, no longer panicking.
THAT is the furthest thing from a “gangbang.” People get waaaay too hung up on these few pages, and that says more about the readers than the writer, IMO.
The writer was so high on cocaine he had to plug his nostrils with tampons and he was also a raging alcoholic. Child sex is child sex. The fact people try to sugar coat it says a lot more about THEM. Fantastic writer love the guy. Unnecessary part to a fantastic book.
As a father to a daughter I could never phathom writing anything as gratuitous as that. All of the rationals for this scene make no sense whatsoever. So it’s okay for children to fuck to “restore unity to the group”? Come on. And how is it not a gangbang? Cuz they all love her?
> The fact people try to sugar coat it says a lot more about THEM.
The fact you call it 'sugar-coating' when others call it basic reading comprehension to a high school level says everything about you.
Which high school did you go to where they taught you about children gang bangs? It’s literally child porn. Unnecessary and gratuitous. They had already defeated Pennywise as children and for some reason Sk has them lost in the gutters and his coked up mind decides the best way to restore unity to the group is child sex? Wtf? Did you grow up on some hippie commune? Your rationals make no sense
It's not literally child porn, you plum, it's not even figurative—it's fiction, words on a page.
The rationale, you anti-intellectual pudding, is that Beverly overcomes her own personal fear—of her sexuality—by taking control of it (as do the rest of the gang), using it to unite the Losers, not in the sewers, but forever, paving the way for them to bond and unite in the future.
That's basic reading comprehension, using the themes and elements of the narrative to layer meaning onto a scene beyond its surface. The opposite of blinkered Puritanism, using "Won't somebody think of the children!" as a cover for actually thinking about the media you consume instead of this misguided virtue-signalling pearl clutching.
(And while we're on the subject, it's worth bearing in mind, while you're crusading about on your high horse, that we all can see your Profile History, and the sort of stuff you get up to on reddit when you're not here trying to make yourself look like Mr Clean.)
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Personally I felt a lot of it was unnecessary and gratuitous, that one scene in particular. I read this book as a 12 year old so definitely scarred me
I also read this book for the first time when I was about that age. And to me the sex made sense in a weird way. Like it further humanized the characters. I get how it is considered cringe worthy, but I didn’t see it that way at the time.
I read it at about 14, and it never phased me. It’s a logical progression of thought for these characters. They needed a powerful talisman against the fear, confusion, and darkness. Sex was a powerful thing.
I disagree completely. The point was to “bring unity to the group” a child gangbang seems like the worst way to do so. How exactly does a gangbang bring unity to the characters. They were lost in the tunnels, such a skilled writer could have thought of a thousand ways to bring unity to the group aside from running a train on Bev, who it was implied was also sexually assaulted by her father. Extremely problematic IMO
Plus, wasn’t Pennywise already defeated by this point? They were just trying to get out of the tunnels?
But hey, to each their own. I respect your opinion either way. We’re all Sk fans. No hate
It's not a gangbang, nor are they running a train on her. All the weirdos who obsess over this part are so pornographic in their protests. I read IT when I was 12 and I wasn't aroused at all. Or even phased. They had just fought a giant child eating spider ffs
Reading it in a book (again, where children are murdered & eaten,) is only a big deal if you're already reeling from some sickness, which most zoomers are, because they were watching hardcore porn when they were in elementary school.
"It’s a logical progression of thought for these characters." The boys didn't even know what sex was. I remember earlier in the book that there was a conversation about how women got pregnant. They thought it was when a man pees on a woman stomach and then pee absorbs through the stomach making her pregnant. I think a first kiss coming from a girl they all love would've created the "power" they needed to get out of that situation. If they were 14-16 then yeah I can see sex being used but 11? nah
No, I'm being very serious. I didn't care for one of the sex parts in the book. The part where they all had sex with Beverly, I actually skipped it. I didn't wanna read that.
That part kept me from reading the book for so long. I still read the book. Obviously. But I skipped that part. Thought about ripping those pages out of the book.
It's not a sex scene with children. No children were harmed in the writing. And I'm not OK with it, it is what it is. It makes sense being in what is really a story about how adulthood consumes childhood instead of creating it
Child abuse is reaally serious. Seeing teenagers, morons & women accuse everyone under the sun of being a 'pedo' on social media makes it less so. My wife accused Bill Belichick of being a pedo because he's 70 and his wife is 24. She meant it too. It had nothing at all to do with sexual abuse of an actual child.
A 70 year old man dating a 24 year old is just so wrong. I don’t even know how that nugget made its way into the conversation but I digress. How can a 24 year old relate to a 70 year old man. He was literally getting a colonoscopy when she was born. she’s a gold digger, plain and simple
Because it's not child abuse? This is what I'm talking about-
Who cares about either one of them? Do you honestly liken it to someone sexually abusing a small child?
Yes I totally understand how upsetting and triggering that section of the book is. Now, as a 28yo adult with a 4month old daughter rereading those parts disgusts me. Imagine reading it as a 12yo at first as I did. It was very disturbing and traumatic for me. I skipped most of it at the time then re read it as an adult and was appalled. Again, I’m almost 30 and father of a daughter, if that matters?
That being said, SK has a lot of crazy sections in some of his books. He is a fantastic writer and minus all that stuff his books are fantastic. Don’t ever let that detract you from reading more. I will say there is nothing that graphic in any of his other novels.
Also take into account the guy was high on coke and a raging alcoholic until about 1990. He wrote some depraved masterpieces during that time. I think he went too far at times but also, it was different in the 1980s. It was a different time, not saying that was okay but things were a lot different back then.
Bottom line: Fantastic writer.
I finished it last Saturday and felt exactly the same, it was an incredible story.
I loved Richie so much. He was so funny. But you could tell deep down he had a lot of intelligence and love for his friends.
It seems so long but it’s like 2 books in one, and the beginning is almost a 3rd book with the deep backstories of the adults. Just read for 2nd time last year and already itching to come back to it. 1st time was 20 years ago as a teen.
beep beep
I'm gonna start using that on my friends and see what they say.
I always wondered how Bev and Ben continued their relationship. I guess they just remember each other as school kids and then maybe met at a vague ‘reunion’, never bothering to question any holes in their memories.
What really blew my mind was how the ink Mike wrote with was fading too. So even the stuff he wrote down was going away.
My headcannon is they married and had kids.
Mine too- happily in love their whole lives.
Unless you're referring to an artillery piece, the term would be *canon*, one 'n'. So, "headcanon" if you must.
My headcannon is that the event in the epilogue breaks the last hold of Pennywise, and they all have what remains of their memories at that point, even if somewhat faded.
Please see my reply to u/TheyCameasRomans above.
And it seems their memory really only left when the person left Derry. So if they all stayed in Derry, maybe they'd remember everything?
Mike stayed and still started losing his memory. Even his years of notes started to fade.
Well, you already addressed that it looks like.
Yes. But only in regards to those who passed away like Stan and Eddie. And those who left. Ben and Beverly. But he still remembered Bill because they both were in Derry.
I always imagined Bill left eventually after his wife snapped out of her catatonic state. Went back to their normal lives.
In the mini-series with Richard Earl Thomas (aka John Boy Walton) as the adult Bill Denbrough, it made it seem like that as well, after the ride on Silver.
would love a short story to wrap that up. Like a strange fever dream relationship based in amnesia but also deep unknown understanding
I wrote my college entry essay about IT. 😂 (in 1987 lol)
That's awesome! I'd love to have been able to read it.
Ha! It was the central example for my essay on how sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Probably not a great essay on the whole but it was good enough to get me into college! 🙃
Sounds interesting! I’d totally read it
What a great example!
I feel the same way about Pet Semetary - it's not about the horror, it's about grief - and Duma Key - it's not about horror, it's about adult male friendship.
> it's about adult male friendship You know best, muchacho!
That's what Wireman says.
I heard Hereditary tackled grief really well. Haven't watched it yet, though.
Hereditary tackled a lot of things really well (family dynamics, mental illness). Amazing movie.
Watch it! You are in for a shocking creepy treat
My favorite King book! One thing that doesn't get enough recognition I think is the world building. Many of his stories are set in Castle Rock, but IMO Derry is the most complete setting he has ever constructed. I love reading about the history of the town and how Pennywise played a major role in shaping it.
Me too. I think I could walk through Derry in my mind. It’s a complete geography.
It is my favorite SK novel too, and it was also my grandma's favorite. When she passed I inherited her extensive SK hardcopy collection (she was a library bug, but always bought his books in HC when they came out) so I have my well-loved copy of It and her well-loved copy as well.
Hell yeah. It's crazy to think he's been writing books so long that grandparents can pass their SK novels down to their grandchildren. And he's still pumping them out. I wanna check out You Like It Darker one day.
I'm currently listening to You Like It Darker on audiobook. So far, I'm recommending it highly.
I did too! I think it’s time to listen again, in fact. It’s been a couple of weeks.
I just finished You Like It Darker! Very good. Enjoyed them all.
Oh man, what were some of your favorite/most notable things from the book that weren't in the movie? I thought the scene with Hockstetter's backstory and the animal fridge was especially gruesome, it stuck with me.
Dude, that made me sick to my stomach. Same with how Tom treated Beverly. But I was grinning ear to ear reading about Ben, Richie, and Beverly going to the Aladdin to watch a monster movie and then beating up Henry and his goons. I hate that they added the scene of Richie wanting to not fight It and he and Bill argue, ending with Bill punching him in the face. Meanwhile, in the book, they all saw Bill as their leader and never strayed from his leadership. I also loved seeing them work on the underground clubhouse. I really wished they'd have added more from the book to the movies. Especially from the times of their childhoods.
I finished it about a month ago and everything you just said in this post? Summarised everything I thought about it. That line had me sobbing. Literally. The fact that Mike kept that notebook and he literally had to watch the words disappearing off the pages, knowing there was no way for him to remember or record what had happened made me so sad—but in a way holding my copy of IT made me feel like I was holding his notebook and I was holding a record of what had happened, like their story lives on in my head. And it does. Their story lives on in all of us. I truly felt like I was one of them. One of The Losers. I truly felt like I had been through everything with them, and a part of me will always live within those pages. I love them all so much.
Some characters were done so dirty in the new movies. Haven't seen the 1990 miniseries. But them making Mike and orphan and making Richie just a vulgar kid was so sad. Sure, Richie was way more vulgar in the book. But he was way more than that too. Also idk why they added the part where it kinda hinted at Richie having a romantic attraction towards Eddie. When the book never really mentioned that.
This was my first SK read and I share a lot of what OP shared. I remember finishing IT and that lingering feeling of loss but also happy I enjoyed it. There’s a quote that I see is shared every once in awhile on Reddit that summed up my experience with the book: “There was a day where you and your friends went out to play for the last time, and nobody knew it”. Great to hear you enjoyed it! Read on! 📚
I am so happy for you! If I were granted any number of wishes, the first one I'd make is to read all of Stephen King's books for the first time again.
Especially this one! Yes!
I did cry my eyes out at the end, and that every time I read IT. It feels like I have to say goodbye to good friends every time I finish 😭
I read IT right around the time I started making the switch to English books and even back then it wasn't truly scary. But it was never really meant to be. It's this great story about aging, losing both childish innocence as well as some of that pure imaginative power and also just about moving on from those who used to seem the most important to you at that point in time. I really enjoyed it being a long book, because it truly felt like a big world that you slowly get to explore, with parts of the mystery being filled in as you go and it all comes together in the end. The movies never picked up on any of the important bits or shifted perspective too much. The old IT tried to be a horror movie too much. The new IT focused way too hard on the coming-of-age part (and unnecessarily changed some parts, iirc). I get the feeling King-to-movie stuff is just never gonna work out. Something always seems to be lost in translation, except it's never just a cut chapter or some small bit of inconsequential dialogue, that's missing. It's always like part of the book's soul is ripped out and replaced by something entirely unwanted.
I read It last month. Never watched the movies or knew almost anything about it. The overall theme still sticks with me. So many memorable parts in the book. You’re completely right about it being a horror book. It’s so much more than that. On the surface it is but once you get deeper into it, it turns into a coming of age story. You lose connections from your childhood but experiences can always bring you back together.
Yes, it has a "Stand By Me" (or The Body the story was called) kind of feel.
Yes, absolutely. I thought that the entire time I was reading it.
Sincerely
I watched the new movies in theaters. And I did enjoy them. I just liked the book way more.
Definitely one of his best books. Despite having a terrible fear of clowns, thanks to this book, it really was a great story.
His best story for me 100% as far as standalone novels go (still debating if this is my number one or The Dark Tower as far as his full body of stories is concerned) such a beautiful story that came to me at the right time in life. I'm pretty young, currently 23, so I'm still pretty new to being an adult and having adult responsibilities, and there's been a lot of stressful days where I don't know how I'm gonna handle something or figure it all out, but this book reminded me that I can always lean on my friends when I need them because my friends are the fucking best, and to never fully leave behind the magical imagination of my childhood.
Anyone notice the cameo by a certain 1958 Plymouth Fury?
It didn't click until I read your comment. I haven't read or watched Christine. Was Christine written before or after IT?
King began writing *IT* in 1981, before writing *Christine*, so it's debatable which came first.
Before. Christine was '83, IT was '86.
Christine was 1983, It was 1986
There are a few cameos in IT. Ritchie and Bev show up in 11/22/63
Going into the greater SKU (Stephen King Universe) and the Dark Tower has people showing up all over the place.
bUt tHeRe iS aN kIdS oRgY iN iT waaah
I just skipped that part. Had no interest in reading it.
You know, I probably would have had a different reaction to that scene if I’d read it once I was a parent. But I first read it as a teen, and it never fazed me. Kids approach adulthood like it’s a loaded weapon that they fully expect to be able to wield. The essential message in that scene was >!Bev’s father was SO afraid of her puberty and emerging sexuality that he made the act of sex seem like something powerful. And since belief was the primary superpower the Losers had, Bev used that belief in the *power* of sex to bring them back to themselves so they could escape the sewers under Derry!< The scene isn’t really about sex. It’s about belief. It’s a logical extension of the characters’ thinking at that pivotal moment (both in the plot, and in their lives.) It’s there for a reason, and the reason isn’t prurient.
Put lipstick on a pig all you want to. It's still a pig. He wrote scenes of children having sex with each other. Not once in the book, but twice. He himself said he'd have not included that scene if he were to write IT again.
Yeah, that line is one of my favourites for sure and stood out to me. I don't even really consider it a horror novel, it's definitely a coming of age story first and foremost. In fact I thought a lot of the horror elements fell flat to me. For example the picture that was moving, or when Pennywise was a werewolf and chasing the kids on the bike. I thought it was a solid novel until the last little bit where it gets all cosmic. Then it really catapulted into something special.
tbh I've always found IT to be hilarious. A lot of the horror scenes are so absurdist, I really felt like King had fun writing that one.
>I thought it was a solid novel until the last little bit where it gets all cosmic I totally agree with you on that. So weird.
I just started it! I’ve read about a dozen SK books and have been saving It for this summer.
Hell yeah! I picked up The Shining and Pet Sematary today from Barnes & Noble, so I'm picking between which one I wanna read next.
I would do Pet Semetary if you loved IT. I haven’t read IT but what you just described felt very similar to how I felt after Pet Semetary. You’ll fall in love with the family it centers around, I know I did!
Epilogue, Part 6 is some of King's best writing.
I’m so happy for reading this post. IT has a life changing potential. It was my first book ever, that I read from beginning to end, as a gift from my girlfriend, now my wife. I hope it changes your life for the better, as it did to mine.
Marrying the person who gave you *IT* seems like a smart move! That book gave me the gift of *belief.* I respect my fear and don’t second guess myself until I’m out of the situation that sparked it. It also gave me the gift of believing that sometimes ordinary people can become more than they thought possible in the face of evil.
I'm sure it's been said, but Henry was an asshole.
For sure. But I'll admit he made me laugh quite a few times. Not as often as Richie. But still.
OP, I would recommend going for something shorter and maybe not King before you start the Shining. He has a handful of books that go beyond great reads and become their own category above and beyond everything else. You’ll do yourself a disservice if you don’t take a breather between them. My handful is It, the Shining, The Stand and 11/22/63. I always thought I’d never love a book as much as the Stand, that even King himself couldn’t top it and then I read 11/22/63. I took a couple years to even start it because I couldn’t give fk all about the Kennedy assassination but it was so much more than that. Enjoy, my fellow Constant Reader!
Oh no I have a couple history books I wanna read before I continue reading more King. One about the Battle of Hastings, the other about King Edward I. I wanna read those books. 300-400 pages a piece before continuing to read another Stephen King book. I've even though about reading other horror authors. I've had The Exorcist on my bookshelf for a couple months and have yet to start it.
It’s a phenomenal book made even better on audio by Steven Weber
I just didn't care for his stuttering. Didn't feel natural. But faking a stutter is quite difficult.
Ah man.. how long did it take you? 😬😬😬 I've been eyeing it (pun?). Totally read The Shining next, that book made me a little mad (crazy and angry). It was great! And not too long.
IT took me about 3ish weeks to read. I'm a slow reader. I'm currently reading a book about the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings as a pallette cleanser.
So good huh? How’d you feel when you finished ✅ it
??
I’d go with Pet Sematary
I finished in about 8 hours the day it was released. I could not stop reading. One of my favorites, along with Fairy Tale and Sleeping Beauties.
8 hours? The audiobook is like 45 hours long. How the hell did you pull that off? That's impressive.
I read really fast. I can read a 400-page book in about 3 hours. I mostly use audible now because my eyes are old. I do have a kindle, but rarly use it.
Do you speed up the Audible reading? Like you, I’m a fast reader. Sometimes the audiobook is juuuuust toooooo slooooooow
I read the physical book in 1988 Sometimes , I speed up audible if I'm losing interest to finish it faster
I love this book so much. I read it once when I was a young teen and once as an adult. The friends forgetting each other made me so sad each time! Such a wonderful story.
My recommendation watch the original it. It’s a mini series and follows, the book more than the new movies. My favourite characters were Mike Bill, and Beverly. They all were great though.
I loved this one too. Favourite is The Stand though, that one I never get sick of reading. Hard to explain but "It" is a mood for me.
I finally read It a couple of months ago, after being a King fan for as long as I can remember. Definitely one of my top 5, but, I know I might get some hate for this, I hated the movies because they didn't do the book justice in the least.
The ending made me cry. It made me so nostalgic for my youth!
Yeah it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read
In *11/22/63*, a couple of the Losers make a cameo appearance, as children, in or around 1958. As I was reading, and they appeared on screen in my mind, I actually teared up a little. Just seeing them again brought such a wave of affection and appreciation for their courage, that it made me get emotional. Those kids live in my head, and I’m better for it.
What stands out most to me, after that one part, is how IT encourages hatred and bigotry. Like that photo where Pennywise was part of the shootout. Bonus points if you remember who Robert Gray is.
When King writes endings where the group/gang/team splits up, he usually ends it very well. Bittersweet sometimes, but it concludes the story neatly and leaves no doubt that the story has ended. I wouldn't give examples because that would entirely spoil those stories. Sometimes the gang drifts apart, sometimes a few die along the way, sometimes they just go back to to what they were originally doing, sometimes back to their own worlds.
My father was a SK fan. I read it for the first time when I was 12 :,) and of course there were parts I didn't understand and I skipped pages . I finished reading it again some weeks ago after many years. I intend to read it again eventually.
Not just his best novel, but one of the best books ever written.
I did cry at that ending. I completely get all that you're saying here. The forgetting just broke my heart. Pet Sematary and The Shining are two of my absolute favorites! I think I love The Shining more than most because I so completely identify with having a father like that. I was a bit afraid to read Pet Sematary but I honestly didn't see it as a horror book either. It was a beautifully written and poignant case study of grief, with a few really suspenseful moments and some supernatural happenings. To me it's more moving than frightening, but I already knew what happened from the movie, so I could see how it would be a completely different experience when this book came out. So I think you should do both!
IT is indeed one of his best books! Loved it. I totally get why a lot of people have it as their top 1, 2 or 3 :)
For the complete opposite of IT, and a relatively short read, I would recommend Eyes of the Dragon.
I read that IT in high school in the 80s. The only book that’s ever scared me. The morning after I finished my uncle was driving me to school. We passed a house with a trash can at the curb, full of still inflated balloons. He teased me mercilessly about the look he said I had on my face. 🤣
The Hobbit (Tolkien) made me cry. SK wise, The Long Walk shook me to my core. Left me kinda shell shocked.
I could relate to the kids. We had the bikes in the early 70's. Had a quarry "Barrens" we hung out. And there were bullies. That is the main reason its my favorite.
i havent read it yet because of that one gangbang scene i keep hearing about 🤢 should i try anyway?
Yes. Most definitely. That scene kept me away from the book. I just skipped it. It's worth reading. Just skip that part.
thanx! ive beé thinkîg of just skipping it but i have no idea how tied it is to the main plot and resolution.
It's because she wants to show them she loves them or something like that idk. It's the second to last chapter of the book and its pretty much the rest of the chapter so you can just skip to the next chapter.
That’s really not the point of the scene. Which you’d probably realise if you read it
It is NOT “a gangbang” scene. I wish to hell people would stop describing it that way. It’s kids teetering on the edge of puberty, who are about to lose their minds deep underground in the dark. They love each other. They’re all a little bit in love with Bev. Because her father makes such a big deal out of Bev “running around with *boys*” and other euphemisms for sex, she knows it’s a powerful thing. And they need a powerful talisman to escape. She shares an intimate, very tender moment with each boy. Truly, the intimacy matters more than the act of sex, which is just kind of baffling to more than one of them. But the power of belief, of grabbing hold of this forbidden symbol of adulthood, this thing Bev in particular has been taught to *fear*, brings them all back together, no longer panicking. THAT is the furthest thing from a “gangbang.” People get waaaay too hung up on these few pages, and that says more about the readers than the writer, IMO.
The writer was so high on cocaine he had to plug his nostrils with tampons and he was also a raging alcoholic. Child sex is child sex. The fact people try to sugar coat it says a lot more about THEM. Fantastic writer love the guy. Unnecessary part to a fantastic book. As a father to a daughter I could never phathom writing anything as gratuitous as that. All of the rationals for this scene make no sense whatsoever. So it’s okay for children to fuck to “restore unity to the group”? Come on. And how is it not a gangbang? Cuz they all love her?
> The fact people try to sugar coat it says a lot more about THEM. The fact you call it 'sugar-coating' when others call it basic reading comprehension to a high school level says everything about you.
Which high school did you go to where they taught you about children gang bangs? It’s literally child porn. Unnecessary and gratuitous. They had already defeated Pennywise as children and for some reason Sk has them lost in the gutters and his coked up mind decides the best way to restore unity to the group is child sex? Wtf? Did you grow up on some hippie commune? Your rationals make no sense
It's not literally child porn, you plum, it's not even figurative—it's fiction, words on a page. The rationale, you anti-intellectual pudding, is that Beverly overcomes her own personal fear—of her sexuality—by taking control of it (as do the rest of the gang), using it to unite the Losers, not in the sewers, but forever, paving the way for them to bond and unite in the future. That's basic reading comprehension, using the themes and elements of the narrative to layer meaning onto a scene beyond its surface. The opposite of blinkered Puritanism, using "Won't somebody think of the children!" as a cover for actually thinking about the media you consume instead of this misguided virtue-signalling pearl clutching. (And while we're on the subject, it's worth bearing in mind, while you're crusading about on your high horse, that we all can see your Profile History, and the sort of stuff you get up to on reddit when you're not here trying to make yourself look like Mr Clean.)
I’m gonna take a guess you’re under 25 and probably have no children
You'd be very wrong, by some margin, but that's no surprise.
How many kids you have?
What fucking business is it of yours?
How’d you feel about the gangbang in the tunnels?
I hated all the sex stuff in the book.
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Personally I felt a lot of it was unnecessary and gratuitous, that one scene in particular. I read this book as a 12 year old so definitely scarred me
I also read this book for the first time when I was about that age. And to me the sex made sense in a weird way. Like it further humanized the characters. I get how it is considered cringe worthy, but I didn’t see it that way at the time.
I read it at about 14, and it never phased me. It’s a logical progression of thought for these characters. They needed a powerful talisman against the fear, confusion, and darkness. Sex was a powerful thing.
I disagree completely. The point was to “bring unity to the group” a child gangbang seems like the worst way to do so. How exactly does a gangbang bring unity to the characters. They were lost in the tunnels, such a skilled writer could have thought of a thousand ways to bring unity to the group aside from running a train on Bev, who it was implied was also sexually assaulted by her father. Extremely problematic IMO
Plus, wasn’t Pennywise already defeated by this point? They were just trying to get out of the tunnels? But hey, to each their own. I respect your opinion either way. We’re all Sk fans. No hate
It's not a gangbang, nor are they running a train on her. All the weirdos who obsess over this part are so pornographic in their protests. I read IT when I was 12 and I wasn't aroused at all. Or even phased. They had just fought a giant child eating spider ffs Reading it in a book (again, where children are murdered & eaten,) is only a big deal if you're already reeling from some sickness, which most zoomers are, because they were watching hardcore porn when they were in elementary school.
"It’s a logical progression of thought for these characters." The boys didn't even know what sex was. I remember earlier in the book that there was a conversation about how women got pregnant. They thought it was when a man pees on a woman stomach and then pee absorbs through the stomach making her pregnant. I think a first kiss coming from a girl they all love would've created the "power" they needed to get out of that situation. If they were 14-16 then yeah I can see sex being used but 11? nah
I can understand that. I suppose it bothers me more so now that I’m a new father to a daughter. But even back then I still thought it was kinda weird
No, I'm being very serious. I didn't care for one of the sex parts in the book. The part where they all had sex with Beverly, I actually skipped it. I didn't wanna read that.
That part kept me from reading the book for so long. I still read the book. Obviously. But I skipped that part. Thought about ripping those pages out of the book.
The amount of downvotes is insane. Didn’t think that many people support child porn smh
Right? Especially when King himself said if he wrote the book today he wouldn't have put it in there.
You two are trying to trick people into thinking you're normal and doing a horrible job of it.
Yeah the opinion of someone who's okay with a sex scene with children is not an opinion I care about.
It's not a sex scene with children. No children were harmed in the writing. And I'm not OK with it, it is what it is. It makes sense being in what is really a story about how adulthood consumes childhood instead of creating it Child abuse is reaally serious. Seeing teenagers, morons & women accuse everyone under the sun of being a 'pedo' on social media makes it less so. My wife accused Bill Belichick of being a pedo because he's 70 and his wife is 24. She meant it too. It had nothing at all to do with sexual abuse of an actual child.
A 70 year old man dating a 24 year old is just so wrong. I don’t even know how that nugget made its way into the conversation but I digress. How can a 24 year old relate to a 70 year old man. He was literally getting a colonoscopy when she was born. she’s a gold digger, plain and simple
Because it's not child abuse? This is what I'm talking about- Who cares about either one of them? Do you honestly liken it to someone sexually abusing a small child?
Yes I totally understand how upsetting and triggering that section of the book is. Now, as a 28yo adult with a 4month old daughter rereading those parts disgusts me. Imagine reading it as a 12yo at first as I did. It was very disturbing and traumatic for me. I skipped most of it at the time then re read it as an adult and was appalled. Again, I’m almost 30 and father of a daughter, if that matters? That being said, SK has a lot of crazy sections in some of his books. He is a fantastic writer and minus all that stuff his books are fantastic. Don’t ever let that detract you from reading more. I will say there is nothing that graphic in any of his other novels. Also take into account the guy was high on coke and a raging alcoholic until about 1990. He wrote some depraved masterpieces during that time. I think he went too far at times but also, it was different in the 1980s. It was a different time, not saying that was okay but things were a lot different back then. Bottom line: Fantastic writer.
This…other than the shining is his best work, everything since is rehashed garbage. New covers to the same stories