It: A Novel
Written by Stephen King
Narrated by Steven Weber
Editor's Note
Do you want a balloon?…
King captures the magic of childhood, and lifts the reader’s spirit high with his depiction of the shielding power of friendship in the face of evil for a group of grammar school kids. The book breaks your heart, too, floating to the surface the pain kids suffer as they grow aware of the failures of their would-be adult protectors. “It” will terrify you. But read it. It’s worth losing a couple nights of sleep.
Description
Stephen King's terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, "a landmark in American literature" (Chicago Sun-Times)—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It.
Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.
They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers.
Fans of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.
About the author
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, and Doctor Sleep are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
Reviews
What people think about It
4.4Reader reviews
- (5/5)Hands down one o the best books I have ever read! Though it took me nearly three months to read it, the time I spent with it has been thrilling. I initially was going to read this along with my niece, however I am glad she decided not to venture into it. Much of what I loved about it, besides being terrified, was feeling the wonderment of fear that I felt as a child growing up in the country. Though I grew up in the 80's not the 50's, the magic I felt at that age was rekindled as I read this book. Now that I have finished it, it will be a bit of a mourning period as I leave the characters behind.
- (5/5)I've read this twice before, always thought it was pretty good... maybe a 3 1/2 Or 4 star rating. I just finished listening to Steven Weber's reading of it. Oh my GOSH, was it amazing! There are so many things I hadn't noticed before, so many things I'd forgotten. This is an EPIC story, worthy of every single moment I've spent on it! Yes, it's one of King's longer stories.... I wouldn't change a thing!!!
If you're unfamiliar with the story, here's a quick summary: there's a really bad, scary monster/being/presence in the town of Derry, Maine. Sometimes It appears as a wolfman, or a mummy, or a sore-covered bum; but mostly, It appears as a clown. It comes back to "feed" every 27-30 years, focusing mostly on the small children of the area. In 1955, The Loser's Club actually manages to cause some damage to It, and they think maybe kill It. However, in case they didn't completely wipe It out, they make a promise through blood that they'll come back to finish the job if they need to. In 1985, that's just what they're called to do. But can they kill It, now that they've all grown up? - (5/5)Rereading this novel, I am still reminded about Stephen King's skills when it comes to the narrative of childhood - he has a knack for making you think about your own, as if his tale(s) could conjure up similar life experience in our own, or an echo of it. This is, of course, not including the horror elements, but distancing between the two is necessary if you think about it. Originally, I had read it in French as a teenager. Horror elements had then a bigger impact on me than the underlying elements of childhood but somehow, they helped me cope with my recurrent nightmares. Now, I probably see the background narrative more with the eyes of maturity and experience, and while I really think King's skills lie more in short stories and novellas, this is one of the few novels which conveys a sense of having been worked on, in terms of characterisation but also in its format and conclusion. It's one of King's novels I'd recommend reading a few times, a few years apart, maybe, because it's a different reading each time.
- (5/5)This will forever be my favorite book... most likely.
- (4/5)I liked this one. I really have not read a lot of King's work but this book has been one that I have wanted to pick up for a long time. I decided to go with the audiobook since I had heard great things about the narration and I think I made a really good choice. This was a really entertaining story that kept me listening for hours at a time.This book is told in alternating timelines. We follow a group of characters in the childhood and again as adults. The timelines worked really well with each other to tell the story of the events occurring in the town of Derry and there are some very strange events happening in that little town in Maine. I found that I liked both timelines equally and was really invested in finding out how things would work out in each. I really feel like I got to know all of the characters very well. There is no shortage of character development in this book. If anything, I would say that we are given too much information regarding the backgrounds of some of the characters. I mean this is a really long book and sometimes I felt like I spent hours listening to only learn one character's backstory. On one hand I really liked all the details but on the other hand the book felt too long. I liked that the main characters were all flawed individuals that had things to overcome as kids and new things to overcome as adults. I think that this book did a lot of things really well in addition to the characters and use of timelines. I think that it did a great job of painting a truly creepy and menacing portrait of the evil in Derry. I liked the mystery behind Pennywise and his appearances. There were some truly frightening scenes in the book which I really appreciated as well. There were a few scenes that felt so realistic that I found myself cringing as I listened to the book.There were a few things that I didn't care for in the book. The end of the book felt really weird to me. The ending was surprisingly odd and just didn't seem to completely fit. I was also rather bothered by the sex scenes involving kids. It was just all kinds of wrong and the book would have been a lot stronger without it in my opinion. I did feel that the book was too long. I enjoyed the story but by the time I got closer to the end, I was more than ready to be done with it. Steven Weber did an absolutely fantastic job narrating this book. There was a very large cast of characters that he handled very well. I thought that he did an exceptional job with Bill's stutter and keeping all of the voices consistent. He added just enough of a creepy factor to the scenes that needed it. He really did such a wonderful job in bringing this story to life and I often listened to his voice for hours at a time. I would definitely listen to his narration again if given the opportunity.I would recommend this book to others. It wasn't perfect but it was really good and I am glad that I finally took the time to listen to it. I do recommend the audiobook for anyone considering reading this book because I really do feel that the narration adds a wonderful element to the story. I do hope to read more from Stephen King in the near future.
- (3/5)Was hoping to like this one a little more. It just felt so long and drawn out. It was a little hard to keep track of the constant back and forth with flashbacks, too. I think this book could have been cut way down from what it is.