It - by Stephen King // an in depth book review!!
Channel: Prudens Direction
Date: 02/12/2018

It’s a book about childhood, in particular the special elements like friendships that seem they will last forever, days and lives that will last forever. 
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I cannot think of many authors who can capture what it was like to be a kid better than King. He remembers things vividly and through his words allows us to remember the excitement, the awkwardness, the ability to laugh genuinely and hard at the dumbest of things. But it is not all fun, there are the bullies, there is the feeling of inadequacy and isolation. This is not just a horror story, indeed it is less about horror and more about coming of age.

As always with any book, you should focus on the positives first and foremost. As already mentioned, this is not  simply a horror book, the scary moments are few and far between and all the more powerful for it. This is a book that allows us to relive the most potent time of our lives - our childhood. King’s narrative details the young and adult lives of Bill, Richie, Stan, Bev, Eddie and Mike (The Loser’s Club) and at the same time bring to life the cursed town of Derry. And to be honest the book’s colossal length of just shy of 1,200 pages does not feel that long, especially when you are within the chapters that capture your imagination and fears most. There is much of worth and value within the pages and nostalgia plays a large part in the reading enjoyment. You’ll like these kids, they will remind you of yourself and your childhood friends, and the fact that adult life rarely pans out the way you’d thought and hoped it might will resonate with the large majority of adult readers.

However, if you speak to readers who did not enjoy It their reservations often focus on the same two areas. Many say it’s too long and too detailed, often pointlessly so. But the main recurring objection to the book is the ending, which I have to admit slightly disappointed me all those years ago and this time around left me feeling rather uncomfortable. It’s not just that the denouement is a bit of a let-down (which I feel it is) it is those now infamous few pages in which 6 boys and 1 girl (all aged 11) have sex in the sewers. It is very difficult to explain why this happened and what Stephen King intended but now I am older, and a father, it is such a strange event to occur than I find it almost inexplicable. And for many it ruins the hundreds of pages of excellent story and characterisation that went before.

As an exploration of childhood, growing up, friendship and facing both real and supernatural fears I still hold It up as a great book. But the ending, and the book’s length in general, will be unpalatable to many readers.