Rereading "It"

[MacAllister]

Damn this is an excellent book. I'm reading it as a writer for the first time, instead of as a reader. I'm frankly blown away by the things King pulls off--and how lovingly it's all set up--and how he never flinches from showing you the nasty things, in fact he rubs your face in it...

[awatkins]

Oh, I LOVE that book. That's one of my regularly scheduled to-be-read-again books.

I just love his work--the conversational, friendly style with just the right amount of gore and terror in all the right, sometimes unexpected, places. Draws you in, makes you see and feel what's going on, gets you inside the minds of the characters. Ahh, if only I could master that!

[three seven]

I'd love to be in on this but since I haven't read it, I can't very well re-read it. So I'm going to re-read The Dark Half instead. :)

[awatkins]

Mac, we should invite Three to go to the library with us. And bring balloons. Muwah.

[Sarita]

I'd like to reread It, or at least finish It at some point when I stop peeing my pants from It.:ROFL: The first time I tried to read It, I was 16. I got so scared that I put it in the trash outside the house, thinking if I didn't get it away from me, it could get me. I tried again a couple days later and made it about 3/4 of the way through. I've never been able to bring myself to finish the damn book even though I've read and enjoyed almost every other book of his.

[MacAllister]

What's cool, Sara, is taking the sentences apart to see how he builds that scare, makes it breathe, then turns it loose to romp through our imaginations...

[BlueTexas]

Mac, we should invite Three to go to the library with us. And bring balloons. Muwah.

The year after I read that book, I started a new school. My busstop was at the corner of Pennywise Lane, I had to step over a sewer grate to board, and this was in Derry, NH. Phobias, anyone?

[MacAllister]

Kira, oh no! :ROFL: I'd have dropped out...

[Perks]

You know, I have to disagree a bit on this one. It is one of the most terrifying, nailbiting horror novels ever - right up until the last forty pages or so. I was so furious at the tacked-on bull*** ending that I threw the book across the room. I know Uncle Jim threatens that a lot, but I actually hurled the book out the bedroom door. King, god-love-him, does this sometimes. I don't know if he gets the thirty-ninth call from his editor saying, "Steve, we need it now!" or what, but sometimes his endings seem to have nothing to do with the previous eight hundred pages. It offended me in this manner more than any other novel I've ever read.

So, I won't be rereading it - unless paid handsomely to do it. I don't suppose there's any chance of that. It's a shame really, the first three hundred seventy-two chapters were pure genius...

[Jamesaritchie]

You know, I have to disagree a bit on this one. It is one of the most terrifying, nailbiting horror novels ever - right up until the last forty pages or so. I was so furious at the tacked-on bull*** ending that I threw the book across the room. I know Uncle Jim threatens that a lot, but I actually hurled the book out the bedroom door. King, god-love-him, does this sometimes. I don't know if he gets the thirty-ninth call from his editor saying, "Steve, we need it now!" or what, but sometimes his endings seem to have nothing to do with the previous eight hundred pages. It offended me in this manner more than any other novel I've ever read.

So, I won't be rereading it - unless paid handsomely to do it. I don't suppose there's any chance of that. It's a shame really, the first three hundred seventy-two chapters were pure genius...

Matter of taste, I guess. I thought the end of It was the best part. Pure genius.

[Euan H.]

You know, I have to disagree a bit on this one. It is one of the most terrifying, nailbiting horror novels ever - right up until the last forty pages or so. I was so furious at the tacked-on bull*** ending that I threw the book across the room.
I'm with you on this. I thought it was one of the best horror books I'd read--up to the end. I wasn't as upset as you sound, but I definitely found it dissapointing. But...I think King got stuck. I mean, how can you end a book like that? It's like in horror movies when as soon as you see what the monster is, the fear goes.

But the beginning...damn. Little boy, rain, paper boat, and then bam! I wish I could write like that.

[Perks]

I wasn't as upset as you sound

I wasn't as upset as I sound ;) - but I did throw the book!

[louisgodwin]

Let me see, I think it's been about 12 years or so since I read It. That book is my favorite singular work of King's. (I'm a Dark Tower fan.) I read it just a short time after the t.v. miniseries originally aired, and I thought I would probably see the faces of those actors in my mind when I read the book, but King has a way of making you see only what he wants you to see. I do remember feeling vaguely disappointed about the ending, but it was so damn long ago, I can't really remember why. I think I was ticked off that one of the characters died.

[Josh]

IT is my favorite King book as well. I read it when I was 13 or 14 and it had some great scares.

I reread IT just a few years ago. I never realized how profoundly sad the book is when I read it as a child. King says a lot in this book, about childhood and loss. On one level its a great scare, but that's just the surface story.

I think it impacted me more on the second reading. When I set the book down the first time, I thought it was a great horror book. When I set the book down the second time, I thought it was a great book.

[PattiTheWicked]

The first time I read IT, i was about sixteen, home alone, on a dark and stormy night. I only wish I was making this up. There I am, sitting there reading about Pennywise the clown creeping about through Derry's drain pipes, and all of a sudden the kitchen sink -- twelve feet away from me -- BACKS UP AND GURGLES AT ME. I screamed, ran outside and sat in my car with the doors locked until my parents got home.

I try to reread it every few years and scare the poo out of myself.

I just finished rereading The Stand, another one of those Gotta Read It Again novels. Oh, how I love it. Randall Flagg is one bad mo'fo.

[Perks]

The first time I read IT, i was about sixteen, home alone, on a dark and stormy night. I only wish I was making this up. There I am, sitting there reading about Pennywise the clown creeping about through Derry's drain pipes, and all of a sudden the kitchen sink -- twelve feet away from me -- BACKS UP AND GURGLES AT ME. I screamed, ran outside and sat in my car with the doors locked until my parents got home.

I try to reread it every few years and scare the poo out of myself.

I just finished rereading The Stand, another one of those Gotta Read It Again novels. Oh, how I love it. Randall Flagg is one bad mo'fo.


Totally and completely agree on The Stand. I have to read it every couple of years.. all 1186 pages of it as only the uncut version will do.

[aspiringwriter]

I thought IT was an excellent story until the very end. I don't understand why Stephen King puts in those crappy endings either. Just like Bag of Bones, it was a very thrilling story until the very end. Overall though, I truly like his stories...his writing style is a bit strange for me but hey, you either love him or hate him

[kristie911]

The first time I read IT, i was about sixteen, home alone, on a dark and stormy night. I only wish I was making this up. There I am, sitting there reading about Pennywise the clown creeping about through Derry's drain pipes, and all of a sudden the kitchen sink -- twelve feet away from me -- BACKS UP AND GURGLES AT ME. I screamed, ran outside and sat in my car with the doors locked until my parents got home.

I try to reread it every few years and scare the poo out of myself.

I just finished rereading The Stand, another one of those Gotta Read It Again novels. Oh, how I love it. Randall Flagg is one bad mo'fo.

I loved IT...never fails to creep me out. But The Stand is by far my favorite King novel. (and I've read everything he's written) I've read it at least 8 times. I had to buy another copy because my first one fell apart. What great writing!

[Jamesaritchie]

I thought IT was an excellent story until the very end. I don't understand why Stephen King puts in those crappy endings either. Just like Bag of Bones, it was a very thrilling story until the very end. Overall though, I truly like his stories...his writing style is a bit strange for me but hey, you either love him or hate him

That's another novel where I loved the ending. I think Bag of Bones is King's best novel, and deserved all the awards it won. For me, King puts in great endings, not crappy ones.

[Jamesaritchie]

The first time I read IT, i was about sixteen, home alone, on a dark and stormy night. I only wish I was making this up. There I am, sitting there reading about Pennywise the clown creeping about through Derry's drain pipes, and all of a sudden the kitchen sink -- twelve feet away from me -- BACKS UP AND GURGLES AT ME. I screamed, ran outside and sat in my car with the doors locked until my parents got home.

I try to reread it every few years and scare the poo out of myself.

I just finished rereading The Stand, another one of those Gotta Read It Again novels. Oh, how I love it. Randall Flagg is one bad mo'fo.

Randall Flagg is about as scary as it gets. He appears in many of King's novels, even the Dark Tower novels, though sometimes under a different name. But his initials are still usually RK.

Randall Flagg alone is enough to grant King his fame.

[PattiTheWicked]

Randall Flagg is about as scary as it gets. He appears in many of King's novels, even the Dark Tower novels, though sometimes under a different name. But his initials are still usually RK.

Randall Flagg alone is enough to grant King his fame.

I'll probably get rocks thrown at me for admitting this, but I still haven't gotten around to reading the Dark Tower series.

I do remember reading Hearts in Atlantis and noticing a character who had the RF initials, and was some kind of militant leader. Bet it's the same dude.

Flagg is spooooooooky.

And I can't even watch anything with Jamey Sheridan in it, because all I can think about is him walkin' down the highway in those boots....

[Perks]

And I can't even watch anything with Jamey Sheridan in it, because all I can think about is him walkin' down the highway in those boots....

That's so funny! I can't watch him either after The Stand. I was sort of horrified that they attempted a film version of that book, but was pleasantly surprised. I also always think of that movie when I see Miguel Ferrer.

[Perks]

Did any of you It afficianados see the film version? Was it any good? It seems like that would be a very hard movie to make AND it had John Ritter in it, which always raises a red flag for me. (But to be fair, he could be quite good when he wasn't being ridiculous.)

[kristie911]

And I can't even watch anything with Jamey Sheridan in it, because all I can think about is him walkin' down the highway in those boots....

OMG...I feel the same way! He was on ER for awhile and it creeped me out everytime I saw him. I kept waiting for him to turn into a demon!

[aspiringwriter]

Just a side note...Stephen Kings opus DESPERATION is coming on ABC either in November or May of 2006.... It's already been filmed and i've seen a few pictures from it... Looks GOOD!!!

[Jamesaritchie]

Did any of you It afficianados see the film version? Was it any good? It seems like that would be a very hard movie to make AND it had John Ritter in it, which always raises a red flag for me. (But to be fair, he could be quite good when he wasn't being ridiculous.)

I liked the film version quite a bit. I always thought John Ritter was an excellent serious actor. It's when he was trying to be funny that I found him tiresome.

[jdkiggins]

Darn you, Mac. Everytime you bring up a Stephen King book I have to go home and pull it from my dusty bookshelf. The last one was Skeleton Crew. We had a great discussion going on with the monkey story and I ended up reading the entire book again.

It was one of my favorites too. I can see it will be dusted off for a reread now. I loved that book and the movie wasn't bad either.

[Shwebb]

I'm a King fan, too. I got hooked when my brother worked at a magazine distribution center; he got free books. Oh, I was in book heaven!

I liked It, but I do recall a few times in the book when I just wanted him to "get on with it." He's very good a putting you in a scene, but yeah, sometimes I just wanted a bit more doing that looking.

I guess I"m going to have to pull that book out again and read it, myself. I was in my early 20's last time I read it. I wonder if my more mature (ha!) brain will feel the same way this time 'round.

[BlueTexas]

Randall Flagg is about as scary as it gets. He appears in many of King's novels, even the Dark Tower novels, though sometimes under a different name. But his initials are still usually RK.

Randall Flagg alone is enough to grant King his fame.

I liked Flagg best in The Eyes of the Dragon. You learn a lot about him in that one, more than in The Stand or the Dark Tower.

[louisgodwin]

Did any of you It afficianados see the film version? Was it any good? It seems like that would be a very hard movie to make AND it had John Ritter in it, which always raises a red flag for me. (But to be fair, he could be quite good when he wasn't being ridiculous.)

It was probably the best made-for-tv movie based on a Stephen King novel. I can only hope Desperation will be as good, and not another Langoliers...

[aspiringwriter]

Louis...from the pictures i've seen Desperation looks pretty darn good. Although I would have to agree that IT was one of the better made for t.v. movies of Stephen Kings. Lest we forget Maximum Overdrive :)

[MacAllister]

Oh! I just looked up the imdb entry for It (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/), and found out Tim Curry played Pennywise! Now I'm going to have to go rent it.

Also, they've announced that Bag of Bones (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372778/) is in production for 2006.

[Dawno]

IT came out in '86 and my daughter was born in '87. Mom read the book first and then lent the book to me. My daughter was probably 3 or 4 months old at the time. I go for a visit and my mom says, "I have to warn you about the new crib Daddy bought. He finally assembled it today since you were coming to visit. You'll understand what I mean when you see it, but I hope you won't mind putting the baby to sleep in it."

She and I go to the guest room where the crib is set up. There on the side is a clown holding a bunch of balloons. My dad, not having read IT yet, had no idea why my mom and I were almost howling with laughter about "Pennywise is on the baby's crib!!".