Rating: 8/10
I listened to the audiobook for It and I feel like that may have been a mistake. Don't get me wrong, the narrator? AMAZING. Steven Weber did a fantastic job. He really did the characters justice. The way he was able to emote and show the personality of the characters was just phenomenal. But this audiobook was 45 (FORTY FIVE) HOURS long. I think the length really took me out of it. Perhaps if I had physically read it, I would have stronger feelings overall. I've never had a problem reading long books, I'm going to be steering clear of long audiobooks for awhile. Anyway, lets get into the actual review.
It is such a staple in modern horror, that I have high doubts that there are many people who aren't aware of what the book is about. I'm going to pull the summary from Amazon:
"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."
I have to applaud the way that King intertwines realism with horror/fantasy elements. The way he writes has always been very raw and matter-of-fact, though the way that he is able to imagine horrific events is fantastical. He knows how to make horror feel new every time. Even though the story switches between past and present, they are technically meant to reenact the battle that they had with It when they were children. However, King did not just reuse elements from the first time they encountered It. He was able to create new events through the influence of old memories. The sheer creativity was just impressive to me. One scene that comes to mind, was when adult Bev visits with Mrs. Kersh. That scene was the most intense for me. The way that the old woman slowly degraded before Bev's eyes was just incredibly creepy. I had never realized that she was intended to be the witch from the movies. I thought that was such a fun touch.
The descriptions, as is common with King, were amazing. King has always been fantastic at providing a rich description of the environment of the story. He is the absolute best at setting the scene and doing so in a way that gets under the reader's skin. You were really able to feel as though you were in Derry with these kids, or in the library tunnel with Ben, or in the Junkyard with Bev (wild scene, btw). This especially holds true for the scary scenes. They really held your attention rapt. There was such an eerie aura of suspense, combined with in-depth descriptions of whatever horrors were unfolding, made the scenes terrifying to behold. He also did a fantastic job with the dialogue. The dialogue felt relaxed and natural. There is nothing more painful than stiff, unnatural dialogue between characters. King was able to write conversations (and inner dialogue for that matter) that felt appropriate to the time period, but also realistic. The hate-speech throughout the book should be noted, it was realistic, and also very hard to hear. But it also should be said, that the purpose of the hate-speech was to denote evil. It was to demonstrate how truly ignorant or evil the characters in the book were.
Of course, part of the purpose of this book was to demonstrate how adults are blind to things going on around them, because of their inability to believe what they don't understand. It preys on children because adults have been so jaded, that they simply can't allow themselves to believe in things which don't make sense to them. The understanding of childhood fears made for some really scary scenes. There were mummies, zombies, sea creatures, flying leeches, etc. There was such a variety in what was to be read, that I was constantly excited to find out what would be next. But all of the monsters in It weren't works of fiction. There were very real, equally scary villains as well. Bullies, abuse, emotional and physical trauma, as well as neglect, reared their ugly heads. This book really ran the gambit of fear. Every corner had something scary lurking within.
I appreciated the in-depth history spread throughout the book. It has existed in Derry before Derry ever really was. This was showed partially through the interviews that Mike was doing for his book. It was also showed in the rambling, tangential shifts that are common in King books. The way he's able to shift focus so smoothly, is impressive. It isn't just a jarring time jump, its a story that somehow trails into another story. It's similar to the way that conversations will sometimes branch off into unrelated topics, so that nobody is aware of how you got from point A to point B. Sometimes these tangential shifts felt unnecessary. I feel like some of the ramblings could have been cut out at quite a few points, and the story wouldn't really have lost anything. I don't think that we needed to know what every single side character was thinking every time they appeared.
In terms of switching between point A and point B,the way that the book was able to shift back and forth seamlessly was also very impressive. The sentences would trail off in one decade, then pick up in another decade. They were memories, but they were shifted into full view through subtle shifts in sections of the chapters. It was done in a very clever way. Rather than shifting in a jarring, sudden way or through obvious verbiage, King allowed the memory to shift into reality. This made the flow between past and present completely harmonious. However, this worked to a fault in the end of the book. This is an audiobook problem I believe, so I doubt the same problems would be present in a physical reading. But when the adults and the kids were in the sewers at the end, I was having a hard time keeping up with the date. I was only able to tell when they would bring up two certain characters who did not make it back to Derry.
Spoiler
The fact that there were less people in the sewers when the adults went to fight It was mentioned as a problem, but it was kind of brushed off. When they were kids, the circle consisted of seven kids. When the adults went back to Derry, and finally made it into the sewers, they were down to five. This, coupled with the fact that they were supposed to be weaker this time around, make the fight a little confusing. It's not that it wasn't possible, just that it seemed easier than it would have been. Also the end felt abrupt and kind of disappointing. I'm not saying the end was bad, it was just kind of sad. They went through so much together for everyone to just forget again. I didn't quite understand why they had to forget this time. Probably just a me problem. It just felt underwhelming. We don't even really know exactly what happened with Ben and Bev. Plus, what was Eddie going to say when he died? I know the thoughts of everyone else in this book. You can't just give me Eddie's deathbed confession? That was really unfair.
Other than the length, and the superfluous use of tangential shifts, It was a really solid work of horror. I'd like to physically read the book someday, I think I would have much stronger feelings if I did. But just listening to the audiobook, I can say that It is horror at its' best. There isn't just one thing to be afraid of in this book, the options are innumerable. Whatever your childhood fears are, they probably make an appearance. If you're ready for a horror of epic proportions, which is sure to give you nightmares, pick up this book. The movies really don't do the range of terror justice. The only way that they could hope to capture it all, would be through television. It would have to be on HBO though, because this book is certainly not family friendly. I think we all know why.
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