It’s done. I have read all 1,138 pages of Stephen King’s horror novel It.
I don’t remember the last time I read a book that length. Maybe the last time I read Stephen King? The final Dark Tower book clocked over 1,000 pages as well. But that was over a decade ago now.
The only thing I knew about It going in was that it was about the killer clown, Pennywise. But I ended up reading it on my friend and corkers recommendation as he talked about the friendships of the kids in the book, their resilience, the adventure of it all . . . and I am a sucker for the “kids with flashlights” trope and was down for something spooky this month.
Maybe there aren’t any such things as good friends or bad friends – maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you’re hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they’re always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for too, if that’s what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.
-It, Stephen King
I don’t read a lot of horror, but I also took a bet that it wouldn’t disturb me the same way horror movies would. I avoid scary movies or shows as a rule. The few I’ve seen in my life still occasionally slip into my nightmares. But it’s the imagery that stays with me. When I’m reading, I’m more in control — of the pace, of my imagination. The terror I might feel while reading a page doesn’t usually follow me into my dreams.
Now, maybe I’d say something different if I consumed a lot more horror novels, but I’d say my bet paid off with It. Predictably, it was scary. But most of the traditional scary stuff — being chased by or fighting a monster, for example — I did experience as an adventure. There were plenty of scenes however that were more disturbing — horrifying in a different way that I turn over and over in my mind.
I did really like the core characters in It — a bunch of eleven-year-old misfits who come together to take on a monster that’s been terrifying their town. Magnificent. I wish we spent more time with them as kids actually. In a 1,138-page book, King spends a good chunk of real estate telling the stories and exploring the history of the town — not frivolously, they all add to the tapestry of It that has been haunting Derry, Maine in gruesome, tragedy-littered cycles. The story is also grounded in two times — 1958, with the group as children — and in 1985 with them coming back as adults to face It once and for all.
Home is the place where when you go there, you have to finally face the thing in the dark.
It, Stephen King
Now I’m faced with the difficult choice — do I want to watch the movies? I read through a few articles reading about the movies and how they were different from the book. It’s such a sprawling narrative, I see why the most recent adaptation split the story into two parts, and I knew they would have to change some things to make it work outside of a book. There’s a lot of weird psychological big universe stuff that worked in the book but I think would be very hard to film and have it make any sense.
I probably won’t. We’ll see.
I guess I am a little more afraid of clowns now.
Now, back to my queer YA, please.
With Love,
Natalie