- After the Flood (1957)
- After the Carnival (1984)
- Six Phone Calls (1985)
- Derry: The First Interlude
- Ben Hanscom Takes a Fall
- Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil (I)
- One of the Missing: A Tale From the Summer of '58
- The Dam In the Barrens
- Georgie's Room and the House On Neibolt Street
- Cleaning Up
- Derry: The Second Interlude
- The Reunion
- Walking Tours
- Three Uninvited Guests
- Derry: The Third Interlude
- The Apocalyptic Rockfight
- The Album
- The Smoke-Hole
- Eddie's Bad Break
- Another One of the Missing: The Death of Patrick Hockstetter
- The Bullseye
- Derry: The Fourth Interlude
- In the Watches of the Night
- The Circle Closes
- Under the City
- The Ritual of Chud
- Out
- Derry: The Final Interlude
- Epilogue: Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil (II)
Introduction
I first read It over a decade ago. In addition to greatly enjoying the rich story, I simply couldn't put the book down. It remains one of the most absorbing books I have ever read.
And so, over ten years passed before I reread it. This time around, I found the work to be far more profound than I remembered. I also found myself taking so many notes that it was best to just organize my thoughts by chapter. And so, this website was born: an annotated look at this meticulously-structured work of storytelling.
"What is Stephen King's best novel?" is a question all his fans have asked, and I certainly do enjoy The Dark Tower series, The Stand, and I would even call Misery and The Eyes of the Dragon his two most perfect books. But thinking things over, It, with its great ambitions and epic sense of time and space that surpasses even The Stand, was the one that had the most to say to me personally. It is perhaps King's signature novel, and to this day, many associate his name with the face of Pennywise the Clown.
Horror is a very unique genre to critique. Many horror stories are essentially pulp; they exist to scare the audience for a quick buck. Some take this further and are flat out exploitation stories. Yet horror can also be a vehicle to explore the darkest depths of the human condition, as is present in the work of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. It walks a tightrope between these distinctions: it embraces shlock campfire stories and B-movie monsters, yet also shows very real human suffering in the form of raging violence, domestic abuse, sexual perversions, and cruel bigotry. It may quite possibly be the darkest story I have ever known; not even The Exorcist takes its audience to such a dark part of the human psyche. Finishing the book, I felt as if I had, like the Losers themselves, emerged from an underworld of the perverse. And the book does it all by telling a nonlinear story about growing up and the power of memory. It contains elements similar to Once Upon a Time In America, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko, and King's own The Body/Stand By Me.
And because of this epic scope and grand insight of character, I feel that It is to horror what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy and Dune is to science fiction.
This website is not intended as a scholarly analysis, but just reflects my personal thoughts; I am honest and criticze the book as much as praise it. Some sections are longer than others; "Eddie's Bad Break," "The Death of Patrick Hockstetter," and "The Ritual of Chud" are probably my favorite entries. I hope you enjoy what I have to say and if you don't, perhaps Pennywise will pay a visit in your dreams...
And so, over ten years passed before I reread it. This time around, I found the work to be far more profound than I remembered. I also found myself taking so many notes that it was best to just organize my thoughts by chapter. And so, this website was born: an annotated look at this meticulously-structured work of storytelling.
"What is Stephen King's best novel?" is a question all his fans have asked, and I certainly do enjoy The Dark Tower series, The Stand, and I would even call Misery and The Eyes of the Dragon his two most perfect books. But thinking things over, It, with its great ambitions and epic sense of time and space that surpasses even The Stand, was the one that had the most to say to me personally. It is perhaps King's signature novel, and to this day, many associate his name with the face of Pennywise the Clown.
Horror is a very unique genre to critique. Many horror stories are essentially pulp; they exist to scare the audience for a quick buck. Some take this further and are flat out exploitation stories. Yet horror can also be a vehicle to explore the darkest depths of the human condition, as is present in the work of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. It walks a tightrope between these distinctions: it embraces shlock campfire stories and B-movie monsters, yet also shows very real human suffering in the form of raging violence, domestic abuse, sexual perversions, and cruel bigotry. It may quite possibly be the darkest story I have ever known; not even The Exorcist takes its audience to such a dark part of the human psyche. Finishing the book, I felt as if I had, like the Losers themselves, emerged from an underworld of the perverse. And the book does it all by telling a nonlinear story about growing up and the power of memory. It contains elements similar to Once Upon a Time In America, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko, and King's own The Body/Stand By Me.
And because of this epic scope and grand insight of character, I feel that It is to horror what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy and Dune is to science fiction.
This website is not intended as a scholarly analysis, but just reflects my personal thoughts; I am honest and criticze the book as much as praise it. Some sections are longer than others; "Eddie's Bad Break," "The Death of Patrick Hockstetter," and "The Ritual of Chud" are probably my favorite entries. I hope you enjoy what I have to say and if you don't, perhaps Pennywise will pay a visit in your dreams...