- 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)
After the Carnival (1984)
I must say I don't care as much for the second chapter.
In Derry, many years later, a gay man named Adrian Mellon is attacked in a homophobic hate crime that leaves him dead, despite the fatal blow actually being dealt by a sinister clown. Both one of the punks and Mellon's partner claim to have seen the clown, but the cops dismiss this information. The punks thus go to trial for Mellon's death.
Okay, I understand what King is doing here. First off, this is a prologue to the adult's storyline of the novel, just as the previous chapter was a prologue to the children's story. Both stories tell us of Pennywise's "first kill" after awakening. They also contrast very well: the first chapter was juvenile in nature and this one gives us the darker world of adults. I also like how the punks are parallels of Henry Bowers and his gang. Finally, I also praise King for dealing with the horrors of homophobia, a major issue of the '80's, as he also deals with racism and anti-Semitism being major issues of the '50's (he exposes that the cops are just as homophobic as the punks themselves).
But there are two problems.
The first is that, unlike the previous chapter, which was a prologue that introduced us to the tale, this particular anecdote feels unrelated to the main story. Virtually none of these characters will ever be mentioned again and the homophobia is never dealt with or overcome the way the racism and anti-Semitism are. There are many tangents in this novel, many of which might have worked better as separate short stories. Most of them are included in the Interlude sections, but there are two occasions (this chapter and the "One of the Missing" chapter) where King interrupts the main body of the story for such a tangent.
The second problem is as follows: I wouldn't mind this tangent so much if it happened later in the book, but here it is happening in only THE SECOND CHAPTER. We haven't even met a single main character aside from Bill, and we're still not even sure of what this story will be about, and yet we've been pulled aside to be told this secondary story. As soon as this chapter ends, the novel "reboots" and starts again with a new storyline.
I think this is a great book. I just wish it didn't take so long to get going.
In Derry, many years later, a gay man named Adrian Mellon is attacked in a homophobic hate crime that leaves him dead, despite the fatal blow actually being dealt by a sinister clown. Both one of the punks and Mellon's partner claim to have seen the clown, but the cops dismiss this information. The punks thus go to trial for Mellon's death.
Okay, I understand what King is doing here. First off, this is a prologue to the adult's storyline of the novel, just as the previous chapter was a prologue to the children's story. Both stories tell us of Pennywise's "first kill" after awakening. They also contrast very well: the first chapter was juvenile in nature and this one gives us the darker world of adults. I also like how the punks are parallels of Henry Bowers and his gang. Finally, I also praise King for dealing with the horrors of homophobia, a major issue of the '80's, as he also deals with racism and anti-Semitism being major issues of the '50's (he exposes that the cops are just as homophobic as the punks themselves).
But there are two problems.
The first is that, unlike the previous chapter, which was a prologue that introduced us to the tale, this particular anecdote feels unrelated to the main story. Virtually none of these characters will ever be mentioned again and the homophobia is never dealt with or overcome the way the racism and anti-Semitism are. There are many tangents in this novel, many of which might have worked better as separate short stories. Most of them are included in the Interlude sections, but there are two occasions (this chapter and the "One of the Missing" chapter) where King interrupts the main body of the story for such a tangent.
The second problem is as follows: I wouldn't mind this tangent so much if it happened later in the book, but here it is happening in only THE SECOND CHAPTER. We haven't even met a single main character aside from Bill, and we're still not even sure of what this story will be about, and yet we've been pulled aside to be told this secondary story. As soon as this chapter ends, the novel "reboots" and starts again with a new storyline.
I think this is a great book. I just wish it didn't take so long to get going.