- 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 Flood (1957)
The terror which would not end for another twenty-eight years--if it ever did end--began, at least as far I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.
The first chapter of the novel is absolute perfection.
I mean that: I truly think it's one of the finest openings to a novel ever.
George Denbrough is playing with his paper boat by the drain in Derry, ME in October of 1957. In a flashback, we see how Bill helped him make the boat, and George's scary trip down to the basement (where the Turtle is mentioned for the first time). Now outside, the boat falls down the drain. George looks down and thinks he sees a clown -- and thus begins George's (and the readers') legendary first encounter with Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
I love the first sentence, I love the image of the paper boat, I love the description of George, his relationship with Bill, the mother playing Fur Elise on the piano, and most of all, the finale of the chapter, in which the narrator, in the style of a fairy tale, tells us that the paper boat sailed on and on -- perhaps into the ocean and forever. This is one of the few occasions where the narrator speaks to us in the first person, establishing himself as a Storyteller, and this story as a classic Tale.
I still remember reading this chapter for the first time at age 15 in my school library. I was already a Stephen King fan, having read The Stand, The Shining, The Eyes of the Dragon, Misery, and the four Dark Tower books that were out at that time. I wasn't sure I wanted to get into another King novel, especially one so long. But It seemed very tempting so I pulled it off the shelf.
This opening had me hooked. I also saw it as a great way to open a movie: imagine the opening credits coming up over that boat sailing away down the sewers. The novel that came after this chapter would live up to my expectations, but I had just read the signature scene.
The first chapter of the novel is absolute perfection.
I mean that: I truly think it's one of the finest openings to a novel ever.
George Denbrough is playing with his paper boat by the drain in Derry, ME in October of 1957. In a flashback, we see how Bill helped him make the boat, and George's scary trip down to the basement (where the Turtle is mentioned for the first time). Now outside, the boat falls down the drain. George looks down and thinks he sees a clown -- and thus begins George's (and the readers') legendary first encounter with Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
I love the first sentence, I love the image of the paper boat, I love the description of George, his relationship with Bill, the mother playing Fur Elise on the piano, and most of all, the finale of the chapter, in which the narrator, in the style of a fairy tale, tells us that the paper boat sailed on and on -- perhaps into the ocean and forever. This is one of the few occasions where the narrator speaks to us in the first person, establishing himself as a Storyteller, and this story as a classic Tale.
I still remember reading this chapter for the first time at age 15 in my school library. I was already a Stephen King fan, having read The Stand, The Shining, The Eyes of the Dragon, Misery, and the four Dark Tower books that were out at that time. I wasn't sure I wanted to get into another King novel, especially one so long. But It seemed very tempting so I pulled it off the shelf.
This opening had me hooked. I also saw it as a great way to open a movie: imagine the opening credits coming up over that boat sailing away down the sewers. The novel that came after this chapter would live up to my expectations, but I had just read the signature scene.