Reviews

4★: HOLY $#!+‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ I was traumatized by several Stephen King books decades ago without even reading them, because I was a child of the 80s when his made-for-TV horror movies were the stuff of literal nightmares. Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), Cujo (1983), Christine (1983), Firestarter (1984), Stand By Me (1986)... and I couldn’t even bring myself to watch Pet Sematary! 'Redrum' was part of my regular vocabulary, and some idiot on my childhood block named his scary AF rez dog Cujo! This is my second of King’s full length novels, and honestly I wasn’t sure I’d continue after giving The Stand just 2 stars last December. But, he is the King of Horror — so I pressed on.

What I know now with absolute certainty after reading It is that as scary as those 80s movies were, they were WATERED DOWN... WAY DOWN!!! I couldn’t even listen to this book on speaker with my kids nearby; it was extremely graphic. Thank the maker I was able to listen at 2.25x speed, as having earphones in for the 45 HOURS it would’ve taken at 1x is just far too much for one book.

The other thing I’ve always known but just have one more piece of proof is that my cousin Jessica, who is four months older than me, was not adequately supervised when we were kids! She was allowed to read this book AS A TEEN! Serves her right that It scared the bejeezus out of her

lostinwater's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

aliciagw's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I’ve read “It” a few times now. Last time, a few years back, I had rated it as a 3 star read. At that time I think I wasn’t in a proper mode to read this book. It is long, and there is a great deal of character description. I think at that time I just wanted it to be done.

This time I was certainly aware of what the book entailed, and instead of rushing through I just took the time to enjoy all of the side stories. I really liked it a whole lot more.

It does get a bit strange at times, especially near the end, cosmically and inter dimensionally strange. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind a long book with a lot of side stories about the characters. If you prefer a quick read it’s not for you. Also, be prepared for a little bit of weirdness.

mongey9's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

mes91's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was a re-read, it took 33 days to finish. But I feel like I went through something with the characters in this book which is the best kind of story. This is a masterpiece of fiction and coming of age tale. I appreciate it far more this second time round.

scogo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

eventing_joy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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