best/worst part of IT?

[Bynum360]

I Liked All Of IT What Do You Think?:biggrin2:

[devious1]

everything about this book is golden... my favorite part, if i had to pick one, is when we finally get to see things from IT's point of view...

[benbennett]

Too short !

[Sanguise]

The best part is the way it makes you think, same with the dark tower but i have to agree with above poster It's point of view and the ritual are my fav. parts

[Cowboy]

Loved it. One of the best villians ever.

[Goodlovin]

Everything is great about the book.

I love when they go back to Derry and look upon their old home town for the first time in a while.

The best parts of the book though are just the kids interacting with one another and dealing with it.

No one rights about being a kid as well as Mr King.

[SixPins]

As a whole, it worked very well, but I did love the kids tethering themselves to each other, finding solace in being "losers". I also loved when adulthood qualities would tie back to the childhood events. The history of Derry was interesting. The horror elements chilled my marrow. It was just a fantastic book. I have no complaints. It blew me away.

[boxingwrestler]

I Liked All Of IT What Do You Think?:biggrin2:

I'm reading it now..I am stuck..also I just started classes again after winter break. I'm on page 250. Just stuck..I can't get back into it... I may read 'The Langoliers' to try and get back into IT

[Cognac]

loved it all. no pun intended

[Presque Vu]

Thinking about re-reading it for the 3rd time... watched the DVD again after a couple of nights ago, I loove Pennywise!

[Robert Gray]

everything about this book is golden... my favorite part, if i had to pick one, is when we finally get to see things from IT's point of view...

You see, I find this difference of opinion between us very interesting. We agree that the book is "golden," but if there is one thing in the book that I would have cut (anything at all) it might have been that small section which gave us direct insight into the mind of It. This section was well written and without a doubt interesting, but I don't know that it truly added anything to the story. I don't know that I "needed" to know that information. In fact, leaving It an utter mystery beyond those few things we can glean from observation might have been stronger. I say "might" have cut or "might" have been stronger because when dealing with a masterpiece it is really not possible to fell confident about a critique. The book is certainly my favorite, not just of Sai King's works, but of everything I've read thus far. That is saying a great deal, because I am very well read.

[carnygal]

Re-reading this story at this time...forgot how many times now!lol Love the whole book!

[devious1]

well you have a point there Robert... was that section of the book necessary to the story? probably not. but it helps to give us some insight into this creature, to show that although It clearly is in no way, shape or form human, It is fully capable of thinking like a human, and can feel human emotions like delight, fear and anger.

maybe for the horror element of it all it isn't so great to understand your monster, however. you want to fear them, not relate to them on any level. but there was something so interesting to me about this all-powerful creature/being/IT almost cowering at the idea of 7 children, or 5 much weaker adults, coming to do battle with It. it's a key part of the story to me, and in my opinion the book would be worse off without those passages.

[BeepBeepJenny]

Dear Friend,

I LOVED this book and can't think of a part I didn't like. I connected with the book as I'm sure many others did. I felt like this was my childhood- no, no clowns trying to kill me. But the kids banding together to believe in one another and forming this unbreakable bond and no adult could ever understand the power amongst them. What child hasn't felt that way at one time or another? It was moving and real and made me remember playing games with long- lost friends and how much faith we had in each other.

[jackson992]

the only part I didn't really care for was the Interludes

[Ange7894]

There are so many good parts. Some of my faves are:

The Apocolyptic Rock Fight (spelling?)-this is the part where I really think their bond is cemented and they become a united group. It's so symbolic in so many ways.

The Smoke Hole-this was a part that I was disappointed was left out of the movie. I think it's a great moment in the story because we understand where IT came from.

I also love the part right after they kill IT as adults and the whole town is practically crumbling and no one knows what's going on.

I think the worst part of the whole story for me is the very end when Mike is writing in his journal and explaining how they're forgetting each other again, for good this time. That always makes me so sad. I understand why they don't need to remember anymore, but I still hate it.

[Bynum360]

yeah i did love all of IT but the smoke hole and going into ITs mind was awsome
wow jackson992 i actually liked the interludes i thought they were very interesting i also like when mike goes to the ruins of the iron works and sees IT as the bird

[wally wonder]

First thing that came to mind was the smoke hole, the seven in the hole, kinda like in another story. In one, seven jumped up? I think. In this one, they left one by one. Read a book by a Dakota man. I guess they and other tribes used something like the smoke hole. Someone said it was too short! It read short, I'll say that.

[Bynum360]

can someone suggest a place i can get the cycle of the werewolf or the first 4 DT books in hardback?

[Sterling]

My favorite part of the story is when they perform the Ritual of Chud. Everytime I read these ensuing words, I feel saddened... Or so Bill Denbrough sometimes thinks on those early mornings after dreaming, when he almost remembers his childhood, and the friends with whom he shared it.

[aimeeleanne]

IT was probably one of his better books. I watched the movie first a couple years ago, and it terrified me. But when I read the book, that seemed to calm the fear, which is funny because you would think the book would be worse, right? The book is great, and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a fear of all things unknown.

[pegg]

I finished IT two years ago and I liked it. The only part I didn't like much was at the end of the book where the clown became a big spider. I think that it was a little fake and I would prefer another end.

[mystic heart]

Best part has got to be Pennywise,the scariest SK character for me,clowns still give me the creeps even now!
Have to agree that the whole spider thing was a bit lame.....perhaps someone may have a suggestion for an alternative ending? :eyebrow:

[Srbo]

Too short !


Exactly.

[browneyes09]

I loved It! So far it's my favorite SK book! The whole book was great but I do think that the whole spider thing could have been made to be something more scary but it was still very good! My fav part was also when we got to here It's point of view.

[TrinityEngel]

My least favorite part was the "gangbang" in the sewers. It just made me cringe. I can't really pick a favorite part. I know I really got creeped out by Stan and what he saw in the Standpipe though. :eek2:

[karend3]

Loved the book IT, my most memorable part did not become part of the movie in which Richies monster was really the Huge Paul Bunyon statue that comes alive and chases him first as a child and then as an adult.

[Sintify]

I think my favorite part was when an adult Ben Hanscom goes to visit the Derry Public Library and encounters Pennywise. That scene was scary, in the fact that he was under all that pressure not to lose his cool although he was seeing all this visions of terror before him.

[Mr. Rainey]

The best part was reading from IT's perspective. The worst part was having to wait until the end to do so.


And personally, I think the sewer "gangbang" should've been in the movie. I get there could be legal issues there at any rate, but it's an integral event of the story. It let them escape.

[Autumnlyn]

Recently reread IT. Had forgotten what a GREAT book "it" was. :) Enjoyed it fully. I was especially jazzed (LOL - jazzed- I guess I am dating myself using that vernacular) about the Turtle!!! Last time I had read this book was LLOOOONNNNGGGG ago, before the last of the Dark Tower Series.

Do any of you have that thrill of 'connecting the dots' with some of the DT tie ins when rereading? Kinda like a treasure hunt.

[Mr. Rainey]

Do any of you have that thrill of 'connecting the dots' with some of the DT tie ins when rereading? Kinda like a treasure hunt.


I do! I haven't read the Dark Tower books though.

[Katie_Twinch]

Hi! I just joined! :)

This is my favorite Stephen King novel. I first read IT at eleven-years-old, it was awesome because I was the same age as the Losers' Club but, of course, I didn't quite get a lot of the stuff--including Eddie's leper scene, with the BJ stuff, I really thought they were offering him a chance to use a leaf-blower machine for, like, the driveway, didn't quite get how that was scary as a little kid...I asked my dad, and boy did THAT make for an awkward moment--since then, I've re-read IT as an adult and love it even more.

Best parts? Them as kids in the Barrens, and even though Richie was my favorite character, I loved Ben's POV and his time in the library. I was sad when he returned as an adult and the librarian he loved had died and Pennywise left that balloon or whatever.

Creepiest part? Anything Patrick Hocksetter. That was very much unsettling, as a kid, as an adult, anytime.

Worst part? I dunno. Someone mentioned that they didn't like the Interludes, but I enjoyed them. I liked Mike and that he was the Historian (I'm a History major) of Derry. I understand where the first-person narrative was a bit of a stop in the story, but I liked the history of the town. :) I can't think of a worst part, I thought everything worked well. I wish there could be a sequel! I need to read the Dark Tower series; from my friend who is an avid King reader, it connects a lot of the supernatural universe King created.

[Jack Frost]

First of all, Katie, your spoiler section of what you didn't get is awesome. Laughed out loud at my desk!

I would have to say my least favorite part was also the ending where they all forgot again. I would have liked for them to at least remember and hold on to the love for each other. That also to me would have been a good symbol of finally finishing the job. I hated seeing that bond broken!

Like many of you, I also have a hard time pinpointing a favorite part of the book. I'm re-reading it for the umpteenth time now and I just love the feel of the whole book. I guess for me it's just the interaction and environment of the kids and being set in the 50's. There's just something about being at that age that is so moving for me. Sai King made it so easy to fall in love with each of the losers. I ache for my own childhood in reading about theirs!

[Mr. Rainey]

I hate when characters forget everything in the end. It renders it all pointless...

[crazycrashink]

The forgetting was definitely the worst, but I guess it was meant to show that their task being done, they could finally move on with their lives. My favorite part was probably the apocalyptic rock fight when the underdogs give it to the bullies!
I felt the interludes really added depth to the evil in the story with all its incarnations, and how it was so connected to the town itself.

[Mr. Rainey]

The interludes were brilliant. Forgetting IT is one thing, but the rest could've stayed in memory. I mean, really, who actually forgets a lunatic like Richie?

[daffyrocks]

Not only my favourite SK book, but one of my favourite books of all time! I can't count the number of times I've read it and never get bored with it. The only part I really hate reading about it is Patrick Hockstetter and the dog. I HATE that with a passion and always, always skip over it. If it wouldn't ruin the book, I'd take the scissors to it.... :-(

[daffyrocks]

The interludes were brilliant. Forgetting IT is one thing, but the rest could've stayed in memory. I mean, really, who actually forgets a lunatic like Richie?


And I always wonder, if they were supposed to forget everything, how Ben and Beverly ended up explaining their relationship??!! :oops:

[worddance]

I just finished reading IT a few weeks ago. That book wore me out! I guess it's because there was a lot of negative stuff going on in my life while I was reading it and that made the darkness in the book hard for me to take.

I loved so much of the book, especially the interaction between the kids. It reminded me very much of my own childhood and it took place in 1958, which is the year I was born. I loved the way Sai King explored the themes of fear and friendship and fitting in.

The part that I hated, the part that almost ruined the whole book for me, was the gang bang in the sewer. It really creeped me out. I get what Sai King was trying to say -- sex is the ultimate weapon against death. But it just didn't ring true for me. I didn't believe a bunch of 11 year kids would act that way. I felt it was the only reason he included a female among the friends.

I also didn't like that they forgot each other at the end. I felt they should have remembered each other but in the fuzzy, disjointed way all of us remember our childhoods.

As for IT's form at the end, it isn't really a spider. If I'm remembering correctly, according to the book, IT is something too horrible and foreign for a human brain to comprehend and a spider was the closest Bill's brain could come.

Anyway, I'll have to go back and read the book again sometime, when my life isn't cracking up around me, and I might get more out of it.

Mary

[Ricky]

Yeah I Agree with TrinityEngel the gangbang in the sewers was the most irrational thing I have ever heard, saw, or imagine about, but I consider it was really cool by SK for adding it and didn't delete it, I think that many people may have criticized that part, but the fact that he ignore the criticism and let the gangbang scene remain in the book is the most important thing over all, and other thing please excuse my grammar, I'm from Costa Rica, and I know english, but I get confused with verbs and conditionals and all that stuff.

[Wisnoodles]

I just finished IT on Friday for the first time and let me just say THAT BOOK IS AWESOME! I would often read losing track of time being drawn so much into the story, I felt like I was there, often leading me to think back to my own childhood and the crazy stuff that happened.

My favorite part of the book was also, The Smoke Hole. This reminded me of the Bible actually with Lucifer being thrown to Earth That probably isn't a spoiler but still cover that up a bit...and my least favorite part of course was the gangbang and then once it's all finished Eddie suddenly speaks up, "Oh back there we should have taken a left, instead of a right" I mean Eddie was the compass Bill even said anytime they need to know where they were supposed to go the relied on Eddie. It just didn't seem to fit, not at 11 years old in the 1950's. However, I am not cutting on the book at all just seems like a stretch to me. Regardless of if that part fits or not the book is still a masterpiece in my mind. I also loved the part of the description of the downtown being torn apart and the people of Derry finally seeing them come out of the sewers and noticing them actually coming to help but only held back by authorities. Like the town was finally released of something sinister.

On to my start my personal quest for the DT.

[Jack Torrance]

I liked everything about IT until the part where all the boys are having sex with the girl (sorry been awhile since I read IT, cannot remember her name?). I am not a prude by any means. I just kind of rolled my eyes at that part. I guess I should like King's attempt at adding some sex into the novel.

But yeah, everything else about the book is great. The whole history of Derry was pretty cool. The bond the kids have seems like something that would actually happen. There are some great horror moments, interesting characters, and Pennywise is a great evil character. I can't remember the names of the characters now. I liked the local bully kid going crazy and ending up in the nuthouse and Pennywise calling him back for action. Cool stuff! King had my stomach churning with the whole ripping of the arm off that poor kid. Sniff.

[Prince of Darkness]

Hi,

Amazing story, IMO.

I personally think that when Beverly and the Losers made love, that it was fitting to the story and explained why IT used her father to make her feel guilty and afraid of doing "it" with them. It strengthened their bond, and if not for that they would never have escaped or defeated IT.

As for the insights into IT's mind, I loved it. Otherwise a lot of questions would still be left.

Long days and pleasant nights

[robdraggoo]

Im still pretty early in the book. SO far my favorite part of the book is the entire chapter of Richie Tozzier's june 1958. Every line is pure gold. My least favorite part of the book is, I dont really think is the books faults just my own imagination, but I cannot seem to map Derry at all. Every chapter has a great descritpion of where things are but I cant put them together for some reason. I decided to use the movie as a reference but there are so many different places in the book. I get really confused.

[BTRNYC]

Read this book for the first time a couple months ago.

Like everyone else, the feel or mood of the book is what I love.
It's also the first book that has actually made me jump (somebody walked up to me while I was reading and I physically jumped), and made me afraid to look into the sink drain... Crazy.

My favorite part, because I'm a glutten for punishment, is anytime Bill or the other guys are looking at the photo album and the pictures started moving. Amazing descriptive writing, I could see it so clearly, it was frightening.

As for the gangbang... I was just shocked, really shocked. And I hope that that was what Sai King was going for.

Definitely number 1 or 2 on my King list so far.

[05jellis]

I dont think there was anything paricularly bad about IT. the story was great and so was the way in which it kinda gave hints away in the 1985 parts about 1958 and the way in which King kept switching between each year. one part which was very questionable (to say the least) was when they killed It in 1958 and then all of a sudden it turned into an uncomfortable sex scene

[Violet]

In my opinion IT is the best SK book ever!

[-The Road Virus-]

I just finished IT and IMO the best part and reading about the children's life and their interactions with IT, also the Patrick Hockstetter refrigerator part was awesome. The worse part was the whole creepy child sex scene at the end of the book which was needed and was pretty tasteless IMO, and the ending in general. The whole spider thing was a little lame after such an amazing build up, but still a great novel none-the-less.

[tillyn]

I didn't think the part where she did it with the boys was necessary. But Stephen likes to add a little sex to his earlier stories. Spice things up?

[Ted Brautigan]

The best part was the interaction among the children and how they all told of their encounters. I actually really liked the interludes. Not necessary to the story perhaps but it was interesting to see how IT was attacking other people.

The worst part was I felt like Stanley Uris was hardly in it.He kills himself immediately and as a kid he hardly contributed anything. He just told his story of seeing IT and mentioned some bird's name. Also, I didn't necessarily think this was a bad part or anything like that, but when Stan called out names of different birds, IT became scared and then IT showed itself as a bird to Mike Hanlon, I kind of expected IT to be a mythological bird and not a spider. Oh well, doesn't make a different to this great story.

[tiffanychantel]

Hey everyone, I just joined the forums. I wanted to talk about IT, because I just finished reading it for the first time, and my thoughts on the book: AMAZING. Wow. One of the best books I have EVER, EVER READ. It made me laugh, freaked me out, made me think, and it made me cry, at the end.... what an incredible story.

I see that a lot of people are saying they thought the scene where Bev made love to the boys was creepy/tasteless, etc., but honestly, I thought it was beautiful. (And I'm not some perv, hah, I'm a 27 year old woman). :p
That scene just REALLY moved me, and I'm not sure why. It did shock me at first, but the way he wrote it... comparing making love to flying, how love and desire teaches you to fly... and expressing the love between the kids... I think it was really, really beautiful. It showed the bond between them, on another level. I also knew, reading that part, that it saved them in some way, but I didn't really understand why. However, worddance's explanation makes sense- that sex is the ultimate weapon against death, procreation is the opposite of death, etc. That makes sense. Anyway, I just really thought that scene was beautiful and touching.

The parts that creeped me out the most were anything to do with Patrick Hockstetter, and the flying leech things (I could HARDLY STAND to read that part... I wanted to throw up). Also, what Stan saw in the Standpipe seriously freaked me out. :eek2:

I agree with the people who said they didn't like the part in the book, at the end, when they are all forgetting each other. That made me EXTREMELY sad. :( :(

As I mentioned, I just finished the book, about an hour ago, and I'm so sad. I will miss the characters.. they were like friends in a way, you know? They were so real. *sigh*

[thelastwoodchuck]

Nearly every scene in the novel that featured It, in one of its many forms, was creepy. Though I found the scene with Patrick Hockstetter to be the most unsettling.

[michal]

I like the stories of all the kids and the way their young and old selves seem to come together. Obviously, the part in the pipes both for the young and the grownup kids was intense, but really, it wouldn't be if not for all the great stories building up towards it.

[thymeoperator]

(And I'm not some perv, hah, I'm a 27 year old woman). :p

i'm sure there are 27-year-old pervy women out there!! but you don't sound like one :) i'm just kidding - i agree i found that scene moving in some way too. i wasn't bothered by it like so many people seem to have been. it sort of instantly made sense to me, as soon as it started talking about sex as 'IT'.

[emily.franz]

I think I'll have to go read this one! I remember starting it YEARS ago, but of course, I never finished IT. I think I will go back.

[jaxter]

I loved every single second of the book and I think the worst part of it is that the book ended.:sad: the ending with Bill makes me cry. the ending is SO beautifully written.
AMAZING amazing amazing

[dumakeykate]

Just finished IT and l-o-v-e-d it! I was told it was one of the more scarrier novels but to me, although scary of course, it was a love story that made me cry a good few times. I loved Bill, Mike, Ben, Bev.... all of them. I loved their individual character traits, their language and habits but most of all their solidarity, their friendship. It made me think of my bestfriend, who after 18 years of friendship and thankfully no clowns, is as strong as ever... I havent forgotten her yet! I loved the way Pennywise became each character's individual fears and was in fact Maine's nightmare, always there. I don't think, since finishing the book I can ever brush my teeth without a fearful peer down the plug hole! DKK

[Arthereld]

A little more than halfway through. So far I loved the giant bird scene with young Mike the best. Whenever I read a book I imagine it being filmed. That scene is epic.

[luckygehrig]

I loved almost the entire book except for the exit from the drains when they were all kids. It really seemed out of place, unexpected and kind of took me out of the story. I really loved the detail and storytelling throughout the rest of the book, but for some reason that scene just really seemed out of place.

[wearelegion]

I thought the best part (or better yet, my favorite part) is when Patrick Hockstetter is attacked by the flying leaches, it was horrific; but he deserved it for what he did to those animals. I can't really think of a part that I didn't like. I've read the book three times and loved it from beginning to end.

[Jack Roman]

I Liked All Of IT What Do You Think?:biggrin2:
I hated the end of it. I hate the fact that he turned into some spider type of creature. I think it would have been better if he stayed a clown. I could just picture some crazy clown killing children and eating them, that would have been creepy.

[thymeoperator]

but he wasn't actually a clown or a spider, so why should the form matter?

[Craig Zadow]

but he wasn't actually a clown or a spider, so why should the form matter?


It matters cause It is a horror novel and the clown is scarier, imho.

[thedarksideoffrootloops]

As a whole, this book is phenomenal. I would have to say that one of my many favorite parts when Bev happens upon Henry and Co. lighting their farts. I couldn't stop laughing because I could definately imagine a group of 12-year old boys doing this. I also liked the Interludes. It was a definate insight into Derry and the "cycle". All the major tragic events in Derry have one thing in common: a sighting of Pennywise. You really get a feel for the town's history.

I cannot pick a "worst" part of IT because there is nothing bad about it. The book is so epic and intricate. I felt as though I was part of the Losers Club and I felt as though Derry could have been my own hometown.

[caracalla]

For me the best and worst parts are the same thing, characterization.

The best part of IT was the characterization of the principal characters. Stephen King's best work involves you the reader with the characters in a way that is rare in modern popular fiction. In fact among current authors only JK Rowling is King's equal in this area.

As to the worst part, I felt that the character of Alvin Marsh needed further development. Beverly is perhaps the pivotal character in the novel and her Father is the dominant force in her life. Considering his importance I thought his rather two dimensional characterization was a significant failure.

[Robert Gray]

As to the worst part, I felt that the character of Alvin Marsh needed further development. Beverly is perhaps the pivotal character in the novel and her Father is the dominant force in her life. Considering his importance I thought his rather two dimensional characterization was a significant failure.

We will have to agree to disagree here. I think we get a far better picture of Alvin Marsh than we do any of the other parents. We get real insight into his wants and desires as well as his defects. Perhaps the only parent that comes close to getting that much treatment is Eddie's mom.

[caracalla]

Thanks Robert, I think we might agree a bit more than we disagree here. I thought the insight into Alvin Marsh's wants, desires and defects was magnificently done. He was defined more by weakness than malice and IT cut through him like a hot knife through soft butter. What I was really looking for was a bit of background to flesh him out like we got with Will Hanlon or Tom Rogan and without that personal history the characterization of such a profound influence was sadly lacking in my opinion. Perhaps this stood out for me because the others were so well done. When I read the passages involving Alvin Marsh, what I was most strongly reminded of was the description from Christine of Arnie under Rollie LeBay's influence, somehow both petulant and arrogant, like a weak King.

[nicklove09]

BEST PART: Bev running away from her father, as he transforms into a spider, my favorite chase/scary scene in a book EVER.

Worst Part: The Ending, i wanted it to go on haha.

[Robert Gray]

BEST PART: Bev running away from her father, as he transforms into a spider, my favorite chase/scary scene in a book EVER.

Worst Part: The Ending, i wanted it to go on haha.

Hrm. That is interesting because it never happened in the book. Bev's father didn't transform as she was a child, nor did It ever "transform" into a spider while chasing anyone. I don't think you actually cracked the book.

[Smikes]

My favorite part was (paraphrasing here):

Character Bill Denbrough meets this kid who says: "So and so told me he saw the shark from Jaws swimming around in that old pond..."

Denbrough: "You tell so and so to stay the **** away from there!"

I hope they put that in the new movie.

My least favorite part was all the abstract business with The Turtle. Tedious rambling I found boring and largely inconsequential at the time.

Not a big fan of the kids boffing each other in the sewer either, nor Henry Bowers and pals showing each other their junk, but sexually and children may bother me more than others.

Live, love, laugh & be happy,
Smikes

p.s. Nicklove, don't feel too bad about "remembering" a scene that wasn't in the book. You're not the first person to get vague images in your head of something from a book you read a long time ago mixed up or confused with something else.

[LunaDementia]

The best part was how Mr. King got into the minds of children and took me back to my own childhood....the worst part was the casting of everyone but Pennywise in the movie.

[djbeilstein]

I'm reading IT for only the second time since I was 14 or so (Now 33). I became an ardent fan of Elmore Leonard – still am! - but have been wading, slipping, and now running back into Stephen King, probably more so since I was a young teenager. I departed after Gerald's Game – and was reading Hemingway & Steinbeck or something ... But at 33 I find myself pulled back in within the last three years. The good news is there is a ton – ton! - of stuff for me friggin' read. THE DARK TOWER SERIES is next on my list. I have three books to read. Then I have to slam down DESPERATION, BAG OF BONES, INSOMNIA, THE REGULATORS, HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, – it is almost endless! And to think there was a time when I had to wait a year in order to read a Stephen King book. O - better yet, before all that, I have to swallow the hell out of UNDER THE DOME. Life can be grand!

"We all float down here ..."

[djbeilstein]

The first section that brings us into 1985 – where the kids throw the gay writer over the canal bridge. The description of the fight – I was in Jr. High – told me – man, this guy (Stephen King) is not holding back. It also gave me an introduction in terms of building an overall sense of theme (dread in this novel's case). It was an important seen, regardless of how graphic it was written.

[#1 Constant Reader]

There are so many good things about the book I dont know where to start. But I guess my favorite part is when we learn about Derry's history. I like that kind of stuff.

[damienuk]

Best Part - when the Losers Club are all together and building their clubhouse. Thats just the sort of clubhouse I would have loved and you can picture it all - a warm Maine summer day, smell of pine trees, 50s music playing on the radio they had. When I went to the Barrens in Bangor, I had it in my head, although in Derry, I always picture the Barrens as being a bit more 'rural'

Worst Part - the end. Nothing wrong with how King ends it from a writing point of view. But I get so sad - after reading the book (1st or 100th time) you know the characters and I feel like I am having to say goodbye to them

[vinividivicci]

wow, been many many years since I read IT, but here it goes,

Pennywise was always my favorite demon clown

I Didn't mind the spider-like thing (but I didn't think that was pennywise either) in the book because my imagination made it awesome and scary (always read the book first!), I laughed at the made for TV spider though

I didn't like the ending because I felt like he just had to hurry up and end it because someone was telling him he had too (as if it was too long, or a publishing date in some contract or something was up, or maybe he was just tired) I really wanted more closure, almost as a reward for sticking it out with the characters through some of the scenes that I didn't care for (i.e. the gang bang)

[M-O-O-N SPELLS MY NAME]

I ache for my own childhood in reading about theirs!

So incredibly true! Makes me think of the line from "The Body" -

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?" - Gordon LaChance

[DancingCorpse]

I would have to keep coming back to this thread over and over to post my favourite parts of this book (which i might end up doing anyway! :P)

- The way King shows the power of friendship and what this new found friendship means to these poor children who were kept as outcasts and loners for too long. There are so many beautiful, beautiful scenes to this. It's a truly wonderful novel, how this theme contrasts with the horrific plot of the book works so well.

- The characters. How can a writer create so many perfect and loveable characters in a single novel, let alone the rest of his work? It's incredible. Even the villains are likeable in that way that you can enjoy a good villain. At the bottom of it all, i felt sorry for Bowers, Bev's father and even Pennywise.

- The Barrens! Haven't we all had a place like this where we've hung out with long forgotten people in a time that has gathered dust like an old photograph on a shelf? Doesn't King truly force us to go over and pick that frame up again and take a good look back into our own childhood and once again hear the laughter we shared with those friends ring around us like a strangely comforting echo? I don't know about anyone else, but it makes me sad to know that those days are behind me, but makes me smile because i now appreciate all that i did experience as a child.

That's enough rambling for now xD

[Mobe1969]

Well, the only "bad" part was that somewhat bizarre kiddie... um, I'm not sure how to put it politely...at the end. That had me somewhat perplexed. Where they all lined up and got intimate.

[NDFan4ever]

I couldn't take a shower for four days after reading IT! [we all float down here...]

[NDFan4ever]

In SK's talk he said Pennywise was his best villian.

[dori]

One of my favorites...
Thanks to Pennywise, my 21-year-old daughter is terrified of clowns.

[SequenceInitiated]

I think the best part was being in IT's point of view, and the part with the Turtle etc. Also I liked the parts when they were kids. The adult parts seemed a bit less interesting I guess.. In general I don't think there was any bad part- except maybe the weird.. kid-thing near the end.

[cloudsover31]

welli love all of it but the wierdest part was when bev, had to have sex with all of them. hah. and in the sewers no less. eegh.

[terrilyn]

i hated clowns before i read IT, now i really don't like them

[CrazyRalph]

Too short !


Too short! It took me a long time to read IT lol.

[~Ally~]

The best part of IT is having the chance to re~read the story as many times as I have, and still always feel like it's the first time. There is no worst part for me...apart from when the story ends and I have to close the book. Until the next time it gets opened. Can never let it collect dust for too long.

[GreenEyes]

What a great book! The friendship between the kids is so well written and Pennywise is one scary villian.
But I am going to repeat what a lot of people have already posted and agree the gang-bang in the sewers was a low-point.
It's been a few years since I read IT but my brother-in-law bought me a beautiful mint-condition 1st edition for Christmas :love: so I'm looking forward to giving it a re-re-read :grinning:

[Midten]

My favorite part was Georgie's death. My least favorite part was when Henery Bowers was going to the Losers, that sequence was boring. When the kid was masturbating Henry was hilarious!!

[beef]

Best part: when Ben falls asleep and dreams of his first encounter with Pennywise in the dead of winter. The sounds and lighting in the school as it slowly empties establishes a real sense of melancholy and dread. Together with Ben's interaction with his teacher, this scene almost creates a separate space within the book. A very short part of a long novel but it stands out as an absolute gem.

Worst part: the black spot. It dragged. I didn't care for any of the characters in that interlude. Also the huge bird made no sense. King says later that IT took the giant bird from baby Mike's memory, which was many years off at the time of the black spot. Why would it have appeared as a bird then?

Overall IT is my favorite of all of his works!

[freud1977]

Just finished IT for the second time after 25 years. I should qualify the following with the fact that IT is my 2nd favorite SK novel after The Stand (I have read them all).
A couple of things I did not like: 1. The boys "screamed" much too often. Remember when you were in the 6th grade (11 to 12 years old)? Boys do not scream. They might yell, spit, cuss, holler, shout and occasionally cry (out), but only about one in a thousand would "scream". 2. "Beep-beep Richie" got on my nerves the first time it was used and it was used about 50 times. 3. Not a big fan of an 11 - 12 year old girl pulling the train for six guys. I'm not sure how SK could even write this scenario into one of his novels.

[tahoepuppy]

I loved the whole thing but there was always been one thing that really stuck with me. The best part was the story of the easter egg hunt. I will never forget the imagery of a boys head in the tree. I think it even mentions his face having been covered with candy. Creepy!

[matti76]

Best part?

The smoke hole
The phone calls and reunion
The losers' friendship - sometimes I think I would have happily faced IT if it meant being part of such a special gang.
Its' point of view.
The depiction of happy summer holidays in childhood - Ben daydreaming about Beverley on his way home from school, building the clubhouse in the barrens, etc.

Worst?

I felt it sad that Stan and Eddie had to die. Perhaps they were the weakest of the characters, the runt of the litter or something like that, and I understand the significance of the seven of them never fully uniting, but it was still sad.
Patrick Hockstetter and the fridge - just horrible. :sad:
Some of the interludes - the Bradley Gang, and the Black Spot seemed to drag on a bit.
The forgetting at the end. Although at least Ben and Bev stayed together. :smile2:
The end - not the spider (although it was a bit of a disappointment) but just coming to the end of the book. I wanted it to go on forever.

[Robert Gray]

I loved the whole thing but there was always been one thing that really stuck with me. The best part was the story of the easter egg hunt. I will never forget the imagery of a boys head in the tree. I think it even mentions his face having been covered with candy. Creepy!

It says there was chocolate on his teeth. You are speaking of the Kitchner Iron Works Easter Egg Hunt, and subsequent explosion.

[Kevin Enns]

This is my favorite Stephen King book.

That being said, my favorite parts:
-anything with Patrick Hockstetter
-preteen gangbang in the sewers
-Ben Hanscom visits the library
-the matter of Claude Heroeux especially when he cuts Eddie King into pieces - nice self-insertion, Mr. King, that was awesome
-Beverly getting beaten by her dad/husband
-when Pennywise is in the picture in George's book
-whenever Pennywise appears as the leper - what a badass form
-the Interludes - good town history

Least favorite parts:
-Ben and Bev being together at the very end - It seemed a little too happyish
-the end in general: The book should have been TWICE AS LONG

[zarlock4]

i loved when george met pennywise in the drainage. hahahaha priceless. "would you like a ballon george" "im not suspose to talk to strangers, my dad saids so" "very wise, very wise indeed george, i am penny wise the dancing clown, your george, now we know each other." "i guess so"

[MrTurtle]

If its the paperback, at pg 250, in One of the Missing, Eddie Corcoran is about to be killed by the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Leading up to Mike Hanlon's trip to the Kitchener Ironworks and his own encounter with It. Shame to stop now after coming so far. :>

[MrTurtle]

Like others, I'm currently re-reading It for the whatever-ith time now. It has my favorite King and all around fiction novel. And like others, it always make me sad that they forget at the end.

I have a hard time choosing a fav part, as there is so much. As I re-read it tho, there are always passages and moments that that I find just chuckalicious. Richie, while the clubhouse/smokehole is still being finished talking to Mike and Ben about rock stars, then gets on with: "Negroes have no taste. It says so in the Bible. You probably think I'm jealous. You probably think I want to be a negro" and cracking them all up. Or Bev while hiding and worrying somewhat in the junkyard while Henry and company are lighting farts, and keeps wondering, "What are they doing?" and fighting off giggling.

Overall an epic of a story and so thoroughly put together. Ya gotta love it. :grinning:

[JohnDalglish]

The book should have been TWICE AS LONG

Hi,

Ain't dat de troof?

Unfortunately, Dark Tower, The Stand and Under the Dome also suffer from the same flaw IMO!

Long days and pleasant nights

[BlaineThePain]

I guess I'm biased when it comes to the ending because I'm scared to death of spiders, but I don't get why so many people dislike it. IT's actual form wasn't so much a spider as it was the characteristics of a spider. IT sets IT's traps, lures in the prey, then sucks the lifeforce out of them. That's how I always figured why they saw that form, not because they saw something that LOOKED like a spider, but because they felt something that REPRESENTED a spider.
All in all, my favorite parts and pretty much anything adult Richie says, and the whole regathering at the Chinese restaurant. What I didn't like that much is how heavily fate plays a part. I much preferred the idea of 7 kids just getting together, facing their fears and kicking some cross-dimensional butt, instead of the whole everything falling into place for a reason bit.

[GNTLGNT]

The dynamic of the childhood friends was my favorite theme through the book. Uncle Stevie consistently nails the whole "kid" existence. I'm also envious, coz I never had the experience of a large group of close friends like that. Plus, it's tremendous how they all fall back into the old familiar rhythms/routines when they re-unite. Well and uh, that whole Cosmic Turtle thing is pretty cool too!

[Craig Zadow]

Hrm. That is interesting because it never happened in the book. Bev's father didn't transform as she was a child, nor did It ever "transform" into a spider while chasing anyone. I don't think you actually cracked the book.

Wow, whats your problem? He probably just didn't remember that well. No need to be a dick about it.

[GeorgiesArm]

I'm pretty sure there is a line or two in there about a kid witnessing the chase and seeing Al Marsh changing into a spider inside his clothes, that must be where the confusion comes from.

[king family fan]

I love the whole book,so no favorite part. But Pennywise far more than I would have ever imagioned from a clown. Great character.

[Pucker]

I enjoyed the Interludes more than any other part of the book, paticularly the story of Claude Heroux, and the way the other people in the bar just went on joking and smoking while he was cutting his swath.

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but I seem to remember that just before the Losers go through the little fairty tale door, they can still hear Henry and his gand behind them, and they actually hear Belch get it, but after that, we get no information as to how Henry escaped -- although the Losers themselves had to go to (what some people believe are) ridiculous extremes to find their way out. This particular aspect of the story kept screming at me the last time I read it and if there's a glaring weakness in the continuity -- this is it.

[msouza78]

I think the ending, after they kill it. there is such a huge sense of sadness and loss with them all starting to forget, but there was still hope in all of the survivors, that they would always be together, and remember in dreams. Really well written and quite powerful after reading 1100 pages.