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Jennifer Juniper's Reviews > It
It
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Some parts were truly creepy at first and initially, as often happens with King, I couldn't put it down. But then, as often happens with King, it hits a brick wall and becomes so over-long and has so many unnecessary elements that get in the way of the main story that it becomes a bloated, endless chore to finish. People often say they hate the ending of this book...I did not hate it or love it. I had checked out at that point and simply wanted it to be over no matter who lived or died or whether they defeated It or not.
This book is at least 300 pages too long and that is the least that could have been completely cut out without hurting the story in the slightest. Included in those 300+ pages are some particularly disturbing sequences and elements which were just sickening, unnecessary and, to me, actually took away from the main story.
The events and elements that killed "It" for me:
1. A bizarre, out-of-nowhere scene portraying sex play between two male pre-teen, would-be murderous bullies--which had nothing to do with the story and led nowhere.
2. An extended description of animal torture/killing--which stemmed from the bully in the sex-play, which had nothing to do with the story and ultimately, again, was pointless and unnecessary.
3. A detailed description of a kid murdering a baby sibling. No point, nothing to do with the story. Again.
4. The use of the "N" word more in one place than I have ever read or heard in my life combined. Not necessary, nothing to do with the main part of the story.
5. And, the scene which blew me away and pretty much made me feel I had wasted time getting that far in: a gang-bang consisting of nothing but 11 and 12-year-olds. What the F***? And when I say "gang bang" I mean it--six boys banging the girl back-to-back. Only abnormal people do not raise an eyebrow at this scene and try to defend it as being "natural" and "normal." It's neither and most decent people would be bothered by this segment.
So, aside from those main awful things the other annoying elements: the character of Richie. I skipped a lot of his dialogue. I wanted to punch him in the face just for being annoying. And every time he did his "Mexican" voice I just cringed and skipped the next couple lines. Never has a character in a BOOK annoyed me so, so much. I was hoping he would die. Their stupid inside joke of "Beep-beep, Richie." By the twelve thousandth time one of them said this I wanted to just throw the book across the room. Painful to read.
In the end King took a super creepy story and concept which he could have effectively told in probably 500 pages and blew it up to over 1,000 with too much detail in certain parts, too much back story in others and too many subplots which didn't matter. All of which pretty much wiped out any fear or creepiness for me. By the time I got 700 or so pages in I simply was not scared, not creeped out, no longer interested and didn't care how it ended as long as it ended soon.
I am aware that some people will feel that I "just don't get it" with my review and complaints. I am totally fine with that. I am totally fine not "getting it" when it comes to this type of thing. :)
Too bad. Started off as five stars for me and crumbled onto itself into two stars.
This book is at least 300 pages too long and that is the least that could have been completely cut out without hurting the story in the slightest. Included in those 300+ pages are some particularly disturbing sequences and elements which were just sickening, unnecessary and, to me, actually took away from the main story.
The events and elements that killed "It" for me:
1. A bizarre, out-of-nowhere scene portraying sex play between two male pre-teen, would-be murderous bullies--which had nothing to do with the story and led nowhere.
2. An extended description of animal torture/killing--which stemmed from the bully in the sex-play, which had nothing to do with the story and ultimately, again, was pointless and unnecessary.
3. A detailed description of a kid murdering a baby sibling. No point, nothing to do with the story. Again.
4. The use of the "N" word more in one place than I have ever read or heard in my life combined. Not necessary, nothing to do with the main part of the story.
5. And, the scene which blew me away and pretty much made me feel I had wasted time getting that far in: a gang-bang consisting of nothing but 11 and 12-year-olds. What the F***? And when I say "gang bang" I mean it--six boys banging the girl back-to-back. Only abnormal people do not raise an eyebrow at this scene and try to defend it as being "natural" and "normal." It's neither and most decent people would be bothered by this segment.
So, aside from those main awful things the other annoying elements: the character of Richie. I skipped a lot of his dialogue. I wanted to punch him in the face just for being annoying. And every time he did his "Mexican" voice I just cringed and skipped the next couple lines. Never has a character in a BOOK annoyed me so, so much. I was hoping he would die. Their stupid inside joke of "Beep-beep, Richie." By the twelve thousandth time one of them said this I wanted to just throw the book across the room. Painful to read.
In the end King took a super creepy story and concept which he could have effectively told in probably 500 pages and blew it up to over 1,000 with too much detail in certain parts, too much back story in others and too many subplots which didn't matter. All of which pretty much wiped out any fear or creepiness for me. By the time I got 700 or so pages in I simply was not scared, not creeped out, no longer interested and didn't care how it ended as long as it ended soon.
I am aware that some people will feel that I "just don't get it" with my review and complaints. I am totally fine with that. I am totally fine not "getting it" when it comes to this type of thing. :)
Too bad. Started off as five stars for me and crumbled onto itself into two stars.
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Reading Progress
October 27, 2012
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October 27, 2012
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December 1, 2012
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January 1, 2013
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 430 (430 new)
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Paulina
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rated it 2 stars
May 09, 2013 12:52PM
took the words right out of my mouth
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I, too, had checked out by the end!
I can't even finish it because of all the extra crap
Yeah, I don't blame you. The ending isn't great anyway. This is one of those situations where there is a cosmic, whack-ass explanation for the clown and all that stuff when there should have been NO explanation for it. Not everything needs to be solved/settled/explained. This is one of those things! :P
I just finished the book and have not written a review yet, but I completely agree with you. It is supposed to be one of his best, and it flashes of being amazing at times, but too many things distracted from the story as you mentioned.
I felt the same way. King is at his best when he tells a tight compact story. Too much pointless background info that weighed the story down
Omg, I'm just listening to the audiobook, and I have the urge to stop, but I'm so far in that I just want to finish and get to the end. I can't imagine reading this. There would be no way I could finish!
Ooh, the audiobook must be...uncomfortable at certain points! To day the least. Is it a famous person narrating?
It's read by Steven Weber. I just realized that it's 44 hours long total! If I had known that, I wouldn't even bother. It definitely got uncomfortable at times. I guess it helped that I spaced out a lot since I listen to it while I drive. I thought I'm the only one thinks that Richie is annoying, but he is even worse on the audiobook!! I just want him to shut up. Will this book ever end? I just wanna know what happens in the end.
Haha! I cannot imagine having to listen to Ritchie's dialogue read out loud. :-/ Even by Weber, whom I do like.
I finally finished!!! This book is so ridiculous. Stephen King is really sick! I don't see what the 6 boys banging Beverly had anything to do with bringing them back together. This is so appalling that I don't think I'll ever read another book by him!
He runs about 60/40 with me in terms of novels, meaning I am typically not satisfied with them but some I am. I do recommend his short stories though. If you are ever inclined to try his work again but would rather skip his novels, which tend to be overly long, try out some of his novellas or collections of shorts like Night Shift. :)
SERIOUSLY!!! The book was so good, I started getting uninvolved when bill cheated on his wife for no reason, then I got to the gang bang and wanted to be done and not finish at all, the only reason I finished this book was because the gang bang came in the VERY end. What the hell??
Ok, I'm not finished yet, and I totally get your point about the thousand-pages-is-too-long complaint. But did you think taking something completely fictional and dragging it off the page into intense realism would be short and easy? Yeah, 1000 pages is a lot, and I wonder how King convinced his editor to print that much, but I think it's worth totally being able to find these characters real. Yes, the development can get kind of long, yes, I kind of hope we can just get to the action soon, and yes, the detail is a bit much. But real life is long and comprised of detail, so to invoke the most amazing realism I have ever seen, shouldn't the book be too?
I don't have a problem with a book being a thousand pages, actually and I did not intend to give that impression with my comments. I have read a couple that were over that length and could have been even longer and I would have been fine with it. It simply did not work for me in this particular case because of what those pages entailed--they contributed nothing meaningful, necessary or relevant to the story. It was simply unnecessary and a waste of time (in my opinion).
A book about evil in its many guises. All points that bothered you are in perfect synch with the theme of the book, except for the children's orgy. Too bad it was too much for your prude tastes.
Dude!! The book was amazing the children's orgy unnecessary!! Also the stand has a great deal of uncomfortable material without having a pointless child orgy!! It's a child orgy wtf and the fact that he tried to tie it into the story as if it was some beautiful thing made it not trying to be uncomfortable but as if it was profound when in actuality it was tasteless and out of place in such an amazing book!!
Also the only female main character was dwindled down to a sex object for no apparent reason way to ruin a good book!!
Just because the theme of the book is about evil doesn't mean the innocent characters of the book involve themselves in objectifying the only female character
I have read and enjoyed books that have equally (and even more) graphic scenarios and content. I explained precisely why I disliked the elements present here and my reasons have absolutely nothing to do with being a prude, which I think is pretty clear. If I were a prude then just about everything in the book would have been on my list. You seem to be more concerned with leaving a snide comment judging my personality (which your opinion is way off base) than with discussing the book or explaining why you felt that all of the things I disliked were totally necessary, relevant and important to the story.
I simply cannot understand any of your complaints. Your main gripe with all of these things is that they "had nothing to do with the story". In reality, however, they were all sub-stories that provided depth to the characters concerned. The whole section dealing with Patrick Hoffsteader, for example, was very disturbing and is, in my mind, the single most unsettling part of the whole book. While it did not play a direct role in the story, it was very vivid and solicited in me certain unsettling emotions that would've made the book less than it was if they had been absent. They convey a great deal about human nature and the nature of the creature IT. The "N-word" sections concerning Henry were not an excuse for the gratuitous use of the word. They served to deepen the hatred of the character, and they succeeded and grand fashion. You should probably just go back to reading your "young-adult" fiction. Seems to me you don't yet have the constitution for adult literature.
I appreciate that you actually explained why you disagree with me although I don't know why you felt it necessary to tack on a childish comment at the end for no reason other than to be rude. Anyone who knows me and looks at the books I read can see that your closing comment is inaccurate and was simply made out of hostility of some sort.
I concede your point and apologize. It's out of character for me but I was three sheets to the wind when I wrote it. :)
Couldn't have said it better myself!
I finished it mainly because I had spent so much time reading it, I thought I might as well finish it. I was expecting at least some parts to be great but none of it was great. Parts of the book were really good, but parts were long drawn out, unnecessary and boring. By the end I didn't care who survived or not. It's a mediocre read.
OMG! I so agree with you. I just finished it the book. You took the words right out of my mouth!
Yep pretty much all of this!
Yes to this review 100%.
Agree! Agree! Agree ! It's exactly where the book started feeling less appealing to me. I however still rate it 4 stars. Although the ending was rough the first 700 pages were great.
I agree that it was a great first half! Creepy!
I feel exactly the same way! You just articulated it better. Glad someone feels the same way I do about this trash.
I completely agree. The "hand job" scene between two eleven year old boys is where I completely checked out, and all of the other points that ruined it for you are the same things that I didn't like about the book. I feel that while this had the potential to be a good story with horror elements and a theme of "growing up and facing fears", it turned into a thick book with as much shock value as possible.
I completely agree with this review!
Everyone has different tastes, but it seems to me that the main reason why you hated this book is because it offended you. And that is funny. Everyone sane in the world was shocked and disgusted at that orgy scene, but you seem too easy to offend ("too much n word"-give me a break), especially for a horror fun.
It's really weird that people are attacking you for your opinion of this book like they wrote it. I write erotica for a living & I'm a huge King fan, and I agree with everything you said. I gave it 2 stars as well, for the same reasons. Oh no, I must be such a prude haha.
I completely agree with you. This book was way too long and it was not even necessary. There were some scary, as well as disgusting parts. But, after a while it just got really boring. I wanted to finish it as soon as possible! I did like the character of Richie, though.
totaly agree with you, lmfao, I just said the same on my review, it could have been a 500 book without hurtin the story. It was just too much and made me feel like 'why i did this to myself'
I can agree that King sometimes drones on and on to the point it becomes tedious... but I feel that the parts that offend you were still relevant to the story. The psychopath kills his baby brother... adds to the creepy, deranged theme of the book. I thought it was fascinating that It was really unable to come up with something that this child was really scared of because he's a psychopath (It's face kept trying to morph and couldn't decide what to morph into). Also, killing animals and torturing them is something psychopaths do, so that tidbit of information just adds to the whole character of this twisted child. Totally relevant... gave me the heebie-jeebies. The handjob thing I can agree was not necessary.The other scene that I can agree is way out there is the scene where the children bond over their first times. But I feel that you and others are ridiculous in calling this scene a "gang bang" and an "orgy" and makes me think you guys are seriously overly dramatic and prudish or simply ignorant of what these terms REALLY mean. While the scene was uncomfortable and unexpected, I feel that if it was really such a terrible, horrid, abomination, King would not have been allowed to publish his book... surely his editors would have made him omit it?
I also agree that Richie's voices were annoying, I myself skipped a few of his lines.
The use of the dreaded "N word" is also relevant to the story because the story takes place in the 50s and I hope I don't have to give you guys a quick lesson in history about how things were back then... As a matter of fact, the KKK is actually a relevant part of this story (let's not forget the Black Spot).
I don't know... I just feel like if these sort of things offend you so easily (uncomfortable sex scenes, racial slurs etc) and you can't handle an overload of world/background/character building a la King style, then maybe you shouldn't be reading Stephen King novels at all.
Although I totally agree that the whole Patrick character was unsettling, I don't believe his part was unnecessary. He definitely added to the story. Like someone else said, he pulled emotions from me that King wanted to pull from me and ultimately made the story that much more real (and not to mention one death that I could actually cheer over). The N-Word wasn't entirely out of place either. Unfortunately, it fits well with the characters in the book, especially for the time period. I am from Maine and in 2016 I do not hear this word much at all, HOWEVER, the fact that this area is still SO unbelievably white bread makes it so when a black person is around it's noticed. I am not proud that I see racist people around here and in fact it disgusts me, but inclusion of the word AGAIN makes it that much more real. Also, being a pretty big Stephen King fan, I definitely do notice that he does have the tendency to point out a black person in his books. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that while reading it was not immediately obvious that Mike was black. Not against King, but... Well he writes the way it is to live in Maine. This is good AND bad.
Richie I thought was annoying, but not overly so. I enjoyed some of the things he came up with. For me, it was Bill and the stuttering that drove me nuts haha! I know he can't help it, but still. I also kept switching between Audiobook and written book so I got to hear his stutter as well.
Now, Bev... Alright. She seriously disappointed me. I agree that there wasn't a point for her to have all the boys have sex with her. That part really did make me scream "WHY?!" I don't understand how it pulled them together or why she even thought of it besides from what her father said, which it didn't seem like she exactly knew what he meant while he was talking about her being intact. They were walking, got lost, she stripped and made them "closer," and then then they got dressed and kept walking... Ok...
Besides that, I still thought the book was great!
I was a little more optimistic with the novel because I did like it in the end, but I have to agree with much of what you said. The violent stuff was great because it built on the characters and the themes, I gave the hand-job a noncommittal pass because it was short and it just made Patrick creepier somehow (although I still don't entirely grasp the need for his character at all, but that's something else entirely). All I want to really say is that I was disappointed I didn't love this book because I was looking forward to it for so long, as a King classic, but you build yourself up for failure when you expect too much from the hype. I will say that what did save this book for me was the build-up. King never fails to set up stories honestly. And the little details/segments he knows to include, when they aren't going on for pages, are usually well done.
i agree with you in everything !
Completely agree!!! I listened to 44 hours of this book to end up with little kid sex? I'm officially done with King.
I agree with you so much!! There was such unnecessary details that just dragged it out. The beep-beep got under my skin as well. And that last gang-bang scene did not even make any sense.
Katrzyna nailed it. The first 750-800 pages were great. But, right about the time all of the 11 year olds figured out the only way out of the tunnel was to have sex with Bevy? That was the beginning of me hating the ridiculous last 25% of this book.
