Rarely in my life have I read a novel just once and feel like I had almost every little detail stick with me for a year or more. I read Stephen King’s IT when I was 15, more than 20 years ago, and still perfectly remember the spectrum of emotions that flowed through my imaginative teenage brain; The resonating attachment and relatability I felt to characters that were close to my age, while they banded together to defeat something truly frightening. The horrific, yet addictive moments when blood gushed, and body parts were ripped and torn from their places. The resentment and hatred for bullies, and the comparison with those I dealt with as a teen. The grief and sadness of losing friends and family members, without being able to help or control the outcome. The fear of reading the words, “We all float down here.” It was all so big, so deep and grand, and I absorbed every second of it.
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King got the idea for IT when he and his family were living in Boulder, CO, in 1978. On his way to pick up his car, he came across a quaint little wooden bridge, and his mind went to the classic Norwegian fairy tale of the Three Billy Goat’s Gruff. The thoughts of an evil troll and the camaraderie of brothers defeating it set the tone that King would return to, after moving his family to Bangor, ME, in 1980.
After the move, King began using the town layout and sewer system of Bangor as the inspiration for IT’s setting, giving him the groundwork to begin writing his novel. He went in with the idea of focusing on the transition from childhood to an adult, creating a bridge troll where the bridge was a town, and weaving in what he’s called his “final exam” of horror, by having the monster be able to transform itself into whatever a child fears, from reality or fantasy, be it a werewolf, a sickly leper, or an abusive parent. In the end, he came up with Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the most-used form of the creature, as it has the ability to both lure children and scare them, the talents of a perfectly created predator.
After four years of writing, IT would release on September 15th, 1986, as a 1200-page Goliath, and still King’s second-longest book (only to The Stand) to-date. IT remains among the top-selling horror books of all time, even 35 years later. Readers adhered to the small cast of characters, seeing their own current or past lives within the individual stories of The Losers’ Club. They found themselves relating to kids that were trying to adapt to bullying, abusive or overbearing parents, grief and loss of loved ones, racism, religious confliction, and young love.
“Your hair is winter fire. January embers. My heart burns there, too.”
Though the book spawned both a TV mini-series in 1990, and two films (one for each part) in 2017 and 2019, which were decent, I never felt like they captured the true feelings of fear that the book relayed. In the novel, the kids/adults could only be safe from Pennywise when they were out of Derry. In Derry, Pennywise could strike at any moment, from anywhere, constantly threatening to take the lives of The Losers’ Club. It appeared as the shark from Jaws in the Derry Canal, it appeared as biting piranha when they simply crossed a stream, or dogs chasing them down the street. The Losers’ Club had to live their lives in constant fear. Pennywise was terrifying because it could be anything, at any time. It didn’t matter if the creature didn’t appear as what the reader feared, it could, and that’s all that mattered.
For those who have read the book, I think the biggest criticism always comes down to the ending. For much of the IT writing process, King was heavily addicted to cocaine and alcohol consumption. In fact, he didn’t get sober until 1986, after his heavily scrutinized and self-hated book The Tommyknockers was released. Not saying addiction is an excuse for a bad ending to massive time investment of a book, but it at least explains him looking past the problematic nature of an 11-year-old sex orgy (though, he still claims that he never viewed that section as sexual, but more of a final transition from child to adult before death) or the confusion of an ancient world turtle. Both of those segments have always been highly regarded as the worst parts of the book, and neither have been adapted to the screen, thankfully.
“Swear to me that if it isn’t dead, you’ll all come back.”
I don’t know if I’ll ever read IT again. I almost feel like to revisit it will overshadow all of the imprinted memories I have of the book. I still remember it was the first Stephen King book I chose when I was 11, and my dad said, “I don’t think so,” and replaced it with a copy of Misery. Most likely, like The Losers’ Club, I’ve forgotten what life in Derry is like, and maybe it’s time to go back.
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