"We all float down here"

First off I am sorry I haven't posted in two weeks life happened my fellow readers! I am back and with a great review of one of my top 10 Stephen King books.

Can I just say all 1138 pages of this book were amazing. It took me a month to read, longer than expected because I was very busy with work, the lake, or wedding planning; but I finished it and It was very hard for me to put down. Stephen King sure knows how to scare the living daylights out of people this book was not only terrifying with horror it was also dark, violent and disturbing. This book is placed between the years of 1960-1990.

Spoilers Ahead I don't want to go too in depth with this review because I want to make sure you read and enjoy this book as much as I did.

The book starts off in Derry, Maine with a six year old boy Georgie making a paper boat with his brother Bill to go play with in the rain. Georgie takes his boat out, and as hes playing the boat starts to speed up and falls down one of the storm drains. As Georgie looks inside the storm drain there is a clown down there talking to him explaining that he is a friend IT shows him a floating balloon and asks Georgie can you smell the popcorn, you can come and see the circus. Pennywise tells Georgie you can come float down here while smiling at him, of course Georgie is hesitant so IT shows him his boat, as Georgie reaches for it (this is very graphic and one of the first of many violent scenes in it). As Georgie is reaching for the boat Pennywise Bites off his whole arm Georgie screams in awful pain and ends up bleeding out to death. This is not the only violent death in this book there are plenty more to go around.

Throughout the book Mike Hanlon (one of the Losers) researches Derry's (the town) history by not only checking the newspapers in the library, but going and talking to the towns people from the past. He talks about Pennywise's long history in Derry and how every twenty-seven years there is a mass amount of deaths which bring IT back from his slumber. IT gets into the minds of the towns people to make them either kill others or "sacrifice" themselves to him. There are multiple occasions in the towns history that Pennywise was at these mass murders/deaths and multiple people in the town can remember the clowns appearance; but they can't remember that he is a reappearing person at each tragic event. As it turns out Pennywise is a Demon from the Macroverse he originated from a void surrounding the universe. The extra terrifying thing about Pennywise is that he is not only a scary clown, but will turn into whatever you are afraid of the most. For each Loser they saw the clown while also experiencing some sort of demonic creature such as a mummy, a giant bird, dead people, Bill was tormented by his younger brother Georgie, blood in a bathroom which exploded from a sink, a lepor, and a giant Ax man. Not only does IT do this to the Losers, but he does it to every kid he tries to harvest.

Now lets get talking about the major characters of this novel the Losers, we will get one thing out of the way it consists of 6 boys Bill Denbrough (head of the group who has a bad stutter), Ben Hanscom (the fat one, both of these boys are in love with Beverly), Stanley Uris (the jew they always joke around with), Richie Tozier (aka trash mouth, who can't see and has very thick glasses), Mike Hanlon (the colored kid in the group, and the only one to stay behind and live in Derry), and Eddie Kaspbrak (aka Eds who is a Hypochondriac because of his mother) and one girl Beverly Marsh (Bev as the Losers call her or Bevy which her abusive father calls her). All of these kids have a very strong bond with each other they are all the misfits of the town and have banded together and given themselves the name of the Losers. I will say the first time the Losers thought they defeated IT in 1963 I was a little disturbed by how they got out of the tunnels. Beverly thinks that in order to escape to freedom to strengthen their bond to each other that they need to all have sex with her. Mind you these are 12 year old kids and they don't even understand what sex is at this point. Beverly does explain that she herself doesn't understand what is happening and the only person she fully feels connected to is Ben they both finish in euphoria. She doesn't remember any of this of course until the end of the book when she is an adult. Honestly wasn't my favorite part of the book, but hey IT is an already disturbing story and I still love Stephen King. After the losers think they defeat Pennywise they decide to make a pact in blood that if he ever comes back no matter how long they will come back and vanquish him again.

When the children begin to leave Derry they forget all of what has happened here, not only do they forget IT, but they forget about each other and everything they did together that summer. Bill even forgets just how Georgie died and how he and his friends had avenged Georgie's death by killing Pennywise (or thinking they successfully killed him). As an adult he doesn't even stutter terribly like when he was a child, he just knows that he took classes to fix his speech impediment. They all only begin to remember after they receive a phone call from Mike saying "IT's back you need to come to Derry now we made a promise." All of them remember the promise; but not exactly what the promise is about or why they made it, all they know is that they have to go back to Derry. All of the Losers head to Derry except for Stan who ends up slitting his wrists and killing himself in the bath tub (as it turns out later in the book Ben figures out just why Stan had killed himself; Stan found out when they were kids that IT in it's true form was not only a spider, but a female who is pregnant with babies and he couldn't face that evil again). As they all arrive in Derry they have dinner together and reminisce in the old enjoyable memories they have as well as the bond that never went away between them all. They begin to start remembering IT and all the terrible things that actually had happened that summer. Mike also comes explaining to them a theory of why they are all so successful and have no children. The reason they all did well and why he ended up not making very much money and working for the Library in Derry, is because they all left and didn't remember their pasts. Pennywise wanted to keep them away from Derry and in order to do that he had to make the all very successful and have no reason to return to their old town. The reason they can't have children is because their encounter with IT as kids made them infertile as if they were exposed to something that marked them for life.

The one thing I was really sad about with this book was that even after they came back and defeated Pennywise a second time and after they all had left Derry they forgot each other for good. Even after everything they had been through together not only once, but twice. It was like their bond and friendship was just non existent. Maybe I was sad because a friendship and bond like that is something to treasure forever and it just dissipated. I also came to the conclusion (my opinion) that in order to return some of their childhood innocence they had to forget all the terrible things they went through in Derry.

King really made the core of Pennywise a dark, violent and disturbing character as well as, he was not afraid to take a good hard look at what goes bump in the night. By also delivering hope in the form of the Losers friendship. This delicate balance is what makes books like IT worth the long and terrifying read. While he gives us the most violent bullies, demonic clowns, and a town full of unsolved murders; he also gives us the Losers Club. He shows us that even the parts of ourselves that we would much rather forget, the weird, the out of place, or even those who feel alone in the world; are capable of fighting back. That, at the end of the day, the Losers Club can win even against demons from alternate dimensions.

Overall as I said in the beginning this is definitely one of my top 10 Stephen King books and if you have the time to dedicate to a 1138 page book you should definitely read this one.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the book, if you've read it, or if you want to read it. lets start a conversation.

Thank you so much for reading my blog review and as always I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!! Until next week stay reading Selena Torres