Am I the only one who has a list of “classics” they’ve never gotten around to reading? They’re the ones you sheepishly admit to never having cracked open, even when everyone else seemed to have read them in high school? I won’t list them all, because this is a blog about what *to* read, but I will talk about one I finally took on this summer, while I had some time.
Stephen King wrote IT in 1986. I was NOT old enough to read it then. And then there was a movie in the 90’s. I was not really old enough to watch that either, but I recall doing that. And then they redid the movie in the past couple of years. I didn’t watch those, but the remake did put the book back on my radar and finally, with some time to fill this summer, I clicked borrow on the ebook.
It was 1000+ pages. It was a commitment. And I’m not sure if I liked this book or not. I’m glad I read it and checked it off my list, definitely, but liking it is still under review.
There is no doubt that Stephen King is a skilled writer and storyteller. Of course he is. And IT, the creature, is a horrible monster; it’s understandable why clowns have been terrifying people for years. I liked the characters (although I did think there were too many of them. Part of the reason the book is so (too?) long is because it’s told in two storylines about at least 8, what I would call, main characters.). But, the mistake I make, over and over, when I read a King novel is that I forget that at some point, reality will veer into sci-fi. Every. Time. It happened when I read Hearts in Atlantis. It happened again when I read Mr. Mercedes. And The Institute. And The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The list goes on. I’m not saying that’s bad. Indeed, it’s kind of the point. But it’s the thing that throws me each time. You would think that as someone who is not a sci-fi reader, I would adjust my expectations each time I crack a King novel open. I don’t, and that’s on me. With IT, the moment we meet the Turtle (this is not really a spoiler…if you’ve read the book you know, and if not, you’ll see) is the moment this book took a hard left for me.
IT is a fine book. I felt like I had conquered something when I ran out of pages to click over. It has at least one scene that felt to me like it was there for shock value, but upon reading other reviews, there were people who thought they’d figured out the point of it. Like I told you before…I’m not a critical reader, and I was entertained enough by the story as a whole to see it through. For the most part, a classic good vs. evil story is always going to keep me reading, and this was no exception.
I will say that after taking that one on, the next book I read, which came in around 230 pages felt like a breeze to get through! But it seems that reprieve is short lived, as the book i’m currently reading comes in around 700 pages, and the one I need to pick up after that comes in around 600. Apparently, this is the summer for epic tales. And since we’re still being encouraged to stay home as much as we can, there’s no better time to tackle them, right?
Enjoy IT with a wine cooler (Or a few…1000 pages, remember?), to really get yourself in the 80’s mindset!
Jaclyn