Reading <i>It</i>, Part 1

Reading It, Part 1

It's finally happening. I'm going to read it.

See what I did there?

After decades of dancing around this book while being a Stephen King fan and reading a lot of his other books, it's time to finally read It. With the movie hitting theaters this fall, it seems like the perfect time. I only saw parts of the old miniseries and I barely remember it all, beyond Tim Curry's scary clown.

So far, I'm only 55 pages in—only 1,100 more pages to go! As I continue, I hope to occasionally share some random observations along the way. Not reviews, just quick hits. This might take a while, I might not get to write about it often, and I'm not even sure it'll last—although I will finish the book! I think it goes without saying, these posts will be lousy with SPOILERS.

Just a quick introduction to my relationship with the King of Horror. Like many young kids, I was infatuated with King's books and their movie adaptations. I remember devouring Night Shift and Skeleton Crew when I was around 11 or 12. Pet Sematary crushed me a a few years later. I took a long break from reading King as a young adult but then returned to him about ten years ago. The Dark Tower series was an epic reading experience. Reading The Shining right after becoming a parent was equal parts traumatizing and cathartic. In short, I love King's work, unabashedly. Some if it's subpar, but that's rare. Most of it is consistently great. No one writes a ripping yarn like King. He has an innate way of exploring our very real fears in creative ways that reveal things about us that we might not have known previously. The man is a national treasure.

It starts strong. Pennywise shows up early and he's creepy as all hell. Also right off the bat, King wastes no time playing off our eternal fears of our children being hurt or abducted. Without revealing much, he sets the tone: something's not right about the quiet Maine town of Derry and the crazy clown hanging out in storm drains is just the start. Throw in the homophobic violence of the second chapter and it's a decidedly upsetting read so far. As you would expect, of course.

Clowns are terrifying. This is an indisputable fact. From Bozo to John Wayne Gacy to last year's rash of creepy clown sightings, they're the worst. I don't know the backstory of It but I wonder how much Gacy's serial murders influenced King's decision to write about a killer clown. No matter the inspiration, It is off to a satisfyingly unsettling start.

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