“It”

“It’s great. Duh. Also, the longest book I’ve ever read.

You might think you get it from the movie. But the first movie doesn’t do IT justice. Or do it justice. That’s one annoying thing about this book, talking about IT versus it, and realizing half the time it doesn’t matter.

You might have also heard there are some pretty distasteful things in here, which there are. However, I’m going to, spoiler-free, make a defense of the book and say that taking single instances from a 1000+ page book is probably not a relevant form of criticism. That’s a little like listening to only the secret song from Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ and saying that the album sucks.

If I had to guess, I think the motive behind writing this book was about taking readers back to childhood, and there are so many great parallels. You kind of forget a lot of things, which is paralleled in the book. You kind of forget the sense of real danger you have as a kid, and also the weird ability kids have to compartmentalize shit sometimes. You forget that being 11 or so is pretty much about being somewhat transgressive all the time, whether what you’re actually doing something transgressive or you just think you are.

The other thing, this brick has been a real conversation piece. I talked to a group of 3 people about this book for like 20 minutes at the gymnasium, and it was one of the few gymnasium conversations I’ve had that was totally enjoyable. Also, my partner (PoonMasterFlex) and I went out to a brewery to read together, and a worker there was so pleased that we were reading. She said, “You mostly see people on their phones, not talking to each other. It’s cool to just come out here and read!” She came by and “interrupted” us again, gave us free beer tickets because she was just so tickled, I guess. Word to the wise, reading in public might get you a free beer once in a while. Even if what you’re reading is about a murderous clown.”