Seven
eleven-year-olds take on It, a mind-reading monster (from outer space?) who has
been terrorizing the town of Derry for centuries (or longer?). Unsure if they
have killed It, they swear to return if It returns. Twenty-seven years later,
It returns, and so do they. Prior to the happy ending, there is violence, misogyny,
racism, anti-Semitism, bullying, child abuse, and animal abuse. Not for the
faint-hearted.
The book has
much to say about childhood. Children have more faith and trust than adults. Also,
children are often invisible (ignored) to adults.
The book
deals with ignoring and forgetting. The town ignores and forgets when the
Legion of White Decency burns down The Black Spot, murdering the black soldiers
who built and patronized the club. Teachers ignore bullies. The town forgets
its history of violence. While It returns every twenty-seven years, the town
does not remember from one incident to the next.
The book has
a poor view of parents. Some parents beat their children. Other sexually abuse
them. Some are more subtle, as the mother who convinces her child that he is
sickly, and other parents that ignore their surviving child when another child
dies.
The book
also has a poor view of the town leaders. The people who rape the forests for
personal gain. The police who turn a blind eye to It and the Legion of White
Decency.
Almost
everyone in the book is isolated, selfish, and psychotic. The notable exception
is the Loser Club, the seven children who are good friends to each other.
It often
appears as Pennywise, the clown, but also as whatever horror is in the mind of
Its target.
It byStephen King. Eleven hundred pages of horror. (If anything triggers you, you have been warned.)
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