Hello, good people of Steemit.
I've always been a lover of books and recently I just finished reading the horror genre book It by the famous Stephen King and I decided to share it with you guys.
An overview of the book
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The town of Derry, Maine seems to be your average, peaceful town from the outside, but the inhabitants of Derry think otherwise.
Something is wrong with the town and they all know it (if not all, then most) but they all choose to ignore it. Derry has had its share of dark secrets from the past and now these secrets have awakened like a vampire from it's long sleep, ready to feast again.
In the latter years of the 1950s, a series of mysterious and gruesome murders have occurred. While the Derry Police Department always found some unlikely explanations for the deaths - a hobo from out of town killing people among other reasons, few of the good citizens of Derry seem to think differently.
Enter our protagonists; originally consisting of a group of boys who called themselves the Losers' club. There was Bill Denborough; the charismatic leader with a stutter whose younger brother had been one of the first victims of the killings at the time. Richie "Trashmouth" Tozier; a machine gun mouthed kid whose mouth often put him in predicaments that could have been easily avoided. Eddie Kaspbrak; the weak looking kid whose life has always been wrapped around various drug prescriptions of drugs and medication by his mother ( he's actually stronger than his mother gives him credit for) and Stanley Uris; a Jewish kid, somewhat quiet, he was fastidious and efficient with a rarely shown peculiar sense of humor. They are later joined by three other kids - Benjamin "Haystack" Hanscom, Beverly Marsh and a black kid, Mike Hanlon to form the superstitious number of seven. Apart from the fact that all the kids attended the same school (with the exception of Mike) they had other things in common, like they were all hated by the local bully, Henry Bowers and his henchmen .
Each of the kids have also had dangerously close encounters with the mysterious killer which they have dubbed It and this only serves to strengthen the existing bond among them . After having enough of their fears ( both of Henry and It), they decide to confront them. The kids end up defeating It. Following their victorious showdown with It, the kids make a powerful, almost sacred promise to all come back to Derry if It ever comes back again, no matter where they are.
Twenty-seven years later, most of the the members of the the former Losers' club have left Derry, going their separate ways and have become adults, each of them, somewhat of a success in their chosen fields. They've all moved on and have little or no memory of the events of 1958 until the killings start again in Derry and they all receive that one, ominous call.
A call back to Derry, a call to answer an old promise and a call to face It again, only this time, victory isn't assured.
My thoughts on the book
Being somewhat new to the horror genre in books, I must confess, I had a lot of fun reading this book. I particularly loved how Stephen King kept moving back and forth through the timelines, telling the stories of 1957 and 1985 side by side.
The book also had this immersive feel for it's readers ( especially me). I often had the sensation of actually being in Derry, walking to the Aladdin, or through downtown Derry and even through the mosquito infested bushes towards the Barrens.
The characters, being kids are are relatable to and one can almost feel their almost numbing fear while they often come in contact with their fears both tangible and near intangible.
While Derry might have seemed like a simple prospering town from outside, it still had it's own skeletons inside cupboards like almost every other seemingly good town. The dark secrets which are embedded into the foundations of the town are made known to the reader, making them feel like they were part of Derry itself.
My only fault in the book arises from the fact that the story seemed to go endlessly on and on with story arcs which even had peculiar quality of making the reader more familiar with Derry.
Overall, this was a really good book which I would recommend to anyone one interested in the horror genre or anyone at all. I also liked the movie but as in most cases, the book had a deeper and more convoluted plot than the movie. I really hope I have piqued someone's interest in this book.
Cheers!! :-D
P.S : I'm open to your recommendations of other good books to be read.