"It": differences and secret connections between the book and the film. "It": differences and secret connections between the book and the film by Roman King
Random quote from a book
He's really cute, she suddenly thinks, and it's an invigorating thought that lifts the veil from her eyes, one of those thoughts that come to mind when waking up, when the mind has not yet fully woken up. He's wearing a pullover and faded jeans. Her blond hair is tied up at the back of her head with a leather ribbon, and Beverly immediately remembers the ponytail she wore as a child. She thinks, I bet he's got a nice, polite student's cock. Long enough to be embarrassed, but not so fat as to be cheeky."And he starts laughing again, he can't help it. Realizes that she doesn't even have a handkerchief to wipe the leaked makeup, and this makes her even more disassembled.
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Description of the book "It"
You decide to embark on a journey through the back streets of nightmares lurking beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by pitch horror. Around the bend in the road is a small town where children from a monstrous sect kill everyone who has reached the “age of redemption” - nineteen years . So they honor God's Word ... A new turn - and those who encounter the feeble-minded Lawnmower Man will repent thrice. Because in the depths of his broken soul Death lurks... And again the road makes a turn - the dead return to the school, return with a thirst to bring death to the living. And you have to sell your soul to the devil in order to defeat the devil ...
Description added by user:
Andrey Sergeev
"It" - plot
Seven children living in Maine meet something (It), a terrible creature that can scare and kill children. Trying to get rid of this terrible monster, they create a group, and together they try to kill Ono. Before they cope with the creature, the guys have to go through many difficult tests, as a result of which they still kill It. King tells how after that they live their own lives, grow up, lose touch with each other and forget about what happened. And now, when they are already quite adults, and they have families, It returns! Now adults, they find a way to connect with each other and come together to fight back. It. Book ends with the fact that friends manage to kill the creature, and they continue to live in peace. But maybe it will come back someday...
Story
In 1978, King lived with his family in Boulder, Colorado. One evening, he went alone to pick up his car from repair. On the way he came across an old wooden bridge, walking along which he remembered a children's fairy tale about three kids and a troll under the bridge. The idea of transferring the fairy tale to the conditions of modern life seemed interesting to him. However, King returned to it only two years later and, having gradually accumulated ideas and thoughts (in particular, about interspersing the narrative of childhood and adult memories), he sits down to write a novel in 1981.
In the novel Dreamcatcher, there is a memorial to those who died in Derry in the 1985 flood, erected by the Losers in memory of all the children It killed. On the memorial is the inscription "Pennywise is alive!". In addition, the name of the main antagonist of the novel "Mr. Grey" is consonant with the name "Robert Grey".
In the novel 11/22/63, the protagonist arrives in Derry in the fall of 1958 and meets Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier there. He also learns from the people of Derry about the mysterious murders and disappearances of children and that they, "thank God, are over."
In the movie script for The Storm of the Century, it is mentioned that Kat Withers went to have an abortion in Derry.
Escaped from the hospital Henry Bowers rides on the Plymouth "Fury" from the novel "Christina"
Mike Hanlon's father reveals his co-worker was telepathic black cook Dick Halloran from The Shining
The novel Insomnia mentions the 1985 Derry flood.
Awards
1987 British Fantasy - Auguste Derleth Prize for Best Novel.
1987 Third place in the awards of the magazine "Locus" (Eng. Locus) in the nomination of the best science fiction novel.
1987 Prize from the "World Fantasy Award" in the nomination of the best novel.
Reviews
Book Reviews "It"
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Mariashka_true
I don't like clowns...
Who hasn't heard of this book? They probably just don't exist.
The book is incredibly popular and readable. No wonder Stephen King continues to use the history of the strange town of Derry in his other works.
The friendship of small children conquers, who fearlessly rush to fight evil and worry about the city and other children more than adults who hide behind the doors of their homes. Their awareness, devotion and love are simply limitless. As adults, they lose these qualities with each new day. I also liked the interweaving of time and the variety of characters.
I would also like to write a few words about the film. He just disappointed me. So, if you have read the book, I advise you not to watch the film adaptation. Despite the fact that it is very difficult to fit so much information and feelings conveyed by a book into one film, I still hope that there will be a director who will convey the plot and atmosphere of this mysterious story in a quality and full-scale way.
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7 / 1
Innochka
Fear ... each person has his own, someone is afraid of clowns, someone is afraid of monsters under the bed, someone is a werewolf. Everyone has their own - IT.
And if these fears and phobias have accumulated in you since childhood, and one fine day they all begin to come true, then this is very scary.
An interesting idea, a twisted plot at first captivate and you try to read the book as quickly as possible in order to find out how it all ends. But you won’t be able to read it quickly, because the volume of the book is too large, and the narrative is drawn out.
Already in the middle of the book you begin to understand how it will all end, and therefore the interest disappears. Therefore, I read the first half of the book excitedly, and the second was barely “tormented”. It is good that the language of the narrative is simple, such as Stephen King usually writes, so the book is easy to understand.
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3 / 0
Mila
This is the biggest book I have ever read. For a long time I was afraid to pick it up and read it (because I thought it would not be very interesting). I read the full version (1290 pages).
I think each of us likes to remember our childhood, but not everyone wants to remember their childhood fears. The book is really creepy and atmospheric. I did not want to part with it and I tried to stretch it. She will stay with me forever.
I didn't like the screenshot. The book is too atmospheric and it is simply impossible to show it on the screen. I also really liked that it came out uncensored. Very cruel and in some moments immoral. These moments make her closer to reality, as if no one is immune from this.
Overall 10 out of 10. Great
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3 / 0
Anton Kozyrev
Not everyone will master, but in vain ...
Before coming to the work of Stephen King, I happened to see several films based on his books. Since these films in most cases pleased me, interest in the original source increased. Finally, my hands reached Mr. King's book. The first of these was "It" - a large-scale novel, which I would compare with an epic. A rather strange choice for getting to know creativity, since the book is not so well known in wide circles and in most ratings of the best novels of the writer, it is not in the first lines. However, I was not mistaken in my choice, and after reading the book I can say that many underestimate it in vain.
One of the main advantages of the book, I think, is a parallel narrative in different time periods. King not only skillfully combines 2 storylines, but also makes them overlap with each other. However, the downside for me was the constant movement from one time to another in the last part of the novel. I understand perfectly well that this was a conscious method of the author, but this feature seemed to me unnecessary. The culmination of the events in 1985 (!) takes place earlier than the events of 1958. And for this reason, interest in the plot is lost. In my opinion, it would be more correct to finish with the past first, because most readers were interested in how the story ended in the end.
One of the main themes of the work is the growing up of a person. The author tries to find out where the line between adult life and childhood passes. In this book, we can trace the change in the characters of the heroes, the motives of their actions; what is the reason that they grew up this way, and not others. Such features of the plot allow me to call this novel a psychological one.
The action of the novel takes place in the fictional city of Derry, but its existence is hard not to believe - everything is so worked out. King not only created the geography and infrastructure of the city, but also filled it with a large number of characters. Moreover, they are not stereotyped, each of them has its own special way of life, often associated with some kind of urban history.
About the main characters, you can write a separate book. There is no typical “hero”, “my boyfriend”, “wise man” and other archetypes here. Each of the characters is special. Yes, they have some specific quality that distinguishes them from others, but this is more a typical feature of people in general, and not the author's idea. The only superfluous character I think is Stan. Perhaps King needed it to portray how intimidating "It" was and how it could affect the character's life. But then why was it necessary to make this hero the main one and give him so much space? The author tried to “revive” Stan with some features, for example, a love for birds, but for me he remained a “faceless guy”, whom I constantly confuse with Eddie.
The main antagonist is interesting for the abundance of his images, but at the same time, he lacks psychology. His "universal" origin does not go well with the manner of conversation and his actions. I was especially upset by "The Turtle", because his phrases in the spirit of: "Well done, dude," do not fit in any way with his origin. But I think this is more of a characteristic of King, so I will not find fault.
Perhaps I singled out more cons than pros, but the reason for this is only that they were "striking". If I had not touched on the cons, then my review would have looked something like this: “Characters 10/10, the plot is cool, the atmosphere is great, everyone should read it. End".
I have no regrets that I began my acquaintance with King's work with this novel. For me, as for a person who wants to connect his life with literature in the future, it seemed very interesting: its structure, elaboration of characters, many descriptions and a good plot. My rating - 7/10, I advise you to read.
However, I want to emphasize that not everyone will master this book, because of the large size. My edition has 1200+ pages. Also, the novel contains violence, swearing, sexual scenes. Perhaps for some this will be a problem, but I believe that this is not a reason not to read "It". It's not classical literature, though.
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2 / 0
The events of the book unfold in 57-58 years. the last century. Seven children had to face an unimaginable horror - the embodiment of hell, which could destroy them. Almost three decades have passed, and now, having matured, they will again have to face the evil that wants revenge in order to finish what they started, what was 27 years ago. For Derry is bled again, a nightmare spawn that doesn't even have a name has returned.
The Losers Club is what they call themselves. Outcasts not accepted by society - a stutterer, a bespectacled man, a black man, a Jew, a fat man, a suffocating asthmatic and a girl. They are only 11-12 years old when they realize that they can only rely on themselves. The confrontation makes the "Losers" realize a lot. Having ceased to be children, adults are not able to imagine that the killer can be an unreal person, they cannot even see It. "Losers" understand that their union is something more than just friendship. When they are alone, they are weak, but when they are together, no force can compare with the powerful energy that they radiate.
One of the main ideas of the novel is that some doors open only one way - there is no way to turn adults back into children. If you think about it, King tells not only a scary story - in the book, mystical horrors go hand in hand with real horrors that some children have to face: physical and psychological domestic violence, bullying, racial and homosexual persecution, etc. It is possible to predict in advance how childhood traumas will affect adult life. So when the vow pushes The Losers to come to their hometown after 27 years, the heroes doubt they can recreate the energy they synergized with the seven.
Large-scale, meticulous work - King spent 4 years to create a book. The most diverse and well-developed characters - the reader can identify with them. Each of them had to overcome their own weaknesses in the book. Locations - King himself admits that the Waste Dam was taken from his childhood memories of Stratford. And the city itself is also a character and is perceived as a single organism. It is Derry.
Stephen King wanted to develop the idea of an antagonist, as a collective image of all monsters and creatures from all worlds - that is why, each of the children sees not a single image of It, but what is most afraid of, be it: Werewolf, Frankenstein, Dracula, Jaws, A mummy, dead children, bloody streaks in the bathroom (which hints at fear of sexual harassment by Beverly's father), etc. But Ono's favorite form is the clown Pennywise, who seems to give joy, but inside is rotten with poison. King also did not forget about his own fears - arachnophobia.
The book is large enough to carry with you - 1248 pages in Russian translation, 1392 pages in the original. Perhaps someone will be comfortable with the audio book format. The volume and weight of the book did not give me any discomfort. All this faded in comparison with the feeling when you move into the events of the book so much that you do not notice what is happening around. Having read a lot of King's works, I can single out Ono's book in the shortlist of the best (purely subjective opinion), since the events taking place in it really become creepy.
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Once a certain great writer (then even he himself did not suspect this greatness - most critics believed that his opuses were not worth a sausage roll, but he only chuckled) was walking home. The road passed through the bridge; the old boards cracked so with each step that the writer involuntarily remembered one old fairy tale. Right now, from under the rusted piles, a menacing voice will be heard: ""Who is this walking along my bridge?!""
Writers, unlike ordinary citizens, notice everything, cling to every little thing in search of a good idea. By the time our writer got home, he already knew for sure: there is something in this! And so one of the greatest American novels was born from the creaking of planks underfoot.
It is not known for certain why Stephen King decided to suddenly make "It" a key work in his work; the idea was at best like a short story. But this idea unexpectedly absorbed not only all the main motives of King's creativity, but also its origins, so to speak, and reworked it into a completely original novel, dynamic and wise at the same time, cruel and kind, disgusting and beautiful. While sociologists were writing about the impact of life's realities on mass culture (and vice versa), King simply combined mass culture with reality into a single whole, creating both a "guide to the horror genre" and an "encyclopedia of American life" and reflections on the nature of fear. , and, finally, a novel about childhood... and about love. A small town, as a model of the universe, and a great Evil that rules the souls of its inhabitants, the magic of childhood, opposing the cruel rationalism of the adult world, reflections on the art of writing, the survival of individuals in an indifferent and blind crowd - all these (and many others) motives encountered in creativity King earlier and later, in "It" revealed themselves as much as possible. Each, even the most insignificant character (and there are more than a hundred of them) is spelled out so carefully that there is not the slightest doubt about his reality. Each scene is depicted so vividly that the reader seems to lose touch with reality, completely feeling himself in the place of the characters. The alternation of episodes of childhood and adulthood, interspersed with interludes from the history of Derry, creates a massive picture of what is happening. All the components complement each other so perfectly that it is impossible to throw out the smallest detail without destroying the whole structure. No wonder King said that "It" would be his last novel "about monsters" - he was cunning, of course, but most of his later works are indeed based on one of the lines of "It". THE REGULATORS, THE TOMMINOKERS, HOPENESS, THE NEEDED THINGS, THE DUMA-KI, THE BAG OF BONES, THE ROSE OF MADID - each of these books brings to mind "It". If you haven't read this novel, then you haven't read Stephen King.
If they ask me what this novel is about, I will answer that it is really about a monster. About the monster that lurks in the soul of everyone. It is a part of the human essence, and every person - if he is a real person - must give Him a fight even in childhood. Then it will be too late, and a person who has come to terms with a part of the monster inside himself can become a part inside the monster ... as it was with the good inhabitants of the town of Derry.
Score: 10
Four months of work completed! With a feeling of deep satisfaction, and with a feeling of having done hard, but damned pleasant work, I closed the 1200-page volume, put it on the shelf and thought.
Definitely, this is not just a good, wonderful or even brilliant book. This is the Great Book of the Great King. That's right, all words are capitalized. I don't understand or imagine how one person can write this! I feel something similar when reading PLIO. But there is a huge picture of hundreds of characters, intricacies of the plot and events. And in "It" - a grandiose and most complex microcircuit from the interweaving of the threads of the human soul.
There is one trouble with the Great Books - after them it is impossible to read anything for a long time. Well, as after absolute immersion; 100% presence effect; completely reliable, deep, contradictory and multifaceted characters, you can read a deliberately fictional story with God forbid that one somehow spelled out main character? And the point is that I quite liked the conditional book of the conditional Henry Danilovich Chekhov and seemed quite a masterpiece to myself ... But after "It" I want to lower all my grades by at least one point, and leave the honorary ten only to His Majesty.
I write, and I think: the review resembles enthusiastic boyish snot. But that's the way it is. For a long time, reading fiction has faded and faded for me. And here an author appeared (I still read King's insultingly little), who again made me believe in a fictional story, empathize, be afraid to read at night in an empty apartment! He gave me EMOTIONS - and very bright ones at the same time. So thank him for that.
And not the last advantage of "It" is that this is a book where the fantastic component is far from being in the foreground. It is only a prism through which the topic is considered, which has become one of the main ones - that very notorious Absolute Evil. And a clear answer is given: there is no Absolute Evil ("it's impossible to comprehend its true form"). Because for each person any evil in relation to him is absolute. But in relation to someone else - not so absolute. We are not inclined to look for reasons, find out motives and allow excuses for an evil act directed against us. But we are ready to justify and understand the villain who harmed someone else.
But at the same time, not a single villain does evil to others for the sake of evil itself (except for the insane sadistic psychopaths, which Henry Bowers became by the end of It). Everyone has a motive that more or less justifies their actions.
Absolute Evil is Miss Kaspbrak, Eddie's mother. Which deliberately inspires her son that he is sick. Consciously raises not a healthy, full of strength boy, but a sissy sissy. And if at the right moment Eddie had not had an inhaler and he would have died - all the blame would lie only on his mother! But what else is a lonely middle-aged woman to do, whose husband died, and a couple of years later the child almost died? Who has nothing and no one but this boy, who in what other way can be tied to her forever?
Absolute evil is Mrs. Hanscom, Ben's mother. Which deliberately feeds her son to the state of a fat pig, which is fraught with humiliation and bullying. Which sharply resist the desire of her son to bring himself back to normal! But what else is a woman to do who works all day and can't express her motherly love in any other way than pies and other sweets?
The ultimate evil is Bill Danbrough's parents. Who, having lost one son, completely deprived the elder of warmth, love and at least some attention! Which closed themselves from him in their grief, as in an attic, and did not hear his cries and tears when he tried to break through to them. But after all, the youngest - beloved, probably - the son died. What else was there for them to do?
Absolute evil is Mr. Marsh. An unrealized pedophile who beats his daughter. Well, what else can he do? After all, he does not want to beat her, he wants to show tenderness to her, but he cannot allow it ... He is jealous of her, but he cannot do anything about it either. Here it hits. Beat means love.
Absolute evil is Henry Bowers. Sadist, psychopath, maniac. And how to grow up not a sadist, a psychopath and a maniac on a filthy farm next to your father - a drunkard, a psychopath and also a sadist? How to grow up as a kind and sweet boy, being beaten almost daily by his own father?
Absolute evil is Tom Rogan beating his wife (and not only her). But the wife liked it at first, didn't she? How could he do otherwise if she liked it?
And let it sound pathetic, but each of us is a portal of Absolute Evil to this world. And it's not the devil and other religious turbidity. The point is: do we tend to justify to ourselves the evil that we can do (or do)? And if so, then ahead of us lies a slide and degradation, like Henry, like Marsh, like Rogan. And their ending is one!
Score: 10
An amazing thing - written, according to King himself, as if "by the way", the novel "It" became perhaps the most important work of the American author. "It" can be called a kind of encyclopedia of all the work of S. King. The story of a group of teenagers from a provincial American town, who entered into an unequal and almost hopeless struggle with Absolute Evil, becomes the backbone for so many King's works. Children who spoke out against evil find themselves almost alone in the novel. The world of adults, at best, simply does not want to notice Evil, or (voluntarily or not) falls under its influence.
Unlike his later novels, King in "It" says almost nothing about either religion or Christianity. Nevertheless, the novel contains a 100% Christian message - the King's "Be like children ...", referring to the famous gospel words: "If you do not turn, and you will not be like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven ..." These are the children's qualities such as immediacy, responsiveness, the ability to accurately understand people, the ability to intuitively, at a deep level, recognize good and evil, will play a decisive role in the victory over the infernal substance that has tormented the city of Derry for several centuries.
By the way, again, according to King, the novel largely reproduces the childhood impressions of the writer himself: Barrens, Kenduskeag, and even Henry Bowers - all this was in reality ... Who knows, maybe it really was ( and is now) and the clown Pennywise himself?...
Score: 9
I'm falling in love with Stephen King more and more. After the first novels I read, Lizzy's Story and Mobile Phone, I decided for myself that this was not "my" author. Such a ponderous narrative was in these books, such an incomprehensible idea and its implementation. But after the last novels I've read "The Dead Zone", "Inflammatory Look", "11/22/63" and finally "It" I can only say one word, King you really are KING, the king in all available and existing genres (fiction , mysticism, horror, historical novel, fantasy cycle "The Dark Tower". Writing at such a consistently high level for almost half a century is only possible for Geniuses.
What hooked me to the novel "It"? Very many. First, the original story. Every twenty-seven years, a great evil comes to the city of Derry, children begin to disappear, they are found killed and mutilated in different places. Evil lives, it thrives and there is no mercy from it, it is as ancient as the earth itself, coming from dimensions unknown to us, cruel, merciless, invulnerable. Invulnerable until he makes the fatal mistake of killing Bill Denbrough's (Bill Stuttering) younger brother.
King's characters are excellent, both positive and negative. Of the positive ones, of course, this is our “magnificent seven”, which are destined to enter into a mortal battle with the creatures of hell or the devil himself. Bill the Stutterer, Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak, Ben Hanscom, Mike Hanlon and Steve Uris are the seven best friends, the "Losers Club" as they called themselves, whom fate itself brought together for a common goal. Negative characters, too, from King turned out to be beyond praise. These teenage bastards were turned on by Henry Bowers with his sycophants Victor Chris, Belch Huggins, Moose. As well as the pervert, sadist and psychopath Patrick Hockstetter, it would seem difficult to come up with a more disgusting character, but the IT clown Pennywise does not want to give the palm to anyone and Patrick will face an unenviable fate.
I really liked King's time jumps in the presentation. The story begins in 1958, then abruptly jumps to 1985, and such castling continues throughout the book, which I really liked.
The novel "It" is a wonderful work not only about the monster and the fight against him, but also about love, true friendship and devotion tested over the years.
Score: 10
After reading such works, it is quite difficult to find a new novel that would correspond to this level. Stephen King's "It" is a major league book, another proof of the author's unusualness. Who whispers to King the plots of his stories? Who shows the life of ordinary people through the eyes of monsters? His books are very scary to read, what is it like for King to invent them?
A small American town of Derry, which lives a leisurely, measured life. Everything in it is good and decent, except for the periodic disappearance of children and adolescents, as well as increased mortality in the same children. Children die in different ways, but very often their death is cruel and sadistic. Maybe these lands are rich in maniacs and sadists? Maybe there are too many psychopaths and crazy people in this city? No one knows the exact answer, although at different times dozens of criminals were sentenced to life imprisonment, but were all of them the real culprits of the murders that happened in these places?
Stephen King will tell us the story of a strong friendship that has stood the test of time. Seven teenagers will play a central role in this work, it is they who will have to face the nightmare of the city of Derry. The author describes the life of twelve-year-old children in such detail, shows all this so clearly that for a second there may be a suspicion that someone of the same age helped him come up with all this, or he simply describes his own childhood. First love, the first blows of fate, the first overcoming of their own fears, they have to go through all this together and only thanks to the support of a friend, they manage to fight their phobias. Many note the writer's excessive fascination with details in describing the smallest details from the life of his characters, but thanks to this, the reader has a clear picture of what is happening and one can easily imagine any of the "magnificent seven".
The novel "It" is a cocktail of a variety of emotions. Fear, hatred, desire, despair, hope, joy, all this will pass before your eyes. King does not scare with bloody details, although this is enough in the book, he makes you experience what is happening with the characters, the emotional intensity in the work is simply crazy.
Stephen King rightfully bears the title of King of Horrors. No one has ever managed to intrigue my attention so much and make me worry so much about the fate of the characters.
I want to express my deep gratitude to the AST publishing house for the opportunity to read the complete version of the novel, and special thanks to the translator, who did an excellent job.
Score: 10
There are writers who have won the hearts of millions of readers. They say about such writers - "well, this is a Writer, with a capital letter." Those. doubting their skill is practically a real sin. About someone you can say - this book of his is good, I recommend everyone to read it. but other others are worse, but that one is no good at all, do not read it.
King is a book virus. Any of his books is an event with a capital letter. One online store where I buy books regularly sends me announcements about the release of a new King book, although I only bought one of his books, which is called "It". But judging by how many responses the announcement of this book collects, how much awe, tears and saliva, this same online store does not even doubt that I can be neutral about the fact that King has written a new book. Am I not like everyone else?
To check whether I am all or not, I decided to get acquainted with what first came to hand, i.e. with "It" (although I'm lying if I keep silent about the fact that I watched almost all the films on King).
The novel is set in Denbrough, Maine. Small town in the northeastern United States. In the 1950s, children began to disappear there. Someone regularly kidnaps them, kills them, tears them apart and does other indecency. The police are looking for murderers and maniacs among their parents, homeless people and hooligans, but seven eleven-year-olds are sure that Ono is to blame for everything.
What is It? At first, we are stubbornly told that It is a crazy clown monster. He lures children into the sewers, he comes to them in their dreams, his voice is heard by the children in their heads. A group of teenagers decide that adults can't help them in any way, because they don't have contact with It, and It with them. So you need to take everything into your own hands.
And here the story is divided into 2 parts - the children are still children (the 58th year) and the children are already adults (the 85th year). In one and another form of narration, the main characters are doing the same thing in parallel - they are looking for a meeting with Ono with the aim of reprisal. But still, the lion's share of the novel is devoted specifically to the children's period. He describes in detail how the children separately met Ono, how they met each other. And at the same time, what the city lives with is revealed. Denbrough is by no means a dream city. Sometimes it seems that Denbrough is It. Who knows who is scarier - some unreal monster from the sewer or a stepfather who killed his stepson. It is the spirit of Denbrough.
The story goes slowly, King describes the city in detail, introduces new secondary characters into the novel, who are completely unmemorable. It seems to me that the book is very long. King slowly reveals the characters, he climbs into the head of each child, describing his earlier years of life, from which you will find out why this child is the way he is. Why is a hooligan a hooligan. Why is Eddie asthmatic? Why is Beverly the only girl in this company. Etc.
Maybe if it wasn't King who wrote this, but someone else, I would stop reading, but King writes well, it's a pleasure to read him. And even though the horrors are mostly described from the childish side, in a few moments I still managed to get excited and I thought that these scenes would make me wince if I watched the movie. At its core, the horrors themselves are not childish - blood is shed, bones are broken. This is not a children's horror film. Just the horrors themselves from childhood, when we were afraid of the dark, basements, attics and scary clowns. Just what kind of adult can be frightened by rotting clowns in makeup? Reading a book, we seem to look at the world through the eyes of a child.
And I liked and intrigued it all, until I began to reach the end of the book, when the main characters of both the 58th and 85th years went in search of It. It is completely incomprehensible to me why neither children nor adults take anything with them except a box of matches. It suddenly turns out to be a formless monster with a thousand masks. It, which mercilessly dismembered children, instilled into their heads, subduing the body, suddenly begins to be afraid of an ordinary inhaler.
The scenes of the final meeting of children and adults with Ono did not impress me at all. But the scene with group copulation completely killed me. I immediately thought - what was King smoking when he wrote this, my God ... What needs to be done to get out of the maze? Of course, have sex! Ariadne would have known about this when she passed the thread to Theseus ...
Plus, by this point, my book fell apart (on one side the cover fell off). Kids having sex, covers falling apart, It oozes pus - oh, that's it, King.
I was not impressed with the novel and I definitely will not re-read it. Maybe I just started out wrong? Or maybe I'm not "everyone" after all.
Score: 4
To begin with, I first read King in the 11th grade. It was the novel "It", the volume of "War and Peace". I read it furtively, instead of preparing for the exam. And on the last call, I was absolutely immersed in the life of a group of friends, in the tragic history of the town of Darry, I was gloomy and detached, as if I was surrounded by the very rain in which stuttering Bill lost his younger brother. And I will not say that I am too impressionable. But, you must admit, when a 17-year-old guy shies away from the drain in the bathroom, this is no accident? Exactly what is not without reason. One writer is guilty of this, who managed to make me believe in the world he invented.
Now, if I start revisiting the key characters and the time period covered by the novel, I will be presented with a story so vast that I will be discouraged by its scope and depth of treatment of each situation. Any scene is described to the smallest detail, which never turns out to be superfluous and does not burden the reading - they only create an absolutely realistic picture.
At the center of the story is the "Losers' Club" - a story about six teenagers who are faced with universal evil, and continue to fight this evil as adults, during the next awakening of the monster. But the story doesn't stop there. There are dozens of problems considered by the author. There is homophobia, and childish cruelty (stronger guys pester the weak, abuse animals), and racism (a detailed description of the unfortunate burnt disco of blacks), and how adults do not see the problems of children, as if children cannot have problems at all, and the way adults turn a blind eye to the systematic disappearance of children, as if this is a sacrifice for the benefit of their quiet life ... you just can’t count everything.
In addition to the social, the novel also has a lot of creepy scenes. For example, escaping from the basement from a half-decomposed zombie, or talking with Ono in the shower (“we are all flying here ... do you want a balloon?”), Or an adult Beverly’s trip to her former home when water dripped a full sink ... From all these episodes (even now) gave me goosebumps.
But all this would not be enough to call the book almost a masterpiece. There is something universal in the novel. Turtle made up of galaxies and stars. This is the image that represents the universe in the imagination of children. She helped them defeat Ono for the first time. The second time around, everything was somewhat different... The important thing is that the feeling of the presence of something global, universal, does not leave in every scene. It was as if a Turtle was sitting next to me and watching what was happening. It is this feeling that runs through the whole novel and, at its end, develops into an extraordinary delight. It was as if I myself had survived this battle with evil, took part in something important, and at the same time matured by at least five years. An indescribable feeling.
This is a book that you do not read - you live it. And this is not 1000 pages read, but 1000 hours that I have witnessed. This is a great work of art. A low bow to Stephen King for the opportunity to experience such a story.
Minus one point for a completely unnecessary and inappropriate scene
Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)
copulation.
Score: 9
In recent years, more and more often I come across the fact that when the thought and desire to read something else unread by King comes, and you take it, terrible boredom and disappointment literally immediately sets in. Either the writer is still an age-old writer, influencing only the growing and strengthening psyche, and I have already left the circle of those who perceive his creations, or the books I came across were not the same ...
And now, for two years, it “was lying around” in my reading room of the imperishable book “It”. As a child, the film made its impression on me, although it was immensely dragged out, the images of scary clowns always attracted me, and this trend almost started from this book ... In general, there were all the prerequisites for reading. I was very embarrassed by the not bad volume of the work without cuts and abbreviations, but I had no idea how bad everything would be .... No, individual places and descriptions really still make an impression, but in general it is boredom and mortal longing. King throws his favorite clichés and plot moves at us, again these endless children and their growing up, writers and their wives, a provincial town gone crazy, etc. etc. I’m already silent that this person clearly has something wrong with his head: I’m not a hypocrite, but the sexual and presexual experiences described here at the age of 11 are something transcendent, beyond good and evil ...
I wanted Pennywise and immersion in the depths of his character - shish, I wanted suspense and powerful plot development, vivid characters and a non-trivial atmosphere - shish. In general, continuous melancholy green and disappointment. It's even strange that "It" was written almost simultaneously with "Gerald's Last Game", which at one time made a very strong impression on me. I don’t know, maybe if you read “It” as a teenager (with cuts, of course), it will impress, but now - no, no, and again no.
Score: 5
After reading the book, I can say with confidence personally about myself that it was not in vain that I refused to read it for so long. For me, it turned out to be too hard a journey full of hard impressions, fear, horror, sadness, pain - and absolutely joyless. Almost for the first time, I deliberately read a book for a long time, with breaks to rest from impressions - two and a half months, that's how long this journey lasted. Almost for the first time I did not try to keep up with the events and the denouement. I knew perfectly well that nothing good lay ahead of me.
Although no, I'm mistaken, of course there was good there - this is a strong friendship, when one for all, and all for one, when for the sake of a friend and into the fire, and into the water, and into the basement, and into the sewer, and into the darkness, and into the dark, and against the ill-fated Henry and his friends, when it doesn’t matter that someone is too fat or stutters, when someone is too intelligent, neat or suffers from far-fetched asthma and constantly walks with an inhaler, when one is black and everyone else is white when there is only one girl in the company. And what a pity to read that this strong friendship was forgotten and we had to remember the events bit by bit. But this is understandable - remembering her and each other means always remembering It, living in constant fear and waiting for It to return. Probably then there would not be enough strength to live at least some years, which would turn into eternity.
In this book, the Author especially, it seems to me, thoroughly tries to delve into the details, into the subtleties, into the details, in order to explore, understand and bring to us, the readers, where evil draws its strength from. Why It is cyclical and every twenty-seven years it manifests itself in the most terrible way, and it is in this small American town of Derry that it arranges hell for all its inhabitants. How, from where and why every twenty-seven years a wave of aggression, cruelty and violence breaks out, why monsters are born in the heads of children, in their minds. Of course, each person has their own fears, fears, unfulfilled dreams, but not everyone can cope with them, fill the void that gives rise to fears and insecurity. And it is this emptiness that feeds It, gives endless food. After all, negative characters are deprived of kindness and the ability to sympathize, their essence is a void filled with evil, perversion, cruelty. And although each of the Losers took a piece of their childhood with them into adulthood, not everyone ran away from him, from his fears, but they were originally creative people, and even kind, selfless, capable of the most devoted friendship, they had something to drive and defeat the dragon in themselves, so it was they who had the unenviable fate - to defeat It, and not succumb to it.
The book is quite impressive and, in my opinion, the Author does the right thing, that from time to time he begins to describe something in great detail and scrupulously. It seemed to me that by doing so he gave me some respite. And it didn’t matter to me at all whether any of the details would play a role in the future or not, whether a character was mentioned again or not. It is unlikely that I will ever dare to re-read the book - for me, an impressionable person, this is overwhelming work. And the book will not be loved, but it does not matter at all. I give credit to the Author for his colossal work, amazing elaboration of characters and their characters - to thoroughly feel the hatred for Tom Rogan, experience wild indignation at the crazy mother Kaspbrak or such a caring mother of Ben, shake Bill's parents with a fair amount of force, etc.; for how wonderfully all the nuances that connect the childhood and adult life of the characters are taken into account, for the many details that only emphasize and fully reveal the full depth of the many questions that are spelled out in the novel, and for the fact that this book is probably really one of the most important in his work.
Score: 9
I suddenly realized how many fears I owe to Stephen King. This is an unconscious fear of hotels and long corridors with red carpets (what if Two Little Dead Girls meet me at the next turn?!) And anxiety in front of a closed bath curtain (a dead, smiling woman!) Disgust and fear of clowns with their makeup and airy balls (Pennywise!!!), and an incomprehensible, cautious attitude towards the drain hole of the sink ... Although this is not fear ... no, we are adults. Rather, it is a disgust, absolutely unconscious of the brain, since childhood, entrenched in the subconscious. The fact is that at the age of 6 I watched “IT”, at 11 my favorite TV series was “The Shining”. Then there were “Children of the Corn” and “Pet Cemetery”. That is, before I met my Favorite Writer, my Fears were already shaped by the film industry. And, of course, in the future they significantly influenced my worldview :) I was always indignant when King was undeservedly, as it seemed to me, called the “king of horrors”, when people saw the author’s name on the cover and said that I read “cheap horror films” , although I had in my hands such books as The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Insomnia. To my denials “And here are the monsters and horrors, read it, there is pure psychologism and drama!” they were silent, remaining at the opinion. But after reading IT, I began to see new facets of King. He really masterfully catches up fear, perfectly outlines the atmosphere, immerses you in the state of Maine, where his laws and rules reign. Not only does it give the characters personality, it somehow magically makes us treat the characters as close friends, or...enemies. He's also scary! I finally, after rereading a bunch of gothic novels, vampire chronicles and zombie stories, found something that can scare me, because "We're all flying down here." In general, if you want to plunge into my beloved state of Maine, with its sometimes boring and so familiar residents, live a small, creepy and at the same time such a wonderful summer from childhood, get to know the Losers Club, then you are in Derry!
Score: 10
For some, a book that evokes memories of childhood is "Dandelion Wine", for whom the books of any domestic authors, but for me such a book is "It". Maybe I had a difficult childhood, since it is associated with this novel, but it is so. Just a lot of the same. We (our company) played in all sorts of wastelands, we had our own Barrens - some kind of bushes on the banks of a small river, rather even a stream, where we built huts, brought food and had a "picnic", someone even tried to smoke, in a word we did everything that children do, left for at least an hour without parental control, feeling the taste of "freedom". After all, this is precisely what attracts such abandoned, wild places for children - although it is scary, but there are no adults. We had our Barrens, our Henry Bauer and our Beverly Marsh. Only It was not. Or was it? What is "It"? It's an irrational, inexplicable fear. Children's fear, not subject to the influence of an adult rational mind, a fear that can hide, but which never goes away, because everything that happens to us in childhood remains forever. It takes on different guises, being the heroes of the book, and everyone has their own fears, everyone has their own “It” ...
In the course of the novel, the story of the town of Derry is told - that's just a terrible place. Derry is described so meticulously that it is about to materialize. We see its whole history, and this history is the history of the fear that the city has lived through all this time. How many people died not by their own death here, it’s scary even to count, “It” probably holds the record for the number of corpses in King. But, despite all the bloodiness, the main motives of this book are friendship and love, and the author can perfectly describe this. This is the special magic of the Master's books, there is always Good in them, it lives in people and always wins. Evil, on the other hand, helps to understand the price of happiness, forcing the heroes to make a moral choice: to give up, turn a blind eye (which the inhabitants of Derry have been doing for a hundred years) or fight and be ready to sacrifice themselves.
Everyone was very struck by one of the scenes at the end of the book, connected with a group act of, uh, love between children. And I also didn’t quite understand old King in this case, this scene somehow overshadows the memories of an innocent childhood, and simply - I didn’t understand its meaning. What does she symbolize? The highest degree of unity between them? That's fine, of course, but why is it so...
"It" is rich in events, there are so many storylines, characters, interesting moments that one could write several books based on them, simply by pulling out a plot and stretching it into a novel. How King did not hesitate to use all the ideas in one novel. Yes, and his fantasy here played out in earnest (perhaps spurred on by alcohol, as they say). The thick volume is easy to read, the style is truly "King": an interesting tense plot, clear characters in which you recognize yourself or your friends, psychologism, "Freudianism", in general, everything that we like about this author. For me, this is one of the best novels, both by King and in general in the genre.
"It" is like a photo album with two photos. One is black and white, faded, and the other is bright, color. These photographs are two times described in the novel - the past (childhood) and the present (adult years) of the characters. But it is the past that is described in bright colors. You read and feel the summer heat, the breath of the wind, the coolness of the rain, you visibly imagine childish love, childish fear, childish desperate courage, childish anger.
For me, It is a novel about childhood, not about evil. If we assume that "It" is a novel about evil, then the main characters are the clown Pennywise, Oscar and Henry Bowers, Tom Rogan and others. But monsters in any guise are only terrible minor characters, they are episodic. The Losers will take care of that.
Seven guys believed that they could kill the creature and they killed it. Killed by fake weapons. Just like they kill when they play war games. A plastic pistol is pointed at the enemy, they say “Bang-bang, you are killed” and the enemy is defeated. That's how the children pointed a conditional gun at It and It died.
Well, now in order.
I met a lot of reviews and criticism regarding the fact that allegedly in “It” there are too many drawn-out and boring moments, sagging, and so on. Lord, no! “It” is built very harmoniously, all the plots and episodes find their development in the future, they are in place, and they are exactly where they should be. And imagine this quality, held for 1245 pages. Impressive. For example, next I read "11/22/63" (800 pages) - and that's where the middle specifically sags.
The chapter that made me fall in love with this piece is called "Six Phone Calls (1985)". In it, the reader gets acquainted with each of the main characters of the book for almost the first time (except for Bill). The chapter is framed perfectly, but let's not talk about it, because it would be too tedious to describe each individual chapter. “It” is teeming with colorful characters, but you get along, as with relatives, with this seven. Everyone has their own fears, their own problems, their own unrevealed feelings and character traits. Stephen made a smart move, using the eyes of children as the most receptive and subtle creatures.
Now directly about Evil. I will not copy someone else's idea. One of the reviews said that Evil is in each of us, and it always wants to take over. Evil takes on the most varied and sophisticated forms, even the following: the ability of adults to ignore their children, the mother's excessive concern for the health of her son, overfeeding her son as a sign of love and at the same time the fear of loneliness, etc. What else needs to be said about Evil? Of course, the fact that adults do not notice him. King is a master of symbolism, and therefore his thought can be understood in different ways. For me, this is an unwillingness to delve into the problems of children (1), a frivolous assessment of their hardships and difficulties (2), an inability to go beyond the world they are familiar with (3). It is in Derry that this property of "adulthood" is elevated to the absolute. When the whole history of a small town is filled with blood, the inhabitants of the city simply turn away and do not notice what is happening further. That's scary, as they say...
About blackness. So in a good way, I call a very tough, bright and honest description of bloodthirsty or extremely evil details / episodes / stories. For such rubbish, I fell in love with "Fury", "Kujo", "Shine". In "It" ... oh, here Stephen King tried. Here I saw the brightest and strongest heavy episodes. I will name a few of the most sunk into the soul: 1) a fire in the Black Spot establishment; 2) shooting on the street with a gang; 3) the story of Patrick Hockstetter and the details of the death of his younger brother (here I felt scared and ill...); 4) several episodes concerning Eddie, for example, a dialogue with a pharmacist. Yes, there are a lot of strong black episodes.
About philosophy. The author's direct battle with It is replete with symbolism and philosophy, the nature of fear. Even earlier, when the breathless guys saw the genesis of It - what does this mean? About the fact that It existed before people, before mankind. It is older, wiser, more cunning, but we still have to give it a fight. So, about the battle. Where should we give him a fight? That's right, in your head. Stephen's battle of minds appears in some cosmic transcendental space, black, empty, in It's lair. This black empty space is the soul of an evil person, every person who has surrendered to Evil. The author directly shouts to us about this from the pages.
“It” is frighteningly voluminous. But a person who has read A Song of Ice and Fire cannot be frightened by a large number of pages :) “It” is large-scale, but nothing superfluous. "It" is very atmospheric, characteristic and superbly written - which is very important! - simple and understandable language. "It" is written on behalf of children - for adults. About the absence of childhood as such. And this is the scariest part...
Score: 10
Everyone who wanted to have already managed to watch the movie "It" in 2017, and I must tell you that there were an incredible number of people who wanted to. After watching "It", many forget (and some do not even realize) that it was based on the original book of the same name by Stephen King. And it doesn't take a genius to understand that there are some differences between the movie and the book, of course. Director Andres Muschietti cut out some moments, changed them, or even added something that was not in the book. Today Umkra will tell you about 7 key differences between the new It movie and Stephen King's book. P.S.: The book is much more hardcore.
Patrick Hoxetter's character
In Stephen King's book, Patrick Hoxetter has an entire chapter dedicated to him, while in the movie he just appears in the background until he "disappears" in the sewers thanks to Ono's efforts.
According to the book, Patrick is a very creepy teenager who did terrible things. He locked the animals in an abandoned refrigerator in a landfill and waited until they died.
According to the book, one day he went to check the refrigerator, but when he opened it, he found that there were flying leeches inside (his worst nightmare) that attacked him. Only after that, It drags Patrick down the drain.
The director of the film decided to use this character as early fodder for Ono, and to hell with him, but it's really a shame that he's featured in the film as a regular bully and not a creepy psychopath.
P.S.: in King's work, Patrick Hoxetter believed that everyone around him was unreal, did not exist. He considered himself to be really existing, maybe the only one in the whole world, but this did not mean for him that even he was real.
Mike's backstory
Of all the kids in the Losers club, Mike is the character whose story has been changed the most. In the book, his parents are alive and did not die in the fire, and his father is in conflict with his father with Henry Bowers (the film's main bully).
Nevertheless, the story of the fire is indeed present in the book, but in a very different form. In King's story, Mike's father told how he managed to avoid being set on fire by racists while serving in the army.
Beverly kidnapping
In fact, it simply wasn't in the book. Having gone in search of It, the Losers club descended into the sewers in full force, including Bev.
Most likely, in this way, the director wanted to save time, giving the rest of the children a reason to go into the sewer to save her. The second explanation for this move is to show the audience the true nature of Pennywise when Beverly goes into a trance.
Yes, yes, if you did not know, then the evil clown is one of the essences of Pennywise, in fact, he is a collection of flying evil lights that you could see in the movie when he opened his mouth. What are the lights and where did they come from? All questions to Stephen King.
The fate of Henry Bowers
In the book, Henry Bowers does not die in the sewers, instead he survives and even lives to adulthood. In the book, he is blamed for the murders of missing children and spends the next few decades in a psychiatric hospital.
In the movie, his buddies Victor and Belch are not with him when he follows the kids into the sewers, but in the book, it's the other way around - the three of them descended into the sewers, but while It attacked his buddies, Henry managed to escape.
Perhaps in the film, Henry also does not die, we were only shown how he falls from a great height into a well, knocking various parts of his body against its walls. Perhaps he landed on something soft, or in water, for example, because his death in the first part of the film would be a strange move, since he still plays an important role in the second part.
The real form of Pennywise
In the book, when the children reach Pennywise's lair in the sewers, they are greeted by a monstrous spider. This is the closest image to It's true form that it can take in the human world. As we wrote above, his true form is actually a mass of pulsing, evil lights known as "dead spots" - that exist outside of our universe.
Most likely, the writers saved the revelation of Ono's true form for the second part of the film, so this time they decided not to go beyond the image of a clown.
Removal of the bizarre and infamous sex scene
For many, this will now come as a shock, but in the book, after the kids defeat Pennywise, Beverly has sex with each of the boys of the Losers club in turn.
We know, we know, it sounds incredibly strange, but this scene carried a more metaphorical meaning, symbolizing the loss of innocence of a group of children: the summer of their childhood is over, and what they had to endure led them irrevocably into the adult world.
As Stephen King explained it all:
"I didn't really think about the sexual aspect. The book is about childhood and adulthood - 1958 and the time when they became adults. Adults do not remember their childhood. None of us remember what we did when we were children - we we think we remember, but we really don't know how it really was. Intuitively, the Losers knew that they should be together again. The sexual act is associated with childhood and adulthood."
Time period in which the movie takes place
The film takes place in the 80s, while in the book the story took place with children in 1958. The film jumped almost a quarter of a century forward for several reasons: 1) In this way, the director satisfied the interest of the audience, among whom nostalgia for the 80s is now incredibly popular, 2) this will allow the second part of the film to continue today.
This move left behind a lot of questions: will the storyline change in the second part, will Pennywise jump out of smartphones, etc.
By redoing this, the production team has given themselves a new level of complexity as they now have to continue the story in a time that Stephen King didn't even know existed when he wrote his novel.
The story is told in parallel at different time intervals.
Much of the novel takes place in Derry, where a storm sewer monster beneath the city uses its shape-shifting ability to kidnap and kill children.
PlotItPlace of birth It, obviously, is the void surrounding the universe, and called in the novel "Macroverse". Real name It(if he has a name) is unknown. However, in several places in the novel, his first name is Robert Grey. true form It impossible to comprehend. The final form, which It takes in the physical world - a huge spider, and this is only the most approximate form that the human mind can perceive. His true form resides outside of physical reality, in a place that It called "dead lights". Bill manages to hit It before dangerously approaching the "dead lights". Even in the universe of "dead lights" It remains invisible and is described as a flicker of orange lights. Staying in "dead lights" drives any creature crazy. The only enemy It - Turtle- another, more ancient inhabitant "Macroverse", who, according to the plot, created our (and possibly others) universe as a result of an upset stomach. The turtle vomited our universe. Turtle also appears in another of King's book series, The Dark Tower. It and the Turtle, creations of an omnipotent being referred to in the book as "The Other". They are eternal enemies, symbolizing Destruction and Creation. It arrives on Earth many millions of years ago in the form of a cataclysm similar to the fall of an asteroid. The city of Derry arises in the place where an asteroid once fell from the sky - It. For millions of years It stays in stasis, waiting for the appearance of people. Once people settle in Derry, It wakes up and begins to live according to a peculiar cycle: long-term sleep and awakening after a period of 27 years. Every awakening It accompanied by a great outbreak of violence and brutal murders. The same flash is accompanied by the end of the monster's wakefulness, after which It, satiated, again falls into hibernation. Years of awakening:
All these events are actually caused It, which influences and controls the people of Derry through various means. Michael Hanlon does a lot of research on the facts of the monster's appearance by interviewing witnesses - the townspeople. He figures out that the balloon clown and the giant bird that Michael's father saw in the Black Place fire are images. It present in each of the above events. Over the years, not a single mysterious murder of a child has been solved. Even in the national news, there is not a single note about a series of brutal murders of children committed in a small provincial town. There is an explanation for this: It does not allow ominous events to seep into the press and on television, because he controls people or dictates his will to them. That is why the inhabitants of Derry easily forget about the murders that periodically shake the city with their cruelty. Bill is convinced that this is happening, that It- part Derry or Derry - part It. In fact, this is confirmed at the end of the novel, when a flood destroys almost the entire city after being destroyed. It. It forced to fight with the "Losers", because the children are sure of his existence and that it is It killed Bill Denbrough's younger brother. In the course of the action, they learn that the monster is shape-shifting, taking on the forms of their deepest and most intense fears. For this reason, they consider It a werewolf, in the image of which he is the monster in the old house. And it is their belief that silver kills werewolves that allows them to inflict serious wounds on the monster, due to which It forced to run. The greatest vulnerability of the common man to It- simple belief in its existence. Therefore, the most vulnerable are young children who tend to believe in various monsters and monsters. To counter your opponents or influence events, It manages people. The Beast tries to kill the Losers by controlling the frenzied, almost insane bully Henry Bowers. While chasing the Losers into the sewers, two of Henry's friends were killed. It, and Buers himself flees. Later, after he confesses to killing children, Bowers is placed in a psychiatric clinic. The Janiler Hill Clinic is also mentioned in the collection Nightmares and Fantastic Visions (the story "Children in a Cage"), in the novels Tommyknockers, Insomnia, Necessary Things. It has a number of similarities with Ungoliant from Tolkien's The Silmarillion, this is both the form of a spider and the darkness associated with the creature. Also similar is that It brings offspring and remains unsaid - are all larvae It were destroyed by Ben. The only reason why "Losers" can harm the monster is that It, arriving millions of years ago on Earth, was forced to take on a physical form. And, despite his immortality in the "dead lights", "Losers" able to exploit his weaknesses in the material world. And the destruction of the monster in the physical world led to its death in its native space of "dead lights". In King's novel "Dreamcatcher" It meets again when the main characters of the book, Jonesy and Gray, arrive in Derry, at a place called Quay Tower Hill. On the site where the pressure tower once stood, a memorial was erected to all those who died during the 1985 flood. Memorial erected "Losers" in honor of the memory of all the children who were killed It. Behind the monument is the inscription "Pennywise is alive!". Also, the name of the hero of the novel, Bob Gray, is comparable to the name of Robert Gray, who It. Losers ClubThe Losers Club is seven children whose lives were united by fate. All of them were victims of bullying by Henry Bowers. Together we fought the terrifying It. Losers are typical characters that King likes, and therefore he often uses them in his works. William "Bill" DenbroughAlso known as "Big Bill" and "Stutter Bill" because of his stutter. His younger brother George was killed It in 1957 . Bill blamed himself for his brother's death, because it was he who sent him for a walk on the day he met It. With the death of George, the parents cooled off towards Bill and closed in on themselves. Bill is the leader of the Losers club. And it was he who in 1958 and 1985 fought with It with the help of the Chud ritual. And eventually destroyed the monster. Like many of King's characters, he is a successful writer. Benjamin "Ben" HanscomNicknamed Haystack. haystack) by Ricci in honor of the famous professional wrestler Haystack Kalun. Due to his weight, he was often bullied by Henry Bowers, who once wanted to carve the letter H (Eng. Henrey) on Ben's stomach. Ben is quietly in love with Beverly Marsh. Later, Ben becomes a famous and successful architect and gets rid of excess weight. His skills proved useful in building the Losers' underground headquarters and casting the silver bullets with which the children struck It. Beverly "Bev" MarshBeverly is the only girl/girl in the club. She comes from a poor and complex family living on the outskirts of the city. The father regularly beats up Beverly for any reason. She later fell in love with Bill Denbrough and joined the Losers. Her skill with a slingshot was a key factor in the fight against It. As an adult, she becomes a successful designer and marries a cruel man who reminds her of her father, something she will never admit to herself. Richard "Richie" TozierKnown as "The Filthy Mouth". Richie is the most flippant of the Losers. He always makes jokes and parodies those around him. His jokes and parodies are very powerful and effective weapons against It. Also, Richie is too developed for his age. Therefore, he translates his boredom into constant barbs and witticisms against those around him, which one day goes sideways to him. Tozier was the first to understand the magical power of the number seven and insisted that there be seven people in the group. Having matured, he becomes a famous disc jockey at a popular radio station. Eddie KapsbrakA hypochondriac whose asthma is fictional, resulting from his suspiciousness and his mother's pushiness. Eddie has poor eyesight and is the weakest member of the group. Richie calls him Edd, which Eddie hates. After Henry and his buddies break Eddie's arm, Eddie's mother tries to protect him from the Losers, but Eddie is firm, stating that he is no longer the helpless boy she makes him out to be. He became a successful entrepreneur in the limousine business and married a girl who looked like his mother. Eddie dies trying to hit It with your inhaler. It bites off his hand and he dies in Beverly's arms from blood loss. Michael HanlonThe last one to join the Losers' Club while being pursued by the Henry Bowers gang. He is the only one who remained in Derry after the first meeting with It. Having matured, he becomes a librarian. It is he who reminds the rest of the Losers of the oath, after the resumption of brutal murders in Derry. Mike's father had an album that kept and multiplied various facts describing important events for Derry, including the appearance of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Subsequently, Mike becomes an accomplished historian of Derry and a connoisseur of the facts of the appearance It. Escaped from a psychiatric clinic with the help of It Henry Bowers inflicts a severe wound on Michael, damaging an artery in his leg. Almost unconscious Michael manages to call 911 despite opposition It. Later Mark Lamoniki, managed It attempts to assassinate Hanlon. Michael's friends, anticipating trouble, transfer energy to Michael, as a result of which they stop the evil intent of the monster. Later, Michael, having recovered from his wounds, like everyone "Losers" gradually loses memories of the monster from the sewers. Stanley "Stan" UrisAlso known as Stan "The Man". Stan is the pedantic and distrustful representative of the Jewish people in the club. Logic, cleanliness and order are the hallmarks of Stanley. And it is precisely because of his commitment to logic that he cannot believe in the existence of It. Stanley's childhood hobby is bird watching and sketching them into an album. Having matured, he becomes a partner in a large accounting firm in Atlanta. Despite a childhood vow, Stanley does not return to Derry to confront the ancient monster. Unable to overcome his aversion to dirt, after a call from Michael Hanlon, Stanley commits suicide. Supporting charactersGeorge DenbroughGeorge Denbrough: Bill's younger brother, the first character to appear in the book. George is a typical child - cheerful and innocent. He was killed by Pennywise, who ripped George's arm off. It was the first death in the 1957 murder cycle, and it was she who prompted Bill to fight It throughout the book. After the first battle It hid in the sewers to meet Bill in 1985 in the form of his brother George. It was this meeting that dispelled all of Bill's doubts and allowed him to fight at full strength. Joe, despite being killed at the very beginning of the book, is one of the most important and (necessary) characters in the book, as it was his death that prompted Bill to start the club. "Losers" and destroy the monster It, preventing further killings. Henry BowersHenry Bowers is a sadistic, psychotic character who constantly bullies "Losers" since childhood. Although he despises them and oppresses them in every possible way, Henry knows nothing about "Losers", even their names. Henry's father, Oscar "Butch" Bowers, is an alcoholic who claims that he participated in the battle on Iwo Jima and even bought a katana sword from the bartender to confirm his words. Perhaps he was a participant in World War II - many adults returned as veterans from it. Henry's father is depicted as wild, half-mad, blaming all his failures on the Hanlon family. Henry, as a child, descended into the sewers chasing the Losers along with his friends Victor Criss and Belch Huggins. The last ones were killed It, and Henry is committed to a psychiatric hospital after he takes the blame for all the murders in Derry, including the murder of his own father. A few years later It invites Bowers to make another assassination attempt on the Losers. But he fails: Eddie Kapsbrak kills Henry with a broken bottle after Bowers wounds Michael Hanlon and comes to Kapsbrak. Eddie confesses that he would not have been able to kill Bowers if Mike had not managed to seriously injure Henry during their skirmish. Audra PhillipsAudra Phillips in 1985 becomes the wife of Bill Denbrough. Audra is a famous actress. They meet by chance during work meetings. Audra is chosen as the main character in the film adaptation of Denbrough's novel. Before returning to Derry, Bill convinces her to stay in England. Audra initially agrees with her husband's arguments, but the next day something prompts her to follow her husband to the city of his childhood. When she gets to Derry It uses Tom Rogan to capture her as bait for Bill Denbrough. When "Losers" destroy the monster, they find Audra in a deep coma. At the end of the book, Bill uses the last item from his childhood, Silver's bike, to bring Audra out of her coma. Audra physically resembles an adult Beverly Rogan. Tom RoganTom is Beverly's husband. Tom asserts himself by beating and humiliating women in every possible way, including his wife, Beverly. Tom is surprised when the usually obedient and meek Beverly defends her decision to go to Derry with her fists and almost kills her husband. Desperate to find a wife, Tom beats up her friend and gets information about the place where Beverly went. Tom Rogan follows her with the intent to kill Beverly and Bill Denbrough, whom Tom assumes she is sleeping with. When Tom gets to Derry It uses Rogan to kidnap Audra and bring her to a lair under the city. After It appears before Tom in his true form, he, unable to withstand the shock, dies. Patrick HockstetterPatrick is a sociopath, confident that he is the only real person, unlike those around him. Patrick's "hobby" is torturing and killing animals. At the age of five, he strangled his sleeping brother with a pillow. Hockstetter is clearly bisexual, which confirms his attempts at oral sex with Henry Bowers and molesting girls in the classroom. Henry, afraid of rumors about his homosexuality, threatens Patrick with revealing his secret - a refrigerator in a landfill in which Patrick kills animals. Hockstetter picks up or steals pets and, placing them in a sealed refrigerator, watches them slowly die of asphyxiation, taking some semblance of satisfaction from the fact of their death. Patrick was eaten by a monster that attacked him in the form of flying leeches (the only fictional creatures he feared). Reginald "Belch" HugginsFamous for its loud belching eng. Belch Huggins is part of an inseparable trinity of hooligans: Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, and actually Reginald himself. He, along with Henry, constantly hunts for "Losers" to mock them. Belch was gutted It who took the form of Frankenstein during the persecution "Losers". It visits Henry Bowers in a psychiatric clinic in the guise of Belch Huggins, prompting him to seek revenge "Losers". Victor ChrisVictor is a friend of Henry Bowers. Along with Belch Huggins and Henry, he chases the Losers into the sewers, where he is killed. It, in the form of Frankenstein. Later, Victor appears to Henry, marking his final loss of sanity. Edward "Eddie" CorcoranEddie Corcoran is another little Derry resident. His younger brother Dorsey is killed by his stepfather with the hammer "Scotty". Eddie suspects his stepfather of the murder and runs away from home. It kills him near the canal, first taking the form of Dorsey, and then the monster of the Black Lagoon. Eddie and Dorsey's stepfather, Richard P. McLean, is imprisoned. In 1967 McLean commits suicide. the suicide note he left behind reads: “I saw Eddie. He was dead." Eddie is one of three characters (also George Denbrough and Patrick Hockstetter) whose murder is described in detail in the book. Stephen "Moose" SadlerSteven is a high school student who is sometimes seen with Henry Bowers and his cronies. After the battle with stones, during which "Losers" recaptured Mike Hanlon from the hooligans, Sadler disappears and Hockstetter takes his place. History of the creation of the novelIn 1978, King lived with his family in Boulder, Colorado. One evening, he went alone to pick up his car from repair. On the way, he comes across an old wooden bridge, walking along which he remembers a children's fairy tale about three kids and a troll under the bridge. The idea of transferring the fairy tale to the conditions of modern life seemed interesting to him. However, King returned to it only two years later, and gradually accumulating ideas and thoughts (in particular, about interspersing the narrative of childhood and adult memories), he sits down to write a novel in 1981. Awards
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I dedicate this book to my children. My mother and wife taught me how to be a man. My children taught me how to be free.
Naomi Rachel King, fourteen years old.
Joseph Hillstrom King, twelve years old.
Owen Philip King, seven years old.
Guys, fiction is truth hidden in a lie, and the truth of fiction is simple enough: there is magic.
A shadow of the past
They start!
Perfections sharpen
The flower reveals bright petals
Wide towards the sun
But the bee's proboscis
It misses them.
They return to the fat land,
You can call it crying
Which creeps over them with a shiver,
When they fade and disappear...
After the flood (1957)
The beginning of this horror, which will not end for another twenty-eight years - if it ever ends - was, as far as I know and can judge, a boat folded from a sheet of newspaper, sailing through a storm drain swollen with rain.
The boat dived headlong, lurched aboard, righted itself, galloping bravely through the treacherous whirlpools, and continued along Witcham Street to the traffic lights at the junction with Jackson Street. In the afternoon of that autumn day in 1957, the lamps were not lit on any of the four sides of the traffic light, and the houses around were also dark. It had been raining non-stop for a week now, and for the last two days the wind had been added to it. Many areas of Derry were left without electricity, and it was not possible to restore its supply everywhere.
A little boy in a yellow raincoat and red galoshes ran joyfully next to the paper boat. The rain did not stop, but finally lost strength. It tapped on the hood of the raincoat, reminding the boy of the sound of rain on the roof of the barn ... such a pleasant, cozy sound. The boy in the yellow raincoat, six years old, was named George Denbrough. His brother, William, known to most of the kids at Derry Elementary School (and even to teachers who would never call him that to his face) as Stuttering Bill, stayed at home recovering from a bad flu. That autumn of 1957, eight months before the real horror came to Derry and twenty-eight years before the final denouement, Bill was in his eleventh year.
The boat that George was running next to was made by Bill. He folded it from a piece of newspaper while sitting in bed with his back against a pile of pillows while their mother played Für Elise on the piano in the living room, and the rain beat relentlessly against his bedroom window.
For a quarter of the block closest to the intersection and the broken traffic light, Witcham was blocked by smoking barrels and four orange, sawhorse-shaped barriers. On the crossbar of each was black stenciled "DERRY PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT". Behind the barrels and barriers, rain poured out of storm drains clogged with branches, stones, piles of clinging autumn leaves. At first, the water released thin streams-fingers onto the tar, then began to rake it with greedy hands - all this happened on the third day of rains. By noon on the fourth day, chunks of pavement were floating across Witcham and Jackson like miniature ice floes. By then, many Derry residents were nervously joking about the arks. The Department of Public Works was able to secure traffic on Jackson Street, but Witcham, from the barriers to downtown, was closed to traffic.
However, now, and with this everyone agreed, the worst was over. In the Waste, the Kenduskeg River rose almost flush with the banks, and the concrete walls of the Canal—the straightened channel in the inner city—protruded mere inches from the water. Right now, a group of men, including Zach Denbrough, Bill and George's father, were clearing sandbags that had been dumped the day before in a panicked rush. Yesterday, the overflow of the river and the huge damage caused by the flood seemed almost inevitable. God knows, this has happened before: the disaster of 1931 cost millions of dollars and claimed almost two dozen lives. Many years have passed, but enough witnesses of that flood remained to frighten the rest. One of the victims was found twenty-five miles to the east, in Bucksport. The fish ate the unfortunate eyes, three fingers, a penis and almost the entire left foot. With what was left of his hands, he held tightly to the steering wheel of the Ford.
But now the water level was falling, and with the commissioning of the new dam of the Bangor power plant, upstream, the threat of floods would cease to exist altogether. So, anyway, said Zach Denbrough, who worked at Bangor Hydroelectric. As for the others… for that matter, future floods didn't really interest them. It was about getting over it, getting the power back on, and then forgetting about it. In Derry, they learned to forget tragedy and misfortune quite masterfully, and Bill Denbrough was to learn this in due course.
George stopped just beyond the barriers, at the edge of a deep crevice that cut through the hard surface of Witcham Street. The crevice cut almost diagonally across the street, ending on the other side about forty feet below where George stood to the right of the pavement. He laughed out loud (a ringing childish laugh that brightened the dullness of the day) as the whim of the running water pulled his paper boat over the little rapids that had formed on the washed-out tar. The current of water cut a diagonal channel through it, and the boat rushed across Witcham Street at such a speed that George had to run as hard as he could to keep up with him. Water sprayed in dirty spray from under his galoshes. Their buckles tinkled happily as George Denbrough raced towards his strange death. At that moment, he was filled with pure and bright love for his brother Bill; love - and a bit of regret that Bill cannot see and participate in all this. Of course, he would have tried to tell Bill everything when he got home, but he knew that his story would not allow Bill to see everything and in great detail, as it would happen if they switched places. Bill read and wrote well, but even at such a young age, George was smart enough to understand that this was not the only reason Bill had only A in the report card, and the teachers liked his compositions. Yes, Bill knew how to tell. But he could still see.
The boat shot through the diagonal channel, it was just a folded sheet of private ads from the Derry News, but now it seemed to George that it was a speedboat from a war movie, like the ones he sometimes watched with Bill in the city cinema on Saturday mornings. . From a war movie where John Wayne fought the Japs. Spray flew from the prow of the paper boat in both directions, and then it reached a storm drain on the left side of Witcham Street. In the place where two streams met (one flowing through a crevice in the tar, the second through a storm ditch), a rather powerful whirlpool formed, and it seemed to George that the water would pull the boat and turn it over. Indeed, it lurched dangerously, but then George gave a yell of joy as the boat straightened up, turned around, and rushed down to the crossroads. The boy rushed to catch up with him. Overhead, the October wind shook the trees, which the multi-day downpour (which this year proved to be a very ruthless reaper) almost completely freed from the load of colorful leaves.
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