AUTHOR: Stephen King
NARRATOR: Steven Weber
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audiobooks
PUBLICATION DATE: March 9, 2010 (first published 1986)
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 44 hrs and 57 mins
GENRE: Horror
They were just kids when the first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf forever, about 30 years! I find big books very daunting, and this one is 1,116 pages! I decided to listen to the audiobook, and I borrowed it on Overdrive through my local library. The only problem is that the lending period is only three weeks, and then I was back in queue to wait to borrow it again. Well, I had to end up getting my own audiobook to finish it because I was #38 on the waiting list. It took me about four weeks of listening to finish this. So, was it worth it? It is satisfying to have finally read it, but it didn’t give me the thrills and chills that I was hoping for! Also, I think it could definitely have been pared down a bit.
I think most of us have a vague idea of what the book is about. Something bad happens to a group of kids in 1957, there’s an evil clown involved, and the kids grow up and return to their hometown in 1984 to finish off what they started as kids.
I loved learning about the 27-year cycle and tracing It back through history. I also enjoyed jumping back and forth between the two time periods, and seeing how the kids turned out as adults. I was excited when they reunited in Derry, and I was rooting for them all. That is, until it is revealed how Bev united the group. Seriously?!
There are a lot of disturbing and cruel deaths, and the ones involving children and animals are always are the worst. The book opened with Georgie, and then later there is another child who drowns in the toilet. Listening to how Henry watched the poisoned dog die just turned my stomach.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t find the book particularly scary but the 2017 movie trailer made me jump:
Narrator Steven Weber did a great job keeping me entertained through this extremely long tome! 45 hours is a huge investment of my time, and I don’t think I would have gotten through reading this one. The audiobook definitely made it easier for me, and Weber is a great storyteller. His Richie voice always made me smile, and I did shudder a little every time I heard Pennywise. Weber breathed life into each character, and I think he nailed it!
MY RATING:
This book qualifies as:
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I read this back when it first published and loved it, but yep it got dark, twisted and not so innocent.
ReplyDeleteWahoo!! That must have felt SO good to finish this massive book! I still need to give it a read :)
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