It

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Steven Weber

Stephen King’s classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max’s series It: Welcome to Derry—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled upon as teenagers...an evil without a name: It.

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they 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 the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.

Readers of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.

“Stephen King’s most mature work” (St. Petersburg Times), “It will overwhelm you…to be read in a well-lit room only” (Los Angeles Times).

There’s a few things you need to know first

Long review ahead!
This book gets a lot of varying reviews, but i believe that’s because lots of people don’t exactly know what they’re getting into. Without spoilers I intend to lay that out for you here.
First and foremost, this book is not either of the movies. Much like The Lord Of The Rings, or the Harry Potters, while the movies are inspired greatly from the books, they also are forced to leave a great deal out and rewrite areas as that the viewing experience can be more palatable. You need to go into this book remembering that, and you may just have a great time.
Secondly, this is a Stephen King novel and that means something different than first time readers may expect. Stephen King in excellent at building a world. As with any book he has written you can practically see, feel, and come to love the world he has made. For the world to feel realistic it has to act realistic. Halfof this story is set in 1958, so people have to talk like it’s 1958, kids have to act like it’s 1958, and the world must react like it’s 1958. It’s not pretty. Some parts of it are really terrible. That’s what King’s horror is. His horror is not the foremost part of his novels, horror is just what you feel once you become fully immersed within his world right as he begins to tear it down.
Thirdly the narration is an acting narration. Every character has a different voice with a different accent with stutters and yells and whispers. It’s not for everyone. Imagine it like listening to a movie playing in the other room, that’s what this entire book is like.
Finally this book is 44 hours long. Not everyone gets that at first. Both IT movies combined are 5 1/2 hours long, so things move much slower in the book. If you were to listen to this book for eight hours a day everyday, it would take just under a week to finish. Listening to IT for three hours a day would take half a month to finish. Think about that commitment before you buy this book.
This book isn’t for everyone. It’s harsh, it’s cruel, and it’s horrifying in ways you wouldn’t expect. But it’s also a really good book.

Weber’s performance is just ... Wow

King’s “It” needs no plug from me. It’s a classic, not my first read, won’t be my last. But, I had to pop in and express my admiration for Steven Weber. His narration was brilliant. It’s as close to a perfect performance as I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. His voices were so —real—. Pennywise was THE Pennywise, sardonic and cruel, the voice of deranged evil. I lost myself in the story—a story I’ve known a while—like I was experiencing it for the first time. Mr. Weber, I know you’ll never see this, but I am a convert. I’ll soon own all the books you’ve narrated.

Great story and performance!

absolutely loved this book. great story telling and detail. the only downside was the occasional cuts in the audio where a word or two was missing at the end of a couple chapters.

Beware

I loved 95 percent of the book. There is a part of the book that I had to fast forward through because of the content. I struggled with why it was even there. It made no sense to add it. I guess, shock value. Well, it did a good job of shocking me. It took a 5 star novel down drastically for me.

It - nuff said

This book is a modern classic and still holds up today. I just read it for the first time because I wanted to before the new movie came out. There are maybe one or two scenes that make you scratch your head (like the kids having sex in the sewer scene) but overall the characters and story are brilliant.

I am a big Stephen King fan and even I get exhausted by the lengths of some of his books. But if you listen to this one with patience, you will be well rewarded. The story plays out mostly like a bunch of short terrifying stories but he does a really good job of tying them all together in his strange Stephen King fashion. Not only does King tie the stories together, but more importantly he takes time to build the characters and their friendships. He also plays around with a lot of deeper ideas than just childhood fears. The book is also about adolescence, friendship, growing up, love and memory. And like all his books the characters are superbly flawed and feel as real as anything. You will not forget this book!!