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It

It

ClassicsFantasy
Pages
1093
Published
1986
Language
English

Synopsis

In the fictional town of Derry, Maine, seven outcast children who call themselves the Losers' Club are hunted by an ancient, shapeshifting evil that feeds on fear and most often wears the face of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It surfaces roughly every twenty-seven years to prey on Derry's children, and in the summer of 1958 the Losers — Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Mike, and Stan — become the only people willing to fight it.

Twenty-seven years later, the killings begin again. The Losers, now scattered adults who have half-forgotten what happened to them, are called back to Derry by a promise they made as children: to return and finish what they started. King tells their story through a nonlinear structure that braids the two eras together, so that childhood and adulthood, memory and present terror, bleed into one another.

One of Stephen King's most ambitious and enduring novels, It is at once an epic horror story and a meditation on childhood, memory, friendship, and the losses that come with growing up. Beneath the monster lies a portrait of a town poisoned by its own buried violence, and of the fragile, ferocious bonds that let a group of frightened kids stand against it.

Prose complexity
10/10

Vibe

DarkNostalgic
Found FamilyDual Timeline

Genres

Classics Fantasy Literary Fiction Mystery Paranormal Suspense Thriller Horror Cosmic Horror Dark Fantasy

About the author

S
Stephen King

Stephen King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author whose work has defined popular horror fiction for more than half a century. Born in Portland, Maine, he grew up in poverty after his father abandoned the family, and credits his mother's resilience and a voracious reading habit as the foundations of his imagination. He began selling short stories to men's magazines while working as a high school English teacher, and published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974—his wife Tabitha retrieved...

Characters

Losers ClubProtagonist
Bill DenbroughProtagonist

The de facto leader of the Losers' Club, both as a child and as an adult drawn back to Derry.

Beverly MarshProtagonist

The lone girl of the Losers, brave and resourceful, enduring an abusive home.

Ben HanscomProtagonist

A lonely, overweight boy and gifted builder who loves Beverly.

Richie TozierProtagonist

The wisecracking, voice-throwing motormouth of the group.

All characters in It

Frequently asked questions

  • Is It part of a larger connected universe?

    It features several references and connections to other works by Stephen King, particularly through the concept of the Macroverse and the presence of certain recurring themes and entities. While it stands alone as a complete story, these connections enrich the broader King mythology.

  • Are there film adaptations of It?

    There are multiple adaptations of It. A two-part television miniseries was released in 1990, and a two-part theatrical film series was released in 2017 and 2019.

  • Is Derry, Maine a real place?

    Derry is fictional, but King modeled it closely on Bangor, Maine, where he has lived for decades. Specific landmarks in the novel—the Standpipe, the Barrens, the town library—correspond to real Bangor locations. King has described Derry as Bangor's dark fictional twin.

  • Does It have a non-linear narrative?

    The story of It unfolds across two distinct time periods, alternating between the characters' childhood experiences in the 1950s and their return as adults in the 1980s. This dual timeline structure is central to the narrative.

  • Why does It appear as a clown?

    Pennywise the Dancing Clown is simply the form most effective at luring children close enough to attack. The creature is a shapeshifter that takes the form each victim fears most; the clown face is its public mask. King has said he chose a clown because clowns—meant to be benign, even joyful—have a deep cultural vein of menace underneath.

  • How long is It and how long did it take King to write?

    The novel runs to 1,138 pages and required approximately five years to write. Published in 1986, it became America's best-selling novel that year. King has said it was his attempt to bring together everything he knew about horror and about childhood into a single definitive book.

  • What is the creature's true form?

    Beyond all its disguises, It exists as a set of blinding orange lights called the Deadlights—perceiving them directly can drive a person insane. The spider-like physical body that appears at the climax is not Its true form but the closest approximation a three-dimensional mind can process. The entity predates the universe and exists in a space It calls the Macroverse.

  • Does It connect to King's other novels?

    Yes. Derry appears in numerous other King novels and stories, and the creature has loose connections to the Dark Tower mythology—It is suggested to be one of the Todash monsters from outside the beams. The Losers Club member Ben Hanscom is also referenced in Needful Things.

  • It won the British Fantasy Award—what year?

    It won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1987, for the year of its publication. It remains one of the best-selling horror novels of all time and is widely considered one of King's defining works.

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