It
Published: 15, September 1986
Author: Stephen King
Genre: American, Coming Of Age, Drama, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Media Tie-In, Shape Shifter, Supernatural, Suspense, Thriller, Werewolf
Check out the review of this book here:
Summary
The story is separated into two halves, each about 27 years apart. The first is from 1957 to 1958, while the second is from 1984 to 1985.
1957–1958
During a rainfall in Derry, Maine, a six-year-old child called Georgie Denbrough floats a paper boat across the streets until it is washed down a storm drain.
Georgie comes upon a clown in the sewer who introduces himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Pennywise tempts Georgie to reach into the drain and recover his boat, where the clown cuts off his arm and abandons him to die.
On the last day of school the following June, an overweight eleven-year-old kid called Ben Hanscom is bullied by a bully named Henry Bowers and his group, causing him to flee into the marshy wasteland known as the Barrens.
Ben meets an asthmatic weirdo named Eddie Kaspbrak and Georgie's elder brother, "Stuttering Bill" Denbrough.
The three lads subsequently become friends with fellow misfits Richie Tozier, Stanley "Stan" Uris, and Beverly Marsh, and call themselves "The Losers Club."
As the summer progresses, the Losers face Pennywise in several terrible forms: a mummy on a frozen canal for Ben, a fountain of blood (that only children can see) from Beverly's sink, a rotting leper for Eddie, drowned corpses for Stan, and a horrible ghost of Georgie for Bill.
Meanwhile, Bowers, who is becoming increasingly deranged and vicious, decides to focus his attention on his African-American neighbor Mike Hanlon and his father.
Bowers murders Mike's dog and follows the scared child into the Barrens, where he helps the Losers in driving Bowers' group away in a rock fight, a humiliated Bowers swearing vengeance.
After disclosing his personal brush with Pennywise in the shape of a flesh-eating bird, Mike joins the Losers Club.
The Losers learn through Mike's history scrapbook that "It" is an ancient creature with a grip on the community.
Following several encounters, the Losers build a homemade smoke hole that Richie and Mike use to imagine Its beginnings as an ancient extraterrestrial monster that arrived on Earth, commencing a cycle of feeding on youngsters for a year followed by a 27-year slumber.
Soon after, Eddie is taken to the hospital by Bowers and many of his friends, and Beverly watches one of the bullies, Patrick Hocksetter, being kidnapped by It in the guise of a swarm of flying leeches.
The Losers uncover a letter from It in Patrick's blood, warning them that if they meddle, It would murder them.
Ben fashions two silver slugs from a silver dollar in the hopes of wounding It, and the Losers enter an abandoned home where Eddie, Bill, and Richie had previously seen It to try to kill It.
They wound It with silver when it is in the guise of a werewolf. It influences Bowers into slaying his abusive father and pursuing the Losers into the underground to kill them, where It kills two accompanying bullies, Victor "Vic" Criss and Reginald "Belch" Huggins, and Bowers becomes traumatized and stuck in the sewers.
Bill undertakes the "Ritual of Chüd" in the sewers in an effort to confront It in the Macroverse, the other dimension from which It comes, where he encounters the monster's counterpart Maturin, an ancient turtle who created the universe.
Bill discovers that it can only be beaten via a fight of wills, and witnesses Its actual form, the "Deadlights," before defeating the monster with Maturin's assistance.
The Losers are lost in the sewers after the battle, not knowing if they killed It or not until Beverly has sex with each of the lads to bring the gang back together.
The losers then take a blood pledge to return to Derry if It reappears. Bowers is institutionalized after being implicated for the town's kid killings, having lost his mind by the time he washed out of the sewers into a neighboring river.
1984–1985
In July 1984, three teenagers savagely assault and hurl a young homosexual guy called Adrian Mellon from a bridge, where both a bully and Adrian's partner witness a clown appear.
Adrian is discovered mangled, and the teens are apprehended and charged with his murder.
When a new spate of brutal child deaths occurs in Derry, an adult Mike Hanlon, now the town's librarian, contacts the six previous members of the Losers Club and reminds them of their childhood commitment to return if the crimes resume.
Bill is now a wealthy horror writer living with his actress wife Audra; Beverly is a fashion designer married to an abusive guy called Tom Rogan; Eddie owns a limousine rental company and has married a hysterical codependent woman similar to his hypochondriac mother; Richie Tozier is a disc jockey; Stan Uris is a rich accountant, and Ben Hanscom is now slim and a successful but lonely architect.
Prior to Mike's phone calls, the Losers had entirely forgotten about each other and the pain of their youth, burying the horror of their encounters with It.
Except for Stan, who commits suicide in fear of encountering It again, all of the Losers agree to return to Derry.
The Losers gather for lunch, and Mike tells them that It wakes once every 27 years for 12–16 months at a time, feasting on youngsters before falling back asleep.
The gang decides to put an end to It once and for all. Following Mike's advice, each participant explores different places of Derry in order to help retrieve their memories.
Eddie, Richie, Beverly, and Ben are confronted with manifestations of It while investigating (Richie as a Paul Bunyan statue, Eddie as Belch Huggins and childhood acquaintances in leper and zombified forms, Ben as Dracula in the Derry Library, and Beverly as Hansel and Gretel's witch in her childhood house.).
Bill locates "Silver," his boyhood bicycle, and delivers it to Mike's. Meanwhile, Audra, concerned about Bill, rushes to Derry; Tom comes, planning to murder Beverly; and Henry Bowers escapes from the mental institution with the assistance of It.
Henry approaches Mike in the library, but Mike manages to flee alive. It orders Henry to murder the other Losers, but Henry is killed when he attacks Eddie.
It then appears to Tom and tells him to abduct Audra, transporting her to It's lair, where Audra becomes catatonic and Tom dies from shock.
When Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie find that Mike is approaching death, they understand they are about to face It again.
They go into the sewers and utilize their collective might to "transfer energy" to a hospitalized Mike, who fights off an It-controlled nurse.
When they get to Its lair, they discover that It has transformed into a massive spider. Through the Ritual of Chüd, Bill and Richie enter It's consciousness, but they become lost in It.
Eddie injures It by putting his asthma medicine down Its throat, but It bites Eddie's arm off, killing him.
It flees to care about its injuries, but Bill, Richie, and Ben pursue and discover that It has deposited eggs.
Ben remains behind to destroy the eggs, as Bill and Richie make their way to their ultimate encounter with It.
Bill fights his way inside Its body, locates and destroys Its heart. The party gathers to depart It's lair, and despite their best efforts to carry Audra and Eddie's corpses with them, they are forced to leave Eddie behind.
They see that the wounds from their blood covenant have faded, signaling that their torment is finally done.
Simultaneously, the worst storm in Maine's history rolls over Derry, causing the downtown area to collapse.
Mike comes to the conclusion that Derry has died. When the Losers return home, they eventually forget about It, Derry, and each other.
Mike's recollection of the events of that summer, as well as any records he had previously written down, begins to vanish, much to his relief, and he contemplates starting a new life somewhere.
Ben and Beverly depart as a couple, while Richie returns to California. Bill is the last to go from Derry.
Before leaving, he takes Audra, who is still catatonic, on a ride on Silver, which wakes her from her coma, and they kiss.
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