Prickly Sunset

Was taken by the pink glow in the kitchen this evening. Lovely stuff.

I finished IT today (permit me to waffle about this for a bit - spoilers ahoy). Overall, I really, really loved it. I'd had a lot of people tell me it was overlong and flabby and was prepared to get bored with it fairly quickly, but personally I think all the background info, new stories and character back stories did wonders to impress on the reader just how much It had sunk it's roots into Derry and many of its residents, and also to prolong the suspense between some chapters. I couldn't, however, give it the 5 stars I had initially wanted to due to the inclusion of That Scene. If you've read it, you know exactly the one I'm on about, and I just cannot wrap my head around it at all. I had previously been told about the scene on a couple of occasions (minus the specifics) and I think knowing about it beforehand did not help me at all. Firstly, it was hanging over me the enitre book (and it comes close to the end!) so anytime the kids were anywhere near a sewer, I started getting antsy for the wrong reasons. Secondly, because I had rationalised in my head that it probably wouldn't be that bad, probably wouldn't be that detailed, would probably make sense... Alas, nope. It doesn't really make any sense; there are loads of things the kids could have done to bond/come together again, it absolutely did not need to be sex. Also, it was distressing to me how clear King made it that none of the kids were into it at all (not that that would've made it much better, but at least it'd be consensual, which would be...something?!) The boys were crying, Bev seemed resigned to her role in it, and I actually feel like that would've pushed them further apart, given that none of them wanted to do it?? I dunno, it was just such a weird thing to include. I'm sure loads of people have dissected this much more eloquently than I have but it was an incredibly offputting segment of an otherwise brilliant book.