Before I can start reading a new book, I have to digest this one.
Took me almost a complete month to read IT by Stephen King because it's over 1000 pages. Haven't been able to get through many books that long, but this one I did (mostly).
You might wonder why a person would want to escape a disappointing reality with a horror novel -- I came up with this explanation: even though I wasn't thinking, "I'm glad my life isn't like this!", the story engrossed me to a point where I was no longer thinking about my real life. This is one reason it annoyed me so much that I needed to skim certain areas of the book.
While King is great at painting a gruesome, graphic picture, he also goes into great characterization details and tangents -- most of which are good, but some of which drag and leave you wishing someone would get his head pulled off. So when the kids started doing their stupid, everyday kid things, I'd think, "I sure don't need to have anything to do with this ..." and got the gist of it instead of savoring every word (I'm sorry!).
There were times while I was reading on the subway that something so shocking would happen in the book that I'd physically react, which attracted the stares of others. Mostly I was cool. Didn't miss any stops, but came awfully close. My hour and a half commute went by like nothing.
So while I can recommend this book and I enjoyed it a lot, on a scale of 1-5, I'd have to give it a 3 because of all the skimming. If IT were a fraction of the length, the story would have been perfect.
Took me almost a complete month to read IT by Stephen King because it's over 1000 pages. Haven't been able to get through many books that long, but this one I did (mostly).
You might wonder why a person would want to escape a disappointing reality with a horror novel -- I came up with this explanation: even though I wasn't thinking, "I'm glad my life isn't like this!", the story engrossed me to a point where I was no longer thinking about my real life. This is one reason it annoyed me so much that I needed to skim certain areas of the book.
While King is great at painting a gruesome, graphic picture, he also goes into great characterization details and tangents -- most of which are good, but some of which drag and leave you wishing someone would get his head pulled off. So when the kids started doing their stupid, everyday kid things, I'd think, "I sure don't need to have anything to do with this ..." and got the gist of it instead of savoring every word (I'm sorry!).
There were times while I was reading on the subway that something so shocking would happen in the book that I'd physically react, which attracted the stares of others. Mostly I was cool. Didn't miss any stops, but came awfully close. My hour and a half commute went by like nothing.
So while I can recommend this book and I enjoyed it a lot, on a scale of 1-5, I'd have to give it a 3 because of all the skimming. If IT were a fraction of the length, the story would have been perfect.
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