IT - Part Four

IT Part One
IT Part Two
IT - Intermission 
IT Part Two (redux) 
IT Part Three


6:30pm - Home
Chapter 13

I almost never use the work 'epic' to describe something, but the rock fight between the six (seven including Mike) kids and the five bullies is epic. Does Bill actually know it is going to happen? Is it intuition, or the 'magic' that they keep talking about?

And something is wrong with that boy Henry. If nothing else, this chapter has made that abundantly clear.

Anyway, it seems like we have our Magnificent Seven together at last.

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7:58pm - Home
Chapter 14

I am enjoying that King is writing the group (dare I call them heroes?) as being both accepting of all that they remember, no one calls bullshit or 'we were just kids playing games' while at the same time you can tell that they're struggling to fit in their childhood experiences with what they 'know' as adults.

I'm not sure the logic of building their own lair underground, especially since they all know that that's where the monster has been hiding out. But they seem to be operating on instinct more than logic so I'll allow it.

When the photos come to life (Again! I hate that. More than clowns) and Pennywise ends up pressed to the plastic it's both unnerving and confusing. There is a sense that that's all that's holding him back - had the plastic not been there he'd have had them. But I have a hard time believing something so mundane could hold him back either.

Confusion, I has it.

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8:22pm - Home
Chapter 15

It came from outer space? And the kids do a smoke ritual that should have killed them all (wouldn't it have been funny if the monster had set all that up so they committed suicide?) but doesn't and it turns out that the monster came from... somewhere else. I get it's not from space, but from some parallel - but still.

Stupid.

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8:55pm - Home
Chapter 16

Mr King, I don't want any of your meta bullshit. 'If I was in a book it would be like this but it's not', I see what you did there and again, maybe because it's now such a trope, it's stupid and bugs me and whatever.

I'm trying to think if there was a confirmed sighting of the monster in here, not just Eddie's hallucination which were probably real but I'm not sure. The real villain here is Henry Bowers, and I do like of King sets up this monster, but then shows how kids are equally cruel. (Although I do think Henry is being pushed a great deal and not necessarily responsible for his actions.)

But the kids, especially Eddie, standing up to the grown-ups - who are as a whole realizing they can't control these kids - is fantastic.

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7:20pm - Home
Chapter 17

I'm not... what is King's obsession with male genitalia?  I mean, yes, it exists, but I read 3-5 books a week on average and I have never seen this much dick across an entire six months.

The boys lighting their farts on fire, Beverly wondering about their 'things' - some light homosexuality. Although given what we learn about Patrick I find that sociopath who killed his baby brother and the kid who willingly jerked off a friend to be a dichotomy. And not in a 'well-rounded character' way, but in a 'what the hell are you doing Mr King?' way.

I think I'm supposed to feel okay that the monster kills Patricj because he's obviously a screwed up kid - but we only really just met him so I'm pretty meh about the whole matter.

I also just realized that King is pretty awful at sticking the "show don't tell" front. He flat out calls some characters crazy (and yes, they ahve crazy actions to back it up) but overall I feel like I've been told flat-out how I'm supposed to feel about many of these characters.

Anyway, the monster threatens them - they all hug... I think I missed how Beverly injured it. She does shoot one of the flying leeches (shoots it magically? Maybe?) but both her and Patrick smashed a bunch without it seeming to affect anything.

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7:53pm - Home
Chapter 18

So I thought this would be the final of the kids chapters, the confrontation, Beverly injures the monster (oh, now she does it, not last chapter... okay then) but it ends on a .... not a cliffhangar but a 'more to come'.

I suppose, if I'd thought about it more, I'd've realized that Victor was still alive - that Henery had not pursued team into the darkness that would drive him fully crazy.

But man, supernatural help or not, those kids have chutzpah to go into that house with nothing more than a slingshot. A house Ben at least was too fat to escape from if it all went bad. Jesus kid, that would have been my cue to GTFO.

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8:09pm - Home
Fourth Interlude

So..... I'm still pretty confused as to how this all works but I think I'm going to stay that way. How does It make adults go on killing sprees? What in the huh now?

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Continue?
IT Part Five