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Shannon DeRespino lives in Sanford with
her husband and their two black cats, Cam
and Raven. She holds a B.A. in English
from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in
English & Creative Writing from Southern
New Hampshire University. She has been
contributing book reviews to the Pinehurst
Gazette, Inc. since 2012.
It by Stephen King
(1986)
Fiction / Adult
Review by Shannon DeRespino
For some frequent readers, it may be hard to
pin down a favorite author. Those of us who read
voraciously may find ourselves reading (and
enjoying) a vast array of authors, genres and
eras of literature. While this is true of me to an
extent, I do find that it is easy for me to narrow
down the works and the writers who mean the
most to me. And I can say without hesitation
that Stephen King is my favorite author. I have
been reading the man’s work since I was in high
school, and I will continue to read him for years
to come. I have not yet read every book he has
ever published (a number which currently sits
easily in the 70s), but I have read a hefty chunk
of his bibliography. I have, in fact, previously
reviewed two of his works for this very column.
While I chose to focus on lesser-known King
products for those two reviews (The Long Walk,
a novel published under his pseudonym Richard
Bachman, and The Talisman, a collaborative
novel with Peter Straub) today I am going to
focus on one of the most famous, celebrated
and discussed works in his entire bibliography.
I tend to teeter-totter between counting The
Stand and It as Stephen King’s very best novel,
but they are most definitely my top two. Each of
these works is a lengthy, complex, multi-faceted
exploration and descent into darkness featuring
large and incredibly well wrought casts of
characters. While The Stand focuses on a story
on a massive scale—it is the story of a superflu
killing 99% of the earth’s population, leaving the
survivors to figure out what society, identity and
culture mean in the aftermath—It is a relatively
small story. I would also argue that it is one of the
most misunderstood works in King’s collection.
One of the burdens of
being one of the world’s
most popular authors is
the fact that people tend
to pigeonhole Stephen
King. He’s “the master of
horror.” He writes novels
that are supposed to
terrify, keeping readers
reading with their lights
firmly switched on. And
while I do think much of
what King has written is
scary, he simply does not
get enough credit for why it is scary. He doesn’t
just write about ghouls jumping out of closets
or grisly, bloody accidents. The scares of a King
novel are psychological in nature. He writes
about the complexities and evils within all of
us and within the systems we create and live
within. His novels aren’t about monsters. They
are all about people.
When most folks think of It, the first thing that
comes to mind is the iconic Pennywise, a shapeshifting,
horrifying evil clown who torments
children. Pennywise is a strong image, and he
taps in to the general uncanny and unsettling
creepiness that so many of people (myself
included) feel that clowns in general possess.
This fall I saw the release of a brand new film
adaptation of It, and Pennywise was back in the
public consciousness in a big way. I was thrilled
to see Stephen King back in the mainstream; I
did enjoy the movie quite a bit, but there is more
to the story than a creepy clown.
Really, It is a story about childhood. This
novel focuses on the town of Derry, Maine—a
seemingly normal mid-size town that has been
haunted by strange occurrences and violent
accidents every 27 years for decades. Derry is
a beautifully realized setting, and King takes
his time to make it feel like a real town…maybe
like your town. Living in Derry in the late 1950s
is a group of misfit kids, none of whom seem to
fit in, whether that be due to a stutter, a weight
problem, race or some other signal that calls for
neighborhood bullies to attack. These kids join
together in friendship, forming a “Losers’ Club”
that uncovers the secrets of Pennywise and work
together to defeat him. They must eventually
return to Derry as adults to complete the job.
The Losers’ Club is the real heart of this
novel, a brilliant story for any misfit, outcast
or loser to read. The seven main characters are
all given exceptional character development
and highly realistic dialog. They leap off the
page—a group of kids who you might wish you
could have hung around with when you were
growing up. They are all given their own pangs
and problems, whether it be Eddie’s overbearing
mother and crippling hypochondria or Richie’s
loud-mouth and terrible impressions, They
feel like real people, and though we get to see
them as both children and adults, the thesis of
It really hinges on the power of innocence. This
is a novel about friendship, about the power of
imagination, about how strong kids are when
they have someone to lean on and the ability to
believe in just about anything.
Make no mistake—the novel certainly goes in
some very dark directions. The story continues
the evils of both the supernatural Pennywise
(who has the ability to transform his shape into
that which a person fears most) and all-toohuman
(personified in a group of psychotic
bullies who will stop at nothing to torment the
Losers). This is an adult novel and often a very
disturbing novel. However, in many ways, I find
it to be one of Stephen King’s most optimistic
and joyful novels. This isn’t a novel about the
evil of the world pressing down on humans and
taking away all of their power. It is a novel about
how we can overcome the evils of the world if
we stick together, recognize the strengths we
have within ourselves and always keep the faith,
wonder and hope of a child within us.
This is one of the true masterworks of
Stephen King’s career. If you saw the new film
this fall (with a sequel to follow in 2019) and
have not yet read the source material, I highly
urge that you do so.
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
Adult / Science-Fiction
Review by Shannon Derespino
This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature was
awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro, the Japanese-born
British novelist who the Nobel committee
says “in novels of great emotional force, has
uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense
of connection with the world.” In 1989, he won
the Booker Prize for his acclaimed novel The
Remains of the Day. He was nominated again
for that prize for his brilliant work Never Let Me
Go, and I feel that he should have won a second
Booker. It is this novel that made me nod and
smile when I saw that Ishiguro was the newest
Nobel laureate for literature. I think it is pure
genius.
It is difficult to talk about Never Let Me Go
without spoiling it, and I like to recommend
this book while giving only the barest inferences
about the plot itself. This is the story of Kathy
H., a young woman who introduces herself on
the first page as a “carer” who seems to look after
organ donors. There seems to be a lot going on
that the reader may not fully understand. Kathy
proceeds to tell the story of her school days at
a seemingly picturesque British boarding school
called Hailsham and her relationships with two
other students. Ruth is confident and assertive,
but a dear friend of the reserved Kathy. Tommy
is an awkward and
big-hearted boy on
whom she has a crush.
Hailsham seems to
give the students an
ideal and safe life, but
something more is
going on. The students
are constantly tasked
with creating art,
which is evaluated
closely by the staff at
the school. As Kathy,
Ruth and Tommy grow
up, they learn more
about the world in
which they live and their place in it.
That is all I will reveal about the plot, other
than to say that this is the most unique sciencefiction
novel I’ve read. I believe even those who
are not fans of the science-fiction genre can
enjoy it, as it reads like a literary fiction novel.
Ishiguro is a master with language, creating
a meditative, almost dreamlike quality to the
story that reminds me a bit of the novels of
Virginia Woolf. The novel is deeply English and
is run through with nostalgia and deep longing
in Kathy, a character who seems to be trapped in
a life that brings her no fulfillment or joy.
This is a profound and thoughtful novel
that raised many complicated questions about
identity, the nature of the soul and what our
purpose in life truly is. While there are sciencefiction
elements, it is really a beautiful comingof
age story that ruminates on the nature of
mortality and the fact that death is a necessary,
cruel and unavoidable part of life. This novel
made me cry, as did the 2010 film adaptation
starring Carey Mulligan. It is a quiet kind of
grief, born of the same sad and beautiful truths
we must all confront about our own humanity.
Read it and be convinced that Kazuo Ishiguro
was more than worthy for his new Nobel Prize.
No. 129 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.31