It's amazing to me that I logged in today after finishing this book and realized I've been reading it for 3 months. Not that I've minded it, but that should speak to just how much of a commitment this book is. 
 It starts very slow with very methodical, laborious character intros, but if you can make it past the first 15% or so (I read this on a Kindle, so forgive the lack of page numbers) you'll be very pleased with the remainder. The plot and character arcs are given tons of room to breathe, giving the heightened intensity of the novel a very organic feel. Nothing ever jumped forward out of nowhere, everything mattered, and King put a TON of painstaking detail into this book. 
 Now I'd like to point out that King was definitely on drugs when he wrote this. It pushes the limits of sanity, spilling over into some Lovecraftian territory eventually, and I couldn't have been happier about that. Stuff gets crazy, and you can feel yourself and the characters being pulled down with it. 
 There are endless ethnic slurs and weird sex moments in this book, which seems to be a staple of King's books from the 80s in particular. One sex thing in particular made me feel... very weird. I think you will know it when you get there. But those moments just add to the creeping discomfort this book makes you feel almost the entire way through. This was King at his best, and I miss this guy, drug-addled as he probably was. 
 The arc of the characters is phenomenal, but beyond that, the grander theme of childhood innocence (and losing it) is the most powerful aspect of It. I've never read a horror novel that made me so introspective about my own life, missing the freedom of being a kid with no responsibility and nothing but a full life in front of me. And King doesn't force that on you in a depressing way. It's more joyful, letting you remember what it was to be a kid, giving you hope that you can feel that way again in small moments, and scaring the hell out of you along the way. Highly recommended.