It by Stephen King
Published 1986 · 1,780 pages · 115,585 words · about 8 hours at an average pace · Horror, Literary Fiction
How hard is It to read?
It scores 59 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 68 out of 100
- The text employs a sophisticated vocabulary, frequently incorporating literary, philosophical, and historical terminology such as 'zeitgeist,' 'ersatz,' 'nostalgie de la boue,' and 'psychopharmacological catastrophe.' It references numerous specific authors, works, and historical events, assuming a high level of cultural literacy from the reader. This makes it more demanding than accessible literary fiction but less obscure than works with highly specialized archaic jargon like *Moby-Dick*.
- Sentence structure: 62 out of 100
- Stephen Marche's prose balances direct, declarative statements with longer, more intricate sentences featuring multiple clauses and parenthetical asides. While generally clear, the text includes complex structures that require careful parsing, especially when detailing historical anecdotes or philosophical arguments. It avoids the extreme hypotaxis of authors like Henry James but is more grammatically demanding than straightforward narratives like *1984*.
- Abstraction: 78 out of 100
- The essay consistently operates on a high level of abstraction, using numerous biographical anecdotes and literary examples to explore philosophical concepts like failure, perseverance, the nature of artistic creation, and the meaning of success. The 'Grand Hotel' epilogue functions as an extended allegory, further elevating the abstract nature of the content. This places it significantly above purely narrative works, aligning more with philosophical discussions than concrete storytelling.
- Information density: 75 out of 100
- The text is remarkably dense, packing a vast array of literary references, historical accounts, and philosophical arguments into a relatively short space. Each page introduces multiple concepts, authors, and historical contexts, demanding sustained attention and a broad base of knowledge from the reader to fully grasp the interconnected ideas. This high concentration of distinct information makes it a conceptually demanding read, comparable to *2666* in its intellectual demands.
- Narrative indirection: 30 out of 100
- The text is a non-fiction essay that directly expounds on the nature of writing, failure, and perseverance, using numerous explicit examples to illustrate its points. While the 'Grand Hotel' section employs an extended allegory, its metaphorical meaning is clearly signposted and interpreted by the surrounding didactic prose. Readers are largely told the author's meaning rather than left to infer it.
- Symbolic density: 70 out of 100
- The essay is rich with symbolic meaning, particularly through its extended allegory of the 'Grand Hotel' representing the literary world and the act of 'throwing oneself against the door' symbolizing perseverance. Historical figures like Samuel Johnson and Herman Melville are presented as archetypes, their lives serving as symbolic narratives for the broader struggles of writers. The text frequently draws explicit connections between literal events and their deeper, universal implications for the creative process.
- Ironic distance: 30 out of 100
- The author maintains a largely sincere and direct voice throughout the essay, explicitly stating his perspectives on the realities of a writer's life. While he employs dry wit and critiques common misconceptions about success, these are presented as direct observations rather than requiring readers to discern a hidden, contrary meaning. The author's 'no whining' mantra serves as a literal, guiding principle for his argument.
- Resolution withholding: 85 out of 100
- The essay's central thesis actively resists traditional notions of resolution, asserting that a writer's life is characterized by perpetual failure and an absence of a 'promised land.' The concluding 'Grand Hotel' allegory reinforces this, depicting an endless cycle of struggle and unanswered questions about purpose and meaning. The author explicitly states that success remains elusive and undefinable, leaving readers with a profound sense of ongoing ambiguity rather than definitive closure.
- Structural complexity: 55 out of 100
- The text primarily employs a linear essay structure, but it incorporates a significant formal shift with the extended allegorical narrative of the 'Grand Hotel' in Chapter 6. This transition from direct exposition to a sustained metaphor introduces a layer of structural variation. The author also includes meta-commentary on the essay's own composition in Chapter 7, further diversifying the formal approach beyond a simple chronological or thematic presentation.
How It is regarded
It holds a literary regard score of 69 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.