The Shining

I downloaded the sample of Dr. Sleep, having only watched the movie version of The Shining, and on the very first page I new I would have to go back to where the story of Danny Torrence started if I was going to read Dr. Sleep. Many people say "the book was so much better" and that line can be no truer for The Shining. Immediately, the characters elicit strong emotions from the reader. Jack Torrence, both protagonist and antagonist, compells the reader to feel sympathetic for his plight. As a "dry drunk" who has fallen on hard times after a short bit of success as a writer, he is desperate to straighten out his life for his family and feels that his last chance to do so is to take the caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel during the winter season. The reader can relate to this desire to provide for one's family. Jack's indecision - to stay at the Hotel and guarantee financial support or to leave the Hotel for the safety of his son - is very palpable. Jack's desire to be a good father plucks at the reader's heartstrings. Wendy, Jack's wife, was not as likeable as her husband, in my opinion. She is very timid, having suffered her mother's psychological and mental abuse for years. It's obvious that she has traded her mother's abuse for Jack's quick temper and (at times) violent outbursts. She is only strong enough to stand up to Jack when their son's safety is concerned. Any other time, she dances around the issues that have plagued her marriage and is outright skittish whenever Jack's mood sours. I felt that her inability to stand up for herself made her unlikeable. Danny, the five-year-old boy of the Torrence clan, was by far the most interesting character. He is very gifted with psychic abilities such as telepathy, empathy, precognition, and mediumship. As a child, he has very little understanding of these abilities and of the adult subject matter that he is inadvertently subjected to due to his abilities. This struggle is captured very well as it is described through his young and innocent point of view. The reader feels afraid for him as his abilities draw the attention of the malevolent spirits dwelling in the Overlook Hotel. King does an amazing job bringing his characters to life. The reader is captivated by the Torrence family chemistry via an in-depth look into their histories, their lifes' experiences, and their struggles. These elements become crucial to the events that transpire inside the Overlook Hotel and they become fuel for the spirits that are preying upon the Torrence family, thus entwining events of the past with those of the present. As always, Kind does an excellent job with description. Not only can the reader visualize the Hotel's various locations (the lobby, kitchen, different floors, the basement, the outdoors) but he also does an amazing job capturing the emotions and thoughts of the main characters. The reader knows what the characters are experiencing, knows what they are feeling, knows what they are hoping to accomplish. The story moves along at a very steady pace. Told through a limited third person point of view, the present is interspersed with tidbits from each characters' pasts that bring relevancy to the current situation. As tension between family members rise and as the danger of the hotel becomes more evident, the pace steadily grows faster and faster, making it very difficult to put the book down. The Shining was a very enjoyable book, full of human emotion and supernatural phenomena. With characters that are compelling and well-rounded and a story that captivates, this is a book that I highly recommend.

The best book I've ever read. The depth in the characters, the story within the story, the monsters in the walls. Stephen King has his fame for a reason. WOW

I finally tackled this book! And it was really good. I have never seen the movie but I still thought that I knew what to expect when I started this one but it was a bit different. There is a ton of hype surrounding this book and I fully expected this book to become an all-time favorite. It didn’t quite make that list for me but it was still a great read. After losing his teaching job, Jack accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny will spend the winter alone at the hotel. Jack thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity for his family and hopes to finally finish the manuscript he has been working on. Jack’s 5-year-old son, Danny, seems to know things because of his special gift. He can sense that some bad things have happened in this historic hotel. This story felt ominous from the start. The more I learned about the hotel the more certain that I was that I would not want to visit. Whatever you do – stay out of room 217! Jack had his share of problems before taking on the job at the hotel and after a short period of time, he spirals into periods of madness and violence. Danny was really the star of this novel though. Being at the hotel was hard on this gifted boy who could see things others couldn’t but he proved to be incredibly brave. I really appreciated his connection with the former cook at the hotel, Mr. Halloran, quite a bit. I thought that Campbell Scott did a great job with the narration. I believe that this was the first time that I have listened to his work and I was rather impressed. I thought that he did a great job with the cast of characters in this story which included not only an adult male and female but also a child. I thought that he brought a lot of excitement to his reading and found myself wanting to listen for hours at a time. I would recommend this book to others. I thought that it was a very enjoyable story and I am thrilled that I am finally able to say that I have read it. My only complaint is that the story did feel overly long at times and bogged down a bit in some sections but overall it was a great reading experience.

I find it difficult to give 5/5 for books. With that said, The Shining is one of those novels that paints vivid pictures with its words and gets under your skin with ease. This is actually the first King book I’ve read, and I can see why he has diehard fans. His writing style is very inviting and keeps you hooked, no matter how wild the story may be. He has a way of making the outlandish seem plausible. Almost 50 years later, he’s gained another fan. Side note: I read this after watching the movie. Truthfully, they are almost two entirely different stories considering the sheer amount of detail found in the book. You just can’t compare the two. Your mind is boundless while reading, making it a completely different experience. I highly recommend reading this regardless. The book and movie accompany each other well without making the story feel too tired.

I got this as a gift, and was so delighted at the sale price. It's my favorite scary book, and a great read. First time a book scared me so much I had to close it till daytime to finish a scene.

Before I read King I had assumed he was an overrated, bloated author that had way too many movie adaptations of his works--in fact he has the Guinness World Record for most film adaptations of all time (no surprise). Then I read his `On Writing' book (because I am an aspiring fiction/horror writer) and I learned a lot. Big deal though, whoopie do, I still wasn't interested in his stuff . . . but something kept on nagging and nagging at me . . . something dark and tall; it was The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. I cannot explain why; maybe it's because the book I was writing at the time seemed like it would benefit itself if I, my book's Writer, would step outside my comfort zone (Crichton, McCarthy, Matheson, Barker) and just try to read The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. I finally read it because the cover looked sweet, not gonna lie. The ever-binding, story-interweaving Todash Darkness pulled me into the world of King. For instance, the Turtle is in It, and even mentioned in his most recent 11/22/63; and Todash Darkness--that vague conceptual, slightly existentialistic evil that makes a sound like rumbling chimes--which is also mentioned in "It"; and then there's Randal Flagg, Donald Callahan, Ted Brautigan, the Low Men and the Crimson King: all the former are uniting elements in many Stephen King books. And The Dark Tower series is a gateway drug to his other novels; and his other novels are a gateway drug to The Dark Tower--it's full circle, baby! But let's talk about The Shining, shall we, because that's why you're reading this. In his introduction for the novel King says that the decision to write (and how to write) The Shining was very crucial in terms of his career as a writer. You must understand that Carrie did not break any rules besides (this one) and it was very short, which is ideal for debut novels for any author. It was also original and shocking; another must-have. But Carrie wasn't necessarily epic or long lasting. Then `Salem's Lot was his second. He took risks with style, but nothing else; the pacing was fast, and he didn't get too deep into character history. What you knew about most of the characters were through immediate actions and thoughts. And the town itself was something he was familiar with, along with the people and the professions of the people. It was marketable. It worked. It was filmable. Then The Shining was written more of a character study about how alcoholism destroys marriages and relationships between fathers and their children. Most of the horror wasn't shown on a golden platter as it was in Carrie and `Salem's Lot; instead, the horror was suggestive. It was there, in the shadows, you could choose to see it or ignore it; it was subtle, but there. Then toward the end, that's when the fireworks begin to go off one after the other . . . but still, for my generation (twenty-somethings) and younger, many will pass up The Shining just because it takes a while to pick up the pace and, hey, there's a movie, too--Jack Nicholson's in it, so they'll just watch that, assuming that they'll get the "same thing out of it"--which is a shame. Ultimately this was King's attempt to actually write a literarily respectable novel with horror aspects (and he does stay true to horror; it's just not blood and guts all the time). I won't waste your time with the synopsis; the book is different than the film, but it's not that different and I can't say how it is even if I wanted to (which I don't), because the differences would be spoilers. It's a little scarier than Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation in principles and it had a better story; but the movie is easier to watch. However, if you don't mind a slower paced novel that builds up like tension from a rope being pulled further and further apart until it snaps like a stale jerky, then you should definitely read The Shining--and then make sure you read The Dark Tower series (at least the first four are phenomenal).

Woah...this book was scary! Not that I'm probably telling anybody anything they don't know, but I just feel like I can't say it enough. I read it in October because I wanted a good scare for Halloween, and that is exactly what I got, and boy, was it fantastic?! I have just 2 complaints, the 1st of which being that at one point in the book, Danny knows the word "abrogated" (which means repeal or do away with...I had to look it up), but he calls the Presidential Suite, the Presidential "Sweet". Now, I know his parents never "talked down" to him, but I still wonder how he would know how to use abrogated. But in the overall excellence of the book, I really feel this is more of a minor point than a major one. The second of which being that the parts in parentheses were somewhat distracting. And apparently the Kindle edition was not converted as well as it should have been, because parts that were supposed to be in quotations inside parentheses were not...instead they were surrounded by question marks or exclamation points. And because of the parts in parentheses in general, I often found myself going back to the original sentence to catch up with what it should be saying. For the scariness factor, I really expected the book to be a nonstop scare-fest. Which, of course, it wasn't. Up until somewhere probably around 70% or so, there were just little pockets of terror...which I realize were just preparing me for the scare-fest to come. And it was glorious! Once it started, I simply could not stop reading...I was like a woman possessed. I HAD to know what was going to happen. It felt like the fate of the characters depended on my continuing to read. Overall, I loved this book!! I loved Danny's character...he was very interesting, and quite an amazing little boy. But still vulnerable at times, which I think is important. And I liked Wendy, too, though I think she should have just divorced Jack outright. But then we wouldn't have had a story, either. I thought Jack was terrible. And maybe that's unfair, all things considered, but I just couldn't bring myself to like him. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good scare. It provides a great story and a great scare all in one package.

The Shining is the second book by Stephen King I’ve read, the first being IT, which gave quite a lot to live up to. I quickly realized that IT was a beast of its own, and not to judge the Shining too closely to IT. The Shining gives me the vibes of a cozy horror, something to curl up with in front of a fire, in a warm blanket, reading wide eyed as your home melts away and you find yourself standing in front of the Overlook hotel. As always, Stephen King is a master of description, sometimes in eye-rolling ways but often in profound, wonderful ways. When I started this novel, I turned to my best friend and said, “Do you know that feeling when you’ve been reading subpar novels for awhile, and then you open a book by a master and it just feels like you’re sinking into the professional quality?” That was how this felt. I’ve reviewed a number of less than great books lately, and I knew that if I read The Shining, it would live up to Mr. King’s standard. I knew very early on that I was in for a good read- and I wasn’t disappointed. That said, it had enough flaws to bump down its score. Let me start with those. This novel is a descent into madness, and I realize that it has to be written a certain way to portray that. Yet… There were many points in this book where the way the characters acted was confusing and out of place. Mostly outbursts that didn’t make sense to me as a reader, despite Jack’s temper. The personalities of the characters, however, read clearly and with a ton of charm- which is why I struggled a lot, particularly with earlier scenes, with them having sudden moments out of character beyond belief. I also need to note Stephen King’s usual anti-charm of using sexual description as an element of horror, something that was memorable, but often unnecessary. I found that pieces of the story felt a little bit muddled, or maybe just too obscure for my tastes. At times, it felt like something more was missing, and just didn’t quite touch a 5 star review for me, as IT had. However, this book was a more than average read for me- enjoyable to the end, fast paced enough for my standards. I loved the personalities of Dick Halloran and Jack Torrance, the friendship between Dick and Danny, the way King showcased that Danny loved his dad dearly, the brief hints of jealousy from his mother. I loved the little details of the family dynamics, and the history of the Overlook hotel. This book is well worth reading- and I would say that even people who don’t typically read horror might end up enjoying this. It actually didn’t give me a strong horror vibe. Is cozy horror a thing? And as a final note: The movie did this book dirty. Watch the movie first, or as a totally separate entity- do not connect it to this book, you will end up disappointed in the movie like I did. It’s truly not in line with the tone of the book.

Excellent book, I recommend it even more than the movie itself, which I love!

* This review is of the edition, not the story of the novel It is a relatively nice paperback, I really like the cover and the pages are really white. The book is weirdly narrow for its height, it's almost as if it had been chopped to small by in production but the text looks fine inside. It does however make it slightly uncomfortable to read, especially since the font size is rather small. The pages are a really nice, bright white and the font easy to read. The spine is somewhat durable, it not break or crease when I read it.

Leggere i lavori del maestro nella lingua in cui sono stati pensati e messi nero su bianco è tutta un'altra cosa. È l'autentico King. Ogni opera è un capolavoro, uno specchio dell'animo umano, una storia di crescita. Penso che It continui a essere il mio preferito in assoluto, ma sono estremamente grata di aver aggiunto questa perla alla collana di lavori del maestro che ho letto in lingua originale.

Es un libro magnífico, quizá exige un nivel de inglés alto para poder comprenderlo bien.Es mil veces mejor que la película,sin ninguna duda. Ahonda muchísimo en la historia de los personajes principales, se podría decir que la película es un vago resumen del libro, con un final completamente distinto además. Vas viendo como Jack se vuelve completamente loco, y además le entiendes a la vez que le odias. Entiendes por qué han llegado al hotel, todo lo que va pasando allí, etc. No he leído nada más de Stephen King,pero es sin duda de los libros que más he disfrutado!

Thrilling, chilling in every way. A book that will scare the heck out of you and yet will draw you in so brilliantly that you feel you are right there in the notorious Overlook Hotel.