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kgains's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
daniellesocher's review against another edition
1.0
I just don't like the genre I guess. This is my first horror book and it was just stupid.
sarahetc's review against another edition
3.0
I don't think that, being just slightly older than this book, that I'm going to have anything to contribute to the discussion. It was interesting to read this at this point in my life and I wonder if I would have felt differently about it, or seen different things, if I'd read it during high school like everybody else I know.
I was prepared to be genuinely frightened by this book, and frightened in that special Stephen King way. I wasn't. I was taken aback, of course, and chilled by some of the ideas and how similar they were to events in my own life, but I wasn't scared. Not like in Pet Sematary, not like in It, not like in The Song of Susannah. So in that way, I guess I was disappointed.
And maybe I could have gone my whole life without having read this. I like completing lots of things, but I've never been a King completist. I read it so I could read Doctor Sleep for book club and that's fine. I'm looking forward to the next.
I was prepared to be genuinely frightened by this book, and frightened in that special Stephen King way. I wasn't. I was taken aback, of course, and chilled by some of the ideas and how similar they were to events in my own life, but I wasn't scared. Not like in Pet Sematary, not like in It, not like in The Song of Susannah. So in that way, I guess I was disappointed.
And maybe I could have gone my whole life without having read this. I like completing lots of things, but I've never been a King completist. I read it so I could read Doctor Sleep for book club and that's fine. I'm looking forward to the next.
shawnapantzke's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bbrassfield's review against another edition
5.0
Over the past few summers as I have been re-reading Stephen King classics I have enjoyed every one of the novels I have read again that were written between 1975 and 1986. This year I got an early start since winter was so cold and spring is practically non-existent in Wisconsin. I thought maybe by starting early I could will summer into existence. It didn't work but I loved the novel, again. I first read this book when I was 14, a year before the Kubrick film was released. At the time I didn't enjoy it as much as Salem's Lot or the Stand. This time I around I prefer the Shining to both. The Stand is a grander achievement given the massive scale upon which it spins its tale, but the Shining is an old fashioned ghost story and haunted house tale weaved masterly into one long novel.
As Danny tells his mom, the hotel is stuffed full of things! Most of them pretty nasty but as a collective, the Hotel is downright sinister. The Overlook is like the Borg if the Borg were a haunted hotel trapping sad souls for all eternity. The Overlook knows Danny's Shine is powerful and it wants that for itself. It's also smart enough to know the way to get to Danny is probably through Jack because Jack had a fucked up childhood with an abusive alcoholic father and as a result he has a few issues as an adult as well. Anybody would. Jack's story is the story of a guy who carries around the ghost of his shitty dad and his efforts at escaping that story so that he is a better husband and father. The Shining brings his struggle to be the better man front and center. Wendy, Danny's mom, also has a few cobwebs in her closet thanks to her less than ideal mother, but her ghosts can't quite compare to Jack's so the Hotel only mildly fucks with her whereas with Jack it does its level best to turn him back into an alcoholic who beats his family when riding the bottle.
The Shining is tragic in many ways. The souls trapped within, Jack's struggle that the Hotel manipulates for its own end, and that of the gifted little boy who can see the Hotel for exactly the horrorshow it really is. I won't give the ending away save to say that the narrative is richly satisfying as Wendy struggles to protect herself and her son from the influence the Overlook has over Jack. The conclusion is explosive!
As Danny tells his mom, the hotel is stuffed full of things! Most of them pretty nasty but as a collective, the Hotel is downright sinister. The Overlook is like the Borg if the Borg were a haunted hotel trapping sad souls for all eternity. The Overlook knows Danny's Shine is powerful and it wants that for itself. It's also smart enough to know the way to get to Danny is probably through Jack because Jack had a fucked up childhood with an abusive alcoholic father and as a result he has a few issues as an adult as well. Anybody would. Jack's story is the story of a guy who carries around the ghost of his shitty dad and his efforts at escaping that story so that he is a better husband and father. The Shining brings his struggle to be the better man front and center. Wendy, Danny's mom, also has a few cobwebs in her closet thanks to her less than ideal mother, but her ghosts can't quite compare to Jack's so the Hotel only mildly fucks with her whereas with Jack it does its level best to turn him back into an alcoholic who beats his family when riding the bottle.
The Shining is tragic in many ways. The souls trapped within, Jack's struggle that the Hotel manipulates for its own end, and that of the gifted little boy who can see the Hotel for exactly the horrorshow it really is. I won't give the ending away save to say that the narrative is richly satisfying as Wendy struggles to protect herself and her son from the influence the Overlook has over Jack. The conclusion is explosive!
ewwa333's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0