Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Shining

This was great to read after having watched the film adaptation and really interesting to read the alternative ending. Definitely prefer the book to the film - didn't realise how much is actually cut out in the film.

One downside for me was some of the language used. Unnecessary details that made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

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housedesignerking's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. That was better than the 1980 adaptation.

The book and its adaptation have the same synopsis: Jack Torrence has lost several jobs because of his anger and his drinking. He's given up drinking, but he still lost his job as a teacher because he punched a student. A friend of his has called in a favor to get him a job being the caretaker of a large hotel in the mountains of Colorado in its off season. Danny Torrence has a special gift where he knows things and learns things without even needing to be in the room. He can hear people's thoughts (like a hilarious moment where he knows a middle-aged woman is lusting after a 20-something male's behind), and according to a nice man named Dick Halloran, it's known to some people as "shining." At least that's what Dick's grandmother called it. They used to have lots of conversations by simply thinking to each other. The hotel is basically haunted by an evil presence, and a man named Delbert Grady did his immediate family in by way of murder/suicide.

The book is a brilliant work of fiction, but I did have an interesting time getting used to King's writing style when it comes to when a character is thinking or when Danny's supposedly imaginary friend was talking to him. In books by other authors, a character's thoughts are italicized. King chose to put thoughts and other voices between parentheses. Interesting choice. The cast did a good job putting the movie together, but the script leaves a bit to be desired. I've seen the movie twice now, so I suggested to my fiancé that we read the book. This is the first Stephen King book I've ever read, and it's so good that I enjoyed it because this could have been very unfortunate. One of the joys that a movie watcher has is being able to point out the differences between the movie and the book. There are a lot of differences. For one, Ullman is a nice man in the film, a total jerk in the book. For another, the movie's ending and this book's ending bear no relation to one another at all. Further, they left so many things out of the film. After reading this, I still consider the 1980 adaptation to be a 3-star film, but the book gets 5 stars. The last 90 pages of this were just epic!

Now, I await the 1997 adaptation to come in the post. I've heard it's closer to the book than the original.

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stevienielson's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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kay_ne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

First time reading a Stephen King book and went in without any knowledge about The Shining (never watched the film and didn't look for a blurb before reading as it was difficult to read the back of the book I own).

The first few chapters were a slog to get through- was not really feeling the book until ch. 5 - Phonebooth where, for me, it got interesting. At the beginning it starts in medias res and then are given a lot of info and some background on Jack Torrence and the following chapters give insight to the Torrence family and their struggles. The middle was a lot, but it did build up the tension for the fast action at the end.

Given when this was written and also with what I know up to know about the world, I didn't understand the references made such as that fastball thing and W. C. Fields' sentiments about children (that was really something to look up and be surprised at when one of the first things that pops up was a quote - "Children should neither be seen or heard from - ever again."). But quick searches helped me understand the context I suppose but that was only sometimes. There were also uses of the N-word to describe Hallorann which threw me off when reading.

My favorite characters were by far Danny and Hallorann. By the end I also liked Wendy, but not Jack. Though, I suppose he is an easy character to hate/dislike because of his flaws. I did like how SK wrote Jack's character and how he's been affected by his alcoholism. Halfway in the book and towards the end, I didn't like him and would skim or skip whenever he has inner dialogue and would go paragraphs about things which I found boring and unnecessary at times.

On that note, in my opinion, this book could've been like 300 pages as there are pages of inner dialogue (which I sometimes enjoy) but some I found wasn't necessary and could've been shorted into a couple sentences or not have been included at all.

The epilogue was really cute.

Tldr;

- 3.25 stars

- Plot was okay, some parts I liked and other parts I didn't. Skipped a lot of the pages in the middle and end because of the long winded descriptions. (There is unfortunately uses of the N-word in describing Hallorann which for me knocked this book down from a 4 star etc that I was going to give)

- Favorite characters are Danny and Hallorann with Wendy at a close second.

- Would I read this again? No it's too long and quite boring even tho I liked the plot.

- I'll give the movie a watch when I have the time. Also will give the book's sequel, Doctor Sleep, a try because Danny.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

5.0

A well crafted novel. They aren’t made quite like this anymore

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alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My first Stephen King book! What do I think of it?

I really liked the beginning and middle more than the end. I can’t really explain it, but I wasn’t as sucked in. I feel like I end up rushing near the end of a book just because it’s in sight.
The disembodied style of the nightmare sequences weren’t as effective as they could have been. I think the looking-into-characters’-minds had the highest quality writing. (I’m not saying King was horrible in other ways. Just that you win some, you lose some.) The huge violent scenes near the end didn’t work as well with me, is what I’m trying to say. I really don’t know why. I guess my previous point was really the “why.”
I loved the parts where we get into Jack’s mind to see his slow degrade into madness (or loss of self-control, or the hotel taking over him, whichever way you see it). It was interesting to see his perception of his father shift later on. He kind of changed the story of why his father did what he did.
I have mixed feelings about Wendy. Her personality was kind of just “mother and wife,” though she certainly was a round character. I guess it’s just that near the end we see how strong she really is (willfully, mostly) compared to her more empty threats to Jack during their relationship. I mean, Jack did lots of bad things, and she was always upset about him doing that, but she rarely did much about it. I guess I like her?
So . . . yeah? Altogether it’s a pretty good book that I guess I’d recommend. I am likely to read more King in the future.

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xreadingwithdemi's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Tldr; King is blatantly misogynistic and racist in this one, I don’t fucking care if it’s a classic.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-shining/.

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