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tmd1993's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Also, as usual, the book was about 200 pages too long. Full of fluff. Removed some of the tensensss. I like the book better than the movie but I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racism
physicalsecrets's review
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
bitchesgottaread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Homophobia and Racial slurs
phvntomstvrs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy
pizzaisjesus98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, and Cannibalism
chaptersbydani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Word on the street is that every one of Stephen King’s books have been banned/or challenged at some point since their publication. The Shining was challenged for “containing violence and demonic possession and [ridiculing] the Christian religion” in Wyoming and Alabama.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I’m honestly shocked that I liked this as much as I did. This book broke my reading slump and kept me up all night. This is my first Stephen King book and I totally understand why he is the icon he is.
The way he writes is just mind blowing. It’s so simple. You never feel like it’s over your head and you always feel so close to figuring everything out. But you just never quite do until he reveals it. And despite the fact that basically every character is the most awful person I’ve ever encountered (Jack being the worst), I was sucked in immediately.
And the way the text was formatted??? Cherry on top. It added so much suspense and really illustrated the flirtation/ descent into madness.
There definitely was violence and demonic possession. I didn’t see the ridicule of Christianity (and wouldn’t have cared if it was there tbh.) My only issue is that I didn’t love King’s use of racial slurs. It made sense when the hotel used them and I could halfway accept that. Capitalism is an incredibly racist system and is violent- emotionally and physically- to Black folks (understatement). It makes sense that the Hotel, the symbol of capitalism here, was verbally violent to our main Black character. The other uses just felt out of line considering the author is white.
I wish that our main Black character, Dick, had more purpose in the book than guiding Danny and saving him and Wendy. It felt like he was just a tool for Danny’s development than anything. He’s a cool character and deserved a little bit more.
I will say, this is a book that I was pleasantly surprised lives up to its hype. I’m excited to watch the movie and see how it matches up. Also apparently there’s a sequel? I’m thinking of checking that out too.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
ten_telegrams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
sydfreeman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Homophobia
housedesignerking's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting