REVIEW: The Shining by Stephen King @stephenking
The Shining
by Stephen King
Thanks so much to Janel at @keeperofpages for this readalong!
Looking forward to more of Danny's story in Doctor Sleep next month.
Publisher: Anchor
Publish Date: June 24,2008 (first published January 28, 1977)
Kindle Edition
675 Pages
Series: The Shining #1
Genres: Horror, Paranormal
Terrible events occur at an isolated hotel in the off season, when a small boy with psychic powers struggles to hold his own against the forces of evil that are driving his father insane.
My Review:
I can't believe it's taken me until this month of my lifetime to finally read this book. Here's the thing. I have a rule that I don't read what I've watched - why? Because I like to envision how the story unfolds, how the characters look and sound as I'm reading - not have it already decided for me in film. Having seen both the Kubric classic and the TV miniseries, now I have multiple characters, voices in my head as I'm reading this. Now, the TV miniseries is way more in tune with the book than the Kubrick version but anyone who has read and watched will tell you the same. This isn't news.
I struggled with the first half of this book. While I understand that getting the background and the build up is important to this story, I did feel my attention waning a LOT. Even though I read SO many of his books, even at the tender age of 8, I remember even THEN feeling like King could get a bit TOO WORDY. Sorry, not sorry. However, he is genius and there's nothing that can take away from his talent. This book, while not my favorite King (and let's be real - he's written SO many books that you just can't like them all - it's statistically not possible 😉) - I did find the last half to ramp up and give that creepy factor I absolutely LOVE.
My favorite part in the first half (and well, the entire book really) is the bond between Hallorann and Danny. Personally, I feel this is the saving grace of the entire book. Wendy is deplorable (and I still only see Duvall as Olive Oyl but that's a whole other story). Jack is terrible. Danny, Oh Danny. I'm actually very much looking forward to Doctor Sleep just because of this character.
What's greatest is the way King gets you creeped out - sometimes it's straight up insanity and other times it's suggested creepiness of what COULD happen. Either way, creep factor solid.
Now on to Doctor Sleep and to see what else he has in store for Danny.
★★★
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