Review: The Shining by Stephen King

[lemming]

Sometimes you'll read a book by a popular author and wonder what all the fuss is about, but occasionally you'll come across a work that proves that this writer is - or at least can be - the real deal. I do like this book better than the movie, and while the movie is praised for all the subtle subliminal touches kubrick supposedly added, I think the book is more subtle than the movie. For example, rather than the famous river of blood from the elevator seen in the movie, the book has the elevator filled with something less stereotypically horror but more effective due to the build-up. Even the mantra "Redrum" feels like less of a gimmick in the book because of the stronger focus on Jack Torrance's alcoholism. On the website "cinemassacre" the review of kubrick's "the shining" makes fun of the way it "tries to scare you over nothing" with a loud noise occurring when the word "tuesday" is shown. "Oh no, not tuesday!" jokes the reviewer James Rolfe. However in the book simple chapter titles like "snow" or "tony" do have a big emotional impact because of the places they appear and all the implication king has carefully laden those simple words with by that point in the story.

The story is not without flaw, and King doesn't always know when to be subtle and when to be brutally explicit, a problem reminiscent of the roque mallet that features so prominently in the story with one end rubber and the other end hard. King's trademark habit of rambling in brackets to remind us of something else that is scary and related to the currently scary thing happening sometimes feels like the prose equivalent of pounding music in a movie to remind us that a certain scene is supposed to inspire terror when the absence of such cues would probably make it more scary as they would make me feel I'm facing the terrifying thing on my own without the narrator to hold my hand and tell me what I should feel about it. Another slightly distracting feature of King's prose in "The Shining" is that while his writing is frequently beautiful you can tell that he had the thesaurus handy, and it even invades the dialog with Jack Torrance using the word "dray" when being playful with his wife and son. Even with a character who is supposed to be a writer this somehow strained credibility for me. And one of the strongest aspects of the novel for me in the middle weakened the conclusion in my opinion - the scariness of not knowing how much of Jack's transformation to evil murderous maniac is because of the hotel and how much is caused by his own inner demons seems completely obliterated by the way his behavior is handled towards the end of the book. King says in "On Writing" that the scariest villains are those with believable motivations that you can almost relate to and it's quite creepy the way Jack's inner rationalisations which eventually lead him to violence almost seem reasonable, and how the same character we might have seen as sympathetic at the start doesn't seem to have had to change all that much to become the bad guy. But by the end he's painted as a decent guy possessed by a demonic hotel and you almost get the sense that the ending was written before the earlier sections detailing Jack's thoughts as he loses his way. But while flawed this is still a horror novel you need to read, and also a painful mediation on how some of the very things that make a man needed by his family - focus on career, discipline, determination and single-mindedness - can backfire and tear a family apart.

[Artemisia]

Yes. The Shining is one of those very rare cases where the movie was better.

[S dot Lennon]

I have always been a fan of The Shining and in all honesty this is probably one of the only horror novels that has stuck with me for years. I recently re-read this novel and to be completely honest I was as horrified by it the second time around. I thought the movie was done well but I definitely appreciate the novel more. The way King was able to draw out my fear in the simplest moments is what got to me the most. I never thought I would be scared of hedge animals, to name one example! I also enjoyed the ending of the book more than the movie. I found it slightly more gruesome and I liked the finality of it. I really did enjoy the movie but I feel like King's work stands on its own. There are just some things that you can do with a novel that can never be done on the big screen.

[lemming]

thank you for sharing your thoughts stacie. The novel is definitely worthy of a reread, and I need to get around to reading the sequel, doctor sleep.

[S dot Lennon]

No problem! And read Doctor Sleep, it was amazing! I definitely recommend it. King picked up the story as if he never left it. Doctor Sleep felt very "old" King, I guess is the best way to say it. I read all of his novels this year so if you would like any other recommendations by him just let me know!

[Kelliem]

I am a huge Stephen King fan! I am currently re-reading The Shining because my son bought me Dr. Sleep as a gift and I wanted to start at the beginning. I definitely think the book is better than the movie and agree with you Stacie_C that some things in a novel can never be done on the big screen. I think I am almost always disappointed in the movies made from books that I have read.

[lemming]

No problem! And read Doctor Sleep, it was amazing! I definitely recommend it. King picked up the story as if he never left it. Doctor Sleep felt very "old" King, I guess is the best way to say it. I read all of his novels this year so if you would like any other recommendations by him just let me know!

Wow, all of his novels in one year and they're kinda known for being long - impressive.

-- 01 Jan 2014, 16:31 --

I am a huge Stephen King fan! I am currently re-reading The Shining because my son bought me Dr. Sleep as a gift and I wanted to start at the beginning. I definitely think the book is better than the movie and agree with you Stacie_C that some things in a novel can never be done on the big screen. I think I am almost always disappointed in the movies made from books that I have read.

yeah agree -notable exceptions for me were a scanner darkly and charlie and the chocolate factory

[S dot Lennon]

Thanks! Yeah I only read the novels. I'll probably tackle some of the collections and non-fictions this year. The only novel I couldn't get my hands on was Rage. That one is out of print...

[lemming]

Thanks! Yeah I only read the novels. I'll probably tackle some of the collections and non-fictions this year. The only novel I couldn't get my hands on was Rage. That one is out of print...

If you were to google "rage stephen king pdf" and click on the first search result you might be able to read it, not that I would ever recommend you do such a thing.

[S dot Lennon]

Seriously...yeah I would never do such a thing... Where is the sarcastic font when you need it!

[LDGZombie]

I enjoyed the book but i am a bigger fan of the movie. I think this is one of those like the movie Mulholland Drive. It seems to be kind of boring on the surface but when you get into it, its almost like there's a whole other story going on. I felt like Jacks alcoholism and family was one story, then the hotel was another and as it went on, the stories started combining.

[lemming]

I enjoyed the book but i am a bigger fan of the movie. I think this is one of those like the movie Mulholland Drive. It seems to be kind of boring on the surface but when you get into it, its almost like there's a whole other story going on. I felt like Jacks alcoholism and family was one story, then the hotel was another and as it went on, the stories started combining.

I am surprised you think the movie is boring on the surface - I think it's pretty scary even if you don't understand the symbolism - maybe more so

[mdriver67]

I love all of Stephen King's Books and have read just about all of them, but I believe the Shining is the scariest book he ever wrote. The gradual ascent into madness for the father was great, it was so gradual that you didn't see the final break coming. I like the books better than the movies but I also watch all of his movies. The Shining was the only movie that scared me so bad that I left the theater. Wonderful book for horror fans and just as good the second, third or twentieth time you read it.

[lemming]

This is gonna sound weird but the only movie I ever walked out of because it was too scary was the 1989 Batman movie. But I was like 8 at the time. Anyhow I agree what's scary about the father character is that unlike the Joker he seems so relateable at the start and the way he goes from that to crazy is so understandable you feel like you're going crazy with him..

[claire mckay]

Usually I love the books waaay more than the movies but then there is Jack Nicholson and they don't come better than that!