Doctor Sleep by Stephen King Review..

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StephenKingman
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Doctor Sleep by Stephen King Review..

Post by StephenKingman »

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King- 4 out of 10.

What a massive let down this book was for me. Ever since King announced he was writing a sequel to his famous work The Shining, a book which still rates in my top 3 ever books, I have been eagerly awaiting this follow up to the horror classic. After a protracted delay of 3 years writing the book, I should have sensed the alarm bells and when I read the book was focused on the adult life of Danny Torrence I got a bit more alarmed but after the fantastic 11.22.63 I choose to be an optimist and presume King was honing his work. Alas, after finishing the book last week, its easily one of his poorest works yet, up there with the abysmal The Tommyknockers.

The number one problem in this book is how often Danny changes as a character to the point where you dont even know who the main character is- first hes a pathetic drunk with no memory of the past, next hes an upstanding member of society looking to make roots in his latest stopover town, its all such a mish mash of styles that I just stopped caring about his fate halfway through the book. There is hardly any mention of The Overlook in the book, bar a brief explanation about insurance settlements and his mothers old life, thats a massive missed opportunity there, Danny could have returned to the place in 2013 to put some very old ghosts to rest and in the process the reader could have learned more about the sinister history of the old hotel (it was touched on in The Shining but not elaborated on), but instead the reader is left to follow him from town to town as he feels sorry for himself and suffers some very old and cliched visions (old lady in bath AGAIN?? Really?), and then you have the main enemy.

Wow, King certainly didnt put a lot of effort in fleshing out the adversary in this novel- its reads like he just made it up as he went along. A cult of travelers who feed off the aura of dying children who are blessed with The Shining (plot hole here, they traveled through Colorado back in their early days, yet no sign of them heading to The Overlook to feed off a certain young Mr Torrence? Lazy at best and very sloppy writing). Add to this a complete lack of malevolence from these enemies and a very protracted back story to explain the origins of the baby which they choose to feed on leads to a very slow paced and frankly boring book devoid of all tension, the second half of the book is a by-the-numbers chase that seems tacked on and an ending which in my opinion is even more confusing then Under the Dome, obscure for the sake of obscure and leaves the reader just frustrated.

I would gladly bet money that Im the biggest Stephen King fan in this forum and having read practically every one of his books I feel qualified to say that I wouldnt recommend this book to anyone who is expecting classic King- for that go back a few decades to his master work like The Stand, IT or indeed The Shining. This book is easily the most over hyped addition to the King series and one which had so much potential but unfortunately has to get a mere 4 out of 10 and nobody is as annoyed to give it that score but me. Maybe next time Mr King, his books in modern times are either decent or complete rubbish. :(
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Post by Maud Fitch »

Thanks for a very honest review, SKM, even though you may be hurting..... :(
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Post by Fran »

Writing that must have really hurt, Mike.
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Post by StephenKingman »

^Lucozade dulls the pain, Fran. I think its time King gave up trying to make the Next Big Thing in horror because of his last 3 blockbusters (Under the Dome, 11.22.63 and Dr Sleep), only 11.22.63 was any way decent. He has had a massive success of horror and sci fi books, maybe its time to put a line under it before he sullies his memory in anyway...
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Post by Ella »

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one disappointed with this book! LOVE The Shining, and it's one of the very few I have ever re-read. Heck, I even like the movies...both of them! But Doctor Sleep...I don't know...did he write it to have something to do? Did he write the sequel just to say there's a sequel?? :/

Btw, really enjoyed the review StephenKingman...I'm going to guess you're a big fan :D
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Post by FNAWrite »

The sequel to "The Shining".

" I should have sensed the alarm bells and when I read the book was focused on the adult life of Danny Torrence"

So the sequel to a book featuring the story of a child should not address that character later in life? What did you think the sequel to "The Shining" would be about?

"There is hardly any mention of The Overlook " Ah - don't look at the future of a living character, but rather at a building's future. That would be more gripping.

I don't know - when reviewers say such things as "problem in this book is how often Danny changes as a character" or "Danny could have returned to the place", I often think "Why didn't you write the book then?"

The author did it in a way I didn't think of - why should that be a surprise or an especial disappointment to anyone?

Apparently I may be one of the few who did not find "11/22/63" to be one of King's more "decent" works.
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Post by claire mckay »

I'm a big Stephen King fan too with favourites being The Stand, Green Mile and It. I enjoyed 11/22/63 very much and also hated the Tommyknockers but I did like Doctor sleep very much. I understand your point about Danny's character being rather all over the place but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one and put it down to the alcohol, shining and effect of Abra making him rather volatile.
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Post by catchingrainbows »

I am in the process of reading this book. Although not quite as gripping/gruesome as many if his other works, I am finding this book enjoyable. Most of King's characters change significantly throughout many of his stories which in indicative of life. We all change throughout our lives through our everyday experiences, so why should a character in a book be any different. King does take an inordinate amount of time to tell a story, but that only adds to the appeal. That feeling of accomplishment when you get through a book with 1000+ pages is something only a King book can give you. As I am halfway through the book, I can say that I would recommend it to others. It may not be King at his finest but it is still worthy of the read.
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Post by Paladin8 »

I tried 3 times to read ths book, and could not get into it. I even tried litsening to it on CD (which usually works), but I gave up even here.
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Post by Verdun »

At last! People are beginning to realise that King's golden days are over.
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Post by doglvr »

I may be in the minority but I really enjoyed this book. You say King should have sent Danny back to the Overlook so we could read more about its sinister past but the book was about Danny and not the hotel, and we sometimes wonder where characters in books end up.
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Post by SneakyReviewer007 »

I am a massive Stephen King Fan too .. and yes "The Shining" , IT, The Stand, are all amongst my favourites. After reading this review , I now have major doubts about reading this one... but not without good reason. Thank you for your honesty .. that really must have hurt to write that review..

Also 'ditto" to doglvr it's true as well: " You say King should have sent Danny back to the Overlook so we could read more about its sinister past but the book was about Danny and not the hotel, and we sometimes wonder where characters in books end up."
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Post by doglvr »

claire mckay wrote:I'm a big Stephen King fan too with favourites being The Stand, Green Mile and It. I enjoyed 11/22/63 very much and also hated the Tommyknockers but I did like Doctor sleep very much. I understand your point about Danny's character being rather all over the place but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one and put it down to the alcohol, shining and effect of Abra making him rather volatile.
Danny's character is all over the place but think of our own lives. How often has our own character changed over the years due to different circumstances. If we didn't change at all we'd be boring.
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Post by murchlove+ »

I am a big Stephen King fan, and I loved this book. I like the fact that we see the negative influences his father and the Overlook had on him. I think it is more than believable that he would try to drown out the horrific things that happened to him. I love the arc of him trying to find redemption to the monster that he saw himself becoming. I think it also stays true to the basic concept of most of Kings books where not just people are bad, but that land can hold an evil residue. His endings are not always what I think most people including myself want or like, and some of the twist and turns in his stories can leave the reader contemplating never picking up another book, but we do. He opens up a world where the characters even though they are placed in crazy weird situations, reflect our own human failings, and it doesn't end with nice neat ribbons but much like real life a kind of in-between where the good guy isn't all good, and the crisis isn't all just a little farther in the rearview mirror.
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Post by gothique »

Wow, apparently I'm one of the small number who liked this book.

Since I was hell-bent to avoid spoilers before reading Doctor Sleep, I didn't read any reviews or a plot synopsis. I did see one comment on Facebook, by an author, who's on my friends list, who I have reviewed before. He's an established horror author and is quite good at his craft. I don't recall exactly what he said, be he had fastened on one feature of the book and was making incredulous noises, as if he expected better out of King. I dismissed it and didn't think anything of it.

I bring it up now, as I have finished Doctor Sleep and feel qualified to say, this is one of the best King novels in ages and as a sequel, it excels and delivers, never disappoints.
This review will be spoiler-free, so I'm not going to regurgitate the plot or write about the characters, because Constant Reader, you will want to discover those for yourself.

What I will say is...one of the first funny phrases I ever read out of King's imagination was in The Shining (the first King I read was Carrie - I don't recall there being this turn of phrase in it - the second King book I read was, fittingly, The Shining and I'm pretty sure it was in there). Doctor Sleep made me cry not once, not twice, but three times, it made me gasp out loud, and laugh out loud. For the first time in over 10 years, I stayed up to finish a book.

I have always maintained the following: ever since I set out to read King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes, one of his superlative short story collections, because King excels at the short story, I came across the journal King had kept one spring detailing his son's Little League season. I started to skip it. My first thought was, "Who cares about that?", but completest that I am, I couldn't bear the thought of skipping a story, so I hunkered in to read it...and adored it. It was then that I knew Stephen King could publish his grocery list and I'd read it.

Any tale King deems to tell, I will gladly read. And even at the age of 65 I am hoping and praying King still has a lot in his noggin he has to write about, because as long as he writes them, I'll read them.

I loved Doctor Sleep.
I hope you will, too.
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