Doctor Sleep by Stephen King Review..
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Re: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King Review..
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During Halloween 2013, I decided to download and read "The Shining", since people were talking about how that is the scariest movie of all time. I found the book intriguing and annoying at the same time, but not necessarily scary. All the repetitive phrases (like the part about "come and take your medicine", or "REDRUM") were frustrating, but I kept trying to tell myself that it's supposed to be the voice and thoughts of a little kid.
When "Doctor Sleep" came out, I had to read it because I'm a sucker for sequels and prequels, even when I don't enjoy the original. I actually liked this book very much. Told from the perspective of a teenage girl coming to grips with adolescence and her supernatural powers all at once, I found her struggle to be very interesting and genuine. She finds the perfect mentor in Dan. I learned enough about what happened to him at The Overlook and in the ensuing years to see why he is qualified for the part of mentor.
I feel that maybe those who didn't like this book may have had expectations of this book being more about Dan and his life: how he grew up, how he handled his own powers and his own demons (both literally and metaphorically). Maybe others wanted or expected another major plot revolving around Dan. Forgive me for using these examples, but in the way The Twilight Series is the story of Bella and Edward and The Divergent Series follows Tris, Hunger Games follows Katniss and Peeta. Doctor sleep primarily follows Abra, not Dan. However, learning about how Dan got to where he is today is crucial to the plot in Doctor Sleep, although Doctor Sleep can be read without ever having read The Shining.
This sequel was more of an evolution. It was not the continuation of Dan's story. This is a new story in it's own right, to the point where I feel you can read it as a standalone book. Dan becomes a secondary character. I feel that is where some disappointment in fans may stem from.
If you don't go into this book expecting more of Dan and "The Shining", I believe it is more easily enjoyed. This book is about Abra. This is HER story. Dan makes his appearance, and Dan's past at The Overlook merges with Abra's present. However, I found myself engrossed in Abra's story and her profile, her personality as a character. Stephen King does a really good job of developing her and making her a character in her own right with her own thoughts and unique struggles. That's just how I approached the book, and I was not disappointed at all, despite my past avoidance of Stephen King books. My experience with Doctor Sleep may also have been very different considering I read it with The Shining fresh in my mind. I must have read them no more than a month or two apart.
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I read Joyland before this which I thought was a terrible let down (he should really stay away from Crime as a genre - not his forte at all!) so maybe it helped that I had read this before as my expectations were perhaps not as high? Don't know but I liked the whole idea of the vampire-like group of hippies and it did keep me entertained. It reassured me that King had not lost his touch. A book I would recommend to other Stephen King fans is his son Joe Hill's book "Horns". Thought this was very similar to King's work but had it's own quirks and a sense of freshness that seems to be now missing from King's stories.
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Like you I enjoyed Doctor Sleep and, also like you, I hated Joyland. Such a letdown. He must have written this while on a lunch break.
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