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Summary: The Greatest Haunted Hotel Story Ever Written!!
Review: Throughout the last century, there were many authors who wrote haunted house stories. In 1977, Stephen King beat 'em all with a haunted hotel story. You see, this is not just *any* haunted hotel story; this is THE SHINING.THE SHINING is about several things, all tied up into one complex and multilayered whole. It is about a five-year-old boy who is impossibly mature and wise beyond his years, and who has a terrifying gift that seems as much a curse. It is about his father, a recovering alcoholic with demons in his soul and skeletons in his closet, who is battling both in order to keep his family financially afloat. It is about his wife, a doting mother who has braved the ups & downs of her husband's turbulence, who loves him, and who wants to trust him beyond his past mistakes but is just on this side of being unable to do so. It is about a classic, Art Deco hotel tucked deep within the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, whose name is respected but nevertheless has a mysteriously chequered past. It is about the ghosts that occupy this hotel, that wish to possess the above family but can only be seen by the boy and the head cook. It is about the head cook, an older black man who shares the same gift with the boy, and who develops a special friendship with him as a result. It is about a family who begin at their last chance for hope & unity, who end up fighting for their last chance at survival. This is THE SHINING. THE SHINING is a true gestalt entity: it is more than the sum of its parts. Stephen King masterly intertwines all of the above elements, plus some truly frightening imagery, to create a novel of several hundred compulsively-turning pages that add up to one of the greatest experiences that I've ever had as a reader of fiction. MOST RECOMMENDED; AGES 15 & UP
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Summary: A book filled with moments of startling horror and vividness
Review: THE SHINING, the fifth bestselling horror novel by Stephen King, is ultimately a novel which, in its final moments, manages to transcendits strange prose mixture of pulp magazine-type chills and Lovecraftian horror imagery to deal with deeper concepts, such as the enduring legacy of evil and parental love. Set during a cold, icy winter in a Colorado Hotel, King constantly switches his point of view between various narrators- the caretaker, a failed writer named Jack Torrance who is combating alcoholism, his wife, Wendy, and their young son, Danny, who has a peculiar supernatural ability to see visions of terror.
The hotel, The Overlook, is haunted by various ghosts- the spirits of the suicides, the murdered, those who died in strange ways, and, as the winter goes on, these ghosts begin to drive Jack Torrance insane, finally leading him to wage a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse with the others in the hotel.
And only his son, Danny, who can see the cause of the carnage in the visions he recieves, can put an end to his father's rampage. Unfortunately, King takes too long to set up his exposition, and when the shocks finally come, they burst too rapidly together to allow the reader to fully absorb the impact of what exactly is happening. A good book in concept, but the pacing, as described above, is slightly flawed. Another masterwork from a genious in his field.
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Summary: Stephen King's the Shining truly shines!
Review: Whoever feels King puts too much superfluous detail in this book is dead wrong. If one truly pays attention, even to the seemingly minor details, you find they all tie together in the end. In this book King wonderfully illustrates the conflict within/without each character. Not to mention, even minor characters are brought to life with stunning descriptions. I, personally, am once again astounded by King's ability to create a seemingly flawless alternate world!
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Summary: Ignore both movies - the book is the best!
Review: Over 25 years after it was published, "The Shining" remains ones of King's best novels to date. It is not simply the story of a supernatural hotel, but also the all-too-normal corruption and degradation that can exist within the human heart. Jack Torrance is a deeply-flawed man, both as a husband and a father, and when the evil presence in the Overlook Hotel finds him, it exploits his every weakness. "The Shining" is a gripping book, and it is one of the few books of King's that I would say is truly frightening. King captures his characters here with a sharp eye for detail, and tells a powerful story. This book has suffered not one, but two adaptations to screen (one by King himself), but neither of them really captured what makes The Shining such a standout novel, not just in King's work, but in the field of American letters in general. When King is considered, in years to come, one of the 20th century's great novelists, this will be one of the books studied extensively.
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Summary: A masterpiece of fiction by King
Review: The Shining is considered by many to be a masterpiece of fiction by Stephen King and I have to agree. Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy and their son Danny move from New England, after Jack gets fired because of his abuse of alcohol and loss of temper. He finds a job as the caretaker of a hotel in Colorado. The hotel possesses dark and evil secrets, which reveal themselves slowly to the family. The vicious Winter locks them all up inside the hotel and isolates them from the outside world. The final confrontation between good and evil begins. Wish King could write such books again.
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Summary: Kurbick's film is worse - but Stephen King copied Jay Anson.
Review: The problem I have with The Shining... is The Shining... the gift of second sight, is never really dealt with that well in the book except how it ends up sending someone mad. The horror is much better in the book though than the film and the story is different in many parts, most importantly the animal hedge rows, and some other plot elements. A haunted hotel is the main theme, combined with a family that has the gift, but to be honest King rips the ending from the original Axeman dad gone wild on the family story, by Jay Anson, who wrote The Amityville Horror before this book. The two books so similar that it is hard to imagine that King did not know where his influence was directly coming from. It happens, The Shining, not as original as it tries to be, is really only a very average shabby king novel that would rate next to Cujo as one of his older works to pass on by.
For some reason Kubrick tried to pass off a very long and boring remake of this tale that seems to make people think that the original book is a somewhat classic in King's collection. It is only a very average King book and not all it is made out to be as some others have wisely noted.
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Summary: Book Review: The Shining by Stephen King
Review: Trapped in a hotel with a sickening past, the Torrances must face a fear greater than fear itself. The Shining is a tale of a hotel and its horrific history, from murders to live hedge animals you believe you are hallucinating but that are really waiting to tear you limb from limb.
Fired from his job as a teacher for abusing a student, Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic, wishes to get a new start and continue his writing career. He still needs a job, and he finds one as winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Due to the harsh weather in the winter, Jack, his wife Wendy, and son Danny must live at the hotel without any outside contact. Little do they know what is waiting for them inside of the hotel, or in room 217 specifically.
Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining when he visited the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. The Stanley Hotel was known as haunted, with the most ghostly activity in room 418. The entire fourth floor of the hotel, which was formerly the servants quarters, is said to be quite active. The sounds of children playing in the halls of the Stanley Hotel can be heard even when no children are present.
The title The Shining is a contradictory representation to the contents of the story. The sun is know to be a symbol of "light and warmth, renewed life and life everlasting." One the contrary, the hotel is a concentration of perpetual death and suffering. This is why the term "shining" is the name of the gift that Danny possesses; a power which will defeat the likes of those the hotel possesses.
Danny Torrence is a five year-old boy who experiences precognition through an invisible friend named Tony and blackouts. Tony is both a malignant and benevolent figure as he shows Danny both evil and benign things, such as where some of Danny's family's possessions are after they move. Danny is also able to understand many things without being told, such as how his mother and father both had thoughts and feelings of DIVORCE, whereas his mother's were more simple and his father's more complex, "colored dark violet and shot through with frightening veins of pure black." In the Overlook, Danny is the one who first sees the true past of the Overlook from the blood and gore on the walls of the Presidential Suite. Danny's gift (or curse, as some may say) is what the Overlook is really after. The series of events that Danny must go through in order to persevere the effects of the Overlook is truly a captivating tale.
The hotel itself is an interesting character, an antagonist of a spiritual form and able to read minds and find out the fears of the people it wishes and use those fears to control their minds. The hotel is also very quick in mentality with a cynical sense of humor. The hotel is haunted and is slowly possessing Danny's father, driving him mad and to become homicidal. A rising amount of terror is given from the hotel which is at first thought to be hallucinations, but when the hallucinations become deadly (, no one can save the Torrences except for themselves.
The scheme of events allows you to connect things before the plot unravels or the characters figure it out themselves. Also, you believe you have connection with something when in actuality there is no link. Binds the reader into a tale so enthralling that it is impossible for them to put the book down. A tension builds where you are afraid yet yearning to know what happens next.
The Shining is by far one of Stephen King's best works. The reader is engulfed in the novel and feels as though they are a part of the story. It was truly a captivating story that I enjoyed greatly. The quest by Danny for the true and terrifying meaning of "redrum" will have you baffled until the simple yet terrible solution is attained. If you are a fan of Stephen King or any horror novels, The Shining is one book you don't want to pass by.
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Summary: Definitely the best horror/suspense book I've ever read
Review: Most horror books I read don't get me anywhere near getting scared, but while reading this I just couldn't help it. It starts off a little slow, then it begins hinting at major problems in the future. The suspense becomes almost unbearable. Then everything just goes wrong. I was very entertained at the climax, and I couldn't put the book down. Great read.
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Summary: The book truly "Shines"
Review: Nowadays it's really hard to be impressed with this book. Perhaps because so many people have seen the movie they feel no need to pick up the book at all. Well, I haven't seen the Stanley Kubrick movie, so when I read "The Shining" I had no expectations for it.
If you saw the movie before reading the book, chances are (judging by these reviews) you won't like it as much because it isn't as "scary" as the movie. Well, you can't really say the book is bad, even if you enjoyed the movie more.
The Shining is about a man named Jack Torrance who takes his wife and son up to the Overlook hotel in Colorado to take care of it for the winter. But his son Danny, has a gift. This gift is called "The Shining". The Shining allows Danny to read peoples minds, and see things that are beyond horror for his mind to comprehend. The Overlook Hotel has a haunting past, and because of Danny's shining, he can see them. Soon the hotel will control Jack and send him out of control and drive him mad. But Danny and Wendy (the wife) are snowbound, and that means that when Jack does go insane, there will be no way out.
It's easy to see how this is a classic. It's often times said to be the scariest book King has ever written.
Truthfully though, you've got to have patience when you read this book. King spends a lot of time developing Jack, Wendy and Danny, and that makes this book a little more slowly paced than other books he's written. Slow pace is by no means a bad thing, but The Shining for some may pace too slow.
The book was enjoyable though, and while I don't believe it's the best thing King has written (my personal favorite is "Misery"), but it is a remarkable classic.
However, if you've seen the Kubrick film, I can't imagine many people enjoying this to the full extent. The Kubrick film ruins most of the surprises and takes away from the suspense and horror (and the film is VERY different from the book). The climax of the book, many may argue, is not as shattering as the films. However, this shouldn't stop the read from being an enjoyable one.
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Summary: Not as good as expected
Review: When I was four years old, I saw Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining" on television. That movie haunted me, and I was terrified of the dead woman that attacked Danny in the bathroom for years. I saw the movie again 14 years later, and still felt it was the scariest thing I had ever seen. Now, I wouldn't say I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but I've read approximately two-thirds of his novels and have liked almost all of them. I picked up this novel with huge expectations, yet was really let down. The book was decent and interesting, I sped through it. However, it just wasn't that scary. Personally I just can't find topiary animals (especially a topiary rabbit) all that scary. Are they going to stab you with their branches? Eat you with their leaf teeth? Also, after seeing Jack Nicholson swing that axe in the movie, there's no way I'm finding a croquet mallet all that scary. I guess another reason I didn't really like this book that much was I didn't like any of the characters. The mother was a simpering housewife who had absolutely no brain (although I understand this was the 70's), Danny was okay but I don't particulary care for little children, and I could not stand Jack. This guy throws a pity party for himself every day of the week. Jack's development and his descent into madness is very well done but I just have no sympathy for this guy he would just annoy me if I met him in real life. Anyways overall the book was okay but I don't think it was one of King's best and if you're expecting it to be the scariest thing you've ever read prepare to be disappointed. In defense of this book though I think I approached it with the highest expectations which probably would have been impossible to meet.
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