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The Shining (The Shining, #1)

Stephen King

Start date: October 1, 2018

Finish date: October 31, 2018

Discussion: Books of the Month 2019

Why we're reading this: October 2018
Horror
[close] October 2018
Horror

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What Members Thought

Aug 26, 2007 Cindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2024

I fell in love with King in middle school and this was the first King novel I ever read. Previously read Oct 22, 2015.

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May 15, 2010 Roya rated it liked it

Set in the mountains of Colorado, The Shining is the story of a family trying to keep sane and survive in the icy Overlook Hotel. A man named Jack Torrance, a former school teacher and alcoholic, has been given a second chance. Jack is given the task of maintaining the Overlook Hotel during the winter season, of which the hotel is closed. This means he, his wife, and son must face months of isolation in a hotel that is known to have a strange and twisted history.

The real star of the book is Set in the mountains of Colorado, The Shining is the story of a family trying to keep sane and survive in the icy Overlook Hotel. A man named Jack Torrance, a former school teacher and alcoholic, has been given a second chance. Jack is given the task of maintaining the Overlook Hotel during the winter season, of which the hotel is closed. This means he, his wife, and son must face months of isolation in a hotel that is known to have a strange and twisted history.

The real star of the book is David Torrance, Jack’s son. David has the ability to pick up on thoughts and emotions; this includes those from the past that still cling to the present. Prior to the family’s arrival at the hotel, David has nightmares of something or someone chasing him and the word REDRUM. David, being a child struggling with his parents’ tense relationship and one not fully understanding what he sees, keeps quiet about his dreams. He tries to convince himself that things are fine, even though from the beginning he and everyone else know they are not.

What makes this book unique is the focus on making the characters as real as possible. Jack is a man with an abusive childhood, a short temper, and a strong urge to drink. Stephen King was trying to make it unclear if Jack just went crazy, if he was possessed by unnatural forces, or a combination of both. The wife and mother, is a woman trying to keep her family happy and together. David is a sensitive child who just wants to see his parents and himself happy. Since the characters and the situation are so believable, the horror factor is turned up. There were only three things that bothered me about this book. One; reading so much about the feelings and backstory of the characters was boring, excluding those that were actually useful to the story. Two; most of the interesting things do not happen until the last third of the book. I found myself often wishing King would just get to the good stuff. Three; the hedges that come to life -that was way out there. It was silly and could have been left out. Other than these three things, this is a decent, well-written book, but nothing to go on about.
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Nov 01, 2016 Vanessa rated it it was ok

I'm giving this two stars because I am assuming I'm just not in the mood to dive into a book like this yet. It is very slow to start and I'm not willing to spend the time to keep reading dull filler. I understand books can't get right into the meat of a story without some background description, but I can't keep forcing myself to read something I am not interested in. Perhaps I will try again at another time, perhaps my expectations were too high. ...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Kim rated it it was ok

I saw this movie a little while ago and was surpsied at how crap I thought it
It is disjointed and the fact that the kid shines is pretty much irrelevant
so, although I am not much of a King fan, i decided that I had to find out what the original story was all about
Cos there is no way Stephen King would've written a story with as many holes and ridiculous leaps of logic as the movie had
Surely!

Update - yeah, well, whatever
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Oct 21, 2016 Suki St Charles rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-goodreads-challenge, 1001-books-you-must-read-boxall, 50-books-to-read-before-you-die-bc, rory-gilmore-reading-challenge, 100-books-they-didnt-tell-us-about, 2017-reading-challenge-bc

Actually 3.5 stars. This is one of the very few times I prefer the movie to the book.
There were a couple of incidents in the book that gave me goosebumps, and there were a lot of good ideas, but I didn't like or really care about any of the characters except Hallorann. The book would have carried a lot more punch if I had felt sympathy for the characters, especially Danny. Some of his thought processes would have been a leap if he had been a teen, let alone a five-year-old boy.
I used to read a l ...more

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