Shining (The Shining)

by Stephen King

Danny is only five years old, but he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of an old hotel, his visions grow out of control. Cut off by blizzards, the hotel seems to develop an evil force, and who are the mysterious guests in the supposedly empty hotel?

• ISBN10: 0812421612
• ISBN13: 9780812421613
• Publish Date: 1 September 2001 (first published 1 January 1977)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 April 2021
• Imprint: Perfection Learning
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Language: English

Reviews

[dmturner1987]

Good, but Kubrick's movie was a lot better. 

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Up until about six months ago, I was unfamiliar with The Shining.  I mean, of course, I knew the "Here's Johnny!" famous scene and the classic film references, but I had never seen the movie and never read the book.  My loves, I have been educating myself - after all, what better time to read about murderers and snowed in isolation than during a quarantine, right?

Tasteless jokes aside, I understand why The Shining is such a gripping book.  It's a great example of everything Stephen King - a little creepy, a little science-fiction, and a whole lot of slow build.  The world of the Overlook Hotel is haunting and intriguing, and he plays so well on the idea of the haunted hotel, something that truly permeates modern ghost stories.

Focusing solely on the book and erasing the film from my mind (as hard as that is) I was shocked and precisely how haunted The Overlook is... and the sheer madness that the owners have been so successful in keeping it all quiet.  That seems like another story behind the scenes, some secret swallowed by Jack's friend Al that only Stephen King knows.  There are ghosts and specters of some sort in nearly every scene once the snow moves in, and I really appreciated how much King uses bad luck to hamper his characters.  More than a ghost story, The Shining feels like a psychological thriller, a dark story of magical realism, and a mystery rolled into a blood-soaked horror blanket and it's wonderfully done.

I was also impressed with the characters, something else I didn't expect after experiencing the iconic film.  Of course, Jack Torrance is as round and broken as he has ever been, but there was a normality to Danny and resolute trust to Wendy that made me admire both of them.  I was invested in the fates of all three family members, for different reasons.  Of course, and perhaps the most impressive of the lot, is the character of the hotel itself.  We start with it's charm and grandeur, but without the people whose souls it feeds, the hotel becomes a dark, malicious thing.  It is manipulative and patient and hungry and just utterly fabulous.

As always, you must forgive King a bit of his writing because the pace, especially early in the book, is painfully slow.  Not to the point of The Stand, perhaps, but enough to try the reader's patience as they wait for the murdering to commence.  It's difficult to go into The Shining these days and not have a vague idea of what's coming, but nonetheless Jack and Wendy's history can be... trying to read.  As the slow, initial world building is simply King's writing style, it's something that must be endured if you want to experience the rest of the story.

Of all the King books I've read, The Shining has the strongest world building (save, of course, his Dark Tower series).  This may do in part with the personification of the hotel, but I think it's also thanks to the extreme weather conditions, Jack's addiction, and the colors and variety of the various hauntings.  It's easy to be pulled into this world, for better or worse.  As long as there's nothing creeping behind your shower curtain, you'll probably be fine.

[inlibrisveritas]

Quite a good read, a lot different than I was expecting. Hopefully, I'll be able to put my thoughts together for an actual review.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

Seriously, does this guy ever disappoint?! Stephen King is always a sure thing for enjoyable reading and a guaranteed cure for a reading slump. This book was somewhere between 4 and 4.5 stars. It was a great Halloween read that left me adequately spooked, but still able to sleep at night. He always strikes the perfect balance for me between spooky and terrifying. This story was amazingly simple, yet thought-provokingly complex at the same time. If every other author on Earth could take notes from him on this, that would be ideal. This novel also paired nicely with AHS: Hotel. I had it in my mind to save the sequel for next October, but I highly doubt that will actually happen. Let's see how close I can get to next October without reading Doctor Sleep...

I very much enjoyed listening to this narrator (Campbell Scott), a pattern I have noticed among Stephen King audiobooks. ~The Audiobookworm

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I have tried to watch Forrest Gump several times but with each attempt I fall asleep. The stretch between his college football games and saving Lieutenant Dan had me yawning. Until recently this has been my experience with The Shining. I found it slow and wasn't able to slog my way to room 217. Perhaps it was the snowy, wooded, isolated setting that I currently call home but this time I stuck with it. Perseverance payed off as The Shining is a horrific good read.

The Torrances are well established characters with an even balance of Danny (and Tony) strangely knowing more than they showed and Danny's parents mimicking Miss Clavel's something is not right.

Although it is The Overlook hotel that really shines in King's novel. Aptly named she looks over her inhabitants with eerie care.

"The Overlook faced it as it had for three-quarters of a century, its darkened windows now bearded with snow, indifferent to the fact that it was now cut off from the world. Or possibly it was pleased with the prospect. Inside its shell the three of them went about their early evening routine, like microbes trapped in the intestine of a monster."
~ Chapter 24, Page 211

It is when the hedge animals start to move that the atmosphere changes. Something wicked this way comes. Jack's sanity begins to unwind as well as any hope that this stint at The Overlook would give the Torrances the new start they had been hoping for. It is a telling scene overshadowed by sadness.

"Staring at the hedge animals, he realized something had changed while he had his hand over his eyes. The dog had moved closer."
~ Chapter 23, page 208


The climax of the film All About Eve is Margo Channing descending a staircase, with daggers in her eyes proclaiming "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night". This reminded me of Wendy after barricading herself and Danny into their quarters, feeling threatened by her husband, descending the grand staircase with a butcher knife in mind. I relate these two scenes because they initiate the downfall that is to come. In The Shining, I tensed up not for the puffed up woman in a bathtub, but for a simple walk down a staircase because like Eve Harrington, Jack Torrance has an agenda.

Perhaps it is because I associate The Shining and therefore Jack Torrance with Jack Nicholson's maddening "Here's Johnny!" but I was not as terrified as I thought I would be. Instead, I viewed The Shining as a suspenseful, stay up late kind of read. Although by the end of the Torrance's nightmare I understood why it had become a classic.

[clq]

A while back I asked someone for suggestions on books that would frighten me. I've felt disturbed, uncomfortable, and thrilled by books, but I have yet to feel genuinely frightened. The Shining was suggested as a remedy to this.
I've never actually seen the film, so I didn't really have much of an idea of what to expect. Considering how popular the film seems to be, I did fear that the book might seem a little formulaic and... film'y. Fortunately it didn't. The story spent exactly the right amount of time setting itself and its characters up, crossing into the realm of excitement just as it had made me care enough about the story to also care about its outcome. I generally tend to find supernatural stuff annoying, but in The Shining the 'real' elements of the story were strong enough to at least fool me into accepting the less rational parts of what happened. I really liked the style the book was written in, and I found the story to be addicting, gripping and entertaining. Alas, despite living in what is essentially a hotel while reading, I didn't find the book to be that scary. There were several points at which I got goosebumps, but they were all due to the touching moments rather than the scary ones. Still though, The Shining is a very entertaining, worthwhile read.

[kimbacaffeinate]

The first time I read The Shining was back in junior high and it terrified me. I didn't even have the image of Jack Nicholson’s evil smile yet implanted in my head. The king of horror never ceases to amaze me, even the second time around. This time rereading it in my *coughs * forties *coughs* I got to fully appreciate King's talent at fleshing out his characters. Filled with subtle horror, madness and a hotel that manifests and takes on a life of its own, this tale gave me all the creepy goodness only King can deliver.

While I cannot imagine you aren't aware of the tale or at least watched the movie, the tale centers around recovering alcohol Jack Torrance and his struggling young family. After a breakdown that cost him his teaching career, they have been struggling to make ends meet. With a car about to choke out its last dying breath, he accepts a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. * cue ominous music* Wendy his wife is very fragile and has seriously contemplated leaving good old Jack. Sadly she loves the loon and with a young clairvoyant son they travel with him to take up residence at the Overlook. Danny, oh poor Danny! He sees thing but is too young to articulate and shout, “we all gonna die if we go to that there hotel!!” Needless to say that as they head to the hotel * cue ominous music* with thoughts of bonding, writing and love the tale that unfolds is anything but a fairy-tale.

King has a unique ability to create dark, flawed and believable characters that stay with you long after having read the book. My husband and I are both huge King fans and still quote lines from our favorite Stephen King novels. "They all float down here", "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" "Get Busy Living or Get busy dying." Jack Torrance is one twisted, broken, angry, demented, alcoholic recovering wanna- be. He is also charismatic, a sickly sweet talker and manipulator. While his intentions are good, somebody forgot to flip the switch on. Add in the Overlook hotel *dantdantdant* and you have the ingredients for sheer terror. Danny loves his Mom and Dad, and gets upset when he hears bad thoughts in his parent’s heads; like “divorce” and “suicide”. He really doesn't understand the things he sees. That is until the creepy Dick Halloran tells him that he has his “shine on”. Danny’s gift is known as the Shining. (Hence the title) The hotel takes on a life of its own as it feeds on and grows stronger from evil committed on the premises. *shivers* Haunted houses have nothing on the Overlook. It is worse than the Hotel California.

Stephen King slowly draws you into the tale and its characters. You become completely lost in the corners of his warped mind. The lines between his world and reality blur. He slowly builds the suspense of the tale, carefully weaving in the gooey creepiness he is so well known for. Finally you reach a point where your hands are sweating, your heart is racing and there is not a chance in Haiti that you are setting this book down. His portrayal of Jack’s madness was genius and so well fleshed out. Add in the hotel's growing interest in Danny and *squee* you are in the middle of a book high that will not quit! The supernatural elements only enhanced the tale as the story picked up speed. It had me racing to it conclusion. While I love many of Stephen King’s work, this tale will forever be one of my favorites. He is and always will be on my auto-buy list. If you love horror, then my guess is his book(s) already graces your bookshelf.

One of the reasons I chose to reread The Shining was because of the announcement that Stephen wrote a second book to this tale called Doctor Sleep. Scheduled to be released in 2013, it will tell the tale of a grown-up Danny Torrance and his quest to save a special twelve year old girl from a murderous tribe of paranormals. *I know right, I shivered too* The True Knot tribe lives off the “steam” that children with the "Shining" produce but only if you torture them to death!! I plan to devour it as soon as it’s available.
Caffeinated Book Reviewer