Since The Shining is very high on my list of top five horror movies ever made, I've always planned...more

Since The Shining is very high on my list of top five horror movies ever made, I've always planned on getting around to the source material. When a friend offered to loan me the book a while ago, I quickly accepted. I enjoyed the book immensely, especially the exploration of Doc's powers. However, even though the book is a fine piece of writing, the movie wins out. My big problem with the book is that King makes it very clear that Jack's actions are a result of the malign forces inhabiting the hotel. The movie was more vague as to whether this was the case or whether Jack just lost his marbles. To me, that's a hell of a lot scarier. Still, one of the better (admittedly few) King novels I've read.    hide

Just re-read it, and forgot how powerful the sense of steamrolling dread is....a well thought-out...more

Just re-read it, and forgot how powerful the sense of steamrolling dread is....a well thought-out piece of work, and possibly King's most "literary" book.   hide

I'm not going to lie...this book gave me nightmares for 4 nights. The suspense is amazing. The...more

I'm not going to lie...this book gave me nightmares for 4 nights. The suspense is amazing. The movie, as I'm sure any person would say, does not even come close to comparing to the imagery of this novel. I'd hope, that if they ever remade the movie, it would be closer to the novel because it is seriously that much better. Anyone who likes the movie should definitely read this book to see what they've been missing.   hide

This book is one of my favorites. The character and plot development were incredible, as always...more

This book is one of my favorites. The character and plot development were incredible, as always with King novels. I loved how the occurences in the Overlook Hotel could either have been real or the Torrance family went insane from isolation. Either way, I'll never walk down a hotel hallway without feeling uneasy. The Shining is also shorter than most of King's novels: only 400 plus pages, as opposed to over 1000.   hide

The Shining -by Stephen King Interest The book kept my interest throughout. I wanted to keep...more

The Shining -by Stephen King Interest The book kept my interest throughout. I wanted to keep reading. This is one of the big keys for me in a work of fiction. 9/10 Technique Obviously from my prior remark, I wanted to keep reading so something was right. I did definitely feel like King laid the foreshadowing on a bit heavily. I felt like I knew most of the ending before I had read the first third of the book. Other than that, I enjoyed the way he interjected characters' thoughts throughout. 6/10 Uniqueness of theme I have read several other books in the past with similar themes. I couldn't say, however, whether they were published beforehand or not. More on this in the spoiler text. 7/10 at least Recommendation I would indeed recommend this book, although it certainly doesn't top my list. There are other factors, besides the three above, such as depth that I have difficulty quantifying. Overall, I would rate it as a 7/10 - right at the level where I wouldn't mind reading it again, but I don't want to rush right out and tell my friends that they have to read it. ======!!!Spoilers Below!!!====== The portion of the theme that I've seen elsewhere is that of a malevolent house of some sort that's picked up its evil from previous tenants. One work that comes to mind off-hand is Orson Scott Card's Homebody. Now that novel was published in 1998, so I know The Shining came first, but it seemed familiar to me before that. I just can't recall from where. Also, I do like how even though the boy, who we are made to feel sympathetic towards, survives the ending is not completely happy and the reader is not left feeling good.   hide