Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Shining (The Shining #1)

by Stephen King, Campbell Scott (Narrator)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 382,232 ratings · 5,094 reviews

First published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls...more

Audio CD, 0 pages

Published August 2nd 2005 by Simon & Schuster Audio (first published 1977)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 22, 2007 Earline rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, horror, film-adaptation, madness

This scene from Friends pretty much sums up my feelings about this book:

"Rachel: Hmm. (she opens the freezer) Umm, why do you have a copy of The Shining in your freezer?

Joey: Oh, I was reading it last night, and I got scared, so.

Rachel: But ah, you’re safe from it if it’s in the freezer?

Joey: Well, safer. Y'know, I mean I never start reading The Shining, without making sure we’ve got plenty of room in the freezer, y'know.

Rachel: How often do you read it?

Joey: Haven’t you ever read the same book...more

407 likes · like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Nandakishore Varma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Quite simply put, The Shining is the best horror story I have ever read. It scared the hell out of me.

Over a period of time, I have noticed certain standard "motifs" in horror stories. One of these I call "The Lost Child". Such stories will typically involve a child, who can see what the silly grownups cannot see (or, even if they do see, don't acknowledge because it goes against reason and logic): and who fights, however high the odds stacked against him/ her are. Danny Torrance is such a boy.

D...more Quite simply put, The Shining is the best horror story I have ever read. It scared the hell out of me.

Over a period of time, I have noticed certain standard "motifs" in horror stories. One of these I call "The Lost Child". Such stories will typically involve a child, who can see what the silly grownups cannot see (or, even if they do see, don't acknowledge because it goes against reason and logic): and who fights, however high the odds stacked against him/ her are. Danny Torrance is such a boy.

Danny can read minds. He can see the frightening thoughts inside his Dad's and Mom's heads ("DIVORCE", "SUICIDE") but is powerless to do anything about it. Danny does not know that he has a gift; he takes it as a matter of course, until Dick Halloran of the Overlook Hotel tells him that he "shines on".

Jack Torrance, Danny's Dad, reformed alcoholic and struggling writer, is trying to put his life back together after a tragedy. He gets what he sees as the ideal chance when he lands the job of caretaker of the Overlook Hotel for the winter. In the snowed-in hotel with only his son and wife Wendy, Jack assumes that he will get enough quality time to be with his family, patch up old quarrels, and write that breakout novel.

But the Overlook has other plans. The hotel, which feeds on and grows in strength from the evils committed on its premises, wants Danny-permanently-to join its crew of ghostly inhabitants. And to do that, it needs to get to Jack...

The novel slowly grows in horror, starting with mild unease, moving up through sweaty palms and dry mouth, to pure, gut-wrenching terror. Jack's slow slide into madness is paralleled by the growth in power of the hotel's dark miasma, and Danny's extraordinary capabilities. We are on a roller-coaster ride into darkness.

The world of grownups is often frighteningly incomprehensible to young children: these fears seldom die as we grow up, but remain dormant in our psyche. There are very few of us who does not have a ghost in our childhood somewhere. It is when the writer invokes this ghost that story gets to us. King does a masterly job of awakening that child, and putting him/ her in the midst of childhood terrors through the alter ego of Danny Torrance, lost in the cavernous corridors of the Overlook.

There are a lot of passages which literally creeped me out in this novel (the topiary animals, the fire hose in the corridor, the woman in the bathroom to name a few). As King has said elsewhere, the monster behind the door is more frightening than the monster slavering at you: this book is full of such monsters. More importantly, you will keep on remembering your own boogeymen while you are reading; and long after you finish, you will feel the urge to look behind you.

Horror stories are a form of catharsis. As King says, the writer takes you to the body covered under the sheet: you feel it, and are frightened. At the same time, you are relieved that the body is not you.

A true masterpiece.

(less)

57 likes · like · see review

Jun 24, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, spooky-real-estate, 1970-1979, horror-classic, audiobook, psychos

QUESTION: Is Stephen King the BEST PURE STORYTELLER of the 20th Century ?

ANSWER: Who knows...I haven’t got the slightest wisp of the faintest fragment of a lingering shadow of a clue how to answer that manwich-sized question. However, I do think that in order to have a credible debate on the subject, you would need to include the Prince of the Prolific Page Turner in the argument. That says something to me and it got me thinking that there is a lot to like (and even love) about much of King’s wo...more

84 likes · like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 Jeffrey Keeten rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “The thought rose from nowhere, naked and unadorned. The urge to tumble her out of bed, naked, bewildered, just beginning to wake up; to pounce on her, seize her neck like the green limb of a young aspen and to throttle her, thumbs on windpipe, fingers pressing against the top of her spine, jerking her head up and ramming it back down against the floorboards, again and again, whamming, whacking, smashing, crashing. Jitter and jive, baby. Shake, rattle, and roll. He would make her take her medici...more

62 likes · like · see review

Oct 19, 2012 Lou rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, adapted-to-screen, best-reads

Gripping suspense from the Master the pace never let's down. King takes you on a non stop ride round a hotel possessed by an evil force that slowly tries to destroy a family that comes to work there.
There is going to be Redrum and one young boy has a gift of shining.
You will love it 100%.

Now be a good little boy PLEASE!

http://more2read.com/?review=the-shining-by-stephen-king

16 likes · like · see review

May 06, 2013 Dan Schwent rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2013

Recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance takes a job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, bringing his family with him. But can even his son Danny's special gift, The Shining, stop him from going mad and butchering his family like other caretakers before him?

Yes, I'm several decades late to the party in reading this but after reading Joe Hill's NOS4A2, I had to read my first non-Dark Tower Stephen King book in years to see how the old man did horror back in the day. I'm not sure this was such a good id...more

24 likes · like · see review

May 12, 2013 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller, horror

3.5
I expected to be blown away....I really really wasn't.

Always slightly unwilling to go against what everyone thinks but I can't help it. It leaves me confused thinking, really? This book? What's wrong with me.

I like some parts of it, the characters were great to read. I loved the spookiness of the hotel and the ghostly business going on.

But frankly.....

Scary topiary? No
Scary fire hose things? No

These things are giggle worthy I'm afraid Mr. King

No matter how much freakiness you put into it,...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 13, 2012 Tanu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense-mystery, overrated, horror, well-developed-plot, emotional-drama, cringe-worthy, why-did-i-fall-for-this

This book was an utter failure for me in respect of a horror novel.

Didn’t scare me, nah, not at all, didn’t even make me wince. And I am just 17 and finished this novel around midnight, in my bed, where I sleep alone, with windows in my room which makes strange creaking noises.

Now, if I mentally remove the horror tag from the novel, then I might give it a 3.5 star.

Reasons: Nice plot, nice insight into an alcoholic’s mind, Jack and Wendy’s back story, the chilling detail of Jack’s father (only...more

22 likes · like · see review

Sep 20, 2011 Kira rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Valiant King fans

Recommended to Kira by: A valiant King fan

Shelves: i-hate-that-i-love-you, lolwut, not-amazing-but-not-shit, so-boring-i-ate-my-own-face

One of the few good things my father ever bothered to give me was an interest in Stephen King. Trufax.

Look, I'm a YA girl. I read juvenile crap, and then I tear it apart afterwards, and that's good for me. But every so often, wading through a miasma of commercialized garbage gets a little tough on the ol' thinker, and you have to pick up a real book and do some real reading.

This book is a classic for me, more than Things Fall Apart or Wuthering Heights or other such poorly written, overpraised...more

15 likes · like · see review

Nov 07, 2012 Brandon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction, 2012, uncle-stevie, horror

A few weeks ago, I went to see Norm MacDonald perform stand-up. He did a bit where he talked about how people often let their friends off the hook when they're guilty of being a bit of an asshole. They say that old often used expression, "Oh, well that's just *insert friend's name* being *friend's name*." Like Norm, I find that's a terrible excuse. If that's just your friend being himself, well.. your friend is a bit of a shithead.

Jack Torrence often loses his temper and while no one says, "Well...more A few weeks ago, I went to see Norm MacDonald perform stand-up. He did a bit where he talked about how people often let their friends off the hook when they're guilty of being a bit of an asshole. They say that old often used expression, "Oh, well that's just *insert friend's name* being *friend's name*." Like Norm, I find that's a terrible excuse. If that's just your friend being himself, well.. your friend is a bit of a shithead.

Jack Torrence often loses his temper and while no one says, "Well, that's just Jack being Jack" you can tell that people have probably made this excuse for him his whole life. This is how these people can get away with this ridiculous behavior. The big problem with Jack's asshole tendencies is that it's mixed with being a recovering alcoholic. As a person who abstains from drinking, I have my personal views on consuming adult beverages. While most people can use it successfully as a social lubricant and a means to relax, I've seen my fair share of it's ugly side. Jack, whether intentional or not, embraces that ugly side of it.

While Jack often means well, King often points to the fact that Jack experienced a harsh upbringing. When you combine his drunken abusive father, his mentally checked-out mother and his introverted siblings, Jack didn't exactly float through childhood. Situations like this often support a saying that I've heard more than a few times, something along the lines of, "We are the sum total of all of our experiences" and no one really embodies that more than ol' Jackie boy.

So, taking into consideration Jack's history combined with his current predicament, it makes his slow decent into madness pretty believable. It's not like King is going out on a limb here in hoping that the reader will just accept Jack's mental state. When you realize what a fantastic job he did combining Danny's shining with Jack's continued self-assurance that "everything is OK", you're much more willing to accept that this man has just entered "bat-shit crazy" territory. As the Joker had pointed out so eloquently in The Dark Knight:

I'm not afraid to say that I was genuinely frightened at times while reading. Even through I've read my fair share of King stories over the past few years, I haven't read anything of his that I would really call, "horror". I'm not pleading ignorance here, I am fully aware of his status as a horror writer. So while he's written some legendarily scary stuff, I've been mostly interested in tales like "Under the Dome" and "The Stand", which are more along the lines of social commentaries or his Dark Tower series, which lives within the fantasy genre.

Going into this book, I was only equipped with what I've seen through random clips of the film adaptation and this one episode of The Simpsons so when certain things didn't occur, I was a little confused. After doing some reading, I discovered that the movie takes a lot of liberties with the core story. Given that Kubrick's vision is so widely beloved (well, aside from Uncle Stevie himself), I'm looking forward to sitting down and giving it a viewing.

I don't know if this is my favorite King book I've read but it's certainly up there. As of this point in time, it's certainly the scariest book I've read. I did want to get this in before the sequel, Doctor Sleep, hit shelves next year. From what I've read of the synopsis, I'm not sure I understand why it's being made but I trust King completely and am hopeful he crafts a worthy follow-up.(less)

16 likes · like · see review

Nov 16, 2008 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is one of those books that I'm glad I read after seeing the film adaptation. I wouldn't have enjoyed Stanley Kubrick's movie version nearly as much had I read the book first.

Stephen King, you may know, was not too pleased with Kubrick's adaptation. For one, he thought Jack Nicholson's interpretation of the character of Jack Torrance left little doubt that he would go insane and try to murder his family. When we meet him, he seems halfway there already.

Indeed, Jack Torrance was a far more co...more

19 likes · like · see review

Sep 20, 2012 Janie Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king

OMG this book truly was amazing. This could easily rate as my favorite if it weren't for It. I am just sorry it took me this long to get to it. I felt as though I was totally immersed in this and actually became a part of the story. I could not help myself from turning the pages, and quickly I might add.

The characters were so vivid and I could tell that they were carefuly constructed. And I will never forget them. My favorite character(s) in the book would have to be Danny and Mr. Hallorann. Be...more

12 likes · like · see review

Jan 25, 2011 Dawn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-suspense, own-read, read-in-2011, favorites

I had to wait a week after reading this to write my review. Why? I couldn't fit my computer under my bed with me to type it up.

Fricken terrifying. Terrifying! The entire time I spent reading this I felt sick to my stomach with dread. I was jumpy, paranoid, the whole shamboozle. King really gets into your head with this... He takes you right into the character's subconscious, and as they are slowly driven bonkers, you are driven bonkers right along with them.

Is it sad that even though I knew it...more

41 likes · like · see review

Oct 27, 2010 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: 1001-core, horror

God knows I tried very hard to like this book. Two reasons why I struggled very hard reading and liking this book:

1) I saw the movie prior to reading the book. I liked the movie. Contrary to King's comment that he did not like it (at first; later he recanted and said he liked it already), I enjoyed the movie compared to the book. But while reading, I just did not feel the same eagerness and fright as I knew who the main characters were, the plot, the conflict, the climax but the ending was fuzzy

...more God knows I tried very hard to like this book. Two reasons why I struggled very hard reading and liking this book:

1) I saw the movie prior to reading the book. I liked the movie. Contrary to King's comment that he did not like it (at first; later he recanted and said he liked it already), I enjoyed the movie compared to the book. But while reading, I just did not feel the same eagerness and fright as I knew who the main characters were, the plot, the conflict, the climax but the ending was fuzzy, fortunately, in my mind so it motivated me to keep on reading till the last page.
2) I am already too old to be frightened by a mere book. Again, had I read this when I was a teen or in my 20's when I was hooked on horror movies, I would have felt differently. Sorry guys, being in the middle of my life, I have a feeling that soon I will be a spirit too and I am sure that I will not appear as spirit, much more a bad one, to anyone even to my enemies, if any. When my dad was terminally ill in 1997, I asked if he would show himself to us as a spirit. He said, "why should I do that? what's the use?"

But I am giving this book a 3-star rating. Why? Again, two reasons:

1) All my friends here in Goodreads rated this either 4 or 5. I hope not to receive "hate" comments. Friendship comes first - a lot first - than book reviews. Anyway, I finished the book even if it took me more than 2 weeks to finish it. First, I thought that I would focus with King's writing style but there was nothing to worth mentioning about it. No metaphor, no stream-of-consciousness, etc. However, his imagination is so fertile that I think that even the "mystery notebook" (or journals) was copied by Kei Oishi in his hit Japanese horror book, Ju-On. I mean King is King and even if he did not start this genre (I think this started with Dracula or Frankenstein), he set the trend and made writing horror books competitive against the usual romance or thriller genres. King's prose is fast-paced, taut, full of twist and suspense.

2) I believe in hotel ghosts. When I was in Jakarta in 2002, I was booked in an old hotel. One morning, I was alone in the gym, located in the basement and with this looking through glass fronting a dark garden, doing my threadmill at 4:00 a.m. (since I have to leave at 5:30 to go to the plant in the province). In Indonesia, you have all those scary wall images. My Indonesian friends say that those are to ward off evil spirits. Honestly, I think those scary images are the devils themselves. No offense, Indonesians (I don't want to receive hate messages!). So, I was doing my threadmill and I could feel somebody watching me. I was having goosebumps and I got so scared that I had to pray decades of the rosary. I only stopped when the gym instructor showed up at 4:45 a.m. But I knew that there was somebody from the netherworld who was with me in that gym!

A story of a man and his family, a wife and a 5-y/o son who has this ability called "shining", i.e., to read other people's minds and predict the future. The father is a loser because of his bad temper. The mother wants to keep his family, no matter what. The is also the black former hotel personnel who also has that "shining" ability. Then the real star of the story: the hotel with a gory past! The hotel can come alive with all the dead can be alive and go partying and talk to the living. The blood and brain splatted on the wall of room 217. The REDRUM becoming MURDER. The scary sights and sounds.

If you want to be in a halloween mood this weekend, read or re-read The Shining. Just pick another book if you are: first, saw the movie already and second, if you are above 40.
(less)

20 likes · like · see review

Jan 01, 2011 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Possible spoilers if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, in which case you should do so right now. This will undoubtedly end up as a comparison between the two—me being the Kubrick fan-boy that I am-so having experienced both versions would probably help understand what I'm talking about.

The Shining is probably my favorite horror movie of all time. It takes a medium based on cheap pop-out scares and uses the horror in a way that gives legitimate depth to the characters. To me, it's a pr...more Possible spoilers if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, in which case you should do so right now. This will undoubtedly end up as a comparison between the two—me being the Kubrick fan-boy that I am-so having experienced both versions would probably help understand what I'm talking about.

The Shining is probably my favorite horror movie of all time. It takes a medium based on cheap pop-out scares and uses the horror in a way that gives legitimate depth to the characters. To me, it's a prime example of how horror ought to be done. It's not a perfect movie. The characters aren't entirely believable and don't always act, um, like normal people (this seems to be a trend in Kubrick movies, though I don't love them any less for it). If I had to praise the book for any one thing, it would be how well developed the characters were in comparison to the movie. There was a lot of depth to the characters as well as—surprisingly—all of the symbolism and motifs being thrown around throughout the book. The book was also very unnerving in parts and almost certain scarier than the movie (not to brag or anything, but I'm not one to find horror movies scary). Books and written word in general leave far more up to the imagination, and I find horror is far more effective when it's psychological. The unknown is usually scarier than anything you can see and that where this book gets most of it's horror from.

So, you say, with all this praise surely I must think the book is better than the movie, right?

WRONG!!!!!

For all the awesome storytelling and its near-brilliance, The Shining horribly fails in one regard. Stephen King is a horrible writer. Perhaps I should rephrase that. Stephen King is a horrible editor. The page count of The Shining could have been cut in half without losing any important information. He fills these pages with useless explanation and almost redundant character development. I didn't know it was possible to spend too much time developing character but King did it. In the movie Jack's alcoholism is only briefly mentioned during the opening scenes, but King decides to spend 500 chapters describing how each member of the family and his career have all been affected by Jack's addiction. I suppose this is asking a lot considering King is a mainstream pop-lit author, but some subtlety would be nice. I think Hemingway's iceberg theory could have been applied here with extraordinary results. Kubrick's version was far more subtle than this, and a lot more interesting because of it (what's this, you say, a subtle horror movie!?). Everything was just executed better. Plus Jack Nicholson is absolutely amazing at portraying insanity.

Another thing, the novel starts getting downright absurd around the climax. The overall scariness of the novel took a nosedive right when the “scary” stuff started happening. For some reason the anticipation of what was going to happen was more frightening than it actually happening. Oh well.

Inexplicably King didn't like Kubrick's adaptation of the novel, but I won't judge him too harshly. It is his story after all. Kubrick made it his own, and I'd probably be pretty ticked if someone did that with my work. Just don't expect me to watch King's TV mini-series adaptation.(less)

11 likes · like · see review

Jan 21, 2011 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, stephen-king, favorites, highly-recommended, horror, 2011, mystery-and-thrillers, reviewed, challenge-1010

I've already reviewed this book, and I think it's a pretty good'un, if I do say so myself.

This review is going to be for the audio edition, read by Campbell Scott, and will probably be pretty short. Overall, I loved his reading of this book. I thought that he gave the characters just the right amount of life without taking them over and making them something they weren't.

I LOVED the way that he read Dick Hallorann. He gave him such a lovely tone and Southern quality, a kind of musicality, to h...more

10 likes · like · see review

Apr 27, 2012 Stefan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

The Shining is a complex tale combining the supernatural elements of a haunted hotel with the paranormal powers of a boy with the ability to shine and an intense character study of a man driven deeper and deeper into madness.

Laced throughout with an undercurrent of tension, the story moves us quickly on a roller-coaster ride of events that lead to an intense, action-packed conclusion.

The main story revolves around a man and his family who are trying to regroup their lives and take one last chanc...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 02, 2011 Michela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hearts-books

“Shining” –Stephen King (1977)

Mettiamola cosi, tu sei Danny Torrance, un bambino di cinque anni con strani poteri psichici, possiedi lo “Shine” grazie al quale riesci a vedere il passato e il futuro.
Arrivi in una giornata d’autunno all'Overlook Hotel,Colorado, un vecchio albergo che dovrai custodire con tua madre Wendy e tuo padre Jack per tutto l’inverno.
Hai a disposizione decine e decine di stanze, saloni, corridoi, giardini, tunnel bui, scantinati dove scorazzare libero senza pensieri. Se...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 07, 2011 jzhunagev rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: for those raring to read Stephen King this is a good place to start!

Recommended to jzhunagev by: the "Voice"

Shelves: award-winning-best-seller, dark-chest-of-wonders, fiction-contemporary, horror, supernatural, suspense, thriller

This Inhuman Place Makes Human Monsters
(A Book Review of Stephen King’s The Shining)

Acclaimed by both readers and critics, Stephen King’s third novel, The Shining, published in 1977 on the heel of two previous runaway bestsellers Carrie and ‘Salem’s Lot, is regarded as one of the greatest contemporary haunted house stories written in the history of the genre and quickly became a literary benchmark in Stephen King’s early career. Adapted as a motion picture in 1980 by the legendary Stanley Kubric...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 24, 2010 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, horror, stephen-king, owned, fantasy, mystery-and-thrillers, 2010, reviewed, blog_etb, leg-hump_worthy, challenge-1010

This has always been one of my favorite books. I have read it more times than I can count since the first time, when I was about 9 or 10 I think. I've gone through at least three copies, and I am sure that I will go through at least that many, if not more, in the future. The Shining is one of those books that I can re-read over and over. I'm sure that it must bug Stephen King that his older books are the ones that people always feel this way about... but the money I spend in new copies will, I h...more

20 likes · like · see review

Jul 27, 2012 Jane Stewart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-suspense

You need to be in a mood to watch a man’s life spiral down due to rage, alcoholism, madness, and demonic possession.

I prefer books that entertain and uplift me. This book does not. But I felt relief with survival at the end. Watching alcoholism and its effects is a downer but also insightful. I know the author had a personal problem with alcoholism (for a while). The thoughts and feelings in this book may have been inspired by his own. I admire him for what he showed. The story is scary, but it’...more You need to be in a mood to watch a man’s life spiral down due to rage, alcoholism, madness, and demonic possession.

I prefer books that entertain and uplift me. This book does not. But I felt relief with survival at the end. Watching alcoholism and its effects is a downer but also insightful. I know the author had a personal problem with alcoholism (for a while). The thoughts and feelings in this book may have been inspired by his own. I admire him for what he showed. The story is scary, but it’s also creative and different. Some parts are unforgettable in a good way. If your tastes are similar to mine and you do NOT like horror, consider this 3 stars. But if you like this genre, it’s 4 or more stars.

Jack is an alcoholic with anger problems. On rare occasions rage surges out, and he does horrible things like break his three-year-old son’s arm, or beat a student which causes him to lose his teaching job. Now the only job he can get is caretaker for an isolated hotel during the winter. An evil spirit/power lives there and causes harm.

A second story is Danny (Jack’s five-year-old son) who has psychic abilities referred to as “shining.” He can read others’ thoughts and see future events. The hotel cook also has “shining” ability and befriends Danny. This was my favorite part of the story.

I was pleased to see the author used different writing techniques in this book than he used in the book “It.” In “It” the author jumped around in time too much and ended scenes in the middle of action and sentences. I immensely disliked that. “The Shining” had some flashbacks which were fine, but most of the story was told in a linear time line and no artificial cliff-hangers at the end of chapters. I liked that.

The narrator Campbell Scott was excellent.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook reading time: 15 hrs and 54 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words, plus sexual and racial slurs. Sexual content: a couple of sex scenes referred to, no details shown. Setting: current day mostly a hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, with some Vermont and Maine. Book copyright: 1977. Genre: horror suspense. Ending: the characters I worried about survived.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Stephen King books, see my 5 star review of Carrie.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 07, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

I am not a King fan, and I don't like this book. Insanity, sadness, loss...the evil dad. What a joy!

************** The discussion below may contain some spoilers **********

(view spoiler)...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 26, 2011 Brad rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, better-as-a-movie

Once upon a time, there was a young man who believed that books were always better than movies. Everyone whose opinion he respected told him it was so, and he believed it must be. And for a time he saw nothing to shake this belief. He read Dickens and saw filmed versions and knew it was so. He read Dumas and no version of Musketeers could shake his conviction. Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Scarlet Pimpernel all bore this out. But the young man discovered that it wasn't just the cla...more

35 likes · like · see review

view all 20 comments

Lisa The movie adaptaion of a book is always to liberal for me. I prefer it when they stay true to the beauty of the novel. For instance, both adaptaions o...more
Oct 17, 2012 07:34pm

Willowfaerie Excellent review!

There is one scene in the book that wasn’t in either movie. It’s at the end where Jack catches up with Danny and Danny yells at him,...more
updated Oct 17, 2012 09:03pm

Aug 24, 2008 Lena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I hadn't really realized just how deeply this story is embedded in the collective unconscious until I mentioned to a friend a few years back that my now husband and I were considering getting married at The Stanley Hotel, the Colorado landmark where the movie version of this book was set.

"Are you insane?" she said to me. "You cannot do that. I will spend the entire ceremony waiting for blood to start pouring out the elevators."

We got married down the road instead.

29 likes · like · see review

Jan 01, 2009 Fabian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

His best book is 'The Green Mile,' but since it doesn't quite fall under the horror category, it is either 'Shining' or 'Carrie' which take top prize.

There is not one single detriment to this well-known tale of the disintegration of the American family within the realm of the undead. King here is as he has never been since: metaphoric and concise. He usually adds fact upon useless fact that converts a 400 pg work into something more gargantuan, and, therefore, less enthralling.

King is not a fan...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 08, 2009 Ian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, own

This book sucked. The ideas and themes were interesting sometimes, but the writing was awful. Let me give one short example.

"Whimpering with fear, she began to pull herself upwards again. Ten steps, a dozen, a baker's dozen."

Let me ask you, what the hell do a dozen and a baker's dozen have to do with stairs? Stephen King seems to be full of these little things, call them puns or quirks or flaws, they're everywhere, and they're totally stupid and distract from what otherwise might be passably int...more

13 likes · like · see review

Jan 11, 2013 Damali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Jack loses his mind after moving with his wife and son, Danny, to a remote hotel over the winter.

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 02, 2012 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, 20th-century, gothic

This great novel, often hailed as one of Stephen King's finest moments, is a terrifying ghost story about madness and isolation. I, having seen the Stanley Kubrick adaptation several times, have been putting off reading this book because I thought I knew the story inside and out. What I didn't realize, which others who have read the book and seen the movie have told me, is that the two are very different. They both contain the same characters and the same setting, but the way the story plays out...more

11 likes · like · see review

Dec 10, 2007 Josh Feinzimer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Thrill seekers

Shelves: horror

This was an excellent book. In Stephen King greats it ranks behind The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. In my mind, it's next to the Dead Zone among King masterpieces.

The character development was fantastic. In fact, King himself has said that the movie did not live up to the esteemed billing that the book received because in Kubrick's interpretation, you never really feel anything for the characters. No attachment, no sympathy, no nothing.

In the novel, you develop a connection with even...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 01, 2012 Arah-Lynda Hay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top

I agree with all the other goodread’s voices that say this, is an easy five stars. Done. Even though I have seen the movie at least twice and I am a consistent King fan, with, okay, a couple of exceptions, this story reeled me in from the get go.

Is it dark and horrifying? Why yes it is, indeed, I would add that anyone seriously interested in writing great suspense, should pay close attention. It is told by a Master.

The movie positively pales in comparison.

Read it! Everybody should.

7 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Where Do You Buy Books?	69	304	May 12, 2013 09:20pm
Stanley Kubrick vs. made for TV version: which is better?	32	165	May 09, 2013 11:38am
Montague/Leifheit...: Felser term 4 book review	1	1	May 07, 2013 10:02am
Will You Read the Sequel to "The Shining?"	106	656	May 01, 2013 09:03am
Stephen King Fans: The Shining	374	594	Apr 28, 2013 05:29pm
Stephen King Fans: The Shining	40	223	Apr 16, 2013 10:12pm

combine
Other Editions (138)

More editions...

Videos About This Book

Add a comment

Add a comment

Genres

Horror

4,815 users

Thriller

524 users

Fantasy

212 users

Mystery

196 users

Classics

188 users

Suspense

173 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

168 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

148 users

Adult

121 users

Adult Fiction

102 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

The Exorcist
by William Peter Blatty
Creepshow
by Bernie Wrightson (Adaptor, Illustrator)
Rosemary's Baby
by Ira Levin
Ghost Story
by Peter Straub
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
by Clive Barker

About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

More about Stephen King...

Books by Stephen King

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Shining

64 trivia questions
6 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Shining

“Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.” — 312 people liked it

“This inhuman place makes human monsters.” — 43 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Shining
avg rating	preview: The Shining Goodreads rating: 4.00 (382232 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10593.The_Shining?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348618354l/10593.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10593.The_Shining?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Shining by Stephen King[/url]

The Shining (The Shining #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website