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The Shining (The Shining #1)

by Stephen King

3.88 · rating details · 243,762 ratings · 3,190 reviews

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?

Paperback, 497 pages

Published 1982 by New English Library (first published January 1977)

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Dec 22, 2007

Earline rated it

· 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.

R...more

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Jun 24, 2011

Stephen rated it

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...more

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Nov 16, 2008

Jonathan rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 25, 2011

Dawn rated it

· 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 tha...more

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Oct 27, 2010

K.D. rated it

· 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

...moreGod 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.
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Jan 01, 2011

Josh rated it

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,...morePossible 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)

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Jan 21, 2011

Becky rated it

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

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 ...moreI'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 his voice that I wished that Hallorann had a bigger part to play in the books. I could listen to that voice all day long.

I also loved the way that he voiced Jack, especially once he started to unravel. I got shivers a couple times listening to it. I think that he did a fantastic job of interpreting Jack and his descent into madness. Jack has always been one of my favorite characters, not only in this book, or in King's work, but of all time. He is so complex and multifaceted and conflicted. I love Jack, so I was very pleased with the way that CS brought him to life through his voice.

My only gripe actually, was with how Wendy sounded in his voice. Campbell Scott is a man with a moderately deep voice, so female voices probably would have sounded very fake had he tried to do them. Luckily, he didn't, but he interpreted Wendy in a kind of low and husky voice that didn't mesh with how I hear her in my head. In CS's voice, Wendy sounded a bit melancholy and way too calm at times. In my head, she has a higher pitched voice, and is quite a bit more anxious and shrill at times. Panicky when things start hitting the fan, but that wasn't how Campbell read her at all.

Not that I'm complaining too much. It would have been far worse to have to listen to a fake shrill voice from a man trying to do a falsetto.

Anyway... I highly recommend this audio, this book. If you haven't read it, you should. There are some scary moments, but the beauty of this book is what lies beneath. (less)

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Oct 02, 2011

Michela rated it

· 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 scorazza...more

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May 07, 2011

jzhunagev rated it

· 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 legend...more

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Nov 07, 2011

Lou rated it

· review of another edition

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

Gripping suspense from the Master never let's down. King takes you on a non stop ride round a hotel possessed by an evil force, that destroys 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%.

I shunned from watching the movie in the past due to the graphic images the screen portrayed, but after reading the novel i was able to handle it. The book is so much better, but the movie compliments the experience.
...more

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Jan 24, 2010

Becky rated it

· review of another edition

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

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

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Jan 13, 2012

Tanu Das rated it

Shelves: suspense-mystery, overrated, horror, well-developed-plot, emotional-drama, cringe-worthy, human-cruelty, 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 ch...more

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Mar 26, 2011

Brad rated it

· 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

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Aug 24, 2008

Lena rated it

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...more

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Jan 01, 2009

Fabian rated it

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.
...more

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Jan 08, 2009

Ian rated it

· 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 wh...more

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Dec 10, 2007

Josh Feinzimer rated it

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 develo...more

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Jan 24, 2011

Alyanna rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-us-adv

Book Review: The Shining
By: Stephen King
ISBN: 9780743424424
Page count: 683pgs (** COUNTS AS 2 BOOKS)

Stephen King's notable reputation as the King of horror novel shines throughout this book. In his third novel - The Shining, narrated in 3rd person limited he depicts the story of a dysfunctional family revolving mostly around a five-year old psychic, Danny Torrence. His father, Jack Torrence loses his job as a high school teacher due to alcoholism then ...moreBook Review: The Shining
By: Stephen King
ISBN: 9780743424424
Page count: 683pgs (** COUNTS AS 2 BOOKS)

Stephen King's notable reputation as the King of horror novel shines throughout this book. In his third novel - The Shining, narrated in 3rd person limited he depicts the story of a dysfunctional family revolving mostly around a five-year old psychic, Danny Torrence. His father, Jack Torrence loses his job as a high school teacher due to alcoholism then later on becomes a caretaker of 'Overlook Hotel' in the middle of nowhere, Colorado. Stephen King creates a unique character within Danny, even at the age of 5 for he is the reason for the execution of the story. Danny has the given power of having the ability to "shine" which allows him to see and commune with spirits that others can't. This is emphasized in the novel when they are placed and mixed with Jack's conflict as an alcoholic and the history of the Overlook Hotel. Throughout the story, King's potent technique in describing the demonic Overlook hotel is slowly portrayed as the process of each character's loss of sanity progresses.

Each of the characters has their own mind twists coming along in their new environment isolated from the usual civilization. In the overlook hotel, Danny's shining ability is becoming stronger as he connects with his imaginary friend Tony who "tells him things", comes to him and shows him in the Overlook where he begins to uncover the past terror burried in the history of the hotel. He meets one of the hotel's chef- Dick Hallorann, who shared the same ability on a lower degree. The hotel chef tells Danny of the hotel's sinister nature and warns him to avoid room 217. Danny's premonitions makes it clear to his parents that he is in danger, as the hotel's personality attempts to demonically take over danny's shining ability by making him more prone to his urgings. As the hotel struggles to take over Danny, it choses to manipulate Jack who is already struggling with his own conflicts. Overall, the story is extremely full of suspense as each character's problems intertwines in to a whirlpool of insanity. The way that each character's loss of sanity affects one another is shown through details of their deterioration until the very last moment of book.

Although this book sounds like the typical haunting house taking over members of family, it is far beyond the usual. The descriptive novel about the possessive hotel, the uncovered terrors and character's delusions are evocative and leaves you in a state of desolation. Stephen King's exhausting attention to the detail to the maximum makes this novel a masterpiece, his ability to create a story within a story through those details serves a purpose to the mind- the special effects bring this story to a universal level of damnation that only Stephen King can force us to naturally imagine.

The book itself is thick with a slow plot filled with concentrated horror. It is a little advanced hence i would suggest it to a young adult or adult who enjoys reading suspenseful thrillers. I believe that this book is known as an american classic ( one of the reasons why i read it) and so it is also strongly suggested to anyone who likes to explore books enable to expand their "cultural" awareness. My last say is this book is a little hardcore on the suspense and horror and might leave you with haunting thoughts so just think twice about it before committing yourself to a 683 pg book like this.
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Mar 04, 2009

Jenny rated it

· review of another edition

I am a huge Stephen King fan, and I had somehow put off reading this book for a long time. I was not disappointed!

People say that King's writing is clunky and that his endings suck, but I can't agree with that. Yes, this is an early book and he falls into the occasional cliche or bad metaphor, but I actually found the ending satisfying.

I think that King occasionally creates unrealistic little kid characters (wise WAY beyond their years), but I found Danny to be believab...more

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Jul 16, 2011

Felina rated it

Shelves: 2010, audiobook, favorites, star-5, own-kindle, own-nook

I listen to the audio read by Campbell Scott. It was very well read. This book is amazing and one of the best horror books I've read and definitely my favorite King book so far.

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Feb 14, 2009

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: stephen-king, horror, i_saw_the_movie, insane_in_the_membrane

This is one of those rare books that I feel holds it's own against a movie that is a cult classic if not just straight up a classic. It is hard to read the book and not visualize the movie in your head as you read along - but I think that is true for so many of the bigger than life movies. I love the link between literature and film - and I think when it works (the translation of a book into film) it's AMAZING. And when it doesn't the dissapointment is palpable. This is one of the rare gems of S...more

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May 23, 2011

Marvin rated it

Shelves: autographed, horror, favorites

This is the ultimate haunted house novel. King realized something that few writers understood; Ghosts are boring. It is not the house or the haunters that drive a good horror novel but the hauntees. Jack Torrance is the perfect foil for an evil house. He is troubled and unsure of himself. He is a time bomb waiting to go off with just the right push and the overlook Hotel knows it. King shows in this book that he is the master of the slow build. The Shining is not just a great supernatural novel....more

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Oct 21, 2011

Sean rated it

· review of another edition

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 ou...more

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Jul 19, 2011

Catherine Forbes rated it

Recommends it for: Stephen King fans

Shelves: stephen-king

Jack Torrance and his family have had a rough few years. Jack is now a former alcoholic, trying desperately to provide for his wife and son after losing his job as a school teacher. But money is short and dwindling, so when a job as a caretaker is offered to Jack, he is very willing to accept. There is a catch, however, and it’s a big one. The family would have to spend all winter, alone and snowed in, in a big hotel situated in the mountains. What could possibly go wrong, you ask? Well… let’s s...more

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Jan 31, 2011

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror-esque

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2.5

I think, perhaps, I was at a disadvantage when reading this, in that I'd already seen both the movie (which doesn't follow the book very well) and the mini-series (which does), so I pretty much know most of what happens. Being that this book works, at least in part, on the suspense of what's coming, I think the knowing might've dampened this for me.

That said, I liked the parts that were from Danny's perspective. At first I found them a little jarring, since he doesn'...more2.5

I think, perhaps, I was at a disadvantage when reading this, in that I'd already seen both the movie (which doesn't follow the book very well) and the mini-series (which does), so I pretty much know most of what happens. Being that this book works, at least in part, on the suspense of what's coming, I think the knowing might've dampened this for me.

That said, I liked the parts that were from Danny's perspective. At first I found them a little jarring, since he doesn't sound like a five-year-old, but, then, he's not your average five-year-old. Once I got used to his voice being more mature than I would expect, I was able to go with it.

His parts, in particular, were the most tense. I felt for this poor boy, who had to deal with and know things that were far too much for a boy to know. I thought King captured well his mixture of precocious, almost adult understandings, and also the childlike innocence and terror.

Wendy's parts were ok, but I kept wanting her to be a bit more proactive and a bit less whining.

Jack. What can I say about Jack? On one hand, it was interesting to watch his decent into madness, but reading his parts mostly just made me angry. I kept getting so annoyed with this man who refused to take any responsbility for his life and his problems, and reading his rationalizations, seeing into his mind, didn't make me sympathize with him or relate to him - it mostly just sort of agitated me.

I kept trying to give Jack the benefit of the doubt. Kept telling myself it's not him, it's the hotel getting into his mind. But the thing, for me, is that it's because he has all these issues that he doesn't really own up to that makes him such a tempting and, imo, easy target for the hotel.

Wendy has some of it, too, with the stuff with her mother, but Jack, with the whole thing about the wasp nest, and how he means well, and it's not really his fault, and his total refusal to really take ownership for his thoughts and actions, even in his lucid moments, makes me not able to really sympathize with him. He's a Blameless Bob, even before the hotel sinks itself into him, and I can't stand those kind of people.

Halloran is pretty damn awesome, of course.

I think the biggest reason why I can't rate this higher than a 3.5 is because even though parts of it made my heart race, and I found myself holding my breath (Room 217 and the hedge animals, for instance), there were plenty of parts were I flipped through to see how much longer there was till the end of the chapter (and these are pretty short chapter. Again, these were mostly during Jack's parts.)

But when I wasn't reading, when I was sitting at home and bored, my first though wasn't "Ooh, let me pick up my book" - because I just wasn't that excited about it.

Again, I think a lot of this might have to do with the fact that I knew the general story, and even a lot of the specifics, so I wasn't as drawn into the story as, perhaps, I would've been under other circumstances. I guess I'll never know.(less)

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May 19, 2011

Karen rated it

Although I get horrendously scared, I do love scary movies, and Stanley Kubrick's 1980 version of The Shining is one of my favorites. I have been dying to read the book, and as I started out, I was prepared to be even more terrified. I had heard it was the scariest book ever written. So obviously with an expectation like that, I was bound to be disappointed...

Unlike the film, which has some scenes that are so visually disturbing it makes your heart stop (REDRUM, and how about the ...more

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Oct 13, 2008

Nikki rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Continuing in my adventures in the worlds of Stephen King! This time: The Shining. I liked this a lot, overall. Bits of the actual style annoyed me, but the story sucked me right in. The central concept of "the shine" itself interests me, because, well, I'm not sure it's all that fictional. Extra-sensory perception and all that. The idea of the sentient house is a really creepy one, mainly because it touches on the fears you have as a kid -- the fire extinguisher really does look like ...more

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Sep 22, 2008

Sunflower rated it

Recommended to Sunflower by: La Petite

Shelves: fiction-read-2008, library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 16, 2008

Tabby Kat rated it

Shelves: stephen-king

I loved this book so much I was in 8th grade when I read this book. It was the very 1st SK book I ever read and I have been a fan ever since. I could not put this page turning book down even when it got the scary parts. It was a thrill to read this book and every so often I reread it. It was that good !!

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 h...more

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Nov 07, 2009

Sarah Sammis rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: challenge, pc, read-in-1995, read-in-2009

The Shining was my first introduction to Stephen King. It was the film, actually just the scene of chase through the maze, that I saw first. The clip was part of a group math project in high school.

Anyone who has read the book knows that the hedge maze isn't in the book. Instead, the garden is filled with topiaries that work much like the angels in the "Blink" episode of Doctor Who. But that hedge maze was a foot in the door which lead me to watch the film in its entirety w...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
too scared	74	336	Feb 01, 2012 09:10am
Stephen King Fans: The Shining	289	359	Jan 23, 2012 06:19am
A very spoilery question (don't click if you don't want to know)	20	384	Dec 28, 2011 01:27pm
Is it scarier when you listen to it?	3	34	Dec 07, 2011 05:40pm
Basically Books!: The Shining by Stephen King (October's Group Read)	36	26	Nov 01, 2011 03:16pm
:)	2	28	Oct 24, 2011 04:13am
Horror Aficionados : The Shining - let me know what ya think!	9	29	Oct 11, 2011 01:13pm

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About Stephen King

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

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...moreLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

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)

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“Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.” — 166 people liked it

“What Jack didn't understand was that no matter where he went, the same asshole got off the plane.” — 13 people liked it

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