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... so I read the room 217 part right the fuck before bed. Not a good idea.
(an older review from the catacombs....)
It was the moving topiary that got me. Right there on page 206 of The Shining, Stephen King grabbed my aorta and wouldn’t let go.
Jack Torrance, the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, has just finished doing a little touch-up trimming on the bushes in the hotel’s front yard. The greenery, sculpted to look like animals (a rabbit, a dog, a lion), suddenly takes on a life of its own when Jack’s back is turned:
"Everything was just as it had been. So why ha ...more
It was the moving topiary that got me. Right there on page 206 of The Shining, Stephen King grabbed my aorta and wouldn’t let go.
Jack Torrance, the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, has just finished doing a little touch-up trimming on the bushes in the hotel’s front yard. The greenery, sculpted to look like animals (a rabbit, a dog, a lion), suddenly takes on a life of its own when Jack’s back is turned:
"Everything was just as it had been. So why ha ...more
Yes, it’s a horror novel. It’s also tremendously suspenseful and remarkably well-constructed.
This novel says so much - about cycles of damage from our childhoods, about addiction, about the lies we tell ourselves to continue to maintain self-image or a relationship.
This novel says so much - about cycles of damage from our childhoods, about addiction, about the lies we tell ourselves to continue to maintain self-image or a relationship.
Alas, the movie is better, in part because the book is both Freudian and determinist (as my husband put it, "It was the seventies, after all."). Still, King deserves major kudos, obviously, for coming up with the premise. Shine on, oh horror god.
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I haven't given up on a book in a long time but this one is just not doing it for me. Long, drawn out bits of boredom interspersed with a brief, mildly entertaining snippet. Watched the film last night, and didn't really feel that either! I don't get what all the fuss is about - I didn't find it scary at all. Only redeeming feature of the film was Jack Nicholson's face!
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Scary stuff here; definitely not the best bedtime reading... written back when King was still good! I plan to read Dr Sleep next, but I'm not holding my breath that it will be as good ;/
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Mar 09, 2013
Laurie
marked it as to-read
Aug 14, 2013
Meghan
added it
Jan 30, 2015
Erika
marked it as to-read
