The Shining (The Shining, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Nov 13, 2019 ☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, z-nbrc-sinful-towers, thriller, 2019-barc-books, paranormal, family, suspense, borrowed, book-to-movie, horror

This was wild twisted story. I enjoyed this much more than the movie. Now I’m going to read Doctor Sleep and then maybe watch both movies so I can compare or maybe complain about what they left out. LOL

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Jan 31, 2018 Chelsey rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star-books, read-in-2018

4 Stars. Spoiler free review

I was super excited to read this! Just earlier this month I read my first Stephen King novel, IT. So, I was very curious to see if I would enjoy this one as much as I did IT. I’ve seen the movie version of The Shining and I loved it. This book did a fantastic job of living up to my expectations of Stephen King’s writing.

One thing I think King does so, so well is writing flawed, interesting characters. I loved how different Wendy and Jack’s characters were. I could a 4 Stars. Spoiler free review

I was super excited to read this! Just earlier this month I read my first Stephen King novel, IT. So, I was very curious to see if I would enjoy this one as much as I did IT. I’ve seen the movie version of The Shining and I loved it. This book did a fantastic job of living up to my expectations of Stephen King’s writing.

One thing I think King does so, so well is writing flawed, interesting characters. I loved how different Wendy and Jack’s characters were. I could always tell whose point of view was being focused on because they both had such a unique voice, despite this being written in third person omniscient. I also loved the relationship between Halloran and Danny, their bond felt real and that’s saying something considering how little actual interactions happened between the two. I also loved the childlike way Danny perceived what was happening around him. Despite being a pretty dang smart kiddo and being able to sort of read minds, King did a good job of still having him interpret his parent’s thoughts about divorce and their feelings in an age appropriate manner. There were times were Danny could tell his dad was having a dark feeling, but he never identified it as depression or guilt or shame. It was really refreshing to see a child character written in a smart, but still believable manner.

The plot really made this book for me. I loved that Jack’s descent into madness was subtly and slowly shown. I like that the Hotel was an evil place, but we didn’t spend 60% of the book reading tons of backstory about it or reading some bizarre crazy explanation for why the house is evil. Instead, King provides just enough disturbing descriptions of past incidents at the Hotel to make you distrust the Hotel, but not enough to bore you with details. If you are intimidated by some of King’s longer novels, this might be a good option because the plot is straightforward and not bogged down with tons of details, descriptions, or back stories. On that same note, I loved the plotline of Danny’s Shining. Again, the ability was explained enough to satisfy the reader, but outlandish, unbelievable explanations were not used to describe why people have a shining. I love that King left some of the reasoning unexplained; in a way I think that makes it feel more real. I really appreciate the edited down, straightforward writing King did here. As much as I loved IT and all the backstories and history of Derry, it was quite a lot to read. It was nice to be able to read Stephen King’s fantastic style of writing, just in a condensed version.

This book wasn’t overly scary. When I was reading IT, I would get really creeped out reading it alone at home. There were plenty of moments where I jumped because I was reading and heard a noise. That book was majorly scary. This book was less scary and more psychologically creepy. That’s not to say there was no horror factor; there were plenty of scary scenes. It’s just that these scenes felt weak compared to IT and I never got that scared feeling. Despite this, I still really like the book. The spooky scenes were creative; I particularly loved the scenes with the hedges. Really, if you’re looking for the scariest book ever this isn’t it, but I still think it’s a thrilling, chilling read.
Just a quick comparison between the movie and the book. If you have seen the movie, but not read the book there are some differences. In my opinion, there are enough differences between the two to make it worth enjoying both. The movie’s scary scenes reference a lot of the backstory described in the novel. The novel has several scary scenes that were not in the movie, too. I really like the way everything was adapted from print to screen. I’m not sure how much Stephen King inputs on his movie adaptions, but whoever oversaw that did a fantastic job.

This book was great. I’m really beginning to enjoy Stephen King as an author and I cannot wait to read other novels by him. Additionally, reading all this Stephen King lately has prompted me to really want to read other horror novels. I’ve actually got Rosemary’s Baby checked out from the library right now! If you have always wanted to read a Stephen King novel, this might be a good one to try. It’s short enough to read easily, but still very good. If you’re a fan of horror, I think you’d love this too. If you’re looking to have the pants scared off you, though, this might let you down, but I think it’s still worth a read. ...more

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Feb 13, 2015 Sunshine✰✰✰ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

I am sooo glad I just went ahead and read this. It was really good. At first I was thinking that I want to watch the movie (I never really sat down and watched it. Just bits and pieces) but Now I'm thinking to leave well enough alone. Danny is a great character. Knowing and understanding, but you never forget he's just a 5 year old and really doesn't understand. Even Jack. You feel for him. He tries so hard to do the right thing for his family, but seems the universe (Overlook Hotel) is against ...more

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Oct 31, 2024 Cecily Black rated it it was amazing

Shelves: turfwars, boringwheelnbrc

Okay so forever I have said my favorite Stephen King novel was The Stand but after reading this one I am not sure which one is first for me. I have seen the movie many years ago and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't amazing to me, at least not in comparison to the book. I think it reads better and creeped me out a lot more. (might also be because I live in a snowy area in the middle of no where now but I'm not sure). So glad I finally got my hands on a copy. Awesome read. ...more

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May 15, 2016 Jessie the Bibliophile ♥ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, horror, classic, 2016, adult, read-in-english

I have great difficulty rating this book... I went into it expecting to be FINALLY creeped out by a book, since a lot of people describe this as one of the scariest books out there... I was not! And that's really what I came for. So when it comes to that, it was a total let down. There's definitely potential, a few scenes (mostly early on in the book) did give me tingles, but towards the end I didn't really find anything scary. Shocking, perhaps, but not scary.
Apart from that fact I did like th ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 Maggie Shanley rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: suggested-for-me

I liked bumbling, alcoholic, temperamental father Jack Torrence. I did not like the hedge animals or the playground, that part did not resonate with the horror of the house. Overall this could have been a really strong book, but to me, it was depressing and dragged on...much of it was predictable and could have occurred about 15 chapters sooner.

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