The Shining
by Stephen King
Warnings:
Language
Racist language
violence
abuse
magical negro trope
homophobic language (I think there was some in there, if there was, it wasn't enough to register in my memory banks very well)
Been a while since I did a book review. Let's see if I can remember how to talk about books...
Fair warning: I will be mentioning the movie.
So, the Shining is about the Torrance family (Jack, Wendy, and Danny) and their winter stay at the Overlook hotel. Which, I won't say it went badly. But I will say it went very, very, very not good.
Jack is a short-tempered recovering alcoholic. Wendy, his long-suffering wife. And Danny is their young son that has psychic powers. Jack was a teacher, but lost his job after he lost his temper and beat the shit out of a student. So... he seems like a fun guy. Jack is in need of a job so his buddy Al recommends him to take a post as caretaker for a fancy hotel in the Colorado mountains. The book opens with Jack's job interview with the hotel manager. And we get a pretty good feel for Jack's character pretty quickly. He's an angry man (though Ullman's kind of a prick so being angry is understandable). But, he does love his family.
As the story progresses, Jack becomes obsessed with the Overlook. Which, hey, I would be too. That place has a hell of an interesting history. But... Jack took it about five steps too far. And while he is all "This place is great!" Wendy and Danny are less excited.
Now, I am going to assume everyone knows how this book ends. Well, sort of. Hell, I knew how shit was gonna go down before I even knew what The Shining was thanks to The Simpsons parody of it. Which, yeah, because of that, the first time I read this book (this is the second time I've read it by the way) I could not read anything that Dick Hallorann said without hearing Groundskeeper Willie's voice. So, thank you The Simpsons for making this a slightly weird read that first time. Even knowing how things are going to go down, the book is suspenseful as hell. It is drawn out enough to be suspenseful but not too much that it becomes annoying. Which is perfect.
Now, I said I was going to mention the movie. So... The movie. I don't like it as much as the book. I will not say it is a bad movie, because it's not. It is a good movie. I just find the book way better. To me, the movie kind of just feels like a dude got some extreme cabin fever while stuck in a hotel for the winter and tried to kill his family. The book goes into more of the supernatural things that are happening. Which I prefer in fiction. I want some spooky shit as opposed to dude goes crazy and tries to kill people shit. You get a vague feeling that something supernatural might be going on in the movie. But in the book it is very obvious that supernatural shit is going down.
I love Stephen King's writing. This book has multiple POV characters. Jack, Wendy, Danny, and Dick (he was the cook for the Overlook and also has some slight psychic powers). And they all feel very different as they tell the story. Child characters always seem to be written weirdly. A lot of writers just can't seem to grasp how to write a believable child character. Mr. King does pretty well with Danny in this. Danny seems a bit smart for his age, but not to an extreme that makes it unbelievable.
I highly recommend this book. If you have read it, read it again. If you watched the movie but haven't read the book, read the book. If you haven't watched the movie, read the book.
Also, thank you Stephen King for making me afraid of topiary animals. Good fucking job, man. Though... Not afraid of hotels. Both times I have read this book my brain is like "Oh, spending three months or so in an empty hotel with just a group of my closest friends would be fun! As long as there are no topiary animals..."
If you're interested:
“A book is a dream you hold in your hands.”
– Neil Gaiman
