The Shining
The Shining by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Confession: before now, I had never read anything by Stephen King. Well, except for his book On Writing, but I'm not sure that really counts. I know, I know! It's high time I ventured into his work. Sigh...
It's something I've always felt a little guilty about considering how I'm such a bibliophile and he's been so prolific in his career. It's a little like not having watched a movie that absolutely everyone else has seen. You have to sit there and endure the shocked exclamations of people who can't believe you've been so deprived. So while I'm not typically a fan of modern horror (or bestsellers for that matter), I decided to give him a try.
The Shining centers around a young boy, Danny, who has a natural psychic ability. At the beginning of the novel his father Jack, a writer and recovering alcoholic, is hired as the winter caretaker of a hotel called the "Overlook." Jack has a history of violence; he was fired from his job as a high school teacher for assaulting a student, and once broke Danny's arm in a drunken fit of rage. Danny's mother, Wendy, has naively high hopes for the family and has stuck with Jack because he seems to be a lot better in the aggression department now that he's stopped drinking.
Oh wait, it gets better.
The Overlook is remotely located in the Colorado mountains, meaning that when the snow starts, the family will have no way of getting out. And after they move in they soon realize that the hotel has a mysterious and unsettling past: lots of murders, suicides, shady dealings, the whole bit. Oh, and the last caretaker went crazy and murdered his family.
Seriously, there is no doubt in the reader's mind that things will go wrong. It's definitely not a novel where horrifying things spring up out of nowhere.
Anyway, the hotel (as it turns out) is kind of an entity unto itself. The Overlook and all its ghosts have been gaining power and are impressed by Danny's supernatural ability; they want him for their own. It's a little unclear what they'll do once they have him, but they want him nonetheless. So they try to make Jack go crazy and kill Danny (and Wendy too).
Not the most original or unsettling premise I've ever read, but I enjoyed King's style because of his creative play with the inner thoughts of characters. His portrayals of human behavior were believable and well thought out. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and I was pleased that the book actually got kind of sentimental at the end. I wasn't expecting that. Overall, an entertaining read if not a very profound one.
Hoping to watch the movie this weekend. That's right. I've never seen it. Sigh...
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