Review: The Shining

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 08 / 12

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5 stars. As a huge fan of this book and the movie, and of Stephen King's writing in general, re-reading this felt like a huge treat. I feel close to these characters, and to the book's premise. There are many, many themes in this book, and many of them are not scary at all, they're just human. I've said this about King in the past: he goes deep AND wide. I'm here for it.

The Shining, in my mind, is a perfect recipe. King put all the right ingredients in the right pot and cooked something incredible. We have Jack Torrance, recovering alcoholic who really really really needs this job, his wife Wendy - normal, caring, and maternal, and their young son Danny, who exhibits telepathic tendencies, an ability called "shining." Let's take this fascinating family, strong and weak in wonderful ways, and put them in an isolated, haunted hotel in the Colorado Rockies for the winter. Delicious.

There's a lot of classic, typical King here: truly scary moments, a brilliantly-written young character, layered individuals capable of great good and great evil. He addresses addiction, abuse, childhood, parenthood, ambition, failure, and more. He writes about these things with great care and deliberation, but the book is very readable and the pages turn themselves. It surprised me more than once, and this was a re-read. I can't wait to open it up again someday.

I was sufficiently creeped out by the hedges, and the hose, and especially the lady in the bathroom, but you know what gets me every time? What really stands out? The vivid descriptions of Jack's dry lips. SHUDDER. I need chapstick. Now. King is so great with details. Also, he took a typically joyous sound - the sound of a roaring party - and somehow made it sinister. PURE EVIL!

One last thing: I don't know why the Kubrick adaptation is so polarizing. It's different from the book, absolutely, and I know King hates it. But it's an excellent horror movie on its own. It's an interpretation. It's the same picture painted in a different color. I appreciate both the book and the movie very much, as separate works of art and as acquaintances. Both make me happy.

Seriously, so motherfucking, Overlook-ing good. I know glowing reviews are boring but here we are. “Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.”

The Shining on: Amazon | Goodreads