Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Shining by Stephen King

183 reviews

aniloma's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aniki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I liked taking note of the motifs in this book that arent present in the movie, the characters feel so much more alive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Racism

elelellen's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

so so different from the film, i understand why king doesnt like it. so much better than the film too, and thats saying a lot. having said that, it was too description heavy for me personally, and an unnecessary amount of racist and sexist language. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

mrgriffit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s clear to see why this book is a staple of the horror genre. King’s writing flows easily and the pacing is nice and tense, even when the story gets stretched out in the middle and towards the end. That said, I think King is holding himself back with his own narrative.

I honestly could not find any sympathy for Jack by the end of the book like I think King wants you to; I only found pity. There was ample opportunity to center the story on the very human ways that Jack is evil and actively choosing to be so, irregardless of how he was raised or how other people treat him, instead of making the hotel actually possessing him. By doing this, it comes off that King is saying that Jack is just a victim and not at fault for his own actions.

All that to say, for all the things King does right, there’s a better version of this story out there somewhere (and it may be the movie version, which I’ve never seen, since I know that there were some bigger changes to the story in it). Still, it’s a well crafted story and is worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Homophobia

sayacanread's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really ended up loving this. As a fan of the movie, getting more in depth backstories of these characters helped me understand how these events unfolded. As unlikeable as Jack is, his character is very well written and his decent into madness feels a lot more believable - which makes the story all the more horrifying. Also Wendy and Danny were given a lot more autonomy and I honestly wish the movie had too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

peyton_day's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was my first venture into Stephen King Novels and boy was it a good one. I didn’t watch the movie before reading this and I can’t wait to see it now. 

Everything in this book up until they get snowed in is an intense self reflective experience of an imperfect household. Too often the complexities of real life families are brushed over in fiction, but damn does this explore the minds of every character in a way that feels just right. You understand what you don’t agree with which I find to be incredibly difficult to do.

After about 300 pages I couldn’t put this book down. I kept reading this book right before going to bed and legit woke up in the middle of the night several times with the absolutely most bizarre dreams that left me feeling like everything was a hallucination or a figment of my imagination.

Truly a masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

snap7037's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was very impressed by this book by Stephen King. Of course I'd seen the movie and have read plenty of other Stephen King books, but this being one of his earliest works, you can really see the effort he puts into the story, the characters, and the setting. Comparing this to one of his more recent works, it's very easy to see the change in his writing style, and I prefer the early King. It's also interesting that you can see inklings and ideas for IT and The Dark Tower in this prose if you look close enough.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

mattyvreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

An undeniably well-written piece of art. I was consistently enthralled, terrified, disturbed. I could not put it down. And it legitimately gave me nightmares, which has never happened to me before because of a book.

It is so different from the movie. I love them both.

There is a lot of racism, homophobia, ableism, and reference to sexual assault. I understand that some of it is contextual, given the time period

(the present day actions of the book and the hotel's metaphysical echoes of past eras)

and

Jack's undoing (possession)

, but Mr. King is really trigger happy with the N word. It's pretty wild. Also, in one of Jack's internal monologues -

before he goes mad

- King sort of implies that a "homosexual experience" can turn someone into a pedophile... and there is no dissenting argument there.... So... I didn't love that. BUT the book is pretty damn flawless besides that. I would absolutely read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape

kaymacd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

samanthajetaime's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, and Racism