Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Shining

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Shining by Stephen King

395 reviews

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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divineskeleton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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snap7037's review

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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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lagaialettrice's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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mattyvreads's review against another edition

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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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