Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Shining

This book is a keeper for me. It’s the first Stephen king book I’ve completed and I will not stop raving about it. The backstory of the family and flaws of the father hit close to home for me. I think with out it this book wouldn’t nearly be as good. King does a great job slowly building tension throughout the entire book. The pace quickens so much more after part 4 I couldn’t put it down. He does throw in some unnecessary racial slurs at the end otherwise there weren’t any glaring flaws. Skip the movie and read the book. You’ll be happy you did.

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elelellen's review against another edition

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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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mrgriffit's review against another edition

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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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