Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Shining

BANNED BOOKS CHALLENGE READ:
Word on the street is that every one of Stephen King’s books have been banned/or challenged at some point since their publication. The Shining was challenged for “containing violence and demonic possession and [ridiculing] the Christian religion” in Wyoming and Alabama.
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I’m honestly shocked that I liked this as much as I did. This book broke my reading slump and kept me up all night. This is my first Stephen King book and I totally understand why he is the icon he is.

The way he writes is just mind blowing. It’s so simple. You never feel like it’s over your head and you always feel so close to figuring everything out. But you just never quite do until he reveals it. And despite the fact that basically every character is the most awful person I’ve ever encountered (Jack being the worst), I was sucked in immediately.

And the way the text was formatted??? Cherry on top. It added so much suspense and really illustrated the flirtation/ descent into madness.

There definitely was violence and demonic possession. I didn’t see the ridicule of Christianity (and wouldn’t have cared if it was there tbh.) My only issue is that I didn’t love King’s use of racial slurs. It made sense when the hotel used them and I could halfway accept that. Capitalism is an incredibly racist system and is violent- emotionally and physically- to Black folks (understatement). It makes sense that the Hotel, the symbol of capitalism here, was verbally violent to our main Black character. The other uses just felt out of line considering the author is white.

I wish that our main Black character, Dick, had more purpose in the book than guiding Danny and saving him and Wendy. It felt like he was just a tool for Danny’s development than anything. He’s a cool character and deserved a little bit more.

I will say, this is a book that I was pleasantly surprised lives up to its hype. I’m excited to watch the movie and see how it matches up. Also apparently there’s a sequel? I’m thinking of checking that out too.

Content Warnings

ten_telegrams's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

sydfreeman's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

housedesignerking's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. That was better than the 1980 adaptation.

The book and its adaptation have the same synopsis: Jack Torrence has lost several jobs because of his anger and his drinking. He's given up drinking, but he still lost his job as a teacher because he punched a student. A friend of his has called in a favor to get him a job being the caretaker of a large hotel in the mountains of Colorado in its off season. Danny Torrence has a special gift where he knows things and learns things without even needing to be in the room. He can hear people's thoughts (like a hilarious moment where he knows a middle-aged woman is lusting after a 20-something male's behind), and according to a nice man named Dick Halloran, it's known to some people as "shining." At least that's what Dick's grandmother called it. They used to have lots of conversations by simply thinking to each other. The hotel is basically haunted by an evil presence, and a man named Delbert Grady did his immediate family in by way of murder/suicide.

The book is a brilliant work of fiction, but I did have an interesting time getting used to King's writing style when it comes to when a character is thinking or when Danny's supposedly imaginary friend was talking to him. In books by other authors, a character's thoughts are italicized. King chose to put thoughts and other voices between parentheses. Interesting choice. The cast did a good job putting the movie together, but the script leaves a bit to be desired. I've seen the movie twice now, so I suggested to my fiancé that we read the book. This is the first Stephen King book I've ever read, and it's so good that I enjoyed it because this could have been very unfortunate. One of the joys that a movie watcher has is being able to point out the differences between the movie and the book. There are a lot of differences. For one, Ullman is a nice man in the film, a total jerk in the book. For another, the movie's ending and this book's ending bear no relation to one another at all. Further, they left so many things out of the film. After reading this, I still consider the 1980 adaptation to be a 3-star film, but the book gets 5 stars. The last 90 pages of this were just epic!

Now, I await the 1997 adaptation to come in the post. I've heard it's closer to the book than the original.

Content Warnings

melsage1823's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Since Doctor Sleep is one of my favourite horror movies I thought it would be fun to check out the shinning duology starting with the shinning and I can honestly say I'm pretty impressed.
Before I get to what I liked it pains me to talk about my dislikes. If you are Black, Lgtbq+ or Disabled do not read this book as a mixed Raced Lgtbq+ Disabled person I couldn't be more ashamed with Mr King. There were so many unnecessary times where the N word was used, ableism was used to show how hot headed Jack is and there was the F slur in a couple of times. This is suppose to be a horror novel not a alienate your margalized. I get he wrote it at a time where it was acceptable to write those things but he should have at least released it for modern times. Swearing fine but any time a slur was spat out it took me out of the story which I'm afraid is why I have to knock a star off.

Other than that it's a brilliant novel and wasn't what I expected at all. The build up to Jack losing his mind is absolutely fantastic, you completely end up feeling sympathy for Wendy and Danny and Jack himself. It suburts the humanising an abuser trope and makes Jack a complex character with lots of depth. The pov chapter format was absolutely amazing as through having every chapter be from one characters perspective it allowed for great character development and build up which made the powerful ending even more emotional than it already was. Without going into depth spoilers this novel levels you uneasy, horrified, relived and hopefully all at the same time. The way King writes his horror allows for a clear description and picture of what's going on. I thought the lady in the Bath tub was creepy on film but reading this book proved me wrong. After reading this incredible novel I absolutely want to read Doctor Sleep. Definitely recommend if you want to read something spooky during October.

Content Warnings