Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Shining by Stephen King

73 reviews

chaptersbydani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

bushrasbookbabbles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

very different than the movie and while I appreciate both forms of art I understand why some changes must be made the shining just wasn’t the right book to make a movie there was too much importance on what was going on in the heads of the characters. Also king was weird again, he mentioned tits way too many times in ways that meant nothing. I was really just sad for Jack the whole time. I understood his rage and the shame and the desire to be better but also to be respected. Poor guy :/ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Blood, Racism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

iamthelizardqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

5.0

Finally picked this up and just devoured it. Excited to watch the movie and find all the differences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Blood

breama2022's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

yellow_leaff's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Whenever I now hear a person in real life say: 'Take your medicine', I get a bit of a shock because of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Gun violence

sleepyjohnnie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.25

A powerful story with some problematic moments. A terrifying modulation of addiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs

kay_ne's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

First time reading a Stephen King book and went in without any knowledge about The Shining (never watched the film and didn't look for a blurb before reading as it was difficult to read the back of the book I own). 

The first few chapters were a slog to get through- was not really feeling the book until ch. 5 - Phonebooth where, for me, it got interesting. At the beginning it starts in medias res and then are given a lot of info and some background on Jack Torrence and the following chapters give insight to the Torrence family and their struggles. The middle was a lot, but it did build up the tension for the fast action at the end. 

Given when this was written and also with what I know up to know about the world, I  didn't understand the references made such as that fastball thing and W. C. Fields' sentiments about children (that was really something to look up and be surprised at when one of the first things that pops up was a quote - "Children should neither be seen or heard from - ever again."). But quick searches helped me understand the context I suppose but that was only sometimes. There were also uses of the N-word to describe Hallorann which threw me off when reading. 

My favorite characters were by far Danny and Hallorann. By the end I also liked Wendy, but not Jack. Though, I suppose he is an easy character to hate/dislike because of his flaws. I did like how SK wrote Jack's character and how he's been affected by his alcoholism. Halfway in the book and towards the end, I didn't like him and would skim or skip whenever he has inner dialogue and would go paragraphs about things which I found boring and unnecessary at times.

On that note, in my opinion, this book could've been like 300 pages as there are pages of inner dialogue (which I sometimes enjoy) but some I found wasn't necessary and could've been shorted into a couple sentences or not have been included at all.

The epilogue was really cute.

Tldr;

- 3.25 stars

- Plot was okay, some parts I liked and other parts I didn't. Skipped a lot of the pages in the middle and end because of the long winded descriptions. (There is unfortunately uses of the N-word in describing Hallorann which for me knocked this book down from a 4 star etc that I was going to give)

- Favorite characters are Danny and Hallorann with Wendy at a close second.

- Would I read this again? No it's too long and quite boring even tho I liked the plot. 

- I'll give the movie a watch when I have the time. Also will give the book's sequel, Doctor Sleep, a try because Danny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Mental illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual content

sophiareadswaytoomuch's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book lives up to the hype. I already knew bits and pieces of the plot, but even knowing most of it ahead of time just added to the tension.

I was genuinely impressed with how many good decisions the characters made, and watching the tragedy continue to unfold despite their best efforts was heart-wrenching. 

The family, including Jack, was impressively emotionally intelligent and honest with each other. Until the very end it still seemed like they might be able to salvage some of the situation. 

I found myself really invested in the characters and their relationships, and I thought Danny was very well written for a child character. 

This has immediately become one of my favourite King novels, and potentially one of my all time favourite horror novels. It’s a classic for a reason. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

kaykad's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I never got around to reading this because I always thought the movie was a faithful adaptation. 

It's not. 

Many of the hauntings in the overlook are psychological; an internal monologue that's overtaken by an other, intrusive thoughts, daydreams and nightmares. We don't get any of that in the film. This is SCARY. So well paced. 

It's definitely a little misogynistic, racist and xenophobic here and there though, so, there's that. Which is also scary. 

Wanted to read a classic King beofre diving into his new book and this did not disappoint! Totally understand the friends episode where Joey puts his copy of the shining in the freezer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Death

rdris's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Injury/Injury detail