Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Shining

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The Shining by Stephen King

154 reviews

melissa_keen's review against another edition

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

Amazing book, as you'd expect from Stephen King. Very different from the film - none of the iconic moments like "Here's Johnny" happen, nor the "all work and no play" bit. However, I think the ending is so much better in the book. Without giving too much away, it's sad but also sort of hopeful. All the characters have so much more depth, particularly Jack, the dad, and Wendy, the mother. Jack fights hard to stop the hotel from taking him over, and to fight his alcoholism, while he's made to look like a weak alcoholic in the film. Wendy is also a fighter in the book, doing whatever she can to protect their son. As King himself has admitted, she is whiny and screamy in the film. This book is definitely worth a read - it's a classic for a reason!

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scip's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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jurdek's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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alwayslol's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow that is a good one! Without any spoilers, there are so many details in the book that didn't make it into the Kubrick movie that add to the story, such as a fully flushed out backstory on the history of The Overlook and an explanation as to why Danny had The Shining. And the character Watson, the blue collar maintenance man who barely makes an appearance in the movie, gets a whole chapter all to himself to add color and a bit of humor:
<blockquote>“The boiler,” Watson announced. He pulled a red-and-blue bandanna from his back pocket, blew his nose with a decisive honk, and thrust it back out of sight after a short peek into it to see if he had gotten anything interesting.</blockquote>
Although The Shining doesn't have as much dialogue as other King books, King manages to fit some corny talk in:
<blockquote>“Nothin is that urgent,” the plow driver said slowly and kindly, as if speaking to a mental defective. “If you’d’a hit that post a leetle mite harder, nobody woulda got you out till All Fools’ Day. Don’t come from these parts, do you?” “No. And I wouldn’t be here unless my business was as urgent as I say.”</blockquote>
Then there's the ending, which is quite different from the one in Kubrick's film version. I won't give it away, but if you are a fan, you should definitely check it out yourself! This was awesome!

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michaelatrelby's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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bites_of_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

2.75

What I enjoy about King is the character work, he does a good job in creating characters and moving them through strange settings.

Danny - Poor kid, he really deserved better. I loved his ability to keep hoping against hope that things would turn out okay.

Jack - Alcoholic father trying to quit drinking. I struggled with him because part of me felt bad for him while the other felt like King gave him no way out so what's the point?

Wendy - The mom who isn't used to standing up for herself or her son until the literal worst starts happening. She also didn't have many resources or anything to help her gain confidence so I can see why she had trouble with it.

The racism, homophobia, and misogyny was all used without any kind of nuance and the constant use of the n-word was really unnecessary.

Overall, it's not that scary, at times it's a bit silly (possessed hedges?) and what is scarier is the isolation and the mental states of the characters.

Neither the book or movie is perfect, but together they make for something a bit more interesting.

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