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The Shining by Stephen King

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booksandsugarquills's review against another edition

4.0

Thrilling, gripping, creepy with its mind games, The Shining will probably haunt you when youre staying in a hotel. & alone too!

This is my second Stephen King, (the first being Misery) and well I really expected to be terrified but disconnecting at the bits where it got creepy was really what helped me get through this book. After a while, I was able to read it without feeling afraid. Cant say how Id feel at 3am though.

The book and the premise is interesting and I loved how each character, Danny Torrance included was alittle unstable and unreliable at various key points of the story. However, what I didnt enjoy was the build up towards Jack Torrance inevitably desiring to brutally murder his family.

It felt predictable. I wished the story touched more on Grady & his family. For me, that would have been creepier.

A good read nonetheless and now Im going to try to forget that I read this book before it freaks me out at wee hours.

lefttoread's review against another edition

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5.0

Jack Torrance will always be my favourite villain. I appreciated Danny Torrance so much more this time around and I have always loved Hallorann as a character I feel like he's rather underappreciated. I can't wait to re-read Doctor Sleep now, I have such a love for adult Danny Torrance and I really enjoyed the movie adaptation that I think it's time for me to revisit it.

I feel like The Shining and the whole scene of the Overlook Hotel is so original and I don't think I'll ever experience the type of horror I feel when reading this book with any other story.

annabananaful'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mrs_bastos's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

shayzard's review against another edition

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5.0

I never really read Stephen King before, maybe one or two of them in high school but I don't remember them. I picked this up just to try him out as an adult and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. There's plenty of tension here that kept me going, and the style of the prose is very unique. It works well for this book. There was a moment or two while I was reading late in bed and got "spooked", brushing it off quickly, of course. The ending doesn't disappoint, either. Very shocking. It gets pretty dark. The characters are also very well fleshed out, especially Danny. Jack's character started out more interesting than Danny, but for me that flipped about half-way through the book. The only real criticism I have is of the narrator–there were a few places where the narrator seems to "switch" abruptly, and then back again, making me question whether the narrator is third-person omniscient or third-person limited. I know we switch perspective a lot, and that we're in the third person, but the narrator themself lost consistency for me in these few sentences throughout. It only happened a few times, and I think this is early King, so I'm curious to see if that trend continues as I read more of King's work.