Reviews

my mostly hate/kind of like relationship with stephen king continues. he has interesting horror premises and writes scenes of terror excellently. there are some truly creepy scenes here that really make you feel like you're there - stuck with Danny in the tunnel, following Jack in the bathroom of 217. but like my previous experiences with stephen king, his handling of marginalized characters just sours the rest of the text for me. like with IT, I did really enjoy the characters and scary scenes. I just think they deserve better.

mdevlin727's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

Not my favorite King but not my least favorite. The backstory and descriptions made it for me, but I didn’t find it all that scary. The portrayal of alcoholism was so good

dusenberryla's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

kyxnoelle's review against another edition

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5.0

Nothing like the movie and I feel like I say that about all books

alkruger_readinglibrary96's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

hauntedhexgirll's review against another edition

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4.0

I never understood the craze around The Shining movie, it wasn’t as magnificent as everyone would make it seem. As a huge horror fan I was disappointed, but then I kept seeing people say over and over how much better the book was (isn’t this always the case?). Before going to visit the hotel that inspired the book, I decided to actually read it. I definitely feel that Jack was shown as a much more complex character in the book, a man really struggling with the good and evil inside him. Seeing his internal struggle was very interesting. It made the downward spiral more heartbreaking.

I adored Danny who seemed so sweet with the ways he loved his parents and just wanted to help them even though he wasn’t sure how. He was a delightful character to read. He had so much personality for such a young boy, I loved it. I often feel that kids in books can be very one dimensional which I find rather unrealistic, but Danny was not like that.

I really felt like you could tell how much the family all loved each other but it was complicated and there was so much surrounding it.

I also very much loved Halloran, he was a character who just captured your attention and I honestly wish there was a bit more of him in the story.

I don’t find the book scary at all unfortunately, I was hoping to feel a little bit of the fear, but it wasn’t there for me.

dianelys's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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