Take a photo of a barcode or cover
chiarra 's review for:
The Shining
by Stephen King
I think this book actually deserves 3.5 stars, but the good parts of the book outweighed the bad enough to round up to four stars. I really and truly enjoyed this book, however, I feel like it was made possible for me to enjoy this book as an audiobook. There were parts that just dragged out and I really felt like they could be condensed, and if I was physically reading it, I probably would've gotten bored with it. I will discuss this in a bit.
Okay, now for the spoilers, a whole lot of spoilers.
---Spoiler Zone---
This book had a very, very slow start before they even get to the Hotel. However, I really felt that this was nice because it really helped lay in the groundwork for the rest of the novel. I really enjoyed finding out more about the family and getting to know each person, especially Danny. Oh, how I loved Danny so much. His character was written so well, that you couldn't forget that he was only 5 years old. And, if you did because of how mature the writing is, the way he describes things reminds you of how young he is. One part, in particular, was when he was describing what he saw in room 217 to his parents. "And she was n...nnn...didn't have any clothes on." This just made me feel even more terrified for the boy when things happened and made me wish I could just reach into the book and save him from all the bad things.
Wendy, his mother, I really enjoyed her character. How much she loved her son and how she was willing to do anything for him to save and protect him. I also felt bad for her, with her situation with her mom and could understand her resentment towards her mother. I can also understand how she fears she's turning into her mother and doesn't like that idea one bit. There were a few things that irritated me about her character though. One, she did not end the marriage immediately after Jack broke her son's arm. Sure, her mom would be terrible to live with, but it would be better to get him away from the potential danger of something like that happening again, especially since he didn't stop drinking months after the fact that happened. The second thing that irritated me, was near the end when Jack was on the third floor with the mallet and Danny, about to kill Danny thanks to the hotel, and she didn't even try to get up there to try to save her son. Yes, it was up to him now, but I feel like motherly instincts should have kicked in and she should have been racing up those steps despite her broken ribs.
Onto Jack, I have very mixed feelings about him. I can see that he's a loving father and a loving husband, when he finally quits drinking, and you can see all this when they're first at the Overlook. He's kind, caring, loving, and takes an active part in Danny's learning to read. This slowly, ever so slowly, changes though, Jack starts discovering things about the hotel that start to drive him mad with not knowing the rest of it. As this spurs him into looking more into the Hotel, Danny is unknowingly charging up the spooks in the Overlook. Giving them power, they start to warp Jack's mind, made easy for his love of the Overlook.
They start to make him slowly hate his wife and child. Slowly make him plot to murder them. This is when I started to (stupidly, knowing it wasn't going to happen) wish he would fight it and remember his love for his family. But that doesn't happen....maybe a little when it comes to Danny, but certainly not his wife. There was no way Wendy was ever going to get through to Jack the way Danny did on the third floor with Jack trying to kill him. I was sad when he died at the end, but only for Wendy and Danny because they truly believed that when they got out of the hotel, he would be himself again, and maybe he would've. But after that ordeal, if Jack was my husband, after we got out of the hotel, a part of me would never be able to trust him again, and I would always be sleeping with one eye open if I'd stayed with him.
One thing that really aggravates me about his character though, is why, why why why, was it the accident where he and Al hit a bicycle that they didn't even know who it belonged to, months after he broke his son's arm, was what caused him to stop drinking and not him BREAKING HIS SON'S ARM! Like, I feel like that should have been immediate realization for him to stop drinking, especially with all the remorse he felt for it afterwards. It just doesn't make any logical sense to me. A random ass bicycle stops your drinking, but not breaking your son's arm? Okay, enough ranting on that lol.
Hallorann, my second favorite character in this whole book! Though, can I say stranger danger alert when he kept asking Danny to come with him and invited him into his car to talk? Oh yeah, that reminds me, Wendy just sees this happen and freaks out a little bit, but doesn't go out to get him or anything? If he drove off with Danny, she wouldn't have been able to get to him in time and Danny would be gone! So, there was another thing that irked me about her lol. Anyways, I just really loved how he was able to connect with Danny and explain to Danny everything that was happening with him, the shining. I was so glad that Danny could finally make sense of everything and he no longer had to feel like he was crazy.
Backing up a little bit, this just reminded me of one of my favorite scenes. When Danny got into the thoughts of one of the women leaving the hotel on closing day and hears her thinking, I'd like to get into his pants, referring to one of the bellhops. I laughed at this, especially when he was so confused by it, and then later asks Hallorann about it. I cracked up even more at Hallorann's reaction!
Anyways, when he was right and heard Danny calling for him all the way in Florida when stuff finally starting going down, it warmed my heart when he came running. I was so happy he was keeping his promise and was terrified that he wasn't going to make it some of the times, especially the closer he got.
Tony. Tony was freaking creepy! I don't care if he was helping Danny, though it was a shock to find out he was actually Danny, just an older version, going by a shortened version of his middle name, Anthony. He is still pretty freaking creepy. Every time the narrator read Tony's speaking parts, especially when he was calling out to Danny just sent shivers down my spine. I know, probably stupid for getting freaked out by that, but I was. Also, I was pretty sure he was a ghost of some kind, but I guess I was wrong.
Okay, now onto the parts I felt could be condensed. There's the story of how Jack lost his job that's told 3 times, each time getting more and more details added onto it. Sure, I agree with it being mentioned during the interview, because that's something you talk about in interviews, but it could have skipped wendy's pov and we could have just gotten the full story when Jack's on the roof. The other part that bored me, almost too death, was when he was going over that damn scrapbook and the entire articles were written out instead of just a summary, the gist of what it was about. Omg, I was so happy when that part was over. Also, I felt like the pacing was just a bit too slow, I felt like it could've been sped up just a little, for instance, making the spooks and stuff come out sooner than they did and affecting the family sooner. But, like I said, this wasn't enough to deduct half a star, so that's why it has 4 stars instead of 3.
Anyways, sorry for the long review, let me know in the comment section what you thought of the book and we could perhaps even start a whole discussion about it.
Okay, now for the spoilers, a whole lot of spoilers.
---Spoiler Zone---
This book had a very, very slow start before they even get to the Hotel. However, I really felt that this was nice because it really helped lay in the groundwork for the rest of the novel. I really enjoyed finding out more about the family and getting to know each person, especially Danny. Oh, how I loved Danny so much. His character was written so well, that you couldn't forget that he was only 5 years old. And, if you did because of how mature the writing is, the way he describes things reminds you of how young he is. One part, in particular, was when he was describing what he saw in room 217 to his parents. "And she was n...nnn...didn't have any clothes on." This just made me feel even more terrified for the boy when things happened and made me wish I could just reach into the book and save him from all the bad things.
Wendy, his mother, I really enjoyed her character. How much she loved her son and how she was willing to do anything for him to save and protect him. I also felt bad for her, with her situation with her mom and could understand her resentment towards her mother. I can also understand how she fears she's turning into her mother and doesn't like that idea one bit. There were a few things that irritated me about her character though. One, she did not end the marriage immediately after Jack broke her son's arm. Sure, her mom would be terrible to live with, but it would be better to get him away from the potential danger of something like that happening again, especially since he didn't stop drinking months after the fact that happened. The second thing that irritated me, was near the end when Jack was on the third floor with the mallet and Danny, about to kill Danny thanks to the hotel, and she didn't even try to get up there to try to save her son. Yes, it was up to him now, but I feel like motherly instincts should have kicked in and she should have been racing up those steps despite her broken ribs.
Onto Jack, I have very mixed feelings about him. I can see that he's a loving father and a loving husband, when he finally quits drinking, and you can see all this when they're first at the Overlook. He's kind, caring, loving, and takes an active part in Danny's learning to read. This slowly, ever so slowly, changes though, Jack starts discovering things about the hotel that start to drive him mad with not knowing the rest of it. As this spurs him into looking more into the Hotel, Danny is unknowingly charging up the spooks in the Overlook. Giving them power, they start to warp Jack's mind, made easy for his love of the Overlook.
They start to make him slowly hate his wife and child. Slowly make him plot to murder them. This is when I started to (stupidly, knowing it wasn't going to happen) wish he would fight it and remember his love for his family. But that doesn't happen....maybe a little when it comes to Danny, but certainly not his wife. There was no way Wendy was ever going to get through to Jack the way Danny did on the third floor with Jack trying to kill him. I was sad when he died at the end, but only for Wendy and Danny because they truly believed that when they got out of the hotel, he would be himself again, and maybe he would've. But after that ordeal, if Jack was my husband, after we got out of the hotel, a part of me would never be able to trust him again, and I would always be sleeping with one eye open if I'd stayed with him.
One thing that really aggravates me about his character though, is why, why why why, was it the accident where he and Al hit a bicycle that they didn't even know who it belonged to, months after he broke his son's arm, was what caused him to stop drinking and not him BREAKING HIS SON'S ARM! Like, I feel like that should have been immediate realization for him to stop drinking, especially with all the remorse he felt for it afterwards. It just doesn't make any logical sense to me. A random ass bicycle stops your drinking, but not breaking your son's arm? Okay, enough ranting on that lol.
Hallorann, my second favorite character in this whole book! Though, can I say stranger danger alert when he kept asking Danny to come with him and invited him into his car to talk? Oh yeah, that reminds me, Wendy just sees this happen and freaks out a little bit, but doesn't go out to get him or anything? If he drove off with Danny, she wouldn't have been able to get to him in time and Danny would be gone! So, there was another thing that irked me about her lol. Anyways, I just really loved how he was able to connect with Danny and explain to Danny everything that was happening with him, the shining. I was so glad that Danny could finally make sense of everything and he no longer had to feel like he was crazy.
Backing up a little bit, this just reminded me of one of my favorite scenes. When Danny got into the thoughts of one of the women leaving the hotel on closing day and hears her thinking, I'd like to get into his pants, referring to one of the bellhops. I laughed at this, especially when he was so confused by it, and then later asks Hallorann about it. I cracked up even more at Hallorann's reaction!
Anyways, when he was right and heard Danny calling for him all the way in Florida when stuff finally starting going down, it warmed my heart when he came running. I was so happy he was keeping his promise and was terrified that he wasn't going to make it some of the times, especially the closer he got.
Tony. Tony was freaking creepy! I don't care if he was helping Danny, though it was a shock to find out he was actually Danny, just an older version, going by a shortened version of his middle name, Anthony. He is still pretty freaking creepy. Every time the narrator read Tony's speaking parts, especially when he was calling out to Danny just sent shivers down my spine. I know, probably stupid for getting freaked out by that, but I was. Also, I was pretty sure he was a ghost of some kind, but I guess I was wrong.
Okay, now onto the parts I felt could be condensed. There's the story of how Jack lost his job that's told 3 times, each time getting more and more details added onto it. Sure, I agree with it being mentioned during the interview, because that's something you talk about in interviews, but it could have skipped wendy's pov and we could have just gotten the full story when Jack's on the roof. The other part that bored me, almost too death, was when he was going over that damn scrapbook and the entire articles were written out instead of just a summary, the gist of what it was about. Omg, I was so happy when that part was over. Also, I felt like the pacing was just a bit too slow, I felt like it could've been sped up just a little, for instance, making the spooks and stuff come out sooner than they did and affecting the family sooner. But, like I said, this wasn't enough to deduct half a star, so that's why it has 4 stars instead of 3.
Anyways, sorry for the long review, let me know in the comment section what you thought of the book and we could perhaps even start a whole discussion about it.