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A review by lauraborkpower
The Shining by Stephen King
5.0
Without being hyperbolic I think I can say that this is the scariest book I've ever read. I've read it before--a couple of times--and I always forget that it really is just that scary. But it is.
About halfway through I started to try to identify why it's so scary and I think I have narrowed it down to two of King's techniques: pacing and parentheses. The way the story unfolds is just perfect and, true to the Overlook's boiler, it creeps. We know up front who and what Danny is, but it's the Overlook and Jack that are revealed to us slowly, slowly, slowly, of course as they become one entity.
And King's use of parentheticals pushes the reader into the story without a second thought. And oddly enough, although they seem to interrupt the narration, these parentheses don't really interrupt at all, but make the story move more quickly as we are constantly seeing multiple sides of the characters' thought processes. We're getting to know their regular reactions and thoughts but also their fears and phobias that creep just under the surface in those parentheses. It's really a terrific narrative tool.
So read it, in a busy place in the middle of the day when the sun is at its highest. And then wait a few years and read it again.
About halfway through I started to try to identify why it's so scary and I think I have narrowed it down to two of King's techniques: pacing and parentheses. The way the story unfolds is just perfect and, true to the Overlook's boiler, it creeps. We know up front who and what Danny is, but it's the Overlook and Jack that are revealed to us slowly, slowly, slowly, of course as they become one entity.
And King's use of parentheticals pushes the reader into the story without a second thought. And oddly enough, although they seem to interrupt the narration, these parentheses don't really interrupt at all, but make the story move more quickly as we are constantly seeing multiple sides of the characters' thought processes. We're getting to know their regular reactions and thoughts but also their fears and phobias that creep just under the surface in those parentheses. It's really a terrific narrative tool.
So read it, in a busy place in the middle of the day when the sun is at its highest. And then wait a few years and read it again.