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A review by loganisreading
The Shining by Stephen King
5.0
Recently, I have been reading a lot of books that fall into the horror genre. After reading Carrie and It - both by Stephen King - I decided it would be a good idea to read more of his books. That pushed me to pick up The Shining, which was recommended to me by a friend of mine.
Jack Torrance, a used-to-be alcoholic, gets fired from his job working at a school, prompting him to take his family across the country to Colorado to look for a new job. He, his wife Wendy, and his son Danny, stumble across the Overlook Hotel, which was closing for the harsh winter ahead of them. However, because of some rough patches that he and Wendy went through, Jack is eager to take this job to restart their lives together, while Wendy is hesitant and debates moving in with her mother instead. Despite that, Jack takes the job of being the caretaker and he and his family move into the hotel in order for him to take care of the building. However, Danny was not an ordinary child, and this was not an ordinary hotel. As the family meets Dick Hallorann, Danny finds out from him that they have a special ability - what Mr. Hallorann (or, Dick to his friends) calls the shining - where they can communicate telepathically. With the help of Dick and a made up friend called Tony, Danny is able to figure out that the Overlook Hotel is not as it seems, and that he has to find a way to save his family before the hotel takes them and kills them.
I really, really enjoyed this book. All of the characters in the book all had very important roles in the story. For example, Dr. Edmonds (who I did not mention in the summary above) was able to make Wendy and Jack aware of Danny’s Shining and his friend Tony. What was first considered an early sign of schizophrenia by this doctor ended up saving Wendy’s life and helped her and Jack repair their broken relationship for a period of time. Each part was broken into smaller parts, all of which had vital information in them that added to the storyline. Nothing mentioned once was unimportant to the story.
The one thing that I did not enjoy about this book was that it was a little slow to start. Right away, the book begins with Jack’s interview to be caretaker, but it took me a little while to figure out what exactly was going on. After I put the pieces together of who everyone was and what their initial role in the story was, it moved by very quickly and became a very enjoyable book.
Overall, I think I can say that The Shining by Stephen King is now one of my favorites. It was put together very well and the story itself was incredible. As there are two books in the series, the next on my list is definitely going to have to be the sequel, and I am definitely going to enjoy where that book takes me.
Jack Torrance, a used-to-be alcoholic, gets fired from his job working at a school, prompting him to take his family across the country to Colorado to look for a new job. He, his wife Wendy, and his son Danny, stumble across the Overlook Hotel, which was closing for the harsh winter ahead of them. However, because of some rough patches that he and Wendy went through, Jack is eager to take this job to restart their lives together, while Wendy is hesitant and debates moving in with her mother instead. Despite that, Jack takes the job of being the caretaker and he and his family move into the hotel in order for him to take care of the building. However, Danny was not an ordinary child, and this was not an ordinary hotel. As the family meets Dick Hallorann, Danny finds out from him that they have a special ability - what Mr. Hallorann (or, Dick to his friends) calls the shining - where they can communicate telepathically. With the help of Dick and a made up friend called Tony, Danny is able to figure out that the Overlook Hotel is not as it seems, and that he has to find a way to save his family before the hotel takes them and kills them.
I really, really enjoyed this book. All of the characters in the book all had very important roles in the story. For example, Dr. Edmonds (who I did not mention in the summary above) was able to make Wendy and Jack aware of Danny’s Shining and his friend Tony. What was first considered an early sign of schizophrenia by this doctor ended up saving Wendy’s life and helped her and Jack repair their broken relationship for a period of time. Each part was broken into smaller parts, all of which had vital information in them that added to the storyline. Nothing mentioned once was unimportant to the story.
The one thing that I did not enjoy about this book was that it was a little slow to start. Right away, the book begins with Jack’s interview to be caretaker, but it took me a little while to figure out what exactly was going on. After I put the pieces together of who everyone was and what their initial role in the story was, it moved by very quickly and became a very enjoyable book.
Overall, I think I can say that The Shining by Stephen King is now one of my favorites. It was put together very well and the story itself was incredible. As there are two books in the series, the next on my list is definitely going to have to be the sequel, and I am definitely going to enjoy where that book takes me.