The Shining is a great book, if you have enough time to read it. I have only gotten about half-way through it, and had to stop to finish up another book. I do believe that anyone can read this book, and it is a privilage to do so. When I am caught up with my reading, I will finish this interesting book. :D

I just happen to finish this book today, which I just found out is Mr. King's birthday (Sept. 21st). After reading King's The Tommyknockers and Lisey's Story, which were exasperatingly wordy, I found The Shining a real treat to read. The novel has a richness that Kubrick's film lacked completely. King has a superb talent for creating characters that seem unbelievably real. You really get to know the characters inside and out - especially Jack. He's a good, highly intelligent educated father that loves his family and tries really hard to do good for them (like giving up alcohol) but he just has a real bad temper (he bites his tongue and restrains his fists throughout most of the story). Unable to find work, his friend hires him to take care of The Overlook Hotel during the winter season. From the very beginning, Jack and his family have to contend with the dark supernatural forces that live within the hotel. Not only does Jack have to battle against his constant craving for a drink, the hotel's evil forces play on his temperament and drudges up his past; namely, his relationship with his abusive father when Jack was a young boy himself. He starts to feel that his struggles to provide for his family go unappreciated, and he ultimately ends up personifying his father and the Overlook itself, sending him off into a murderous rage.

Blessed (or cursed) with the shining, Jack's son, Danny, seems to suffer the most. Not only does he have to endure terrifying encounters with ghouls and ghosts, his sixth sense does not spare him the terror of what's to come.

And poor Wendy.......

There are many scenes in the novel that the movie did not have, and many scenes in the movie that the novel did not have. The climax and ending were completely different. So just because you saw the movie, doesn't mean you won't enjoy this riveting story all over again in book form. If you get your hands on this book, just make sure you have plenty of free time planned ahead because once you pick it up you're not going to want to put it down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. King! :) You truly are a genius in every sense of the word.

I just happen to finish this book today, which I just found out is Mr. King's birthday (Sept. 21st). After reading King's Lisey's Story and The Tommyknockers, which were exasperatingly wordy, I found The Shining a real treat. The book has a richness that Kubrick's film did not have. You really get to know the characters, especially Jack. He's a good guy that tries really hard to do good but he just has a real bad temper (he bites his tongue and restrains his fists throughout most of the book). The Overlook hotel plays on his temperament and drudges up his past; namely, his past relationship with his abusive father when he was a young boy himself. He ultimatly ends up personifying his father and the Overlook itself, sending him off into a murderous rampage.

There are many scenes in the book that the movie did not have, and many scenes in the movie that the book did not have. The climax and ending were completely different. So just because you saw the movie, doesn't mean you won't enjoy this riveting story all over again. If you get your hands on this book, just make sure you have plenty of free time planned ahead because once you get into it, you're not going to want to put it down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. King! :) You truly are a genius in every sense of the word.

I'm glad I read it. From page one, I was hooked on this novel. It's just the kind of book that you cannot put down. I liked Danny and Wendy and I wanted them to be ok. Having seen the film so many times, I know what happens but the book was excellent. It scared me. The thought alone of being stranded in a large hotel for months in the dead of winter scares me. And poor Wendy and Danny, they are supposed to be able to trust Jack to take care of them.

The way King describes the hotel, it's corridors and sordid past, the hotel becomes a living thing, a main character in the story. Then Jacks anger issues and Danny's premonitions, the way Wendy slowly comes to realize her husband has gone insane...all of that makes for an amazing and terrifying story. This book is on my top five favs read this year, and one of my favorite books now.

Very good read ... Great story of supernatural terror and suspense. Enjoyable characters, too! This is classic King! Highly recommended.

Great Stephen King novel. It is different from the (excellent) Kubrick film-- more character development, alcoholism, and abuse. My only complaint is it is a little bit long.

After reviewing a nice little Swiss thriller set in a Swiss mountain resort (Deal with the Devil), I thought I might visit the mother of all mountain resort horror stories, and pay a tribute to the king of popular literature. The man knows his craft. I have not read much by him, previously only Carrie, which is a small first novel, but a good basis for a strong movie, and Lisa's Story, at the time his latest publication, which I liked a lot, but which disappointed the fan club.
My main encounters with SK happen through the many movies made after his many stories. The Shining was one of the best of those movies, though it appears from SK's introduction to this 2001 reprint that he had some reservations about Kubrick's version. I ought to watch it again. I have a faint recollection that I found Jack Nicholson's acting overdone, long time ago.
The novel is a marvel of efficient storytelling. SK says it was his 'crossroad' novel. At that time, i.e. the early 70s, he decided to branch out from the pure horror approach and weave in a 'real' theme, which is the story of a troubled man and his struggles against his worldly demons: alcohol and violence. The hero Jack, best known with Nicholson's face, has a tendency to 'lose his temper'. In the process he loses his teaching job and his home and nearly loses his family. The road downhill leads up to a Colorado mountain, where he gets hired as a winter caretaker in a monster of a hotel, the Outlook. SK prepares us for all kinds of horrors: ghosts of dead hotel guests, a malfunctioning and possibly dangerous heating and plumbing system, the prospects of being snowed in for a long time, a predecessor who couldn't take it and killed his wife and daughters, a little son with supernatural abilities who can read his father's mind and can see the word 'suicide' there, which he does not understand ... Enough for today. Go and read it, if only in the interest of a balanced diet.

Six Chilling Nightmares The most evil book that is on the market is the shining. I have read this book several times and have bought and read most of Stephen King books. Insanity is lurking in everybody waiting to be released. I am delighted to have experienced a true feeling of hopelessness and was sad when the cook was axed. Hurry up and die, take a flight rent a snowcap, and be blind-sided by a lunatic. This book is about insanity and terror written to chill you to the bone. In the cold mountains of Colorado that will never be forgotten, a chilling story. The Shining is in a league of its own a step above and beyond any book of its kind. "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." The last thing that Jack was is dull in the Shining; Jack was insane. An outstanding plot and a perfect ending for the Shining.

One fantastic book. Simply brilliant. This must be Stephen King's masterpiece. The story grips you from the beginning and doesn't let go. It just keeps building momentum until you notice that you haven't taken a breath for several pages. A truly scary story about a hotel and its past and dead guests and a family trying to escape their lure to join them. I couldn't stop reading.

The Shining was Stephen King's third published novel and tells the story of Jack Torrance and his family after Jack takes a job as winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. We quickly learn that Jack has a history of losing his temper and getting into trouble and the caretaker's job is something of a last chance for him to rebuild his life. His wife, Wendy, and son, Danny, are the only other people in the hotel for the winter... the only other living people that is. Some unpleasant spirits also populates the Overlook and they've decided that they want the Torrance's to join their club. I don't want to give away any more of the plot for those few who have never seen the movie or read the book, but suffice to say that the family faces quite a struggle to survive their time at the hotel.

I often enjoy Stephen King's books but I also don't find many of them to be particularly scary. More often, they are compelling character studies with a bit of suspense. Not so, The Shining. This is a genuine horror story and provides plenty of white-knuckle moments as you read through it. The character development is still there, but the suspense is more intense and prolonged than we usually get from King.

While a good deal of the story centers on Jack, his son Danny is the counterbalance that makes the book work so well. He has a remarkable gift (called the shining) that allows him to see glimpses of the future as well as sense the thoughts of those around him. But at five years old, he is far too young to wield his power effectively against the hotel and he can't bear to accept what his visions show him about his father. As his father descends into madness and the ghosts get more aggressive, the odds grow increasingly long against Danny's survival.

The Shining is an easy book to recommend. It has remained one of Stephen King's most popular books ever since it was published 30 years ago for good reason. It's one of his best efforts and has a more timeless quality than most of his works. If you're looking for a good scare, give it a try.

This is the the only Stephen King that I really couldn't finish in one read. Even during the day this book was scary. I realize that the events are just too close to being real. Even when this book lay closed on my desk, I fought the urge to look over my shoulder. Need I say more? Without delving too much on the movie, this was a perfect fit for Kubrick and Nicholson.

After having read Stephen King's 'THE STAND' I could not wait to get my hands on some of his other classic works. Before reading 'THE STAND' I had never been a huge fan of King's, I'd read a few of his books here and there but never any of the ones considered to be classics. So after reading 'THE STAND' I naturally decided to pick up 'THE SHINING' next. Having seen the Stanley Kubrick movie many, many years ago I felt a sense of de ja vu when starting this book which, unfortunately caused me to get off to a very slow start but once I got through the first hundred and fifty or so pages I was hooked.

The story of the haunted Overlook Hotel is enough to scare any reader, especially if you read this book late at night, which I often did! But also the story of the Torrance family who the hotel's ghosts tore apart so handily is also heartbreaking and King deals with all of their thoughts and emotions very well here. While I do admit that there were parts of this book that dragged, overall it was a great reading experience, King can be a master story teller when he is on and he was definitely on when writing 'THE SHINING'. And if you are, like I was, worried that seeing the movie will ruin the book for you, I can assure you that the similarities are few and far between and the ending is completely different! So don't let that tiny detail deter you from reading this classic!

This was my first King novel, I read it over 15 years ago, and I can still remember it. Very good read.

2007 is the 30th anniversary of King's undisputed masterpiece "The Shining" (originally titled "The Shine"). While most of King's novels are masterpieces, this one stands above and beyond as a frightening portrait of a man isolated in a Colorado hotel with his wife, son, and, of course, that ominous ax. This was King's first hardcover bestseller, and it still stands up after all these years as one of his best. If you've seen the movie, forget everything you know before embarking down the deserted road with this novel.

I first read this book two decades ago. In the intervening years, I spent most of my time reading reading wonderful fiction and non-fiction, and most ofte the "classics" which, as an adult, I felt I couldn't live without.

Still, through all the years, Stephen King's thrilling masterpiece, evoked with language so pristine and evocative, is absolutely brilliant. There is a point beyond which you cannot stop reading (roughly midway) and a plethora of subplots and cinematic descriptions that far excel the Stabley Kubrick film of the same name.

As one who has taught and represented writing for many years, I would even recommend this to teenagers who are reluctant to read -- because it is so magnetic and irresisitable. True, there is a bit of raw language and imagery, but we live in an era in which life is far more raw and threatening.

This IS King's masterpiece. He took the mantle from Poe and created from it a modern genre. Whatever your reading preferences, you won't be disappointed. This is one rollercoaster of novel with imagery and characters that will remain with you long after you close the book.

I didn't find The Shining too interesting as a book.

A broken-down recovering guy ends up trapped with the family in a hotel, that is not your average hotel.



Clairvoyant cooks, ghosts, and other not so nice things, like a possessed alky come up to play as the place goes stir crazy.

The Shining is one of Stephen King's best ever books. He has written some of the best modern fiction in the past 35 years, and some of the worst, as well, but few of his books equal this one. This book is flat out scary and will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. Some of the scenes featuring young Danny Torrance in the haunted hotel are truly gripping and will have you reaching for the light switch. Which reminds me, this is not a book to read in the dark with a flashlight. Turn the lights on, all of them. This is one scary ride, filled with believable characters, spot on dialogue, and incredibly frightening situations that will have you gripping the pages until your knuckles turn white.

You got your Dickens. You got your Joyce. You got your Faulkner, Hemingway, Mailer and Styron. All of whom will more than stand the test of time. "The Shining," Stephen King's finest, most terrifying and complete novel, almost catapults him into their ranks.

This is the quintessential ghost story, no question about it. The Overlook Hotel is the ultimate haunted house. But "The Shining" is so much more than just a ghost story. It is, first and foremost, a story about an alcoholic, written from the inside out. Jack Torrance is one of the great tragic figures in all literature. Having grown up in an alcoholic household, I can report that Jack Torrance, for me, was a living, breathing man, one whose behaviorisms were very real to me. His complete believability made the ghost story aspects of "The Shining" all the more gripping. This is that rare tale where the main character himself is just as frightening as the things that go bump in the night.

I first read the novel when I was 11 years old in the early 1980s, just after Stanley Kubrick's film version came out. I had never been so totally possessed by a book. I read it straight through, savoring the imagery, the characters, the scares, everything. And I thought the movie compared favorably, though even at that age, I recognized the big differences between King's book and Kubrick's script.

Having re-discovered the movie (and finding even more reasons to admire it than ever before), I went back and re-read the book, and was hooked all over again. Of all of Stephen King's novels, this one, I think, will stand tall as an all-time classic. It is not only incredibly rich in horrific imagery; not only is the climax BEGGING to be filmed, as it is, by a great director of action; but I find it is also a deeply layered character study, and that is its greatest strength. King knows these characters. He gets inside their souls, heads and hearts in a way few authors ever have. I cared about Jack, Wendy, Danny and Hallorann. I really, genuinely cared about them. I felt sorry for Jack, and yet I understood, on another level, that Jack was, essentially, a bad man unable to rid himself of his demons (no matter how much he told himself he wanted to).

Just an incredible book. King could have never written another after this. (I also recommend the movie, which is actually more faithful to the book than some would have you believe. Kubrick simply could not possibly have filmed the hedge animals, the destruction of the Overlook, etc., because of budget/technological restaints. He still crafted a film that has its own meaning and relationship to the horror genre.)

Note: I made some Mormon angry because of my negative reviews of books out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.

Your "helpful" vote is greatly appreciated. Thanks


A very short review is not necessarily a bad review. You don't want to re-tell the whole story. I try for the hook that will make a person want to read this book.

A man and his family move into a Colorado hotel in the winter. The man is the caretaker of the empty hotel, and soon weird things begin to happen. King's description of the topiary (sculpted shrubs) is wonderful. A shrub in the shape of a lion keeps moving when the man isn't looking! Talk about a creepy hotel, and every body in the family keeps doing the wrong things.

You won't be able to put down this book. Highly recommended.

Your comments--positive or negative--are greatly appreciated. Thanks

I saw Kubrick's The Shining at the ripe age of 5 and was terrified of it for about 9 years or so. At the age of 14 I began to really watch it and start to enjoy it rather than cover my eyes most of the time. For years I constantly heard gripe from people who had read the book and said it was so much better than Kubrick's version, so I grew more and more curious.

I finally received it as a Christmas present in 2005. It is by far the best book I've ever read. Technically, the story is better than Kubrick's version because it goes deeper into the character of Jack Torrance(but I hold each version as a different story all together. I still find Kubrick's version more enjoyable).

My first reading of it was fantastic, and after I was done reading it and thought about what I just read, I was a little frightened at times. With a book, you can actually become the character you're reading about. With a movie, all that is done for you. A book is more personal.

5/5

Jack Torrance is an ordinary man in so many ways. He has a wife and child, he works, and he battles his addiction (his happens to be alcohol). His life could be any of millions told in America. He is a troubled man following his passion (his happens to be writing), and just `needs a break' for his career and life to really take off. What he gets is an offer to work as a caretaker at a ski resort that has to close during the winter because it simply snows "too much." This represents, on the surface, not only a job, but a chance for solitude to write, a vast amount of space for his kid to explore (and thus leave him alone to finish his play), and hopefully something for his wife to occupy herself with. What writer wouldn't jump at the chance to have three months away from "reality" with no bills to pay, no commutes. Just 3 months in a winder paradise alone to write.

It has been often said that art imitates life, and that life initates art. Regardless of whether the chicken or egg came first (art vs. life) Surface impressions are hardly accurate in real life, and even more so in this story. Jack's slow, painful decent into alcohol withdrawal is paralleled by his son's budding psychic abilities. Of course it doesn't help the situation that the hotel they are caring for is haunted by more ghosts than one would expect to find at a Halloween party at The Addam's family household. Things disintegrate pretty badly from there. I avoid details as there is no sense spoiling the story. That is after all the beauty of reading horror stories, being surprised by what is hiding under the bed. Ultimately, this is Stephen King for the "non-Stephen King fan." It is highly accessible and a very fast read, despite the 704 pages it boasts.

Stephen King's The Shining may not conform to everyone's taste. If you need blood and guts every few pages to stay interested in a book, you will be disappointed. If your definition of drama is the murderous villains lengthy monologue before his final, grisly defeat, you will be disappointed. If you're looking for a clone of the movie in book form, you will be very disappointed.

If, however, you appreciate one of those rare novels that leads you into the story step by step, immersing you with effortless grace into the world in which it occurs, a world that is, on the surface, plain and even non-descript yet brimming just beneath with murky, brooding awareness, then this one might be for you. If you appreciate full and starkly realistic characters painted in bold and brilliant strokes of emotion and personality, you may want to have a look. Finally, if you can accept Steven King as something more than "The Horrormeister", and instead as a natural story-teller who is as capable of capturing the subtles and nuances of terror as the hack and slash aspects, who can blend it perfectly into a familiar yet hauntingly awry world of ghosts darkness and ordinary people struggling against not only such mundane horrors as abuse and acoholism but horrors of a decidedly more supernatural nature, then you might be ready for this book.

I was captivated by the plight of Danny, a very unique young boy, struggling against unimaginable forces out of pure, unconditional love for his father. Likewise, Jack Torrence is not merely the bloodlusting maniac of the movie, but a man who is hounded by his alcoholism, all the way into the heart of the Colorado Rockies where he attempts to come to terms with his personal ghosts and heal the rift that is threatening to pull his family apart. Despite his best efforts, however, the sinister awareness that has infested the Overlook, an awareness birthed by years of murder and tragedy, slowly twists him to it' s evil ends in a heart-breaking struggle of wills.

This book is full of disturbingly memorable imagery, moments of slow and creeping terror that will keep you turning pages deep into the night. The ending is a satisfying as it is tragic, bringing the grisly drama to a gut-wrenching climax and exorcising the tortured prisoners of the Overlook in a curtain of purifying flame. As King books go, this is one of his finest. As far as any book goes, this is one of the scariest I've ever read.

Until recently the absence of a Stephen King title was the biggest gap in my collection. Wanting to correct the anomaly I bought Dreamcatcher and started reading it. Not the wisest move as it turned out. It ended up being one of the very few books I didn't manage to finish, Moby Dick being another. As I result, I didnt pick up another Stephen King title for a long time. Meanwhile I discovered Graham Masterton, and ended up reading a dozen of his books. I maintain that his Mirror is the greatest and most inventive horror story ever told.

But I digress, it is Stephen King's Shining that I am reviewing. At close to 600 pages, the book took me a couple of hours spread over 2 weekends to finish. It certainly has an eerie atmosphere what with a boy and a chef sharing the quality of telepathy, King chooses to call The Shining. Its a well told story of a guy who loves his wife and his kid and for their sake strives to get over alcoholism. Just when life seems to be looking good, he ends up in an unfortunate incident which leads to his dismissal. He has got one final chance to redeem his future, when his only remaining friend offers him the job of a caretaker at Hotel Overlook. However, things start happening once the staff of the hotel leaves for winter closure. It doesn't take long to figure out that the house is haunted.

The story didn't scare me at all. It has its moments, and is undoubtedly an interesting read; but scary -- no way. If you are looking for a story that is well told, suspenseful and puts you on the edge this one fits the bill. If you are looking for scares, look elsewhere.

I read this book recently, and I thought it was fantastic. I read it faster than I've ever read a book before in my life. My friend doesn't read at all, and she loves the book. I recommended it to her, and she didn't put it down, nor did I. I thought it was great. Definitely one of King's best. You can really picture the characters, especially Jack. If you liked Jack Nicholson's performance in the movie, you will love Jack's character in the book. It goes into more detail about Jack's ways and I really loved the character. GREAT!!

The Shining is a Stephen King classic from what I think of as the "golden years" of King--the early (and in my opinion best) days of his writing career. Recast twice as a horror movie (once by the legendary Stanley Kubric, and again in the 1990s as TV movie with rather less success), the book is actually a thoughtful if somewhat macabre look at addiction.

In his introspective memoir On Writing, King intimates that The Shining is really a book about alcoholism, not only because the main character, Jack Torrance, is a recovering alcoholic but even more dramatically because of the myriad subtle and not-so-subtle signs of addiction that he begins to display during his family's sojourn at the Overlook Hotel. The brilliance of King's writing is such that the reader is drawn fully into the story even while being taught subtle lessons about the nature and consequences of self-destructive behavior.

Between the book and the movie, much of the plot of The Shining is familiar to many people, even those who aren't familiar with the story itself. References and even caricatures in TV shows such as The Simpsons have driven the story of The Shining deep into today's popular culture. One-liners from the movie like "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy" or "Here's Johnny!" add to the book's not insignificant literary influence.

Jack Torrance, a formerly abusive recovering alcoholic, gets a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, high in the mountains of Colorado. Due to its strategic placement deep in the formidable Rockies, the hotel is inaccessible for much of the winter, when snow clogs the mountain roads beyond a point where navigation is possible. Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny, will be stuck alone in the Overlook for a minimum of three months.

This, however, does not perturb them in the least--at first, anyway. Jack plans to use the time to finish work on his play, Wendy is glad for the down-time after a harrowing series of family mishaps, and Danny is excited just to be with his parents in such a beautiful place.

But once the hotel's employees and guests have all gone, strange things begin to happen. They start slowly. A wasp nest inexplicably fails to respond to poison gas. A fire hose in one of the hallways seems to be rearranged slightly. Eerie noises resound just at the edge of consciousness during the long winter nights.

As the winter storms buffet the hotel's huge windows night after night and snow piles up outside in drifts twenty feet high by day, the hotel's strange ministrations intensify. Soon Jack begins to exhibit some of his old drinking behaviors--even though there's no booze in the hotel. Danny sees alarming visions in some of the rooms. And Wendy begins to fear for herself and her son as Jack slowly falls deeper and deeper under the evil spell of the Overlook.

The term shining refers to Danny's uncanny ability to see future events, intuit his parents' thoughts, and communicate telepathically with Dick Hallorann, the Overlook's kindly cook who shares the same abilities. Simply put, the "shining" is really extra-sensory perception (ESP). Interestingly, Danny's shine actually has little to do with the story itself. It comes into play primarily as a means of foreshadowing, and the premise is certainly intriguing. But the real story revolves around Jack and the way he allows the hotel's dark influence to take over his life.

Characteristically for King, The Shining contains quite a bit of offensive language and some explicit sexuality, so it's not for all readers. But quite aside from the entertainment value, which is high, this book provides a depth of insight into the very real horrors of addiction that could only have been plumbed by a combination top-notch author and recovering addict, as King has admitted he is. With the qualifications I would insert into any recommendation of a book by this author, I would commend this book to anyone who has read and enjoyed other books by Stephen King.

The Shining is the first Stephen King book I ever read, and even after reading many more books--some his, some not--it remains my favorite book ever. It not only scared me, it conected with me deeply. The movie with Jack Nickolson in it is also my favorite movie. I didn't read a new copy though, I read an old one that had a kind of magic to it, which added to the experiance. By the way, my real name is Krag Jerry Kerr, not June Elain. That's just a spoof.

The Shining is the first Stephen King book I ever read, and even after reading many more books--some his, some not--it remains my favorite book ever. It not only scared me, it conected with me deeply. The movie with Jack Nickolson in it is also my favorite movie. I didn't read a new copy though, I read an old one that had a kind of magic to it, which added to the experiance. By the way, my real name is Krag Jerry Kerr, not June Elain. That's just a spoof.

I've had the chance to read several books by SKing (Carrie, IT, The Stand, Different Seasons, 'Salems Lot, Thinner among others) and this has been the only one I ever had trouble reading. I wasn't too keen on reading it since I had already seen the movie but I ultimately decided to take a chance since "the book is always better!". Anyway, I bought it back in 2003 and I put it down around page 104. Two months later I picked it up again and re-read it from the start to no avail. I read some other books after that and finally decided to give it one last chance one month ago. I got to say that I felt mostly urged by the fact that I 'had' to read it rather than being motivated by the thrill of reading a good book. The other SKing books I finished in 3 to 4 days but this one just wouldn't stick!

The plot just wasn't that interesting and the characters weren't as developed as I would've liked. The Jack-Danny relationship is dealed with ad nausea to try to make us care about them 'cause in the end Jack tries to kill Danny; to me it didn't do it! I think the ghosts/hotel could've been developed even more to try to bring the message home but it never happened. Jack never finds out that 'missing' piece of Overlook history and the big punchline is that he ends up becoming part of it... big deal! Wendy's character is weak and almost disposable, even Hallorann seems more interesting than her!

Anyway, I had a hard time reading through this and I least can say that that I read it after almost 3 years since I bought it! I wouldn't recommend it since I think other books by King are way better, like IT, Carrie or The Stand. I think SKing is a great writer and I look forward to reading more of his books. Ciao!

This was the first Stephen King book I finished. Since then, I've read about half of his books, and thus far, this is the best one yet.

While many argue that the DT series and The Stand are King's best, I think that this is by far his most successful attempt at horror. Few books have ever frightened me, but this one seriously chilled my blood. One of the most poignant aspects of "The Shining" is that it touches on something that everyone can relate to: isolation. While the Torrances are both physically isolated in the book, they are also emotionally isolated. King also addresses questions of madness and his influences from Lovecraft and Poe are especially evident.
The book is archetypal of most of King's novels, with a fast pace and an explosive ending, but because "The Shining" was an early novel it avoids many King-ian cliches his more recent works have exhibited.

A definite must read, both for the horror fan and non-horror fan alike.

I read The Shining over twenty five years ago, when I was in high school. At the time I thought it was one of the best novels I had ever read. I read a lot of Stephen King at the time, but eventually drifted away from the author (`It' was the last King novel I read for nearly two decades). Over the last few years I have picked up a few of King's later novels (Dream Catcher, From a Buick 8, and Cell). These later novels had their moments (especially Dream Catcher) but they never came close to my memories of the early King novels. And so I decided to re-read some of them to see if they were really that good.

I re-read The Shining and was surprised by how great it really is.

Nobody does isolation and insanity better than King. Whether it's a family snowbound in a spooky hotel, a mother and child trapped in a car by a frothing St Bernard, or a writer held captive by a demented fan, Stephen King is at his best when his characters are left alone with their own worst enemy - their imaginations.
With Jack Torrance, King has created a fully developed character, deeply flawed and vulnerable. Jack is a recovering alcoholic, tormented by feelings of fear, resentment and self-pity. Jack Torrance is not a cartoon-like villain. He is a complicated, conflicted, and ultimately tragic figure.
By creating characters that are fully realized and complex, King draws the reader into the Torrance family's terrifying world. King takes his time, and lets the suspense build at a slow sinister pace. I challenge any reader not to find themselves obsessively reading the final pages of this novel without stopping, ignoring the world around them, even if it means staying up all night.

The Shining is a well crafted, complex, enormously entertaining work of fiction. The Shining may or may not be King's best novel (I will have to re-read The Stand before I can say for sure.) but it is without question, one of the best horror novels ever written.

In fact it may be one of the best novels I've read, in any genre.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's a must for newly wed husbands/fathers. It convince you to become an alcaholic and kill your wife though. Depends on whether or not you think that's a bad thing.

This summer I read the Shining by Stephen King.Like most of kings books this is a horror.The story is about a family of three who move to a hotel one winter.The father of the family is a writer who wants to move his family into a hotel.He has a son named Danny and a wife named Helen.The boy Danny has a imaginery friend named Tony.This imaginery friend gives Dany bad ideas about the hotel.The father was talking to the manager of the hotel and he was told a man had murderd his family and commited suicide right after.This all took place in the hotel.He was told to just be warned.After the family had moved to the hotel,the staff left and the father was beginning to act weird.Then danny started seeing to little twin girls.But they would disapear after a few moments.Now before the staff had left,a man had explained to Danny about shining.Shining is wher you ca have a convrsation with someone without even opening your mouth and wihtout noise.Wich only a few people can do.Mean while te father is goin crazy.Hes always yelling and he physically bused Danny.The snowis is now becoming very bad.It is very high now.So the family can not reach anyone in case of an emergency.The father has now lst his mind.He is trying to kill Helen and Danny with an axe.Helen and Danny do get away at the end.Dad ends up freezing outside in the snow.The family ends up leaving safely

I decided to pick this book up after watching one of my favorite movies "The Shining" by Stanley Kubrick based on this book. There are a lot of things that I found strange and unexplained in the movie and I thought 'Maybe if I read the book they will be explained.' I definitely felt that the book was able to go into much more detail, very scary, I didn't want to read it alone. There are a lot of things the book is able to describe that would not have been believable or frightening if they tried to put it into the film. There is also a lot of character description, it really builds on Jack's past with alcholism which really helps you understand his character more. It was a great book.

This book is an excellent thriller that is very well written and moves at a swift pace. While the character development of the Overlook's caretaker and family are intense, it is the hotel itself that steals the show as the true terror. Stephen King's writing will keep you up at night and engaged to the end.

For fans of Stanley Kubrick's film, the book will add a lot of depth about the history of the Overlook and the mindset of the caretaker. Even if you didn't like the movie, it is different enough to be worth taking the chance.

I was a fan of the movie, but can't tell you how much better the book is compared to the movie. If you like the movie, and have never read the book, you are truly missing a gem.

The Shining, by Stephen King, is a riveting novel set in the beautiful state of Colorado. The book's main focus is the Overlook Hotel, a grand estate that is more or less in solitude, just shy of the nearby town of Sidewinder. During season it is a lively place that entertains the most prestigious of guests and echoes the ancient memories of a time long forgotten. During the cold winter months however, the hotel becomes a lonely, isolated mass that must be looked after and attended to by a single caretaker. This position falls into the hands of the capable Jack Torrance, who must care for the Overlook all winter long and ultimately chooses to bring his wife Wendy and small son Danny along with him. Little do they know that their son has a special power otherwise known as the Shine. It is a gift as well as a curse, allowing Danny to see things and know things that no one else could ever imagine. That winter as the great oak doors of the Overlook are closed, Danny acquires a strong sense of foreboding towards the hotel. As the falling snow begins to shut the Torrance family in, Danny's adventures throughout the hotel begin to unveil the real demons that lurk behind every corner of the haunted Overlook. It is then that countless visions and nightmares start to plague the young boy as the winter presses on and the hotel itself becomes alive, its demons slowly beginning to possess Danny's father. As the days pass by, Danny's nightmares begin to come true, and Jack and Wendy both begin to see the things that Danny could never have even begun to explain. The hotel however has chosen Jack to be its colleague in the murder of his wife and son. Will Danny's visions be enough to get both him and his mother out of the hotel alive? Or will the spirit of the hotel eventually swallow them up into the vast memories of its mysterious past?
This book was a fast-paced and invigorating read that went by quickly despite its length of 683 pages. I chose this book because I saw the movie The Shining and really enjoyed it. The novel did live up to my expectations and left the reader in awe and wonder at the mysterious occurrences of the Overlook but not with returning nightmares from certain scenes. The character of Jack Torrance was very well developed but I had trouble believing that five year old Danny could go through any of the book's never-ending trauma and still live a normal life to tell the tale. My favorite part though was Stephen King's writing style throughout the book. It was very interesting because he would constantly take the reader aside and into the mind of various characters and the spirits within the Overlook. All in all The Shining was just what I expected it to be and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked the movie or is a fan of King's work.

I read this book in 1 day, which is a testament to how great this book is--considering its length. This is the best Stephen King book I've ever read. The story centers on recovering alcoholic Jack Torance, who becomes the winter caretaker of an isolated, snowed-in hotel in Colorado. Soon, his young son begins to channel ("shine") some of the ghosts who died in the hotel (a mob boss' killers, a woman who killed herself in a bathtub). Jack slowly begins to lose his mind, and terror ensues.

King successfully gets the reader inside the mind of Jack Torance as he slowly and believeably begins to lose his mind (something that the Kubrick movie missed). The book is terrifying, smart, and a can't-put-the-book-down read.

The book was made into 2 movies--the Stanley Kubrick movie and the Stephen King TV miniseries. The Kubrick movie is pretty good and scary even if it strays from the book. The TV miniseries is much more faithful to the book and is a good TV miniseries, but it is nothing special.

I read the book a few months ago and I summarize that it is really good but the book drags on a bit and has a few "too graphic and disgusting" for my taste scenes. I liked the two adaptations (especially the Stanley Kubrick adaptation) better than I liked the book. If you are really in to Stephen King stories then this is for you.

What makes a book scary? Is it a story of demons, or ghosts, or a few murders? Or is it the inexplicable madness that could taunt the mind of a reader long after the story is over and the book is closed and returned to the book shelf? The Shining is one such story. It's the account of a family, their battles with their own demons in a hotel that somehow feeds on their fears and emotions.

Often, the case is made that a book is scary because it unexpectedly freaked a reader with a sudden twist, a ghostly encounter, or a creepy voice. In `The Shining' there is something different. There is suspense, ever so slowly building, until the trickle becomes a river that pulls one toward a vortex of twisting horrors, of something evil that has been molded and cooked and stored until the one to be fed stumbles on it unexpectedly and then its so horrifying that he is left stunned, numbed, petrified.

King is a king in the world of literary terror. He is a king of his own domain, of the masterful horror story, of a universe where hedge animals stalk, hotels share emotions and people communicate via their minds. Oh, and `The Shining' can not be told via a word of mouth, or seen as an interpretation by Kubric or any other director for that matter. `The Shining' must be experienced only through the words, because only words can make alive that which is too dreadful to share, or show. For all fans of the horror genre believe me when I say:`The Shining' makes one heck of a memorable experience.

-by Simon Cleveland

THE SHINING-----2 STARS

I dont understand, how people say that this book is a classic. I just finished this book and i am happy its over. This book is about 450 pages (hardcover) and the first 350 pages are so boring, that it was torture. Nothnig happens in this book!!!! Its is FAR from scary....the book does heat up a little bit, at around the 350 page mark, but just when it starts to get good, its over!!! ALOT of questions that the reader has, go un-answered...King could have went on at least , for another 200 pages, to make the ending worth the boring begining, and the boring middle......The only thing i liked about this book, was how smooth the transition went with Jack Torrence, going from loving caring husband, and father, to a completley possesed killer. I have just recently begun my quest for reading EVERY book in the King library, i have EVERY book of his brand new and in hardcover....i have read, (see my reviews) CELL, DREAMCATCHER, DESPERATION, MISERY, IT,....and now, THE SHINING, ....The Shining is bay FAR one of the worst books of his i have read, i even think that THE CELL was better...On a scale of 1-10 i give this book a 6

I am currently reading THE TOMMYKNOCKERS, so look for that review shortly

A lot of people say this is Stephen King's scariest book. I disagree. Maybe because I've seen the movie several times. Either way, the book is a modern classic. Everyone knows the story, or at least should have seen the movie. The book goes into a lot more detail about Jack's personal life which does help give the book an errie foreshadowing that the movie ignores. I really enjoyed this book even after seeing the movie because it is written so well with a lot of character development.

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I loved this novel! It was thrilling, full of suspense, and wonderful! It kept me interested and shaking in my seat! As a teenager, I thought there were a few parts that were gross but overall a great read.

Warning: some spoilers ahead

I'm sure it's been said by countless other reviewers, but this book does in fact provide a far more nuanced and compelling portrait of the main character Jack Torrence than the famous and unforgettable 1980 Stanley Kubrick screen adapatation would suggest.

I like what King said in his own recent comments on the book-what made the book truly interesting was the idea that Torrence goes insane from a combination of factors-not just a haunted hotel but his own inner demons. That is suggested in the movie, but my impression is that in the movie Nicholson plays Torrence as someone already on the edge and there is no implication that he had deep love for his family, also no mention of his own abuse at his father's hands. It's hard to feel that he suddenly went from loving Shelley Duvall to hating her-he seems to have hatred toward her in the beginning of the movie. The movie works, of course, and has become so iconic it is hard to read this book without thinking of it, but it is very different from the book, enough so to be someone else's story.

This is a major problem with the movie and what makes the book so much more effective, moving, and tragic-in the book Torrence truly loves his wife and son and that makes his descent into madness more frightening and depressing.

This is really King's gift, to tie horror to recognizable reality and family life, to express some of our own deepest fears through terrifying metaphors, and he does it very well here. It's also, like most of his books, very exciting and a good page turner.

I especially appreciated his character Dick, the African American cook, for some reason in the movie this character was far less important or appealing. In the book he has real warmth, compassion, intelligence, and a sense of humor-and he doesn't die, unlike in the movie (I wanted to point that out, that's why I warned of spoilers). I think that's important-he's a survivor, like Danny.

His story makes the entire novel more interesting and I'm not sure why they made him sort of an idiot in the movie although I could speculate. I'm sure this isn't true of the 1997 Stephen Weber/Rebecca DeMornay version, since it is said to be closer to King's original vision, but I have yet to see that. Another positive point of the book is that they give more background to the ghosts, whereas in the Kubrick movie they just show up (e.g., naked elderly woman in tub). It's scarier if we know their stories, and King tells us them.

It was a good read, but if I had some criticism it would be that it dragged on at times and sometimes got too verbose. King is a very talented writer and very interesting to read but he does tend to veer off into certain overly verbose passages that make my eyes glaze over. But it's a 600+ page book, and about 400 pages are great, so who are we to complain? Definitely worth the read even if you've seen the movie, is the point.

I am going to write this review under the assumption that most of us have seen the film. If you haven't seen the film, you may not want to read on, as there may be some spoilers. On the other hand, I have seen the film 100 times and still enjoyed this novel heartily. Both novel and film are radically different from each other.

It has been years since I saw "The Shining" for the first time. Ever since then, I had kept hearing about how different the book was, how disappointed King was with the change to the story. I had always, at some point, wanted to read the novel to see how Kubrick changed it. As an aspiring filmmaker myself, I am always interested to read novels that have been made into films to see how they adapted it into a screenplay. As mentioned before, King's novel is quite different than Kubrick's film. Which do I like better? King's novel by a long shot. Though I am a huge fan of cinema and love Kubrick's work... a lot was lost through his interpretation/translation of the film.

For example, Kubrick depicts Jack as a menacing maniac who is out to slaughter everyone from the get-go, estranged from his mother and son who seem to look out for each other under Jack's terror. In the novel it is quite the opposite. Father and Son are the family members that are close, with Wendy the odd one out... actually jealous of Danny's relationship with his father. Family interactions are lost in the film. The novel makes much more sense as to what is going on. There is more of a point to show that the HOUSE itself is haunted, and begins to control Jack... and his hallucinations are in fact hallucinations. Not "real entities" as the film may suggest.

The sequence of events differs slighty, as well as key moments in the story. Halloran, the radio, room 217, Jack's downfall, etc. The dialouge is more intriguing, the urgency to esacpe, the terror itself... much more hair-raising. Even the ending is completely different. But I definitely love this book, it rates up there with "Misery" of the King books I have read. Buy it used, I got mine (first edition hardcover) right here off marketplace sellers for dirt cheap.

And sorry folks... no hedge maze.

When I first picked up this book I was extremely dissapointed by it. King's wordy and extremely descriptive writing style were a slight turn off for me...in the beginning. However, the second time I tried reading it I actually stuck with the story and I realized that King's descriptions are actually his literary brilliance. He describes the characters in great detail, and as the plot goes on, you are able to see how the Overlook changes them and the way they think. This is the really chilling part of the story- how easily the characters are rattled. You see the gradual demise of Jack Torrance, and how the Hotel gradually, subtley, eats away at his sanity. In the end, Jack, not the ghosts, is what is truly terrifying. His demise is actually relative to a lot of people as well. Although maybe not attacked by an evil hotel, people everyday are being pressured into doing things they don't want to do, by an "outside evil".
However, I was slightly dissapointed. I was expecting more ghosts and scary scenes leading up to the climax. I was expecting to see more of Grady and his family as well. In the end, however, the book is a masterpiece, and its easy to see that King has amazing talent.

I'm sure I will be crucified by King fans for this review but I must say that after having seen the movie a dozen times and after three days of reading this book, I am not at all impressed. I am not a fan of Steven King's writing style at all and although the first half of this book kept me interested, I still found that it was an awful lot of work to get through. I suppose he is known for this now, but it takes King three pages to describe a car ride up a hill during a blizzard. Again, just not the kind of writing style that keeps me or the plot moving along at a fast enough pace to keep focused.

All in all, my summation of this book is that it is an awfully depressing story about one man's terrible struggle with alcoholism, his desire to prove to his family that he is really a good man while battling with the "inner demons" of his past, in other words, the memories of the nasty things he has done while intoxicated. Then, there is Danny. A little five year old boy who not only is the abused son of an alcoholic father but who also possesses this awful ability to sense doom and see horrors of the past and future that he must struggle with alone because he cannot share these thoughts or feelings with his parents for fear of them thinking he is insane. THEN, to top all that off, this family ends up in a haunted hotel. So there are really at least three plots working here: 1) Jack and the lifelong battle of an alcoholic 2) Danny and his torment as he tries to protect his parents and make sense out of the psychic war that goes on inside his head 3)The Hotel itself and all of the weirdness that goes on there (and what goes on there for me, was never all that horrific and actually there are only a handful of scenes that are actually scary. The hedges (okay, enough with the animals moving already), the lady in the tub, the hand in the snow, the dogman in the hallway etc...but for some reason, all of this was just more torment for Danny instead of good scares for me.

And finally, the ending is so unsatisfying, so anti-climactic, I was actually searching the pages after the final page thinking, that can't be the end, there has to be more! But alas, it was truly over.

I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a realistic, honest account of an alcoholic's mind as he tries to stay sober and patch things up with the hurt he's caused the ones he loves. But to read this looking for a good scare, you won't get it.

Also, have you ever realized how many suffering children there are in King's books? Carrie, Pet Sematary, Cujo, It, Firestarter, The Shining, the list goes on and on. He must have had some wicked childhood to write so many stories about children in so much pain. Just too disturbing for me...

This book is a work of a pure genius.It does not only concentrate on the horror aspects of the story but on the emotional level as well.As much as people would like to believe that this book is totally scary,think again.Yes,it is scary in a way,it has a lot of ghosts etc.But deep down inside,hidden inside this book if you read it carefully,you would feel the power of the words.Stephen King actually takes the family in the book and makes them yours...Yes,he is that good.I wounder how he does it?But anyway I definitely recommend this book...It simply begins when an unemployed man takes a job at a hotel,a haunted one I might add,and takes his family with him...Then the story begins,and once you begin there is no stopping.........enjoy...Nigel.

Here is another piece of writing(not mine),taken from my research:Jack Torrance is a temperamental writer who is trying to rebuild his and his family's life after his alcoholism and volatile temper cause him to lose his teaching position at a small preparatory school. Having given up alcohol, he accepts a job as a winter caretaker at a large, isolated hotel in Colorado, hoping that this will reestablish him as a responsible person, enable him to finish a promising play, and resume his career. He moves into the Overlook Hotel with his wife, Wendy, and young son, Danny, who is telepathic (the "shining" of the title) and sensitive to supernatural forces. The hotel is possessed by a life force or is itself sentient and especially uses people with psychic powers. Danny, who has had premonitions of the hotel's danger to his family, begins seeing ghosts and frightening visions from the hotel's past, but tolerates them in the hope that they are not dangerous in the present. He doesn't tell his parents because he senses how important the job of caretaker is to his father's and his family's future. Having difficulty possessing Danny, the hotel begins to possess Jack, frustrating his need and desire to work as he becomes increasingly unstable, and gradually turns him to its purposes. Jack is turned insane and tries to murder his family but they are saved at the last minute by Danny's chef friend Dick Hallorann who is also a shiner. Jack is killed when the boiler explodes, different to the film version where Jack murders Halloran with his axe and then freezes to death in the snow. Wendy and Danny survive in both versions and Hallorann survives in the book...

enjoy...Nigel.

again another of my favorite King novels. I have read this one quite a few times over the years.

This is the second book that i read of stephen kings. and one of my favorites if youve seen the moive then you have to read this book there is stuff in the moive that is not in the book but i like the book better a book a must read.

For the Torrance family---consisting of Wendy, the mother and wife, Jack, the father and husband and a writer, most of all an intense alcoholic, and young 5 year old Danny, the only son of the two blessed(or doomed)with psychic powers, enabling him to have visions of particular events of the future before they even happen and opens the door to the opportunity of preventing whichever event from taking place if it is unfavorable---life is not one bit smooth but a disturbingly shaky and rough ride along the long stretch of road leading down to the gutters.
First off, Jack's heavy drinking problems greatly affects(in a negative way)his writing and his creative writing classes at a particular University near Stovington(where the 3 live)but most of all, life at home. Jack regularly comes home(or limps and staggers, I should say)every night at 3 o'clock in the morning, after a little drinking session with his ol' buddy Al Shockley, and then collapses to the couch and instantly falls asleep to only wake up early the next morning, and right out the door from the couch to his creative writing classes, with a hangover. Wendy worries about him terribly but is subdued to helplessness when in consideration of trying to help him out, trying to bring him to his right senses, knowing inside that he could possibly and most likely will lash out at her and maybe even hit her, all from his drunkeness. Then one day something horrible clicks, only to magnify and sharpen the fears Wendy is already facing: Jack hitting her.
Simply put, Jack breaks Danny's arm because "he had lost his temper". And to make it even worse and guilt arousing on Jack's part, he was cold sober at the time. Things seem to be recuperating and steadily repairing itself, the sky out bright blue, shining and clear, when suddenly ominious, dark gray clouds mass up in enormous amounts and it starts raining, thunder roaring and booming, lightning striking and electrifying, the wind howling and slapping and cutting. Jack loses his temper again. This time, at a student of his. He ends up beating him up which results in him getting fired from his teaching job.
In a last shot attempt to fix up things and make them better, Jack gives up drinking. Which helps his writing considerably. Wendy is overjoyed with her husbands wise choice to quit drinking for good and the wonderful progress he is making in his writing, and for awhile, things start slowly healing itself, things are getting back on track, things are pretty good, not too bad as a matter of fact, the sky out is pretty nice.
But then, winter nears. And Jack needs a job--the money to support his family. Not to worry, because Jack's good buddy, Al Shockley, gets him, and his family a job during the winter as caretakers for the Overlook Hotel near Sidewinder, Colorado, buried in the bombardment of snow and mountains and great, splintering pines. The job is only for the winter time, when the Overlook is not in active operation, no guests, no workers, no cooks, no bellboys, no servants, no nobody except the caretakers....and the evil dwelling spirits of course! The occupant of the haunted, prohibited room number 217. The dogman. The animal hedges in front of the hotel, at the topiary, in front of the playground. Grady; a previous caretaker of the hotel who had brought his family along; his wife and his two young twin girls, ending up murdering them and then killing himself. All apart of the hotel itself. And all evil.
Because when Jack and his family are accepted for the role as caretakers of the famous Overlook Hotel, and starts working there, living by the 3 of the themselves in the trapping confinement of the hotel and the snow and the mountains all around, like "microbes in the intestine of a monster", things are, at first, all right and pretty normal. But things start going downhill quickly. It all starts with a scrapbook tossed aside in the basement of the Overlook, which Jack later recovers and reads and becomes completely intrigued and riveted by and...obsessed with the things in the scrapbook: the hotels history, newspaper clippings of various significant events taking place at the Overlook. Jack becomes so absorbed with the hotels history and past that he even considers writing a book on the hotel. However, conflict arises when Al Shockley, Jack's good ol buddy who had gotten him the job as the caretaker at the Overlook hotel and also the then current owner of the Overlook, clearly states that he doesn't want Jack writing a book on the hotel...or else he can look for another job. This only adds to his anger and hatred and temptation to drinking "the bad stuff" again, as he grows even more and more interested and riveted, more and more obsessed with the hotel's history and past. But it's actually not a deeply profound, genuine relationship, because the evil spirit of the Overlook is slowly taking over Jack little by little and possessing him and telling him that it wants Danny, his son, his psychic powers. The spirit of Grady is slowly taking over Jack, Wendy is getting more and more in the way and making Jack more and more angry and irritable, and the hotels greed for Danny's clairvoyant powers grows and grows. Grady serves Jack a drink or two, and not water, and Jack humbly accepts it, wanting to release the continously building tension caused by recent events. Grady gets Jack drunk and semi-conscious, not half thinking straight, and in his grasp. He tells Jack to murder his wife and son, but for his son, after he gives it up to the hotel and takes his powers. Jack, not in his right senses, the result of alcoholic drinks, humbly agrees to do so. He heads out to the shed and pulls out a roque mallet and swings it around a couple times, it whooshing violently through the air. He smiles an evil, twisted smile, and with the roque mallet, heads back to the hotel......


First of all, I have to say that before I started reading this book, my expectations for it were pretty high since I had seen parts of the 1980 film version of the book and saw that it was very exciting and terrifying. However, I guess my expectations for the book were a little too high at the time and I was left just a little dissapointed when I finished reading the whole book because it wasn't as good and exciting and scary as I had expected, although it still were those things at a moderate-high amount. But overall, it was still very good and scary and realistic and entertaining and well-written, the characters in it, bursting with realism and life, one of the most realistic literary characters I have ever read, they just jumped out at you right from the page, and so, I gave it what I thought it deserved: a 4 out of 5.