The Shining by Stephen King

I finally finished it!!! There are about 683 pages including the epilogue. The Shining was phenominal. I highly recommend it. The book is almost NOTHING like the movie. The ending was COMPLETELY different and the events throughout the story were way different too. Oh, and the dog-mask-thingy does have a little importance in the book. Basically, it's about the Torrance family-Jack, Wendy, and Danny. Danny has a special gift (shining) which allows him to see things that have or will happen. Jack has a drinking problem and loses his job... He snags a job at the Overlook hotel as the caretaker and lives in the hotel with his family. As the days pass, the hotel tightens its grip on Jack... I can't give away too much cuz I want you guys to read it! Stephen King has a REALLY good writing style; he actually puts the characters' thoughts in between some of the lines. DO NOT BELIEVE THE MOVIE AT ALL!!! IT LIES!!! IT DIDN'T RUIN THE BOOK AT ALL!


The Greatest Haunted Hotel Story Ever Written!!, June 17, 2004
By
Robert J. Schneider (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews Throughout the last century, there were many authors who wrote haunted house stories. In 1977, Stephen King beat 'em all with a haunted hotel story. You see, this is not just *any* haunted hotel story; this is THE SHINING.
THE SHINING is about several things, all tied up into one complex and multilayered whole. It is about a five-year-old boy who is impossibly mature and wise beyond his years, and who has a terrifying gift that seems as much a curse. It is about his father, a recovering alcoholic with demons in his soul and skeletons in his closet, who is battling both in order to keep his family financially afloat. It is about his wife, a doting mother who has braved the ups & downs of her husband's turbulence, who loves him, and who wants to trust him beyond his past mistakes but is just on this side of being unable to do so. It is about a classic, Art Deco hotel tucked deep within the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, whose name is respected but nevertheless has a mysteriously chequered past. It is about the ghosts that occupy this hotel, that wish to possess the above family but can only be seen by the boy and the head cook. It is about the head cook, an older black man who shares the same gift with the boy, and who develops a special friendship with him as a result. It is about a family who begin at their last chance for hope & unity, who end up fighting for their last chance at survival. This is THE SHINING.
THE SHINING is a true gestalt entity: it is more than the sum of its parts. Stephen King masterly intertwines all of the above elements, plus some truly frightening imagery, to create a novel of several hundred compulsively-turning pages that add up to one of the greatest experiences that I've ever had as a reader of fiction.
MOST RECOMMENDED; AGES 15 & UP