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Customer Reviews of The Shining

The Pinnacle of Terror--Thanks, Mr. King
The first King book I decided to read was Misery, when I was in the 8th grade. After that, it didn't take me long to finish everything he's ever published. Stephen King doesn't like to be thought of as the most popular, most versatile novelist of all time, but he is just that--a writer who can write anything, any place, or anyone. Most of his books leave me with a sad feeling, a deep admiration for a compelling story and characters I've come to love. King is the master of characterization. And though the Shining is not his best book, it is the Masterpiece of Modern Horror. The atmostphere is so dark, so creepy, every page is drooling with an infecting poison that hooks you into the story. There are certain elements in this book that will give you a real experience of terror, like when Jack is being stalked by the hedge animals, and when Danny is sneaking around room 217. Over all, what makes The Shining so powerful is the protagonist, and the story of his life, his dreams, and his fears. King will make you feel sorry for Jack Torrance as he is trying to...well...if you haven't read it, I don't want to spoil it, but there will never be another book written with such emotional, psychological, and supernatural intensity. Thanks for everything, Mr. King.

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King's masterpiece -- and one of my favorite books
I first read this book in 1980, at the recommendation of a coworker. I'd stayed away from Stephen King ... too popular for my advanced tastes. Anyway, I decided to take a look at the book about 10 PM (on a work night). Finished it about 7 AM the next morning. No book has ever taken over my imagination like this, before or since.

Since then, I've read all of King's work, and consider him the contemporary Dickens. But having just reread the Shining for, perhaps, the fourth time, it remains my favorite, and a modern masterpiece, in my opinion.

But I recognize this is essentially personal. I've not identified with any other character is literature as I do with Jack Torrance. I'm now more than ten years into sobriety and recovery, and I've often recommended this book to men that I sponsor. The depiction of the alcoholic personality, the combination of fear and resentment and self-pity, at war with Jack's very real love for his family and desire for goodness, is expressed in a way that makes it clear that King is writing of something he knows all too well on a personal level. Jack Torrance is one of literature's great tragic figures. I can only say, "There but for the grace of God go I."

[By the way, this is why I can't abide by Kubrick's interpretation. There's no tragedy or complexity in Nickleson's portrayal of Torrance. Kubrick's detachment from the human delemma ultimately doesn't work for me.]

I do believe that there is a coherent force/power of evil/darkness in the world, though it is not as powerful that the force/power of good/light. But I think one of King's most basic points (in all his work) is that we ignore the power of darkness at our own risk, that this is one of the real problems in the contemporary Age of Therapy. Central to the Shining is the way the force of the evil in the Hotel is able to utilize Jack's weaknesses ultimately to turn him to its purposes--to destroy what he love the most. I find this very, very realistic (viewing the supernatural stuff as kind of window dressing).

Having reached out for help in a way that the Torrance character couldn't, I'm now blessed with a life happier than I could imagine. But this book now reminds me of how much Divine Grace is involved for anyone blessed with the ability to build healthy loving relationships with those around him/her, especially family members, one day at a time.

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Ignore both movies - the book is the best!
Over 25 years after it was published, "The Shining" remains ones of King's best novels to date. It is not simply the story of a supernatural hotel, but also the all-too-normal corruption and degradation that can exist within the human heart.

Jack Torrance is a deeply-flawed man, both as a husband and a father, and when the evil presence in the Overlook Hotel finds him, it exploits his every weakness. "The Shining" is a gripping book, and it is one of the few books of King's that I would say is truly frightening. King captures his characters here with a sharp eye for detail, and tells a powerful story.

This book has suffered not one, but two adaptations to screen (one by King himself), but neither of them really captured what makes The Shining such a standout novel, not just in King's work, but in the field of American letters in general. When King is considered, in years to come, one of the 20th century's great novelists, this will be one of the books studied extensively.