We all know The Shining in some form, unfortunately for me my first encounter with it was the Simpsons spoof The Shinning. I then went and watched the film and was thoroughly confused, and thinking about the Simpsons. So finally I decided to give Stephen King a go and actually read The Shining.
It is very different from the film and in some ways makes more sense but in other ways makes no sense at all.
The story is of Jack Torrance who gets a job as a winter caretaker at a big mountain hotel called the Overlook. He moves to the hotel with his wife Wendy and his psychic son Danny. Already weird. Once there the hotel starts to get into everyone's head and convinces Jack to kill his family. Their only hope of survival in the completely snowed in hotel is one of the hotel's cooks, Dick, who is also luckily psychic.
So yeah that's the basic story. Bit weird. But it's all the other things around the story that get even weirder. From aggressive hedge animals to bitchy ghosts this book has a whole host of bizarre features that are sort of explained in the book by "magic psychic hotel" but that sometimes isn't enough of an explanation.
All the crazy aside, this is a good book. I've always been sceptical of scary books, I mean it's a book how scary can it be. Very is the answer. I was so tense at points reading this and I can tell you it is not a good idea to read this before bed because you will just find yourself lying there tense and expecting scary dead people.
So yeah it's bizarre and at times hard to make sense of but if you just accept that it's a really good read. There's real tension as you read about the characters in danger and the odd features just add to the madness and confusion that keeps you guessing. Go out and read it, but not at bedtime.
It is very different from the film and in some ways makes more sense but in other ways makes no sense at all.
The story is of Jack Torrance who gets a job as a winter caretaker at a big mountain hotel called the Overlook. He moves to the hotel with his wife Wendy and his psychic son Danny. Already weird. Once there the hotel starts to get into everyone's head and convinces Jack to kill his family. Their only hope of survival in the completely snowed in hotel is one of the hotel's cooks, Dick, who is also luckily psychic.
So yeah that's the basic story. Bit weird. But it's all the other things around the story that get even weirder. From aggressive hedge animals to bitchy ghosts this book has a whole host of bizarre features that are sort of explained in the book by "magic psychic hotel" but that sometimes isn't enough of an explanation.
All the crazy aside, this is a good book. I've always been sceptical of scary books, I mean it's a book how scary can it be. Very is the answer. I was so tense at points reading this and I can tell you it is not a good idea to read this before bed because you will just find yourself lying there tense and expecting scary dead people.
So yeah it's bizarre and at times hard to make sense of but if you just accept that it's a really good read. There's real tension as you read about the characters in danger and the odd features just add to the madness and confusion that keeps you guessing. Go out and read it, but not at bedtime.
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