Title: The Shining Author: Stephen King
Read copy: Mass Market Paperback
Published: June 26, 2012
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307743659
ISBN-13: 9780307743657
Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
My rating:
The Torrance family moves to the Overlook Hotel in order for the recovering alcoholic patriarch, Jack, to start his new job as caretaker. But bringing his family with him proves to be a huge mistake for Jack, since his psychic son seems to bring out the worst in the old hotel.
Nicely plotted and well developed with realistic and believable, somewhat heart breakable (Jack in this instance) characters and plausible actions and reactions, this books flows more along the lines of psychological thriller than straightforward horror.
The suspense builds up so slowly that the true horror and evil creeps up suddenly and (almost) unexpectedly, although it also has its silly moments that break the flow of the story and the slow, inexorable progress of the creeping evil.
What also breaks the stride of the story is the length. It felt overblown, overdrawn, and was slowly getting very boring indeed. Fact is, it took me ages to finish. But maybe it was just me having an adverse reaction to King’s narrative style.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment