Just a Gush--I love, love, love this book!

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Christine62

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Nov 7, 2013
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I was listening to Under The Dome (and it wasn't doing it for me). I was also trying out The Stand but I am writing something similar--so I stopped.

With every intention giving another writer a try, went to the library and just couldn't resist looking at the K's and there it was! The audio book for Dr. Sleep! I couldn't believe my luck. And of course, he sucked me in his world but I had missing pieces--I never read The Shining. I saw the tail end of the Kubrick movie and one scene from King's tv version. So I stopped listening to Dr. Sleep and went back to the library the next morning and checked out the audio book for the Shining.

OMG I love this book! I love Danny! I love Wendy! I especially love Jack. Not one dimensional at all--not a cardboard cut out of crazy. Conflicted and struggling--like we all are. Having been raised by three alcoholics, I can relate. Of course when you are a kid, life is more black and white, good and bad. But Jack is all shades of gray and the layers and layers of struggle.

This is how good the writing is--I know this doesn't end well for Jack and his family--but I'm still rooting for them!
 

Christine62

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Nov 7, 2013
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The hotel is a good metaphor for life. It is strange and scary and if you don't have a plan or a perspective it is out to get you. That's what I like about the character of Jack, he is a true alcoholic--there is no self- examination. Life is done to him--there is no self-blame--just self loathing but no real examination of cause and effect--just wishful thinking
 

Hall Monitor

All bars serve the Beam.
Nov 7, 2013
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New Jersey
The hotel is a good metaphor for life. It is strange and scary and if you don't have a plan or a perspective it is out to get you. That's what I like about the character of Jack, he is a true alcoholic--there is no self- examination. Life is done to him--there is no self-blame--just self loathing but no real examination of cause and effect--just wishful thinking
Extremely well said
 

Christine62

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Nov 7, 2013
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Oklahoma City
Still loving The Shining---you know how many turns I have missed driving? At a stop light, I'm sure people look into my car and see me screaming to the cd player, "No Danny! DON'T GO INTO ROOM 217!!" Yes, I closed my closet door and bathroom door and slept with the light on and I read On Writing until I get creepy crap out of my brain. But what I am loving more and more about this story is Jack. I really think he is just a culmination of his own mind--he is struggling so hard but the tracks in his mind are too deep for him to jump and he just keeps going round and round. This may well be my favorite novel so far--some of the best writing I have ever read in my life.
 

Neil W

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May 27, 2008
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Isle of Wight UK
I first read The Shining on its initial UK paperback publication, and I recall reading the final confrontation between Danny and The Overlook In His Father on a train from Brighton to London. It was a bright sunshine-y afternoon, and when The Overlook In His Father said "OK, masks off", all the hair down the back of my neck stood up - I can still feel it (I remember that I was also holding back tears following Jack telling Danny to run and Danny refusing).

After reading it, I recall thinking what a beautifully constructed novel it was. How wonderful that people are still discovering that despite what Kubrick did.
 

Christine62

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Nov 7, 2013
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Oklahoma City
I watched the Kubrick movie again and yes, there are some scary scenes but there is no emotional investment in the characters. I was scared by the occasional scary scene but I didn't fear for the Torrences'. In the novel, Mr. King made me struggle with the internal demons that were in Jack because they are in all of us. I worried with Wendy about the emotional powder keg of a husband because I grew up with someone like that. I admired Danny because he seemed so brave and mature--at five to 30 I was afraid of my own shadow. The novel means so much to me because even though it has elements that I don't believe in: ESP and ghosts, the characters and their struggles were real--that's how Mr. King made me care.