The Shining by Stephen King
15 hours and 50 minutes for this audiobook. Almost 16 hours
of Stephen King. Most other audiobooks for this course have been approximately
7-9 hours long. Now, this audiobook was enjoyable, but goodness it was
longwinded.
I love that in the book we get more in depth with the characters
of Danny and his Shining and Jack and his addiction. Getting to hear about Jack’s
temper with breaking Danny’s arm and beating up his student were very
interesting and overlooked in the movie. Not just hearing about Tony, but
seeing the visions he shows Danny is something I greatly enjoy. But the book still
isn’t perfect.
It feels like King is paid by the word. While I like the
book better than the movie, there are definitely scenes that could be cut from
the novel with little to no impact on the plot. I felt myself tuning out of the
book in some places because the descriptions went on and on. I feel like the scene
with the bees was a great way to show the Overlook Hotel as its own character,
but it also was repetitive and long. The scene at the doctor was good for
telling the parents not to worry about their son, but it lasted ages longer
than needed. Wendy constantly thought about her issues with her mother. Now, I’ve
only seen the movie once, but I got halfway through the book and feel like I
still haven’t come across much that was seen in the movie outside of Dick
Hallorann telling Danny about the shining (which by the way, that scene with
them in the car is done so well in the book).
Speaking of differences between the movie and book, the
hedges were amazing. I thought it was done well in both the movie and the book
even though they were done differently. Danny cleverly stepping in his dads
footprints in the snow in the movie was clever. But the hedge animals supposedly
moving when he wasn’t looking at them was even better. Danny didn’t want to go play
at the park, so Jack did instead, and then the hedges move. This was the one scene
I didn’t mind King going into in-depth detail about, telling us about the dog
hedge being a shepherd that could be trained to be vicious. These were details
I enjoyed learning more about, leaving me questioning if the house had moved
them or if he was hallucinating.
The movie is about Jack. The book is about Jack and
Danny. Neither is about Wendy, the classic passive and whiny female in older books.
She has a redemption arc in the end with the pantry, but overall she was a disappointment
as the female representation. She wasn’t the main character, and was barely a
side character. She was more there for her interactions with the other two.
The whole book is a not-subtle allegory for addiction. I
knew that going in and wasn’t excited for it because so many ghost stories are
allegories for some form of mental illness. But I did really enjoy this book. I’d
never really read King before, but I would be open to read another of his books
after this one. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pleasant.
Overall: the book was better than the movie.
Maddy,
ReplyDeleteWendy truly fails to be redeemable as a main character to me. Even in the end with her pantry scene, it just doesn't make up for the entire novel.
The hedges were one of my favorite characteristics of the hotel in the novel. The concept was unique and something not seen often, if at all.
So, the one thing I couldn't nail on from your post to comment further, do you think this novel and the Overlook work in ghost fiction? I know you mentioned you're tired of ghosts being used as some underline message for mental health or addiction, I agree. However, I really wanna know if you feel the Overlook works as a haunted hotel suitable for the subgenre? :)
-Alexis
I do think it works as ghost fiction. Instead of a haunted house, we get a haunted hotel, and there are ghosts within the book such as the old woman in the bathtub. So I do think it fits in the subgenre. But it depends on if you think Danny is hallucinating and everything is just mental trauma for him and Jack. Do you think it fits?
DeleteMaddie, I couldn't agree more that King's books tend to be overlong. I wonder when an author becomes a living legend, and readers idolize him/her, does this lead to a sort of corruption where the author him or herself thinks every word is pure gold? I can't even imagine being an editor and telling King to cut some pages, knowing that his fans would dearly love to read anything King might write, even his shopping lists.
ReplyDeleteWendy. Sigh. You're right that she is there only as a foil for the other two. I also got tired of her ruminations about her mother. It indeed became repetitive. I can't think of one right now, but there are certain phrases that King latches onto and then uses over and over throughout the book.
"It feels like King is paid by the word" Mwahahahahaha! Don't go near The Stand. 1,152 pages. Many years ago, I came home from school to find my English teacher grandma marking up my paperback copy of Christine with a red pen. At the time I was mortally insulted but, you know what? I'll bet she was right. And did you notice some of the POV shifts mid scene? We're in Danny's thoughts as they are driving up the mountain then boom we're in Wendy's head and then back to Danny. Ugh. I especially noticed those in early chapters while I was still arm wrestling Nicholson for voice of the Jack character in my brain.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, agreed on Wendy. She wasn't just a disappointing female character. Worse, she was a bad mother. And that's just so sad since her entire identity and self-worth is tied up in being Danny's mother. I thought her redemption started when she vaulted up into the stuck elevator and threw out the confetti as proof of the weird things going on. I applauded that moment more than the pantry. Why the [bleep] didn't she push a few pieces of furniture against that door. Maybe the ghosts still would have helped him escape, but leaving that door unattended was stupidity on the level of going down to investigate weird noises in a dark basement or hiding behind the chainsaws.