Stephen King's The Shining(condensed)

A month ago I posted that I was going to review Stephen King's The Shining and the movies based off of it.  Well I started with the book review and it just got so long and so epic and I didn't want to leave anything out and I was starting to think about not posting it and just deleting it because I figured no one would be willing to read it all(the final word count is 3,574).  When I started to realize I was getting too carried away I stopped the review and started writing a shorter one, then I just gave up on both reviews which is why it took so long to post that review.  So if you want to read the long version I appreciate it but this one is for everyone else.


If you're looking for chills and atmosphere you won't find it here.  This is one of the most boring horror novels I've ever read and certainly one of Stephen King's more boring books.  This is King's answer to the great american novel.  In other words, a book with richly detailed characters but little in the way of plot.  I feel like anybody who's seen the movie will be sorely disappointed in the book and this is one of the few times I can say the movie was better than the book.  The characters are interesting as is the family dynamic(something that is usually absent in the horror genre) but that isn't enough to hold this book together.  Most times it's just barely enough to hold your attention.

The Shining is a haunted house story that surprisingly has very few ghosts.  I was hoping for a lot more scares especially from a Stephen King book but sadly most of The Shining is just really dull.  The pacing is way off with spooky things happening few and far between.  There's really not much else to say about it.  King establishes his characters, then reestablishes them, the re reestablishes them.  It really is the perfect argument for people who hate Stephen King.

The only time I can recommend a book(or anything else for that matter) is if I find it provocative, interesting, thought provoking, unique, gripping, or entertaining, and for those reasons I cannot recommend this book.