RATING: ššššš
Published: July 01, 1980
Publisher: New English Library (Hodder & Stoughton)
Format: e-Book
Pages: 659 pages
“This inhuman place makes human monsters.”
SYNOPSIS:
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.
THOUGHTS:
Being an avid fan of horror, mystery & thriller genre, Stephen King is a must to read. So I finally decided to pick this book up.
To be honest, I don’t like this book. It is not bad. The twist and mystery is truely compelling. I was listening to the audiobook and the sound effect gives you a movie feels to it. But given that the book is more than 500 pages, I feel like not much happened even though things happened here and there. It may be because my expectation for a Stephen King book is quite high that’s why I am disappointed.
Plot wise, it is good. We get to know the background of how Jack ended up with his job at the hotel and all his other back stories. We get to meet the other people who have relevance in the story as a whole. But it is such a slow burn for me. There are too many scenes and shifts in the story that my momentum and interest would shift as well and it would took sometime for me to be into the story again. I did not know if I read it in the wrong time or this book was just not for me. I have more questions than answer as the story ended. I wish the “shining” thing is elaborated more. I was really intrigued with the whole shining thing.
What I like the most about this book, is the hotel. All the aspects of the hotel intrigues me – the history and the mystery of it all. I like seeing the old hotel and knowing the glamour that it holds back in the day. I think this is one of the things that really holds my interest in this book.
I kinda enjoy this book but I think it is not for me. I am not a reader with short attention span but I just switch on and off while reading this. And even though this is my first Stephen King book and it is not as I expected it to be, I would like to try other books by him.
That’s all for this review. If you have a recommendation of your favorite Stephen King book that I should read, do comment it down below.
Till next time!
Mariaā¤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 
Thank you so much for this. It really means a lot to me.š
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I’m struggling with the idea of reading this book so much. I love Stephen King’s books and this is apparently such an iconic one, but I hated the movie adaptation (though I know it is quite different) and I’ve seen plenty of reviews saying the same as you did and it doesn’t make me motivated to read it. (I should say that my original motivation to read it was the recent movie Doctor Sleep which I loved and want to read the novel version, but I feel bad reading that without reading it without reading the first book).
Also, I would definitely recommend Pet Sematary and The Outsider by SK for horror, eerie and suspense. And Sleeping Beauties just bc it’s my favorite King book.
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I also attempted to watch the movie and it’s really bad.š« I have to stop in just a couple of minutes into the movie. Hopefully Doctor Sleep is not that bad because I want to read it as well.
Thank you so much for the recommendation! Will definitely pick up one of those books.š
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