Book Review

The book I read is called "The Shining" and it is a horror novel by author Stephen
King. It was published in 1977 and it's succes established King as one of horror's greats. The
story takes place at the "Overlook Hotel", which was inspired by King's staying at The Stanley
Hotel in 1974. The novel was also adapted into a 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, which
quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of all time, even though King
has openly stated time and time again how much he dislikes it, stating that the movie has no
heart or centre whatsoever.

Stephen Edwing King, born on the date of September 21, 1947 is one of the most well
known american authors and is by many described as "The King of Horror". His books have
sold more than 350 million copies, and a lot of them have been adapted into movies. King was
born in Portland, Maine. When King was two, his father left his familly, leaving his mother to
raise him and his older brother by herself. They moved from house to house and often depended
on relatives for financial support. When King was 11 years old, his familly moved to Durham,
where his mother had to care for her parents until their deaths. Apparently, when he was a child,
King witnessed on of his best friends getting hit by a train and subsequently passing away due to
the incident, King states that he has no memory of the event and that his familly told him that
after he went to play with the boy he returned home speechless and in a state of shock. King
attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School in 1966. He
began writting for fun while in school and soon after that he started contributing articles to the
local paper.

"The Shining" mainly focuses on the Torrance familly, which consists of : Jack
Torrance, his wife Wendy Torrance and their five year old son, Danny Torrance or as they
call him "Doc". Jack is a struggling writer and an ex-alcoholic. The book starts with Jack
accepting a position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, which was given to him
as an act of charity from his friend Al Shockley. Jack and Al were drinking buddies but since
Jack has became sober, due to the fact that in a fit of rage he broke Danny's arm, they haven't
been seeing each other so much. Danny is a very serious and disturbed boy, that,unbeknownst to
his parents also posseses a psychic abillity reffered to as "The Shine" by the hotel's cook, Dick
Halloran. Once the Torrances arrive at the Overlook everything starts to go wrong and suddenly
the hotel has a much errier felling to it, mainly due to it's terrible past, filled with : murders,
suicide, mafia activity and all forms of degeneracy. Danny starts seeing ghosts and frightening
visions and he does not tell either of his parents about them. Danny realises that the hotel can use
his power to grow stronger and that if it kills him he will be imprisoned there forever. Soon the
visions become real and disturbing hallucinogetic events start happening. The Hotel has a
difficult time possesing Danny so it chooses to posses Jack and it eventually takes control of
him. The hotel begins to posses him the same way it possesed the former caretaker, Delbert
Grady, who murdered his familly in a fit of rage. Soon he has a terrible urge to kill Danny and
Wendy, as they try to hide from him. Danny manages to contact Halloran, by using The Shine
and he is able to save Wendy and Danny from Jack. Jack almost manages to end the lives of
Halloran and Wendy but they escape from him forever as the hotel explodes with Jack still
inside. In the end everything is alright and : Danny, Wendy and Halloran are back in Maine at a
new resort, where Halloran works at.

I really enjoyed this book because the writting was amazing, with the book being extremely
intense and always keeping you at the edge of your seat, almost demanding you to turn the page
and continue reading it.