This book finally made me understand the draw of Steven King. I had previously read three other novels and been unimpressed, but in The Shining, King's mastery of writing is easily experienced. I was hooked from page one and hesitated every time I was forced to put it down. An absolute must read! ( )

This book scared the crap out of me!! I am a mom, so most of my reading is done right before I go to bed....needless to say, while reading this book, I had many nightmare-filled nights!! The only negative I have to say about this book, is that it had way too much curse words for me, and I don't feel they were really necessary to the plot of the book. Other than that, amazing read!! ( )

Scared the living crap out of me! A wonderful read. One of King's best! ( )

Not a bad book, but not as good as Carrie, in my opinion. The first four parts of the book were great, but the last part got a little too silly for my tastes. It seemed to me that the story was going in the direction of a man who was simply going insane and that would have been a good way to conclude it without bringing in supernatural aspects of the hotel. It would have been interesting to see how everything was explained through Jack's insanity. But that's not how it was done. The story was well told, regardless, and King's attention to detail in his writing gets better with each book I read. ( )

I read "The Shining" about thirty years ago, it was only King's third book, but I had read several later works before this one. It was also the last Stephen King book that I read; it was so terrifying that it occurred to me it could be dangerous to my health. King has terrified more people than Osama Ban Lauden or El Queda ever dreamed of. This book should carry a warning label on its cover concerning its health risks; the TSA, DEA and OSHA should evaluate it for its addictive and toxic elements and place anyone transporting it under suspicion as a threat to our culture.

Do I hyperbolize? Only slightly. My reading of this in a darkened bus on a late night trip to O'Hare airport was frequently interupted by my having to turn around to see who or what may be behind me. As for addiction, a cable installer noticed a King novel on a table in my home, we started talking about King and spent the better part of a hour discussing his various works.

I recently read "Silence of the Lambs", the only horror work I've read since. I don't do horror any more. If "Silence" is horror, then "The Shining" is pure terror; five stars woefully understates the power of this work. ( )

This is one of the few books to have actually frightened me when I read it, not a sudden shocking horror that seems common in current books, but a slow creeping horror that gets under your skin and gets to you when you least expect it. To this day the imagery and ideas have a haunting effect when I think of them and the simplest things took on a horrifying aura.

I'll never look at topiary or fire hoses the same way again.

When someone is looking to be scared, even those jaded by modern horror movies, this and Ghost Story are the books I recommend the most. ( )

A classic haunted house story that is also about the process of going insane. Vintage Stephen King. ( )

First class horror. The tension is intense and drawn out beautifully. I have only ever read The Stand, which wasn't particularly frightening, but this was hugely heart-pounding. I will be reading more... ( )

After having seen the movie (probably before reading the book, at a very young age) - it's impossible not to be haunted forever by the image of the two little girls: "Come and play with us, Danny. Forever and ever." But the actual book isn't as scary. Not too say it's not good. I would consider it one of the classics of horror literature. The Shining's Overlook Hotel and Shirley Jackson's Hill House - two places you don't want to spend your summer vacation.

As a side note, the miniseries - the one with Brian from Wings as Jack - was filmed just up a Colorado canyon from my uncle's house, at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. If you watch the opening credits, you can see the house where I spent my junior high years. ( )

My first Stephen King novel. I was surprised at the depth of the characters and the amount of story that went into defining their past and showing how that has molded the people they were. Book is quite different than the movie so I was constantly surprised and didn't always know what the next chapter would bring. I would definitely grab another of King's books now that I was impressed with this one. ( )

A masterpeice. King's novel is one that will stay with you for years after you read it, a breathtaking ghost story and a look into alcoholism and struggle for authority. ( )

Vivid, and terrifying. ( )

Not as scary or as creepy as i hoped. One of the few stories i find better as a movie then a book.

I have always had fascination with this particular story. As a child I wondered what it would be like to live in my school building. It was an old massive two story structure that was built in the late 1800's and it had a personality that seemed to take on a life of it's own at night. It was sort of a creepy place at night, not at all what it was like during the daytime. I think that is what drew me to The Shinning. While I found the move to be much more true to my vision, I still enjoyed the book. ( )

A recovering alcoholic father with a violent temper is driven by the evilness of a hotel to try to kill his wife and son. The son has "the shining", an ability to talk to spirits.

I can not read this book. Only made it half way through Disc 1 (of 10). Maybe it should therefore get 5 stars -- because it is so well written it upsets me too much for me to read it... ( )

The Shining starts well—it is ominous, with believable characters dealing with ordinary horrors. As the novel progresses, increasingly supernatural elements increase the reader’s awareness of the fear underlying the experience of this family dealing with alcoholism. About halfway through, the story changes focus, and falls back into a well-written but less interesting thriller, heavy with building fears and partial resolutions. I found myself fighting to get through to the end without putting it aside.
Coincidentally, I was trapped in my house briefly by some unusually cold and icy conditions; so I finished it. Luckily we have no topiary animals…
The ending of the novel is a nice balance of catastrophe and cautious hope, and mostly worth the trudge.

I enjoyed the book, although it wasn't as scary as I had expected (not like It which had me afraid of drains for who knows how long, haha). The one thing that I think made it more difficult for me was that when Danny was thinking it tended to feel like an adult, casually using words that 6 year olds don't know or understand. But overall the story sucked me in and definately had me jumping at the bumps in the night. :) ( )

Stephen King's The Shining is my second book for the 1% Well-Read Reading Challenge. Although I'm sure that the plot is familiar to most of you, I'll still try to give you a short synopsis. Jack Torrance signs on to be the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, and takes his wife Wendy and 5-year-old son Danny along for the ride. The Torrance's are doomed to months of complete isolation while snowed in at the creepy old hotel.

Recovering alcoholic Jack hopes that the time alone with his family might help him to exorcise some of his personal demons, and finish writing the play he has been working on. Wendy is uncomfortable with remoteness of the Overlook and worries about medical emergencies, among other things, but Danny is the only one who "knows" that going up to the Overlook is a bad idea. Danny has "the shine," a powerful psychic ability which allows him to inexplicably see and know things he cannot possibly know. A potent paranormal entity in it's own right, The Overlook Hotel is envious of Danny's ability, and wishes to absorb it.

The Shining is a harrowing tale of survival against a dynamic supernatural force, and King takes the story right off the page, giving it a distinct life of it's own. It is exceedingly well crafted, with original, believable characters, that you cannot help but become involved with.

Stephen King is everything you've heard: "The Master of Horror Fiction," "Fascinating," "Frightening," "Hypnotic," "Demonic," "Tremendous," "Spellbinding," and more! His imagination and understanding of the human condition is without parallel.

If you've only seen the movie, you are seriously missing out. Stanley Kubrick is a genius in his own right, but this book exceeds the big screen adaptation in so many ways. The Shining is one of the most frightening works of fiction I've ever read - I was hearing and seeing things in every dark corner of my house for a week! Even though it was scaring the living daylights out of me, I couldn't put it down for long. It was shocking, disturbing, complex and thrilling.

Easily one of the best "haunted house" stories I've ever read, The Shining had me absolutely riveted from page one. The Shining is one of King's best known novels, and gives a great introduction into the mind of one of the world's greatest masters of fright. ( )

Love the book--extremely creepy.

Jack Torrance wordt aangenomen als conciërge in een groot hotel gedurende de wintermaanden, als het hotel gesloten is. Het hotel ligt afgelegen in de bergen en is doorgaans in de winter door extreme sneeuwval volledig afgesloten van de buitenwereld. Jack is erg blij met de baan en ziet het als dé gelegenheid om het stuk af te maken dat hij aan het schrijven is. Met zijn vrouw Wendy en vijfjarige zoontje Danny neemt hij zijn intrek in het hotel. Paranormaal begaafde Danny ziet onheilspellende beelden van het hotel in zijn hoofd en ziet het hele plan vanaf het begin niet zitten. Tegen de tijd dat ook Jack en Wendy door krijgen dat er vreemde dingen gebeuren in het hotel, lijkt er geen weg terug te zijn.

Op bepaalde momenten is het boek werkelijk adembenemend spannend en eng. Het is alleen een beetje jammer dat de opbouw van het verhaal nogal traag is en het einde weer wat overhaast. Als dit King’s beste boek is, wat velen beweren, dan weet ik niet of ik een échte Kingfan ga worden. Heb zeker genoten van dit soms zo bloedstollende verhaal, maar het is zeker niet het beste wat ik ooit heb gelezen. Maar ik vond het wel goed genoeg om het nogmaals te willen proberen. Misschien vind ik andere boeken van King juist weer beter. ( )

I haven’t finished reading this book because to me it wasn’t that great, but King Likes to wait till the good stuff happens. I don’t like it to much because it was to bring and nothing exciting was really happening, so instead I watched the movie first and then I will finish the book. So first start reading the book and if you don’t like then watch the movie so that you can get motivated to read it and can’t wait till what happens.
Jack got a job as a hotel watcher. He will be watching over a big hotel for the winter while it is closed. Well the hotel is hounted by these two girls and their family. Jackes little boy, Danny was under the girls control and had gotten really sick before Jack, and wendy moved to the hotel. Then later on jack becomes crazy and starts to try to kill his wife, wendy and Danny. ( )

Redrum, redrum. I actually didn't like this one very much ( )

Without a doubt, The Shining is Stephen King’s best novel (okay, maybe it's in a dead heat with It), though it isn’t my personal favorite. The themes and characterizations are all expertly handled and mesh well together with one of the best hooks any horror novel has ever had.

The elegant Overlook hotel closes down every winter due to the extremely harsh weather. For six months out of the year it is cut off from the outside world, usually occupied by a single caretaker. Of course, every hotel has its share of ghosts…

This year the caretaker has a family with him. Jack Torrence, a troubled alcoholic with a sometimes violent temper; his wife Wendy and their son Danny, who is gifted with a sixth sense, or a ‘shine’.

Since his cast is so small (especially compared to the whole town portrayed in his previous novel: ’Salem’s Lot), King is able to spend ample amounts of time building his characters into fully realized and ‘real’ people. You empathize with Jack. He is a deeply troubled guy, with a dark background trying to do his best while under attack from an outside malevolent force.

Stephen King proves he’s more than a hack thriller writer with Danny, a believable (to me) five year old character. The sections written from Danny’s point of view were never saccharine or cloying. Danny has trouble with concepts that we as the reader understand and that was handled very well.

All this talk of quality characterization shouldn’t lead you to think that The Shining isn’t scary. The Overlook is a masterpiece of a haunted house. Complete with a suitably nasty back-story and tons of atmosphere once the final (living) guests have checked out and Danny’s ‘shine’ was a brilliant mechanic to make the sometimes… dry... scares of normal haunted house stories much more visceral.

One flaw I had with the novel was that the ending felt a bit rushed. Still, it's a pretty minor criticism. It may just come down to personal preference. Overall, The Shining is a modern day masterpiece of a horror novel. ( )

I think I might credit this as one of the books that got me into reading in the first place. So, yay for that I guess? Also the movie is pretty lame by comparison, I gotta say. ( )

The Overlook hotel has a long and twisted past, much of which we learn about bit by bit. Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrence take up the caretaker post for the winter after a hard couple of years. Jack recently lost a promising teaching job for losing his temper and, as a recovering alcoholic, he is still battling for inner peace and is attempting to kill the demons that have been inside of him since a small child.

Danny is an interesting child with the ability to sometimes see things that others cannot. Whether it's when Daddy will get home, where Daddy's trunk is when no one else can find it, or the terrible things that what will happen at their stay at The Overlook.

What happens in this hotel was horrifying to me - so if you're not a fan of scary books to start with, you may not want to pick this one up. The upside is that this ( )