The Shining: Horror Novel Book Review Blog

My introduction to The Shining came by way of watching Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 film of the same name. Being a young individual, I was unaware of Stephen King’s involvement with the film. It wasn’t until I was a little older in my young teens that I started to pay more attention to the film’s credits, and there he was, Mr. Stephen King, the master of horror. My eyes, transfixed on the little yellow Volkswagen Beetle wavering its way atop the cliff, contrived my vision to neglect them to see the name as it scrolled up and out of the frame.

Having viewed the film on numerous occasions, it never occurred to me that I should pick up the novel and give it a read because I didn’t think that there would be much in the way concerning significant differences. I was wrong – in a way.

I am not going to dive deep and compare both the film and the novel’s differences, but I will say that there are things that differ from one another. I am a big fan of Kubrick’s work, and to later find out that King had many ill feelings towards Kubrik’s interpretation was a real letdown. Again, I am a fan of the cult horror classic and thought that the two must have collaborated on making the film. I couldn’t have been more wrong in my assessment. But the disputes the two endured are neither here nor there as I am only going to focus my review on the source material, King’s original novel. Afterward, I will put in my opinion and thoughts on both bodies of work. Here is a work by King that has garnered much praise over the decades, and I will do my due diligence and review it fairly and uncompromised.

I would say that at this point, the plot of The Shining is widely known. A man, Jack Torrance, takes his family to an abandoned hotel to serve as its caretaker during the offseason when he, his wife, and son, Danny, gifted with “the shining,” begin to experience strange and supernatural experiences. To add to the threat, Jack starts to become unhinged, and his family questions their level of safety around the man they love and his sanity. Jack’s descent into madness is gradual as the hotel bides its time in picking when to attack and pick at Jack’s strength, all the while tormenting Danny as it uses his gift against him. 

There are moments in the novel that are downright terrifying! King does not have to do much to inhibit a sense of confinement and isolation as he painstakingly reminds you that no one is coming to the rescue, not anytime soon, at least. What increases the threat is the pending storm, the forces within the hotel, and the mental state of Jack. 

I have not read a lot of King’s novels, but I am familiar with this body of work. I have read: IT, Joyland, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, On Writing, and a slew of his short stories. With the limited amount read, I have to say that The Shining, thus far, is my favorite King novel with Joyland not too far behind.

The Shining kept me enthralled and immersed in the plight of the Torrance family nearly marooned, essentially in the middle of nowhere with something that is out to get them and stake them into the hotel’s horrid history. King paints a picture of a flawed family trying to make ends meet and doing what it takes to survive. It is a take on the move into a new home that is haunted plot. Only here, Jack is there to do a job and is living there out of necessity. There is raw emotion in the novel, and you feel for them as the story progresses. Gone is the good vs. evil trope as the context is more profound and complicated than just that simplification.

The Shining Novel and Movie

While eventually set out to make the version of the film that he wanted in the form of an ABC television movie, the novel and Kubrick’s film still stand out, leaving the TV movie to sit by the wayside. The ABC version was a watered-down TV version with cheesy 90s low-budget special effects. I won’t say that it was horrible, but it was not that good. Again, being that King helmed this project, there were more consistencies between his novel and the TV movie. Here, I was able to see Jack Torrance as his intended portrayal – a loving father gone awry. Kubrick’s version of Torrance was that he was unhinged from the get as portrayed by Jack Nicholson, whose performance was magnificent. In the film, the antagonist was clear, with no blurred lines. I can’t say the same for the novel because there were moments when I was reading where I thought that there be a different outcome from what I knew would be the end result. This is where the novel won me over in that I was able to sympathize with Jack Torrance. I was able to see him for who he was – I was able to see through the blurred line.

Both The Shining film and novel are excellent in their own right. The source material, King’s book, is a fantastic read that exemplifies his masterful skill in the craft of writing. The same can be said about the late Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation. Do I like one over the other? No, I do not. I enjoyed both mediums as they each provided something significant to the same body of work making them both unique and special.