The Shining by Stephen King

This is a book which, had I not had it bought for me as an early Christmas present, I probably wouldn't have read at this point in my life. However, as a certain friend wanted me to read it and therefore bought it for me, I did. And oh how glad I am that this happened.

The Shining is the story of a hotel caretaker who, while spending the winter in a hotel, doing his job, with his wife and son, slowly has an extreme change of character. His son also happens to be a 'Shiner'. In other words, he can read minds. That's all I can say without truly ruining the book.

Having seen the film version of The Shining only once many years ago, I'd forgotten pretty much everything that happens. This didn't matter though, as the original book version is A LOT different to the film which means if you have seen the film, you haven't read the book.

I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed yet another of Stephen King's masterful works and found myself sitting until the early hours reading away. However, I did find that it was a bit slow to start with, but after around 100-150 pages, things started heating up and the book became a very worthy read.

Normally I don't find myself being moved or unnerved by books or films, but some certain scenes in The Shining left me feeling a little "on edge". The reason for this, I think, is likely to be the psychological aspects of it when Jack becomes somewhat possessed and mindfucked (not an actual description in the book, but I find it to be suitably descriptive).

There were also some parts which I found to be incredibly similar to the film Ghost Ship, most notably the ballroom/disco scenes in which the protagonist discovers a large party going on when it should be empty.

I've recently had a number of discussions about this book and its contents and we've always come to the conclusion that Jack Torrance is very likely modelled after Stephen King - he writes, is a recovered alcoholic and talks of places like Maine and New England.

Unfortunately, the version I had was badly edited in parts causing some confusion to what was happening. I'd therefore not recommend you buy the Hodder version of this book and if possible, get an older one which is likely to be a bit better edited. Other than that, I have no complaints about this piece of literary genius.

I'm going to give this a rating of 4/5.