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Review - The Shining
Oct. 14th, 2008 02:03 amContinuing in my adventures in the worlds of Stephen King! This time: The Shining. I liked this a lot, overall. Bits of the actual style annoyed me, but the story sucked me right in. The central concept of "the shine" itself interests me, because, well, I'm not sure it's all that fictional. Extra-sensory perception and all that. The idea of the sentient house is a really creepy one, mainly because it touches on the fears you have as a kid -- the fire extinguisher really does look like a snake coiled to strike, something's going to get you while your back is turned.
It's also interesting because it's one of your POV characters who actually gets absorbed by the bad and becomes it. Jack Torrance is a subtle character, in a way, because the bad in him goes hand in hand with the good: he loves his son, and that gets twisted, he loved his father, and that twists. Of course, there's nothing much subtle about Jack's temper, and you know that he's going to be the one to break, but there's a subtlety about your feelings for him. Or so I found, anyway: even at the last, I felt sorry for him, even though he wasn't strong enough to fight it off.
In this book I'd say there's really only three or four main characters. The others that pop up are pretty superfluous -- and I liked that even so, they had bits and pieces of characterisation: Al, deciding to get sober; Ullman, loving the hotel; the characters Dick meets who have a bit of the shine... The main characters aren't actually that in depth, if I really think about it. They're easily summarised. I guess that's not a bad thing when you're looking to be frightened, when your childhood fears are being invoked. The best character is, of course, the character of Danny, psychic six year old, who loves his mum and dad and tries so hard to be brave.
It's also interesting because it's one of your POV characters who actually gets absorbed by the bad and becomes it. Jack Torrance is a subtle character, in a way, because the bad in him goes hand in hand with the good: he loves his son, and that gets twisted, he loved his father, and that twists. Of course, there's nothing much subtle about Jack's temper, and you know that he's going to be the one to break, but there's a subtlety about your feelings for him. Or so I found, anyway: even at the last, I felt sorry for him, even though he wasn't strong enough to fight it off.
In this book I'd say there's really only three or four main characters. The others that pop up are pretty superfluous -- and I liked that even so, they had bits and pieces of characterisation: Al, deciding to get sober; Ullman, loving the hotel; the characters Dick meets who have a bit of the shine... The main characters aren't actually that in depth, if I really think about it. They're easily summarised. I guess that's not a bad thing when you're looking to be frightened, when your childhood fears are being invoked. The best character is, of course, the character of Danny, psychic six year old, who loves his mum and dad and tries so hard to be brave.
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