The Shining by Stephen King
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10
A couple days ago, I was in the middle of the book The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr, reading about the research he’s done into how and why good stories are so good. He’s done a ton of research, and I found his arguments logical and his examples persuasive, but GOD it was boring to read. He should’ve used more of his tips in his own writing. I swung like a pendulum away from the non-fictiony books I’ve been reading recently towards fiction — even fantasy, and I settled on The Shining. I’ve always wanted to get more “cultured”, aka know more 70s and 80s cultural phenomena. I wanted to read a book I couldn’t put down, to keep me occupied for as long as possible, but not one of those books where after you finish, you sort of have an inkling of regret that you put so much time into (sorry) literary trash. The Shining is probably Stephen King’s most recognized stories because it was immortalized into one of the “greatest and most influential horror films ever made” (according to Wikipedia), so it was a safe pick.
The first three sentences sucked me in. After reading the first 30% of The Science of Storytelling and all of On Writing, I immediately recognized the factors contributing the novel’s irresistible beginning. It conveyed change and it introduced mystery. It also introduced the main character (Jack Torrance), but you couldn’t tell if he was the bad main character or the good main character. Or if he was the main character at all. I read the entire novel in three sittings over maybe five hours. After reading — even as I was reading — I marveled at how Stephen King slowly fed the backstory of the Torrances to the reader at the perfect rate, like a well designed slow release drug. I’ll probably end up reading it again to experience it once more, and maybe pay special attention to how he develops his characters at just the right pace. In the last couple chapters, I found myself reading faster and faster to the point where I was only reading maybe half the words on the actual page, so I had to force myself to reread. My eyes jumped down to the end of the page because they knew something was going to happen but they didn’t want to know the buildup. They were always right, of course, but I figured that the buildup is what makes good thrillers thrilling.
I’ve never seen the movie before. I’ve seen those famous shots of course: Jack peering through the hole in the wall created by his axe into a bathroom where Wendy cowered in the bathtub; the Grady twins standing in the hallway in front of a door; the blood rushing from the elevator. While I read, I kept a close eye out for these scenes, but they didn’t really appear. At least not the way I had in mind. The movie, it turns out, took quite a few liberties, and changed the story and characters to a point where Stephen King wholly disapproved. That makes sense though — in order to make a book scary, the author really needs to delve into the character, because it’s the character that scares people, not the screechy sounds and jump scares. It’s the crazy thought that “this monster doesn’t think too differently than I” that chills the reader’s blood. And Stephen King does just that. A simple desire to advance in life, to prove the haters wrong and create a career could be the start of a murderous rampage. Or a child’s desire to keep his parents together would totally stifle his premonitions that what brings his parents apart will actually destroy the family.
Nevertheless, I’m really excited to watch this movie. Gonna pop some popcorn and rent the movie for $3.99 from Youtube and settle in and watch one of the best movies in history.
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