The Shining (1977) By Stephen King

"Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters."

Having been a huge lover of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film since I first watched it many years ago, I was more then keen to finally read the 1977 novel it had been based on. My only experience of King's writing prior to this, was that of his nonfiction memoir, that I read earlier this year. I enjoyed his writing style and sentence structure, but that does not necessarily translate to fiction works.

"Are you sure self-pity is a luxury you can afford, Jack?"

Thankfully, it did, and the easy reading experience I'd had before was felt again on my journey through this iconic piece of 20th Century horror. The first thing I noticed and must praise was the individuality of the characters, in the sense that they felt like different people - not just monotonous voices talking to each other but feeling identical. It sounds obvious, but so many authors seem to struggle with lending each character a unique voice.

"I think all mothers shine a little, you know, at least until their kids grow up enough to watch out for themselves."

The length of the novel had intimidated me a little, I am undeniably a slow reader, but I found myself flying, with relative ease and pace, through the chapters. This can be largely attributed to King's reader-friendly writing style, which is most often comprised of simple sentences with basic but concisely chosen language.

"You know, schizoid behavior is a pretty common thing in children. It’s accepted, because all we adults have this unspoken agreement that children are lunatics."

This should also be attributed to the quality of story, the pacing of said-story, and the extremely well-formed suspense, which lures the reader in page after page, leading them further into the sinister confines of the Overlook Hotel.

"Human Nature Baby, grab it and growl."

As a last reference to the film, as I'm aware that they are different mediums and one is an adaptation of the other, I was very interested by the similarities and differences between the events of each one. I must say, I think I prefer the happenings of the book over the film, which is astonishing to me, baring in mind my love for said-film.

"The world's a hard place, Danny. It don't care. It don't hate you and me, but it don't love us, either. Terrible things happen in the world, and they're things no one can explain. Good people die in bad, painful ways and leave the folks that love them all alone. Sometimes it seems like it's only the bad people who stay healthy and prosper. The world don't love you, but your momma does and so do I."

I adore this book. There was so much meat on the bone. So much personality; of King, his characters, and the Overlook. This is arguably Stephen King's best and most famous novel for a reason. The life force of the book, fueled and informed by King's own life, is strong and everlasting. It's the kind of story I can imagine re-reading time and again and still feeling.

"Flakes of snow swirled and danced across the porch. The Overlook faced it as it had for nearly three-quarters of a century, its darkened windows now bearded with snow, indifferent to the fact it was now cut off from the world… Inside its shell the three of them went about their early evening routine, like microbes trapped in the intestine of a monster."