The Shining by Stephen King
1977/660 pgs

One of classic Stanley Kubrick movies. Naturally, it was loosely adopted from the novel. After reading the book, I completely understand why the author hatted this adaption of his novel. Although, this is before “The Running Man” and other movies that could come out from his novels that followed the story or in the case of “The Running Man” took the name of the characters and the location and created another story around it.

The novel is a classic from the master of horror and this one doesn’t disappoint. It takes place in the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado’s during the winter. Slowly, the Hotel starts to take control of the father and wants the son for itself. The son, “Doc” calls for help from the Chef, Mr Hallormann and there is a great fight between the father, mother, son, and finally the hotel. That is the plot in the movie and the book.

However, there are many differences between the book and the movie. For example, Jack has more responsibility with the caretake of the hotel then what was portrayed in the movie. Also, the fall into madness is much better in the book then the movie. The infamous room is 217, not 237 like in the movie. There are no two girls that stand in the hall and say “Play with us Danny”. Although, that would have added another dimension the book.

The movie is a classic by itself and much of the movie is more Stanley Kubrick taking the bits from the novel and marketing the movie his own. I still love the movie and I throughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend the book for anyone that has seen the movie and think they are the same. They are in essence the same. However, much is in the book that was never in the movie. Plus the ending is completely different in the book.

Enjoy them both.

Happy Reading,

Lopaka