Reading The Shining at 30 vs at 14

Submitted by readersanon t3_ydcmxw in books

I decided to to a reread of The Shining this month in honour of spooky speason. The last (and first) time I read it, I was 14. Since then I have watched the movie several times, and there is a lot that is not touched upon from the book.

I feel like I understand so much more of the underlying context now than I did as a young teenager. Jack is an extremely unreliable narrator, he is constantly contradicting himself, even lying to himself. If it were not for Wendy's POV, I don't think I'd trust that he and Al Shockley didn't actually kill a kid that night when they hit a bike while driving drunk.

So much of what happens in The Shining is psychological in nature rather than physical. You really get a sense of Jack's slow decline into madness, of the hotel getting into his psyche and taking over. There is a ramping up of tension throughout the book that is very palpable near the end of the book.

I had completely forgotten that in the end, the one the hotel wanted was Danny. That Danny's shine would have enabled the hotel to become something much different than the shade it was.

It's actually pretty heartbreaking. Danny is only 5, but he has already been exposed to so much darkness because of his 'gift'. Jack fought so hard to be better for his family and it seemed to be working, until the hotel gets it's hooks into him. In the end he manages to fight through one more time to try to save his son.

I also wonder, if somewhere deep inside, Jack purposely forgot the boiler. If he knew that he was too far gone and it was the only thing he could do to possibly save his family.

I wonder what the thing in the concrete tunnel was. Was it a child who died in the tunnel somehow? I wonder what caused the hedge animals to become what they did. Is it the hotel creating them to protect itself, or is it something darker?

Just some thoughts I had after finishing the book last night. I think I need to move onto Doctor Sleep next now that The Shining is fresh in my mind.

I know a lot of people think that The Shining is not as scary as it is made out to be, but I think it definitely is. It's more the atmosphere and the underlying fear and tension that make it scary. That these regular people, with normal issues, can have something like this happen to them.

What did people think about The Shining?

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EvulOne99 t1_itreq50 wrote

I agree! The shining IS scary, but not in the usual "boo!"-scare that jumps out at you in 15 horror movies out of 10. Just as you say, the decline, the hotel slowly, sinister(...-ly?) crushing, ever tighter, around his mind, much more so than the body. That sort of scare and tension you get when reading IT; something dark is coming. Something... utterly evil. Something old. Slowly sneaking up on you. Dissolving your resistance, bit ny bit. I absolutely loved it as I read it at age 13-14, but much more as a grown man. It is even better now, because of your/my own experience. And continuing with dr Sleep is the way! I had forgotten a lot of the story from the Shining, that I actually just stopped reading Dr S about a third into the book, to reread Shining a second time. It made a LOT of difference! If I hadn't read the Shining, I still would have liked dr Sleep, but not nearly as much as the love I have for it now. A perfect end to a story that I didn't know was in need of a second phase!

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readersanon OP t1_itrhj2e wrote

Replying to EvulOne99 (#224,747)

I have read Doctor Sleep before, but it was so long after I'd first read The Shining. I'm sure that reading it now, right after reading The Shining, that it would be a whole different experience.

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Ganajin t1_itrj64y wrote

The best book King ever wrote.

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SeekingTheRoad t1_itryvj4 wrote

You should read this: https://the-end-of-summer.blogspot.com/2012/02/before-play-prequel-to-shining.html

It’s the prequel narrative to The Shining which King cut from the initial draft. It’s mostly about the backstory to the Overlook but there is one part that is about “Jacky” Torrance at Danny’s age and his horrible relationship with his abusive father. It adds more interesting and visceral look at the idea of abusive parental relationships to the book.

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thibboleth t1_itsc9x6 wrote

I should go back and reread the book. It's been ages. But I did feel like I got more of a domestic violence/substance abuse metaphor than the Kubrick film.

I watched the film for the first time recently after the pandemic started, and it seemed much more ambiguous than the book about whether this family was being haunted or going slowly insane from isolation.

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readersanon OP t1_itsefjk wrote

Replying to thibboleth (#228,373)

I think one of the main differences between the book and the movie is that it seems to attribute what is happening to the Torrance's more to them going insane aka cabin fever, as well as Jack's alcoholism and violent personality. Meanwhile the book is more focused on the supernatural aspect of it. Yes, Jack is also an alcoholic and an abuser, but he is generally actively fighting those impulses at first. As the hotel takes hold of him, he slowly gets worse, until in the end he just isn't there anymore at all. The hotel takes over.

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KingOffRoad t1_itsfzt1 wrote

The podcast You Are Good did a very good episode about the film, and drew the conclusion that the book was better for having more of a focus on Jack's alcoholism and attempts to stop abusing his son.

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EnterJohn t1_itss6w4 wrote

Friendly reminder that Stephen King didn’t like the first shining movie

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VerdantSoul t1_itst644 wrote

Also having recently finished reading The Shining, it very much is fantastic psychological horror. Absolutely loved the way Jack's lies that he had built up to protect himself slowly decayed as the hotel tightened it's grip on him.

On a personal level, his struggle to maintain his sobriety really was relatable. So many times he struggles with the choice of doing what's right for his career versus his family and resists the urge to have a strong drink or two or ten to numb the pain by recalling the trauma of the problems his alcoholism caused in the past. Having worked in stressful environments, there have been plants of days where I would have loved to have just let the boiler blow up and end it all, but had to do what was required and then try to resist the urge to hit the bottle.

I also found Wendy's character really interesting, because you really get the sense of how much damage her mother caused her by how overly protective she is of Danny. On the one hand, she was totally in the right being cautious of Jack after what he did in the past, but any time something was off, it was automatically his fault.

In the end though, the most horrifying thing about the whole thing is the trauma of it all. I mean, Danny's just a kid and went through that whole ordeal. That's pretty messed up. Then trying to think of the mental and physical trauma Wendy suffered. And not to mention Dick Halloran as well. Yeah, sure the hotel was creepy, but... oh man, that would be tough to recover from. Haven't read Doctor Sleep yet, but it is most definitely on my list.

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Complex_Dragonfly_59 t1_itt6gvk wrote

All the best horror works at both psychological and supernatural levels. Each amplifies the other, making both scarier. The Shining does this as well as any book I’ve ever read.

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Dana07620 t1_ittph3o wrote

The Shining's tough because of Danny's extreme youth. Poor kid.

In the miniseries which was written by Stephen King, King takes out one of my favorite images: Where the Overlook embodied in Jack spins the wheel of the boiler --- the hot metal sinking into the palms of his hands and setting them on fire --- and when the gauge goes down, it shuffles in a victory dance with its flaming hands waving above its head.

Instead King replaces that with a scene where Jack takes back control of himself one final time as he stands in front of the boiler and deliberately refuses to spin the wheel to release the pressure and so makes the decision to blow up the Overlook.

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Carsoninky t1_ittwx3v wrote

The Shining was the first book by SK that I ever read and I think I was around the same age. It scared the shit out of me then, now I just appreciate the craftsmanship. Highly recommend Dr. Sleep (the follow up book to the shining) for anyone who hasn't read it.

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lambofgun t1_itwqopc wrote

Replying to readersanon (#228,642)

like >!jack breaking danny's arm!<. in the movie wendy sounds kinda sounds like an idiot when she talks about it like "oh he gets mad sometimes haha", where as in the book its an incredibly nuanced and layered trauma that the family is working though.

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lambofgun t1_itwr38d wrote

Replying to SquidMind (#233,317)

one of the biggest reasons is the shallowness od the characters. jack already seems unhinged, wendy just runs around screaming and danny is just some kid. where as in the book they are all incredibly nuanced and realized

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eleyezeeaye4287 t1_itxh7n4 wrote

The Shining is one of my all time favorite books. Every few years I do a reread and I feel like I may need one soon.

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theclawl1ves t1_itxjaaw wrote

This convinced me I should read it. My wife and I like to watch an episode or two of "Friends" each night together and last night we watched one where Joey talks about how much he loves The Shining. Seeing your post today confirms I need to do it!

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readersanon OP t1_itxzeb7 wrote

Replying to lambofgun (#245,985)

Yes! A lot of the prior history is just glossed over, or just not mentioned at all. Jack's history with Al Shockley, how he got fired from his job for assaulting a student, why he decided to stop drinking, his history with his father, etc.

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