I think almost everyone knows about this story, or at least you think you do. I avoided reading this book for many years because I had already seen the movie several times, liked it, but then thought that the book wouldn't be very entertaining if I already know everything that is going to happen.
Well, you are in for the same shock that I experienced when reading it if you think that because the book actually has very little in common with the movie other than the main characters. This surprised me and apparently it upset Steven King who initially said that he hated the movie.
I would have bypassed this book again but I was at my parents' house in their library and they didn't have just everything under the sun to read. They did have quite a few King novels but I had already read most of them. I ended up reading this just for lack of any other better option and was kind of on a Stephen King kick at the moment because I had just read, and seriously enjoyed Different Seasons and it kind of rekindled my love for Stephen King's writing style.
While King can get a bit wordy in his later works that I feel as though he was trying to drag them out as long as he possibly could such as in The Stand or It, his earlier works were more condensed and to the point. Maybe this was because he was a new author during Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The Shining and didn't think he could just slap down any ol' slop and people would buy the crap out of it.
The Shining was King's 3rd novel and it was initially published in 1977. Wow, time certainly does fly doesn't it.
[src](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTg0MzkzODUwNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODM1MjEwNDI@._V1_.jpg)I'm sure you can already say in your head what line was shouted by Jack Nicholson in this iconic scene where he breaks through the bathroom door. Well guess what? Those words "Here's Johnny!" never appears in the book. In fact, Jack/John never goes after his wife Wendy with an axe at any point. There are a lot of other things that are front and center in the movie that never happen in the book.
There are also a lot of things that happen in the book that are not in the movie at all. I personally am glad they are not too because the technology that existed at the time would have made these aspects of the book look outrageously stupid on screen. Without giving up too much information the gardens are haunted and there are various artistic bushes or plants that have been trimmed to look like animals that come to life and attack characters in the book. Not only do no plants come to life in the film, but as far as I know we aren't even shown anything like that.
[src](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5Q5GenrhwSVv6ZeyokJJnm.jpg.webp)One thing that almost certainly irritated Stephen King to no end is that Shelley Duvall, the actress who plays Wendy, is nothing like her character in the book.
While Shelly isn't exactly ugly, Wendy in the book is described as being absolutely stunning and this creates some tension with John/Jack about how often people are staring at her and flirting with her. Jack feels a sense of inadequacy as far as she is concerned because she is so much better looking than he is. He is a normal looking dude and his wife is of model-level quality looks. Also, Wendy in the book readily stands up to John/Jack where as Wendy in the film is whiny, very prone to crying, submissive, and kind of useless physically. This is in stark contrast to the Wendy in the book who is very capable and often has control of Jack mentally. It was really surprising to me. Oh, Wendy in the book is also extremely blonde and this begs the question as to why Sherry Duvall was ever considered in the first place. In my personal opinion Shelley is the weakest actor in the film and is out of her element in most of it.
I don't want to spoil too much about the book but suffice to say there are a lot of differences that if you are familiar with the movie but not the book, you are going to see more and more of as time goes on. There are going to be times where you think you remember something happening in the film, but then you aren't so sure. There are also several key moments of the film that you are going to be waiting to see how it is explained in the book only to discover it never happens because so much of the film's screenplay was simply made up by Kubrick and Dianne Johnson, who helped with the screenplay.
[src](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XPgmccCsyGSgmpDamF6tMK-1200-80.jpg.webp)This is one last thing that isn't in the book at all and honestly, it didn't make much sense for it to be in the film. I recall seeing this scene of blood erupting from the elevators and thinking "what the hell does that have to do with anything?" It had zero impact on the story in the film too. There are some rather important aspects of the book that involve terrifying scenes that take place in and around elevators though and maybe Kubrick felt as though he had to do something with them.
This book, even if you have already seen the movie, is extremely good and is a real page-turner and King's books tend to be. I think the book may actually be better if you have already seen the film because a lot of what you think you know about the story's progression is wrong and therefore you get caught by surprise often.
I enjoyed the hell out of this one and managed to read it in a mere 3 days, which is very rare for me when we are talking about 450 pages. It also made my sleeping a bit uneasy and that is saying something when you consider I am not a child and the only thing I saw was the written word.
I normally would have a picture of Nadi sitting with the book or Kindle in question but she wasn't there. So instead I will feature a dog that was sitting near me for a lot of the time that I was reading this one.
her name is Luna and she is an absolute darling. Nadi would hate her.
I think that most of Stephen King's book are pretty fantastic especially his earlier work when he was fresh and had a ton of unique and wonderful ideas. He has a way of writing that few authors possess in that he captures your attention and keeps it. The chapters are the perfect length and he doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time explaining minor details that don't mean anything at all. Of course this later changed in his work that he did later in life and I reserve most of my universal praise for King for the stuff he did in the first 10 years of his public career. The later stuff, well it seems as though he felt obligated to write a book every year without much concern as to whether or not it was any good.
The Shining is very very good, and you can almost certainly find a copy of it no matter where you are in the world. Here is the GoodReads if you are into that sort of thing.
