The Shining

Rating: 5/5 hedge animals

The Shining is one of those rare horror novels that is equal parts horror and heart. It tells the story of the Torrance family (Jack, Wendy, and their son, Danny) who are the winter caretakers of the Overlook Hotel. Some hard times have resulted in them having to spend a brutal Colorado winter pent up in this historic hotel. Jack, a recovering alcoholic, lost his teaching position because he lost his temper. This caretaker job pays well and seems like it’ll give Jack time to focus on his writing.

Five-year-old Danny has a special gift that the hotel’s cook calls “the shining,” which gives Danny the ability to just know things. He can pick up on where misplaced items are, and he often knows what people are thinking.

The Overlook Hotel has a scandalous history. Many murders took place there, but the owners always kept those stories out of the headlines. As the Torrance family spends more and more time in the hotel, Danny begins to notice some disturbing things about it. He can sometimes see the (literal) bloody history of the hotel, but when he blinks, it (sometimes) disappears.

As their time in the hotel grows, Jack’s behavior becomes increasingly disturbing. He has random thoughts about murdering his family, and he feels that he needs to protect the hotel from anyone who may do it harm. It seems as though the hotel is possessing him.

Stephen King is a master storyteller. (I’m explicitly stating that here in case anyone reading this needed a random stranger’s opinion on King. Now you know.) The pacing of The Shining is perfect, and King knows how to build suspense. A lot of the imagery is specific enough to be scary but vague enough that your imagination has to do a lot of the heavy lifting. (And if your brain is even half as creepy as mine, you’ll be terrified.) The last few chapters of the book will keep readers in suspense, and I think it’s physically impossible to put it down toward the end.

Throughout the book, readers see Jack descend into madness. And it’s this slow descent into madness that makes The Shining so powerful. King lets readers experience the inner turmoil Jack faces over his love for his family versus the power of the Overlook. And despite everything Jack does, Wendy and Danny still love him and never blame him for the hell he’s putting them through. (Wendy reminds Danny that it isn’t daddy who’s trying to kill them.)

On the surface The Shining may seem like a story about a creepy hotel, but it is so much more. It asks if the demons of our pasts can ever truly die. (Can Jack ever escape the pain he caused his family when he was an alcoholic? Can Wendy and Danny ever forget what he did to them?)

It also illustrates how challenging it can be to overcome generational trauma. While Jack’s descending into madness, he begins to empathize with his abusive, garbage-bag-of-a-human father. And he begins to see that, despite how differently he’s lived his life, he isn’t that different than his father. And one of Jack’s favorite insults for Wendy is that she’s just like her awful, distant mother. The Shining asks if we can ever stop reliving the nightmares of our ancestors, and if love can conquer the demons of our past.

This book receives 5/5 hedge animals because it epitomizes what a horror novel should be and because it has so much heart. It’s ultimately a story about love and family that just so happens to be relayed through one of the best horror stories ever told. If you haven’t read it, go to your local indie bookstore and buy The Shining immediately.