Here I sit, in a hotel, having just finished The Shining. I’m pretty sure my stay here will be relatively uneventful, but I’ll keep my eye on the exits.
From: https://www.travelandleisure.com/hotels-resorts/the-shining-stanley-hotel-maze
I’ve been teased on more than one occasion these past few weeks about my never having read this book or having seen the movie until now. I still need to watch the movie. Of course, the mocking turns to a bit of awe when I tell them I’ve been inside The Stanley Hotel, which is the muse for The Shining novel. Another hotel in Oregon was used for the movie. One summer about 24 years ago, I was in a summer program in Boulder and we took a day trip to Estes Park and stopped for a pit stop at the hotel. We were only there for a few minutes, but it was long enough to solidify my mental image of the building while reading the book.
Funny enough, there was very little about the book that I didn’t already know. The story has been retold in pieces in so many places. The most vibrant retelling for me has been The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode. The book has shown up in many other shows and movies as well and I’ve seen many clips of the movie through the years as well. The plot was pretty well ruined by the time I read the book, but that didn’t take away from it in my opinion.
From the movie. Hmm…this famous scene isn’t in the book.
The Shining revolves around a small family, down on their luck because of the father’s (Jack) foul temper and history of drinking. He sober and unemployed when we meet him and interviewing for the job of winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. His marriage is on the rocks because of his drinking and subsequent abuse of his young son, Danny.
Danny has the ability to see into the future and can solve problems for his family from time to time. He struggles with the issues his parents face and has a bad premonition about living in the hotel, but he doesn’t share the information with his parents because they might think he’s crazy and he doesn’t want to mess up the opportunity his father has with this job.
The family moves to the hotel, and, on the first day, Danny meet Dick. Dick is also clairvoyant and recognizes the talent in Danny. He speaks with Danny about the gift. He calls it a shining. He warns Danny about the hotel. Some places have memories of the past. They may be scary, but they can’t harm you, he tells Danny. He tells Danny to call him with the shining if he needs help and he’ll come.
After all the staff has left, the family settles in and waits for winter. Jack works on a play he’s writing and works on the hotel. Most importantly, he relieves the boiler of steam two or three times a day so that it won’t explode. Jack and Danny begin to have odd experiences in the hotel.
After they are snowed in, Jack begins to lose his grip on reality. Danny has a terrifying experience and his mother wants to take him down the mountain on the snowmobile the hotel owns. Jack sabotages her efforts and the family must stay in the hotel. Danny realizes his father is no longer safe and calls for Dick. Dick, in Florida, drops everything and begins his journey to the hotel.
Another from the movie. This is in the book….sort of.
I’ll end my summary there. I really enjoyed the book. When I was younger, I did start to read it, but couldn’t get past the beginning. I don’t think I was relating to Jack very well. I was a teenager and he was older and interviewing for a job. I just didn’t connect. Now, it’s a lot easier to relate.
Oh and talk about relating. King almost convinced me (without trying) that I wanted to be a winter caretaker of a Colorado mountain hotel. The introvert in me thought it sounded awesome. The cook in me wanted the run of the fully stocked professional kitchen. A nice mountain view to sit next to and write with no access to the outside world sounds awesome, at least for a little while. This was in the 70s and I can’t imagine I’d be as enthusiastic without access to the internet. Maybe with a big pile of books…maybe.
All that in mind, I wouldn’t want to have the danger of a broken boiler hanging over my head all the time. Sleeping in once and BOOM! The whole place goes up. No thank you. I struggle with the idea that a big, swanky hotel would prefer to risk the loss over replacing the boiler. It just doesn’t make sense. Also, what happened those earlier years when bad things happened to the caretaker? Maybe it wasn’t as bad then and didn’t need to be depressurized as frequently.
I love King’s ability to introduce multiple characters and give in depth details about their lives without burying the reader in the details. I feel like I get to know the characters well. The Shining did an excellent job of this. Jack is an angry man and it stems from the confusion about his father’s love mixed with his abuse. He drank to ease his stress around his job and responsibilities to his family. His drinking led to him breaking his son’s arm when he was very small. He’s spent the years since trying to make up for it by quitting drinking, but still has a foul temper, which lost him his job. His wife, Wendy, has no good options and does her best to tolerate Jack and protect Danny. If she left Jack, she would have to move back with her mother because she doesn’t have a career or financial protections. Danny is a precocious child, which seems to be a side effect of his powers. He’s able to see into the minds of the adults around him and so can put together the problems of the adult world in a way no other child under six can. He’s so brave throughout the book, both when handling his parent’s problems and when facing the evil in the hotel. Finally, Dick is an awesome character. I love his wit and his devotion to Danny based on a short meeting. He’s figured out what he wants out of life and isn’t afraid to rock his boat to help others. Great character.
On to the next one. Night Shift. I think I read this one back in the day, but I don’t remember a thing about it. Also, I found a woman on Facebook who was selling her Stephen King books and added a ton of his books to my library. I probably still have less than half of his books, but I grabbed a good chunk of them.
S. E. Baran 