When I found Stephen King books you could find my prepubescent self, on any day of the week, huddled under my covers, with a flashlight in one hand and a pillow clutched to my chest, trying to keep the pages open, reading intensely until the book was read in one night.
One night, while in the middle of reading The Shining, my flashlight's batteries gave out and I was plunged into darkness and silence, except for the faint ringing in my ears. It was one of the scariest things that happened to me and added to the scariness of this book. And that's why we're starting with it.
The Shining haunted me for weeks after I read it. You'll hear this time and again, that the book and Kubrick's movie are very different from one another and it's true. The thing that makes scary books scary is your imagination. No author has to describe the blood and gore because you can see it already.
The Shining is about a family of three: mom, dad and little boy. The dad has gotten a job as a caretaker of an old hotel for the winter season while it's closed. The family will be the only occupants of that lonely place for months... or will they? If the hotel were not a character itself you would get the movie, but the hotel, Jack's (the dad) past, the beaten wife, the special little boy, and the isolation make for a horror-filled book and a wonderful read. Try it, I dare ya.
No comments:
Post a Comment