I would give The Shining a rating of 8/10 because even though it is slow, it has some redeeming qualities. As I said, the book starts off rather slow. It begins by telling the history of the Torrance family. The book repeatedly states information such as the fact that Jack is a sober alcoholic, and that he once broke his son's arm when he spilled beer on his play. Even though the book is slow and the plot takes a long time to develop, it was interesting to see the relationships change between the Torrance family as they are snowed in the overlook hotel. The Torrence's struggle with their past makes for good dialogue between the family when they are stuck in the Overlook. Jack's alcoholism is repeatedly a factor that causes his wife, …show more content…
Since Halloween naturally occurs on October 31st it was a very fitting choice. The genre of scary books fits in with Halloween because Halloween originated as a type of harvest festival where ancient Celts believed the dead came back to life. This book fits in perfectly with the supernatural theme in which at least one character is usually dead or a spirit. The one thing I didn't like about this month's genre is that, I feel, some horror books are weird and disturbing. Case in point, there were some moments in The Shining, that were utterly discomforting. An example, from The Shining, would be the dog man repeatedly calling out to Danny that he will “Bite off his genitals”. Even though those scenes are used to create suspense and fear I never found anything about that scary in any way, I just found it weird and …show more content…
The Overlook Hotel has a nasty past involving gang bosses and many people passing away in their rooms and the Overlook’s chef, Dick Hallorann, warned Danny of spirits and the evil thing in The Overlook’s intentions. Danny also received a warning of things to come in a vision from his “friend” Tony. Tony warns Danny by showing him the Overlook and the word REDRUM, murder backwards, flashing in green flames. The Overlook’s main objective with the Torrence family is to kill Danny and absorb his special shining powers, however, the Overlook intends to do this by playing a sinister game with his father. The Overlook Hotel's main tool to achieve gaining Danny's shine is by bringing inanimate objects such as an old fashioned fire extinguisher, an elevator, and hedge animals to life in order to harm Danny and his family. The Overlook is also home to room 217 which houses the body of an old dead lady that physically hurts Danny. When the specter leaves bruises on Danny, Wendy immediately assumes that it was Jack who hurt Danny. This is a prime example of the Overlook tormenting Danny's family members in ways that make Danny fear for his parents divorce. When Wendy saw the bruises she immediately remembered jack breaking Danny's arm and considered divorcing him, which is the one thing that Danny is afraid of the most. In all, The Overlook turns Jack completely mad, driving him to go on