Teen Review: The Shining
Review by Fahim, member of the Dawes Road Youth Advisory Group
The Shining is one of the greatest horror novels of all time. It is written by Stephen King who has written many other horror novels. This is a fiction novel based on a real life event. Stephen King once spent a night at the Stanley hotel in Estes Colorado. While sleeping he had nightmares which inspired him to write this story.
This book is especially scary because Stephen King used the mind of Danny, a kid, instead of using the mind of Jack or Wendy, who are the adults. Tony, who is Danny’s imaginary friend, shows him horrific visions of dead people and provides gory details. Stephen King could have chosen Tony, Jack’s imaginary friend or Wendy’s imaginary friend but he chose Danny instead.
Stephen King used Danny’s innocence to bring out the fear among the characters. Kids are usually scared of ghosts but adults aren’t. Danny’s youth perspective makes this book scary for the reader.
Stephen King usually writes fiction from personal experiences. He used his and his wife’s experience to write this book. Though this book is fiction, there is a scientific aspect to it. Weather you believe in possessions or not, anyone isolated from civilization as Jack was in the novel would become delusional. The snowy isolation would cause any man or woman to become irrational.
Therefore due to the fact Stephen king uses a child’s perspective, utilizing the scientific aspect along with his personal experience to write this story, it makes The Shining a classic read.
2 thoughts on “Teen Review: The Shining”
I really like Stephen King’s writing! I’m currently reading his book called Misery, and it is very fascinating!
Great novel!