The Shining

Since my group has switched to The Shining, the reading has become much more enjoyable. Stephen King’s style of writing is to the point and never boring. Through this you get a sense of the characters right away. King immediately sets the mood for the rest of the story. Within the first few chapters he gives us some background on Jack, Wendy, and Danny, which plays out later in the book.

The language used in The Shining is much easier to understand than that of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. I find that when reading The Shining I am able to pay attention to the information being given to the reader as opposed to Lovecraft’s stories, where I often found myself lost because of the language he uses.

Although The Shining doesn’t seem as cheesy as Lovecraft’s stories, King still uses classic horror elements. When Jack is being interviewed for the job, his superior warns him of the desolation and the effects that it can have on him and his family. He also tells Jack about the last family that was there with a story similar to his, and how the father ended up killing his family and himself. This leaves the reader to believe that the hotel is haunted, which is typical in the horror genre.

Overall, The Shining is much more engaging and seems like more of a horror story than any of the short stories I read by H.P. Lovecraft.