Jack Torrance, a former teacher and aspiring playwright, is a recovering alcoholic with a violent temper that has already cost him his job. He accepts a post as winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a grand old resort high in the Colorado Rockies that is cut off by snow for months. His wife Wendy and five-year-old son Danny come with him.
Danny has a psychic gift the hotel's cook, Dick Hallorann, calls the shining, which lets him sense thoughts and glimpse the future. Before leaving for the season, Hallorann warns Danny that the Overlook has a dark history. As the snow closes in, Danny sees things in certain rooms and in the topiary garden, and Jack becomes increasingly absorbed in the hotel's past.
King uses the haunted-house tradition to explore addiction, domestic violence and a family under pressure, drawing on his own struggles with alcohol. The isolation and slow psychological unravelling make it one of the most frightening novels in popular fiction. Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, which King famously disliked, became a horror landmark in its own right.
Book details
| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| First published | 1977 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 447 |
| Setting | The Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies, during winter |
Themes
- Addiction
- Isolation
- Domestic violence
- Madness
- Family
Who should read it
Horror fans and anyone curious about the novel behind one of cinema's scariest films.