The Shining

As always, King is indeed a masterful storyteller. This is only my second book by him but I was really impressed by how intimately he could go into the psyche of a particular human topic. In this book, it's really all about the vicious cycle of intergenerational abuse and trauma. Yes, there're all the supernatural elements of this book that makes it creepy, but I think the ghosts are almost a sort of extension of the metaphor here, a way for King to explore how easily people can lose control.

I love how King drops crumbs but they all tie together into a motif that then feeds into the larger theme that he wants to explore. In this one, perhaps the most prominent one is the phrase: “Come and get your medicine.” Danny hears this as part of his visions from early in the book, but we don't know what that even means. Later, it's dropped casually and almost nonchalantly when we finally hear about the incident behind Jack's dismissal from his teaching position, where he assaults a student. He says, “If that's how you want it, just come here and take your medicine” to him before going into a trance-like rage. Even further still, we see in one of Jack's own flashbacks into his childhood, where we hear his abusive dad say the same phrase before he physically assaults his mom. So in all of this, we don't know what Danny is hearing - is he hearing his father say it in the memory about his student? Is he hearing his grandfather say it in his father's childhood memories? Or is he hearing a vision from the future where his own father would say the same to him? It all feeds into this feeling of tension and suspense that just builds and builds until the climax of the book.

Then there's also the theme mentioned about the cycle of intergenerational abuse. Jack's father was an abusive alcoholic, so Jack is now an abusive alcoholic. Jack is haunted, but more so than the ghosts of Overlook, it's this sinking feeling of being pursued by the metaphorical ghost of his father - he wants to exorcise it, but he feels himself uncontrollably falling under its influence, which i think King illustrates by having Jack also literally be falling under some kind of evil influence at the Overlook itself that makes him inexplicably act out against his wife and son. it was particularly sad when Wendy immediately attributes Danny's bruises to Jack. on one hand, we "know" that Danny apparently got attacked by the drowned ghost in Room 217 and Wendy was jumping to the wrong conclusion, but on the other hand - do we really know that though? Wouldn't it make perfect sense that Jack had lost himself again in another trance of rage and had harmed Danny, and Danny's supernatural experiences had been a child's reimagining of abuse at the hands of a beloved parent? Everything was just all so complex and multi-layered and I loved it. It's not just a simple story of humans being scared and pursued by ghosts, but that the ghosts are really manifestations (“real” or otherwise) of the spiraling traumas that haunt the humans.

I thoroughly enjoyed Jack as a character, in particular. He wasn't likeable by any means and I was annoyed and repulsed by him for most of the book, but he was incredibly complex and gray. It definitely kept me thinking about the question of culpability. We could blame Jack's childhood, his dad, his alcoholism, or an active malicious influence like the Overlook, but idk how far is a person not responsible for their actions? it's an uphill battle for sure to break free of the vicious cycle of generational abuse (physical and substance) and trauma, but does that remove or lessen culpability from Jack and the actions he has taken/will choose to take? I have a hard time saying an absolute yes to that. compassion for someone in Jack's position does not mean I should condone their actions or say they shouldn't face the consequences of them.

But ultimately, the ending still made me feel things. The bit where Danny stands up so bravely to the thing possessing Jack was just so weirdly uplifting, and then when Jack came back to his senses even just for a few moments and told Danny to run away, I almost cried. It was indescribably moving.

Overall 4.5/5. Really enjoyed this one.