Stephen King’s “The Shining” is sitting on my desk right now. Sadly, I’m not reading it: choosing instead to enlighten the world about the fantastic new author I’ve discovered. After pushing away horror novels for such a long time (I’m kind of a scaredy cat, myself) I took a chance with “The Shining” and find it absolutely amazing.
His character development is deep and creates an understanding beyond normal. I find myself attached and interested in the (occasionally mundane) lives of these fictional people. The whole novel isn’t an adventure, either. The short, slow, creeping feeling of suspense really helps to build up an understanding of what’s going on inside the minds of the people involved.
Each character has a developed personality and abilities. They aren’t perfect, but they’re not absolutely horrid, either. You find yourself disgusted, sympathetic, moved, lonely, happy…as you read you begin to empathize. And that’s why the ending (which I am quite a ways from reaching, yet) is so absolutely HORRIFYING! These characters that you’ve created an emotional bond with are DOING TERRIBLE THINGS! It’s impossible to stop reading.
And then you piece together all the reasoning behind everything. All the little bits and pieces that lead up to the finale. Everything suddenly makes sense as you find yourself becoming a detective through the novel’s obvious clues.
I adore Stephen King and I can’t wait to get my hands on another novel! MWAHAHAHAHA!
groundlingsup 