It’s fitting, then, that it’s more of a science-fiction thought experiment than a horror novel. This book was King’s first hardcover bestseller - that is, it was the book that signaled his jump into the literary mainstream as a writer. The large and deftly drawn ensemble of characters, as well as the sly nods to vampire tales of the past, combine to make Salem’s Lot, King’s second published novel, one of his most enduring favorites. The result of his experiment is a gorgeously crafted tale of a man who returns to his eerie hometown just as a long-dormant nest of vampires takes over.
King has described this lush vampire novel as a racquetball he was bouncing off the 19th-century wall of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. King 101: The must-readsĪ chronological study of the King novels that explain his career and cultural impact. But for what it’s worth, Hallorann’s magical ability serves as most readers’ gateway to King’s entire multi-dimensional universe of psychics and dimension-jumpers. Between this and several other novels that seem to use the trope (notably The Green Mile), King’s problematic black characters often overshadow the complexity of characters like Susannah from The Dark Tower and Mike from It’s Losers Club. The Shining also provides an introduction to one of the major criticisms of King’s work, specifically its use of the “magical Negro” trope regarding its treatment of hotel cook Dick Hallorann. The titular “shine” is a psychic ability to read minds and sense the future that also - as we find out in numerous King stories throughout the years - may be linked to a kind of multi-dimensional, extra-sensory travel. King also has repeatedly framed Kubrick’s version as misogynistic, arguing that it deprives Wendy of agency and transforms her into a shrill stereotype.īut beyond its connections to and deviations from its famous film adaptation, The Shining is noteworthy as an introduction to King’s multiverse.
King’s inspiration for the book was his real-life stay in the renowned Stanley Hotel in Colorado one of his major beefs with Kubrick’s film was that Kubrick was unable to film in the Stanley due to a lack of snow.
In addition to being the seminal influence on modern haunted house tales, this story of Jack Torrance’s fight against addiction as he succumbs to the demons of the Overlook Hotel is worth reading both for its insights into King’s own fights with alcoholism and other addictions and for its differences from the legendary Stanley Kubrick film version (which King legendarily hates).īoth Jack and his wife Wendy are generally much more sympathetic characters in King’s version of events than Kubrick’s, and King goes into far more depth concerning the hotel’s history.
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