THE SHINING

"At first, he had withdrawn the thought, imagining it was the wind, which was capable of imitating many sounds of the human voice, from a dying whisper around doors and windows to a scream at the edge of the roofs ... The sound of a woman running away from the killer in a cheap melodrama. " (King, Stephen - The Shining, page 515) The Shining was the third book by author Stephen King, written in 1977. This was the book responsible for enshrining the author as a horror writer. It is a tense, frightening book that in its essence, carries much of King's own experiences. In the book, the Torrance family - Jack, Wendy and Danny - go through difficult times because of Jack's alcohol problems and little Danny's seizures. Expelled from the school where he taught, Jack finds himself getting closer and closer to total family breakdown. Hopes return when the former professor gets the job as caretaker at the Overlook hotel, which operates during the summer and closes during the winter, as all routes are closed due to snow. The new job is a chance for the Torrance family to find peace and quiet in an idyllic and secluded place, and is the perfect setting for Jack to be able to write his book and reconnect with his family after past trauma. What the Torrance family did not expect was that the Overlook would be a threat waiting to be woken up, and that Danny would be the battery needed to wake up the hotel. With a past full of dark and macabre cases, the Overlook is a place that breathes revenge, and will do anything to get hold of little Danny's mind and use his special gift to strengthen himself.One of the highlights in The Shining is the narrative construction of the Overlook, as a living character. The hotel acts and thinks independently, looking for a breach to strengthen its thirst for revenge. An amazingly constructed antagonist, with a huge history and able to parade among the best villains of the King. The Overlook was inspired by a real hotel, the Stanley Hotel which is located in Colorado and, like most hotels, has its ghost stories. King's stories usually follow two narrative lines: some are “external” stories, of catastrophes at a broader level and involving dozens of main characters and their complex plots; in the second group of stories, we have the plots that are more oriented to the “internal” sense, usually with few characters and a thorough dive into the mind of each of them. The Enlightened One is in the second group. Stephen King prepares a springboard for the reader to dive deep into the paranoia of his characters. For Stephen King's regular readers, we have here all the main characteristics of the author. The prolixity he uses to set the reader at ease, the spoilers that King himself usually gives about the following scenes and a character on the verge of collapse. Stories of ghosts and haunted places are far from being unpublished in literature, which makes The Shining, an excellent reading option is that this is not just a “ghost story”, King builds a story that makes the reader reflect on human fragility, and how our own ghosts can be more frightening than any creature from a nightmare or beyond the grave. "She turned her back and looked at the window, and a hideous white face, with dark circles instead of eyes, was watching her, the face of a lunatic monster that had been hiding in these walls all the time. It was just a figure of ice outside the glass." The book tells the story of the Torrance family. Jack is a loving father, but with a dark past, due to his addiction to drinking. Despite being restored, after an unfortunate accident two years ago in which he injured someone he loved, he ends up losing patience with a student and physically attacks him while he cut the tires on Jack's car. The assault cost him his job as a teacher. It had been some time since he had sold some stories for a magazine, and now he was stuck in the middle of a play that he couldn't finish writing. By turning to his friend Al Shocley, he receives the opportunity to work a winter season as a caretaker at the Hotel Overlock. Jack accepts, taking Wendy, his wife, and Dany, his son, to a hotel that would be isolated in the midst of the station's blizzards. He arrives at the site on the last day of work for all employees. The manager, Mr. Ulman, makes numerous recommendations to you; while the last employees leave the place. One of the last employees, Mr. Hallorann, a cook, takes Danny in a corner and tells him that he is enlightened. The two practically talk only at the thought. Hallorann tells him to take care of certain things at the Hotel, as some things were alive, but he did not believe they could harm him. Everyone leaves and that's where the insane frenzy begins. Dreams. Visions. Memories. Fragments of the past. The condensation of terror at the hands of Stephen King.The question may seem strange, but I think it is a book in full bloom; of emotions that jump off the pages like “bushes-animated rabbits”. The construction of the characters forces the emotional involvement of the reader, who is led page by page by the suspense of what will happen, by the fantastic magic of Danny's gift, by the nostalgia of the hotel's parties, by the countless literary references (Poe, Carroll, Shakespeare) ; and of course, for the terror. But it cannot be said that it is just a horror book; in fact, in the case of this author, one can never say that it is just a horror book, but they are books of emotions in the extreme.A writer with alcohol problems, does anyone know this story? Well, Stephen King was not the first and he certainly won't be the last, but he was one of them; and it is not by chance that this theme appears so evident in the story of The Shining. Probably, he would never be able to write this book with such property and a wealth of details than if he had not passed and overcome his addiction to alcoholism. Like the metaphor for a line by Wendy in the book, "closing a huge door to a room full of monsters". To conclude, it is a book that should be read by those who love a good story. Even someone who does not like the horror genre, can enjoy the pages of this book, due to the reasons I have already mentioned above. Smile, have fun, if possible, or cry, because.I will read other books by the author to have a better opinion of his work; so I will continue to post more reviews on G. K. Chesterton's books here. "Listen. I'll tell you about it this time and never again. Things are never as researched in reality. The world is a hard place. It doesn't care about us. It doesn't hate you or me, but it doesn't die of love either. for us. Terrible things happen in the world, and things that no one can explain. Good people die in ruinous and painful ways and leave it as people who love them alone. Sometimes it seems that only ruined people remain healthy and prosperous. loves you. But, see, you must go on living, keep your love alive and move on, no matter what. Hold the ends and go ahead. " (King, Stephen, page 580) The narrative is in the third person and is divided sometimes following the perception of one character, sometimes from another, subtly changing the style to a convincing speech from the point of view in question. They are small changes that give the feeling of intimacy with each one of them and make the story flow very well. The narration is interrupted all the time by thoughts, doubts and feelings of the character in focus, as if we were both inside and outside their heads, giving the story a wide dimension and generating (a lot) of narrative tension. Despite being a medium-sized book, the reading speed is quite fast and without difficulties. And, once the terror begins to take on more serious forms, it is simply impossible to stop reading. The tone of the reading, however, is heavy, dramatic and deeply unsettling. The feeling that something terrible is about to happen does not leave us at any time. Although the terror is perceived in a very particular way by each reader, the quality of King's psychological horror in The Shining is undeniable. The author uses extremely refined and complex writing resources, such as the slight regression in the timeline at certain times and the change in narrative perspective, in addition to intelligent dialogues not only in content, but also in the narrative format. Some mysteries and small pistons connect at all times, demanding maximum attention, and there is an aura of evil suspense around some of Danny's impressions, such as the word Redrum, a genius of the author, considering the age of the character . Metaphors are also widely explored and give great depth to the plot and characters. It is these elements that build tension and little by little give meaning to the overall picture of the Overlook.One point that may seem to be a disadvantage for readers who are less attentive or who have not given themselves over to the narrative, as I stressed earlier, is the volume of details and extensive descriptions about the Overlook. The hallways, the kitchen, the basement, the gardens, the topiaries, everything is very, very described, even seeming a repetition. But that element is part of the aura of terror that emanates from the Overlook and all descriptions are absolutely necessary to create the atmosphere of tension and claustrophobia. The most valuable tip I can give about reading The Shining is the unreserved delivery of history. If you are not willing to go through this experience, postpone reading for another time.Companhia das Letras brought O Iluminado in a luxury hardback edition, with an unpublished prologue and epilogue. The edition of the Stephen King Library is beautiful, the proofreading and translation work is impeccable and the additional material better contextualizes the Overlook's history, exploring short stories about hotel guests throughout its decades of operation. The Enlightened One was one of my best readings of that year 2018, and perhaps the best experience I've had with the genre to date.🖤📚Note: ☆☆☆☆☆| Title: The Shining | ISBN: 978-8556510464 | Year: 2017 | Specifics: 520 pages | Editor: Suma| Genre: Supernatural suspensions| Finishing: Paperback| Measurements: 23.6 x 16.6 x 3.6 cm|Cutting: UnpaintedBuy on Amazon - The Shining (by Stephen King)Review on GoodReads (The Shining by Stephen King) Stephen Edwin King (Portland, September 21, 1947) is an American writer of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books have sold over 400 million copies, with publications in more than 40 countries. He is the ninth most translated author in the world. Many of his works have been adapted into films, miniseries, television series and comics. King has published 59 novels, including 7 under the alias Richard Bachman, and 6 nonfiction books. He has written about 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections. Although his talent stands out in the horror / horror literature, he wrote some works of recognized quality outside that genre and whose popularity increased when taken to the cinema, as in the films Conta Comigo, Um Sonho de Liberdade (stories from the book Quatro Estações), Christine, Total Eclipse, Waiting for a Miracle, among others. His book, The Dead Zone, originated the FOX series of the same name. King himself has already written episode scripts for series, such as The X-Files, in which he wrote the script for the fifth season's episode "Feitiço".🖤📚Twitter Stephen KingStephen King Oficial Web Page