Why do readers love Stephen King's The Shining?

Although King has been one of my favorite authors since I was a 14-year-old kid reading Christine, I have never read The Shining. I saw the movie and was thoroughly entertained by Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duval, but never got my hands on the book until now.

At 550 pages, it’s a whopper of a book, but well worth every ounce. The story never lags. It leaps off the page with complex characters, plot twists, and relatable themes such as family life, abuse, and addiction. 

Reading his characters’ inner dialogue is like taking a masterclass on deep POV. Their quirky sayings, complicated back stories, and flaws make them jump off the page. 

But he doesn't stop with creating memorable characters. Nope! He drops them right into the worst case scenario.

Can't get any creepier than an isolated, abandoned hotel.

A recovering alcoholic with a tendency toward violence? How about an endless bar with free drinks and a roque mallet for a weapon?

A sensitive child who "shines" brighter than anyone? Why not put him in a haunted mansion where all the occupants died a gruesome death?

And don't forget the weak woman who is dependent on her husband to provide for her in every way. Let's just isolate her in an abandoned hotel in the worst storm of the century and take away all her securities.

King drives the plot with his characters and their clear, unique voices.

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Wendy and Jack have an intimate scene while discussing the direness of Danny’s situation. It shows how vulnerable each of them are to human desires.

Wendy loves her husband and is easily manipulated by his advances, but that doesn’t stop her from driving a knife into his back to protect her child. 

In the end, this story is somewhat of a redemption story for Wendy. She finds her courage, defeats the monster, and with a little help from a Black man, she saves herself and her child. 

The Martians have landed.

Even though I enjoyed the inclusion of common themes such as parent/child relationships, and good versus evil, it got a bit heavy-handed sometime after the thousandth repetition of “take your medicine.”

It goes without saying that a novel written in 1977 is going to have some cultural and political differences from one written nearly fifty years later. Some of the language King uses definitely wouldn’t fly today. The repeated use of racial slurs would send most modern editors into a tizzy. And as a woman, I wanted to grab Wendy and slap her a few times. Get a job, woman! Leave that jerk! But, things were different in the late 1970s. Women didn’t have as many opportunities to succeed.

Stephen King is a magician. His stories hypnotize us. One page turns into a chapter, turns into an entire section of the book, turns into the last few pages. Those last few pages are savored as we say goodbye and prepare for the inevitable book hangover.

What makes The Shining a blockbuster? Characters, twisting plot, shocking scenes, multiple povs, and incredible inner dialogue. But I'm still going back to my original theory that using popular tropes taps resonates with readers.

Here are some of the horror tropes found in The Shining:

• Nightmares become real

• Seeing things in mirrors

• No communication with outside world

• Inclement weather

• Isolation in an abandoned building

• Splitting up characters

• No trespassing (Room 217)

• Supernatural characters and phenomenon

Can you think of any more?