Book Review on Doctor Sleep, sequel to The Shining.

Book Review of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep. Scribner, 2013.   

If you’re an avid reader like myself, you undoubtedly have that handful of characters that never stray far from your heart or mind. Many of these characters are ones that have been with us for a long time, through entire series of books; others left their impression through a single story. In Doctor Sleep, King explores new territory by taking a well-loved character from 35+ years ago (1977) and reintroducing him as an adult, as if all that time really did pass.

**Before you continue on, I recommend reading my book review of The Shining, the 35-year-old prequel to Doctor Sleep.

Summary

Doctor Sleep reintroduces readers to Danny/Dan Torrance. Danny is the 5-year-old boy from The Shining who was haunted by his own paranormal/psychic abilities in the winter of 1977 when his father took on the job as winter caretaker of a historic (and haunted) hotel. Dan is a single, recovering alcoholic in his 40s who sweeps his supernatural gifts under the rug, only using them to help people pass on in the hospice where he works. That is, until he meets Abra Stone. When Abra, a girl in her young teens, hits a complicated, scary situation, she reaches out to Dan using her own supernatural abilities and discover their abilities are stronger when together then they ever could be alone.

When a pack of immortal murders senses Abra as a threat, they make it their goal to track her down, suck all the “Shining” out of her and, once she is good for nothing else, kill her. As the danger increases, so does the bond between Abra and Dan, creating a war between good and evil where neither side is willing to back down.

Characters

Like always, King has excellent characters. They are diverse and round with identifying features. They are true to their personality traits that are introduced from the start, and in this case, true to their history and family attributes as well.

To come back to a character that was so deeply loved and remembered had to be a daunting task. As King re-acquaints us with Danny Torrance, he runs the risk of disappointing the reader who thought they knew what was in store for him so many years ago.

Another risk with returning to the well-loved Danny Torrance 35+ years later is that he wouldn’t feel like the same character; he would just feel like a grown man with similar abilities to the young Danny. King does two things very well to avoid this: 1) He shows the reader short scenes of Danny growing up and becoming the man that he currently is. 2) Dan stays very true to his roots and to his family. By putting traits of Jack Torrance (Danny’s father in The Shining) in the adult Dan, King allows the reader to connect to that part of the Torrance family that they already knew. It’s no secret that many of us grow up to become our parents. 😛

Structure

The Shining the movie has been said to be one of the best films ever made, even though King didn’t approve of many of the changes.

The novel has a typical structure where the reader is introduced to a few characters that seem to be unrelated but eventually, slowly, their paths collide. Keeping each character’s storyline interesting while slowing weaving them together creates a lot of anticipation and excitement for the climax of the story.

King tackles the large time gap between The Shining’s 5-year-old Danny Torrance to the 40-year-old Dan by showng the reader short scenes from his life between now and then. King shows only the relevant scenes, getting to the present of the story as soon as possible. This transition is a large part of why Dan still feels like the same character as little Danny Torrance.

Overall—4 stars

Although the novel was a great story and well written, it didn’t capture my attention like some King novels. Part of that was because there was too many unrelated supernatural things occurring. As I stated in my book review on The Shining, my favorite science fiction is that which is believable. Meaning with only a slight twist in our present world, the story could actually happen. The Shining may be the best example of that closeness to reality that I have ever read. Doctor Sleep, however, strays farther from our modern world. I never doubted the abilities that Dan or Abra uncovered within themselves, but I did doubt the supernatural abilities of the villainous group called the True Knot. As the book went along, this group seemed to have more and more unexplained abilities that would appear too conveniently. This stretched reality too far for my liking and lowered the level of suspense and horror. This could have been easily prevented by explaining near the beginning of the story that each member of the True Know possessed a different type of ability, and explaining a few.

Let me know what you thought about Dan in his 40s. Did he feel like the same character to you?

I’m taking bets: How long before they make a Doctor Sleep movie??

 

A King Classic: The Shining Book Review

Book Review of The Shining (1977 throwback!) by Stephen King.  Published by DoubleDay.

My favorite kind of Science Fiction is the kind you can believe; the kind that would only require a slight twitch of the universe or the opening of a new connection in the human brain. In 1977, Stephen King balanced that believability with true terror in his novel, The Shining. It captured a vast, wide-eyed audience that couldn’t wait to turn the page. The story captured an even larger on-the-edge-of-their-seat audience when the novel was turned into a film in 1980. Why did the story enthrall and terrify such a vast audience? Because the terror is believable.

After reading the Shining less than a year ago, it immediately jumped onto my list of favorites. The writing incorporates a unique style, the story is one of King’s best (not only in my opinion, but consistently considered so by critiques and fans), and there are just enough twists in the world to keep you unaware of what is to come.

Believable Science Fiction

The setting of The Shining is based on a real location, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Getting trapped in such a hotel by snow higher than your head may have been a stretch if it was an accident but the Torrance family of the novel chose to stay there for the winter. When the father, Jack Torrance, took on the job as caretaker of the hotel, he and his family agreed to isolate themselves in the hotel for the entire winter.

Danny Torrence, an 8-year-old boy with supernatural powers is the focus of the story. And yes, he does have unrealistic abilities such as mindreading and sending mental messages to a man across the country. But those stretches of reality are balance by smaller, more believable talents. For example, is it so unlikely that an 8-year-old boy has an imaginary friend? Or that he become frightened when a fire hose seems to turn into a snake and chase after him? Is it hard to believe that a man who was once an uncontrollable alcoholic with a quick temper could go a little crazy once being cooped up in an abandoned hotel for months. And, as an avid watcher of Ghost Adventures, I don’t doubt for a moment that most historic hotels are haunted, especially ones that have seen as much violence and death as The Shining’s Overlook Hotel.

There are supernatural happenings in The Shining that do stretch the imagination, but surrounded by a realistic setting with realistic characters, it did not require any sort of leap for me to believe the supernatural. Making a young boy the witness of all these terrifying events also makes them more believable because children are argued to 1) see certain “realities” that adults have long ago pushed into their unconscious and 2) children are more easily frightened, making the scary seem that much more terrifying 

That fictional 8-year-old boy turns into a man!

The reason I chose to write a book review on a story I read so long ago was in preparation for the sequel. Doctor Sleep, a 2013 release by King, features the same 8-year-old boy who was tormented by the horrors of the Overlook Hotel. Only now, he is a recovering alcoholic in his 40s who has learned to tame his supernatural powers…until he needs them. My book review on Doctor Sleep will be coming soon! And once again, King does not disappoint.

Recommendation

5 stars! A well-written, entertaining story guaranteed to please, and possibly terrorize. 

A few of the many book covers and images associated with this famous story:

(I do not claim any rights to these photos.)