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Review: The Shining

Today I am home 'sick.' I say 'sick' because, well I'm not really sick. I have this odd allergic reaction going on right now that has caused my ankles/feet to swell up and therefore, it is very painful and I basically can't walk. I went to my doctor, and that's what he said I had, and sure enough, one of my meds lists "Edema, or fluid retention around the ankles and feet" as a side effect. It was so painful, I felt like I wanted morphine last night. But, it's much better at the moment, though, so I should be able to go back to work tomorrow.

So I finally finished The Shining today. I couldn't wait to finish it. As Jarrod said, if I couldn't wait to finish it, it must not have been that great. And: it wasn't. This was my first Stephen King book, and supposedly many people have voted this story to be one of the scariest/most horrifying of all time, but I just didn't get it.

But before I get to my thoughts on the book, I must bring up two points:
1. I hate scary movies and have never seen the movie The Shining. I think it has to do with the unbelievable amounts of blood and gore, although I'm not even sure that is it because I loved Watchmen. So maybe it is that I just do not like getting scared; I don't enjoy that shock that you feel when the hand grabs the girl from somewhere off-camera. I have never been to a haunted house either, and am pretty positive that if I went, I would end up crying because I would hate it and there would be no way I could leave in the middle of it.

2. I originally started reading this in honor of Halloween.

So, as you can gather, this is not my usual type of book. It was a bit of a 'shock' to my friends that I was reading this since it is supposed to be so scary. And I was expecting it to be so, expecting to have to throw it in the freezer at some point like Joey on "Friends", but it just never happened for me.

I did not find this book to be scary, I found it to be kinda boring.

I had been told and had read that Stephen King tends to get long-winded, which I will agree with. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the plot to pick up, but it just never did... until maybe the last tenth of the book. Being a full-time reader, I understand the point of a back-story; unfolding a character's ambitions, fears, and so on so that you, the reader, can identify with them and develop a connection. However, a lot of the back-story was so meaningless to me. King could have summed up the history of the Torrance family in a chapter, maybe two, instead of dragging it out through about half the book with small strange happenings of the Overlook interspersed. If I remember correctly, the boy finally encounters room 217 and the woman inside when I was halfway through the book. Halfway through the book you [King] decide to break out the first key piece to the plot? Halfway?! The rest of the strange things of the hotel reveal themselves slowly throughout the next good third of the book: Jack checks out room 217, there are the fake parties, the elevator comes to life on its own, Jack starts to identify with the hotel, Jack gets drunk and falls back into his alcoholic ways, Jack gets locked in the pantry. Then in the last tenth of the book, the hotel goes crazy, Dick shows up, Jack hacks through the door, Danny talks to Tony one last time, Jack tries to kill Danny, and all that jazz. The last bit of the book was probably the best part, but by that point, it was too late for me: I just wanted to finish the dang thing.

I think the problem was that I didn't care about any of the characters. I didn't care what happened to Jack because I thought he was an ass. I didn't really care what happened to the boy because I thought he was annoying. I didn't really care what happened to Wendy because I thought she was kind of annoying too and, in a way, brought this all on herself. The only person who I cared if they lived or died at the end was Dick, and he was only in the story for maybe 40 out of the 500+ pages! And as far as the scary imagery in the story (all of the 'creatures' of the Overlook) I felt they were... silly. And they didn't bother me. I understand that the book was about psychological terror and dementia and the monsters deep within us, but as I said, I didn't develop that connection to Jack, so I didn't care.

From what I've read on the movie, there are a lot of changes. First of all, it is room 237, not 217; an insignificant detail, but it kind of bothers me that Kubrick changed it. Apparently there is a hedge maze, whereas the book has hedge animals. Danny does not cry redrum constantly at any point in the book, neither does he begin to call himself Tony. Jack never says "Here's Johnny!" and I'm sure there are many more differences.

I was really going into this expecting to be scared out of my wits; I would have to put the book down and have someone tell me how it ended I'd be so scared. Complete opposite. Not only did I have no inkling of a nightmare, inclinations to check behind my shower curtain, or a newfound fear of elevators, I also had no emotional connection with the characters, leaving me just bored and feeling like I kind of wasted my time on this.

And also wondering if I'm ready to try a scary movie again...

Gearing up

Well, just like everyone else right now, I am gearing up for the holidays. Thursday there is a chance Thanksgiving might be at our house, so if it is, I will need to gear up even more.

I must say, I used to never like Thanksgiving much. I will assume this is just part of being a kid. As an adult now, I kind of like the holiday and am actually looking forward to it this year. It's a nice time to just sit back, relax, sort of pig out haha, but most importantly: catch up and visit with family. To me, there is no other holiday that has that as its main focus. Yes, of course we like to visit with each other come Christmas and Easter, but let's be honest: Christmas is more about the gifts and opening them and seeing what everyone got, and Easter is about chocolate, eggs, possibly what has now become a smaller version of an Easter egg hunt, or no hunt at all, and... that's about it. With Thanksgiving, we do not have these obligatory festivities. Instead, we get quality time doing whatever we feel like, whether it be sitting around conversing, cooking together, sharing a beer with one another, playing cards, basketball, or attempting to play Guitar Hero.

Oh, and there's food too.

Seriously?

Something I love to hate on the news are new studies that prove things any knowledgable person could already assume to be true anyways. Things like 'New study finds that smoking may lead to other types of cancer besides lung cancer' or 'Leaving your child alone with strangers is a bad idea' or 'Spending too much time on your cell phone may cause pain on your ears.'

But this one is just SO dumb I can't believe that a MILLION dollars was (supposedly) spent to do this study. Here is how it goes:
"Cheap Drinks At College Bars Can Escalate Drinking Among College Students— It's no secret that alcohol use among college students can cause a number of problems, including injury, violence and even death. A new study has examined the impact of drink discounts at college bars, finding that low alcohol prices at drinking establishments pose genuine
threats to public health and safety." And so on.

Really? REALLY? Lower prices at bars means people drink more? Holy shit, what a revelation. I never knew that.

If drinks are cheap, I'm pretty sure everyone I know, myself included, would go ahead and drink as much as they feel like or know they can handle instead of what their wallet dictates to them.

I just wanted to slap her

I was out at Steak n' Shake the other night with mom, as dad was gone on his Corvette Caravan to the museum. Towards the latter part of our meal, a mother and her son (who I'm gonna put at about 9 years) were seated near us. The lady caught my attention because she was kind of obnoxious. She was talking on her cell phone and was mostly leaning over the table but then would throw herself back in astonishment or laughter because something was just SO funny... and then go back to leaning forward. Who does this?

Anyways, so that being sort of annoying in itself, the point is: she was on her cell phone. Her son was sitting across from her and I don't know if he had drawn something on the placemat or what, but he had something to show her. He says "Mommy... mommy... mommy......... mommy....... mommy....... mommy?......." a few times just trying to get her attention.

She. did. not. even. notice.

I felt so sorry for the kid. I wanted to go over and give him a hug for crying out loud and wanted to have him show ME whatever it was he was excited about. I wanted to just slap the lady! Pay attention to your son! Get off your goddamn phone! Not only was it heartbreaking at the time, if that is how she always treats him or if that carries over at home: he is going to grow up with some problems. It's the kids who go through those sorts of things that end up acting out at school and such because they don't get the attention at home; they seek it elsewhere.

She was probably on her phone for 3/4 of the time they were there, and when she wasn't, she wasn't interacting with her child in the least. I was just so saddened by her neglect for her child. Parenting these days... ugh. Sometimes I see glimmers of hope and many people that I am associated with do parent their children well. But there are just so many horrible examples out there of how lazy and terrible parenting has become.