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ellemaddy's Reviews (1.09k)
Thoughts? I don’t have them. My brain? Empty.
Ridiculous.
The lush opulence is still there. But this is chaos, this is messy!
The lush opulence is still there. But this is chaos, this is messy!
I did not enjoy this. I thought that the story itself was very slow and the two main characters didn’t really have that ‘spark’. Some of the conversations felt forced to me and honestly the idea of the ex talk as a radio show just sounds extremely boring and even reading the script bits they were all just so (ugh) bland. Wish this was more fun and had more funny banters because it had an interesting premise, but oh well!
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"It's true what they say - it's not we who control money, it's the money that controls us. When there's only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us. Money had swept us up and flung us in the midst of a whirlwind."
First read 27 August 2014
Reread 9 August 2020
(Wait.. why do i always read this on august?)
The Shining is one of those horror books that could actually scared the shit out of someone. I am happy to report that someone is me.
Listen, I'm a coward and I'm OK with it.
This book is scary. I mean it. A boy who could see ghosts? A family who had to live in a big hotel alone in the middle of winter? A haunted hotel? Goddamn it count me in, though I will have to curl up in my bed and all the lights must be on and I have to be covered in a thick blanket and my feet under any condition could not dangle from the bed because a monster will yank it and I will drop the book while screaming my head off.
Anyway...
The Shining isn't just some common scary book. It's not just about ghosts and murder and scary monsters. It's about family, and love, and friendship. And like always SK captured all that perfectly from the voice of a little boy. You will get scared of Jack Torrance. You will get sad for Jack Torrance. You will even sympathise with him at some point. I mean, aside from the fact that he was trying hack his son and wife's head off, he was trying hard to meet ends meet. He was a father, struggling, just like every fathers out there. Only he had to deal with all the scary supernatural shit while doing it. Imagine being a Jack Torrance. It must be really awful.
If you want to start reading King's book and you're a first time reader, you might want to start with this one or perhaps Pet Sematary or IT.
Reread 9 August 2020
(Wait.. why do i always read this on august?)
The Shining is one of those horror books that could actually scared the shit out of someone. I am happy to report that someone is me.
Listen, I'm a coward and I'm OK with it.
This book is scary. I mean it. A boy who could see ghosts? A family who had to live in a big hotel alone in the middle of winter? A haunted hotel? Goddamn it count me in, though I will have to curl up in my bed and all the lights must be on and I have to be covered in a thick blanket and my feet under any condition could not dangle from the bed because a monster will yank it and I will drop the book while screaming my head off.
Anyway...
The Shining isn't just some common scary book. It's not just about ghosts and murder and scary monsters. It's about family, and love, and friendship. And like always SK captured all that perfectly from the voice of a little boy. You will get scared of Jack Torrance. You will get sad for Jack Torrance. You will even sympathise with him at some point. I mean, aside from the fact that he was trying hack his son and wife's head off, he was trying hard to meet ends meet. He was a father, struggling, just like every fathers out there. Only he had to deal with all the scary supernatural shit while doing it. Imagine being a Jack Torrance. It must be really awful.
If you want to start reading King's book and you're a first time reader, you might want to start with this one or perhaps Pet Sematary or IT.
As a pride & prejudice enjoyer, I felt obligated to take up this book and as it turns out, it was the best decision I could possibly make.
This book is an in depth character study of Mary and I absolutely loved how real she felt. All her fears, her worries, her thoughts, it was written so beautifully by the author that I can’t help but feel for her. This is not the most plot heavy novel, but I was so attached to all of the characters that I wouldn’t even care if they do nothing but drink tea and talk to each other forever. I found myself rooting for Mary and I wished her nothing but happiness. That’s how real she felt to me!
All in all it was a delightful read, my heart often ached for Mary and I’m so happy for her character development and that happy ending.
This book is an in depth character study of Mary and I absolutely loved how real she felt. All her fears, her worries, her thoughts, it was written so beautifully by the author that I can’t help but feel for her. This is not the most plot heavy novel, but I was so attached to all of the characters that I wouldn’t even care if they do nothing but drink tea and talk to each other forever. I found myself rooting for Mary and I wished her nothing but happiness. That’s how real she felt to me!
All in all it was a delightful read, my heart often ached for Mary and I’m so happy for her character development and that happy ending.
"It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean."
"But you'll always be here, Silas, won't you? And I won't ever have to leave, if I don't want to?" I'm not crying, you are crying.
Thackeray had spent five hours being sent all over the town one slushy January morning, being laughed at in each establishment he visited and then sent on to the next; when he realized he had been made a fool of, he had taken an angry case of apoplexy, which carried him off within the week, and he died glaring furiously at the other apprentices and even at Mr. Horrobin, the master painter, who hand undergone so much worse back when he was a 'prentice that he could scarcely see what all the fuss was about." THIS IS MY FAVE.
"You are alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
"I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want," he said, and then he paused and he thought. "I want everything."
"But you'll always be here, Silas, won't you? And I won't ever have to leave, if I don't want to?" I'm not crying, you are crying.
Thackeray had spent five hours being sent all over the town one slushy January morning, being laughed at in each establishment he visited and then sent on to the next; when he realized he had been made a fool of, he had taken an angry case of apoplexy, which carried him off within the week, and he died glaring furiously at the other apprentices and even at Mr. Horrobin, the master painter, who hand undergone so much worse back when he was a 'prentice that he could scarcely see what all the fuss was about." THIS IS MY FAVE.
"You are alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
"I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want," he said, and then he paused and he thought. "I want everything."
Disturbing but fucking awesome. Plus did you know that Ben Barnes is Dorian Gray in the movie? He's so beautiful sometimes I think he's not even real.
So I guess I have this thing where I get really intimidated with classic books like Dickens, Austen, Dostoyevsky, etc. And this book has been categorised to Classic Books That Scared The Hell Outta Me before I even read it so I guess I kind of judged it prematurely. Remember that English isn't my primary language so sometimes classic books language just kind of hard for me to understand. But for some reason I tried reading this one and I quite loved it. It was not very hard to read or to understand and the story is just lovely in a dark-ish kind of way.
Reading this book certainly inspired me to read other classic books like Count of Monte Cristo (awesome as hell), The Idiot, and Fitzgerald's books. Will definitely try to get out of my comfort zone again as soon as possible.
So I guess I have this thing where I get really intimidated with classic books like Dickens, Austen, Dostoyevsky, etc. And this book has been categorised to Classic Books That Scared The Hell Outta Me before I even read it so I guess I kind of judged it prematurely. Remember that English isn't my primary language so sometimes classic books language just kind of hard for me to understand. But for some reason I tried reading this one and I quite loved it. It was not very hard to read or to understand and the story is just lovely in a dark-ish kind of way.
Reading this book certainly inspired me to read other classic books like Count of Monte Cristo (awesome as hell), The Idiot, and Fitzgerald's books. Will definitely try to get out of my comfort zone again as soon as possible.
If anyone's going to ask me to choose between LOTR or The Hobbit I'd choose The Hobbit. Not that anyone would ask me that, but i'm just saying. And not that i have anything against LOTR, because that's not the case. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR but that book is so dull sometimes especially when Tolkien got going on names (which I can't never seem to remember) or relatives or stuff like that. The Hobbit is lighter, less like a history book and so much more fun. I read LOTR way before I read The Hobbit and based on my experience it was OK, so if you want to read LOTR first then by all means, go and do that.