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The Shining
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Plot Summary of The Shining
"Danny moves with his parents to the Overlook Hotel to be caretakers for the winter. He learns he has a special power called the shinning in which he can see, hear and feel things others can not. He discovers that the hotel is haunted and is slowly possessing his father, driving him mad. When his father sucumbs to the madness of the Hotel it is up to Danny to call for help and save his mother through his new found gifts. "
pam, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Shining
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Horror story? Yes
Horror plotlets - the haunted house chased me!
Family relations Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - student - writer
Age: - 40's-50's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character: - mind reading - clairvoyant
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - physically sick

Main Adversary
Identity: - An "It". - an organization
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - unemployed
Has magical powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - can change shapes - can talk to animals - fire/thunder/weather cntrl - telekinesis - mind reading - mind control - clairvoyant - can cast all sorts of spells - can read emotions - is very quick
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - bulging muscles

Setting
Terrain - Mountains
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths - very explicit references to deaths and torture
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy - actual description of sex - description of breasts - descript. of private male anat. - descript. of non-breast female anat.
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to The Shining
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
The Horror of Lighthouse Hill by Jim Catapano
In the Night Room by Peter Straub
The Resort by Bentley Little
Rose Red by Stephen King


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Stephen King Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Sue Jeffrey  

SCHOLARS:
Joseph DeMarco  Dylan Blender  Elana Starr  Steve Sitter  Alyssa Jayne  Linda Hahn  Colby Sullivan  Deborah Stoops  C. L. Rossman  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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