Machel Shull's Blog - Posts Tagged "stephen-king-dr-sleep"

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yippee! Just finished THE SHINING and going in for the kill with DOCTOR SLEEP. I'M A GROWN UP NOW. Yep:)

Well. Well. Well. What can I say? I have become a CONSTANT READER OF SK. I am back in the groove of reading a few of his books in a row and it has been so entertaining!

I loved the SHINING. The book, which the movie was based on but did not stay true to, showed a more human said to John Torrance, Danny's dad. His mom wasn't just pushed around by him either. No. You understood that this was a person battling the good and evil and he ultimately lost. You never saw that in the movie. If I had to guess why SK wasn't thrilled with the movie, I would say because it lost the 'goodness' in Jack that tried so desperately to beat alcoholism. I also loved the scrapbook stuff where he was obsessed with it and went down to the basement constantly to piece together the past. That was lost, too.
I know this is Dr. Sleep, here but now thinking of how THE SHINING really did lead well into Dr. Sleep. I read them back to back. I fell in love with Danny as a child and believe it or not, Jack, his father. He tried so hard to finally get it right. So when it went wrong you had more sympathy for his character verses the ax maniac Jack in the movie version. I also missed the animals made out of hedges in front of the hotel. They would come alive and chase the characters. And that was way more menacing than just a maze. (Although, the maze worked in the film version.)
So onto DR. SLEEP! ONTO the book that rocked the house, too. I actually cried at the end when Dan told his story about 'canny' and 'Deanie' in the past and how that was his bottom with drinking. I was more involved in this story than the Abra story, but eventually, I became hooked with Abra, too, as she hit her teenage years.
After I finished Dr. Sleep, I told my husband, "Those that don't read SK have it wrong. They think he just writes horror stories or something scary and dark."
But what I have discovered the thread I see through the 12 books I have read is SK weaves in the humanity of his characters, their struggles, their weaknesses and you as a reader can really relate to them as 'REAL PEOPLE.'
There is evil in this world. Dark and scary things do happen. And to read about that can teach us the power of the light, too. The light is what ultimately conquers in both books. I think that as a reader it's important to switch up genres. To learn about both sides. To see life in the darkness of the worst struggle and what happens to a character when life seems bleak, awful and...will they prevail?
We all have our own struggles. Life is a constant battle. And sometimes in most of SK's books that I have read, a thread of light can shine through and the monsters of this world can be beaten.



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