I honestly can't remember if I've ever reviewed a S.K. book for you guys, so I'll go ahead and state (maybe restate) that I absolutely love King, and even though he isn't my favorite author (his son is, Joe Hill), I respect him more than I respect any author. If I could sit down with one person to eat dinner with, it would be him. Picking his brain would be one of the greatest experiences of my life, because I have no doubt it would be bizarre.
Doctor Sleep can be called a sequel to The Shining, one of King's most renowned works. It follows a grown-up Dan Torrance, who developed a nasty drinking problem, probably taking after his father Jack, whose demise was brought on by the poison of the drink (and the fact that The Overlook Hotel was haunted..). Dan is called, just like his "mentor" Dick Hallorann was, to help a young girl with a shining even bigger and brighter than his. There's a group of antagonists called the True Knot who are a huge threat in Dan's life, and his, along with the other main character, Abra, battle with them is an epic stand-off that will forever stand out in my mind.
Now, everyone who loves horror loved The Shining, whether you read the book or watched the movie, or both. I'm a big believer in books always being better than their movie adaptations, but it's a really close race with that one. So we're all (hopefully) familiar with the premise of the novel, and one of the things I really liked about Doctor Sleep was that it really did continue in the way its predecessor did. There were familiar characters, but new characters were introduced that I really developed strong feelings for. That was important for me, because I didn't want the entire book to rest on the laurels of the old characters.
This is probably an unnecessary statement considering how original King is, but the plot line is so devious and new while still retaining elements of The Shining, and that was interesting to me, how he could so easily write a sequel that was nothing like but everything like its predecessor and still make it completely its own story--even if you haven't read The Shining or seen the movie, you could pick up Doctor Sleep and never miss a beat.
The symbolism in this novel is incredible. Whether he uses flies, cats (a theme he seems to enjoy), alcohol, red pickups, or even the infamous "REDRUM" line, the symbolism, while subtle, is always clear and easy to pick up on if you know what author you're reading. I won't go into the various meanings, simply because it would ruin the book, but you'll know em' when you read em'.
While I enjoyed the novel and the experience I had reading it, there were two big issues that I had that really interfered with the way I read.
The first extremely noticeable one is a problem that I have with most of King's works (and that isn't saying much, because he really is an incredible writer, but it's just a pet peeve of mine that I take issue with in any work). I don't feel like he needs to use as much description in his works, especially this one. There are things that he uses several paragraphs to describe/explain, when one or two sentences would have sufficed. But, I also tend to enjoy more minimalist novels, so it may not be a big problem for you when reading.
The second is the strain to connect two characters--I won't tell you which two, simply because you may not notice if I don't say, and that's what I want--in any personal way. It's almost as if he wanted the reader to emotionally connect these two characters so badly that he overwrote the entire relationship. It felt awkward and strained and in no way fluent to me. Sometimes two characters just don't have enough in common, or don't have enough story importance, to be connected and thought of more than in passing, and that's okay. I just don't think there should have been so much focus on the two, because in my opinion, their relationship in no way impacted the story at all.
Doctor Sleep is a twisted, sick, wonderful novel that is everything KING. Like I said, if you liked The Shining, you'll most likely love this novel, but even if you didn't read/see it, you can pick it up and be fully educated on the plotlines of both.
I recommend 6/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment