Stephen King has a long history of poor adaptions, but The Shining might be the worst offender.(And yes, I've seen all of King's movies, even Dark Tower)

The Book has such warmth, such love for family, and Jack's struggle. Danny is a complex character, as is Wendy. None of the actual scary spooky monster stuff happens until near the end...and that's brilliant.

I know this book was near and dear to King due to his own drinking problems. I also know authors sometimes tend to get a little heated about adaptions and it's overblown sometimes. Not in this case.

Kubrics movie, while an enjoyable watch, has lost all flavor to me after reading the book. It's liked someone ready a summary and bullet point presentation, but missed the entire point.

I finally decided to read it after watching Doctor Sleep and loving it. Decided to read them both. I know Kings books are often pretty different than their TV or Movie Adaptions, but this one...wow. It feels so shallow now. Jack in the movie feels crazy from the start, ready to murder his own family at the drop of a hat.

In the book, his struggle is so heartwrenching. His desire to be a better man. To resist the hotel. Seeing him ultimately lose in the end, knowing it was coming because of the movie and Dr.Sleep of course, I still was like "Please don't do it Jack, resist!", I couldn't help myself.

It really touched me on an emotional level, Jacks internal monologues. I don't drink or have kids, but it resonated with me so strongly, the feeling put into those.

Instead Kubrick made it a generic horror movie.