Welcome to Week Seven!

When I was reading THE SHINING, all I could think about was how similar the family in the novel was to the Mulvaney family. Both of the father's have issues with their own fathers and it effects the way that they interact with their families. Also they are both very negative characters by the end of the story. Also both of the wives are in a sort of denial about the way their family is functioning. Both of them don't do much to defend themselves in situations in which their husbands are very controlling. The children in both novels have their own ideas about what is going on but don't really try to change anything, as if they just gave up on the family (though I can say that Danny does do a little more than the Mulvaney children do). I do think though that reading about the family in THE SHINING was more interesting than WE WERE THE MULVANEYS.

I can't keep track of all the aunts and uncles... uh.... another winner for a dad...he might be the scariest yet...at least to me because people like him are probably more common than people who live in giant haunted hotels and go crazy...I guess he and the Mike Mulvaney dude are debatable...and yea, I decided to go without sentence structure on this one...i mean, it's 2:10...

This will probably sound asinine, but I'm being serious when I propose this, but I think that the odds against this much alcoholism in our male characters in the past three novels, all the way back to Paul D in "Beloved," without any of them digressing into a more serious drug habit, i.e. cocaine or heroin, is not very plausible. One of them, Paul D, Mike Sr., or Jack Torrance, should have had the prediliction for harder drugs. It's statistics. Frankly, in my opinion, Jack Torrance would have been more believable, and "The Shining" a whole lot more interesting, if Jack had been hitting the rock, so to speak. Seriously. I mean, it wouldn't have been a stretch for King to have had him spiral down into a mean coke habit. But the Overlook's isolation would have made that a problem. Yeah, "The Shining" would have been way better if King had thrown in a little Penelope Cruz from "Blow" into Jack Torrance's character. I mean, why have Morrison, Oates, and King just stopped at alcohol addiction??? They could have done so much, much, much more with the illicits. Honestly, as a reader, I feel a little cheated...

I have started reading Bastard Out of Carolina, and I rather enjoy it. I really like the southern language and writing style the writer uses, as I think it adds so much to the story. I am also enjoying all the characters. They also add an entirly different dimension to the story... ok now to change the subject... I went to see Andrea Dworkin last night for her reading and will be attending her lecture this morning. I thought she was extreamly captivating. I thought I would be watching the clock the entire time, however before I realized it, it was almost time for the reading to be over. Her pieces were incredibily descriptive and also somewhat disturbing. As she graphically goes into the touchy subjects such as rape, prostitution and women's rights. I think above all, she delivered a different way to look at those issues. For anyone that knows, was she reading about her own life? I couldn't figure it out. Anyway, I really enjoyed her readings, although I don't agree with her on all points, she makes very good arguments. If nothing else, to force people to re-look at the issues she discusses.

I thought that The Shining was the best book we have read so far. However, I have one major complaint about the story. I could not believe the character of Danny. He was just way too young to have that part in the story. Most five year olds have to sleep with a night light on because they are afraid of the dark, but Danny could read people’s minds and see dead bodies yet, not be affected that much. The only way that the character of Danny could be made believable within this story is if he was huddled in some corner for the entire book crying. I know if I could read people’s minds and see dead people, I would be affected a lot. I could not even imagine what I would do, but I know it would be more than what the character Danny did.

I'm a little over a hundred pages into Bastard out of Carolina. So far, I am really interested in it and enjoy reading about the Boatwrights' way of life. (However, my friend told me that he threw the book away after reading it because he was so upset. So now, each time I start to read I become a little apprehensive about what is going to happen.)

I have not seen the movie for any of the books we have read, however my goal is to watch a few of them. I am so interested to see who they would cast for certain roles, one being Glen Waddell. In the book on page 34 it says, "Glen Waddell's feet were so fine that his boots had to be bought in th boys' department of the Sears, Roebuck, while his gloves could only be found in the tall men's specialty stores." I don't know, but when I think of Glen now I think of a distorted person and each time his name is mentioned I picture his distorted, almost freakish looking body in my head. In other books, the description has done the same to me... I really can't recall which ones though. It could be that Allison was just trying to describe how big Glen's hands were since that seems to be important in the story so far. I don't know, but personally it is just frustrating to me.

Well I'm pretty sure that The Shining quiz will be the one that I am going to drop. However, I did enjoy the book. This is the first King novel I've ever read, mostly because I don't like scary stories. But I really don't think this story was so warped that it was horrifying. I found it really interesting that there was a semi-happy ending. Most stories along these lines end in complete tragedy. I also like how King made Jack out to be a sincere person, so that when he was taken over a part of me felt bad for him.

Since I am not sure what else to really say about the Shinning, I think I will compare it to the movie.

Movie: The movie focused mostly on the mysterious ghosts haunting the Overlook, while we slowly watch as Jack Torrance seems to give in to cabin fever. We see very little of the love that Jack is supposed to have for Danny, and it really comes as very little surprise when Jack finally does loose it.

The movie actually does not touch as much on the actually Shining ability that Danny has. In the movie. Tonny is an irritating iinvisible friend who lives in Danny's finger(and has a really wraspy voice). Tonny does remain partially true to the story in that he tries to warn Danny about the Overlook through visions. Unfortunatly, the visions are all very vague and haunting, and Danny is unable to relate to them. Dann'y first vision about the Overlook is a huge pile of blood spilling out of an elevator. This image does not really seem to suggest as much about the actual evil of the Overlook as it could.

The Mother Wendy is a pale and irritating character who did some great acting I suppose, but all she really did was cry and look terrified. She would be more appropriate for the movie if Stephen King had not already stated that Wendy was already a very attractive women with BLONDE hair.

Book: The book focuses a lot more on the true evil of the Overlook. In the movie, we are left to wonder exactly how much of Jack's madnesses is actually due to cabin fever. However in the book, it is made painfully clear that the Overlook is feeding almost of Jack's inner demons and using them to control him.

Danny's ability to shine comes into play a lot more in the book. It is what interests the ghosts of the hotel, and it allows him to call Halloran, while in the movie, it is suggested that Halloran may have learned about the trouble the family was in through his own ability to shine. Moreover, Tonny is not some irritating voice in Danny's finger. In fact, in the book, no one in the family but Danny even spoke to Tonny, while in the movie, durring the begining, we see Wendy actually talk to Tonny through Danny and try to convince Tonny of how nice the Overlook is.

Wendy is much more of a concerned mother, who really fights back against her insane husband. In my mind, she is much stronger and braver than her pale(and I mean that literally) imitation in the movie.

Unlike his counterpart in the movie, we see that Jack is actually a loving father who has turned his back on his own demons for the sake of his family. He is still haunted by his demons, but he has turned his back on them giving up drinking and trying to control his temper. What I really liked about Jack in the book is the fact that it wasn't him trying to kill his family. As he is running down to the boiler to dump the pressure, the book describes Jack as 'it'. Some kind of creature that looks like Jack and has his memories.

In conclusion, the book was awesome. The movie still gives me nightmares, but it does a grave injustice to the original story written by Stephen King.

The Shining was a very complex book with many details like We Were The Mulvaneys but this time the details were great. It took me forever to finish The Shining due to all of the details but it was a page turner. I found myself re-reading certain parts just incase I missed something vital to the end. I have read several of King's books but this one takes the cake.
   I wanted to also comment on something that we discussed in class. Someone had mentioned that this was the first and only male author we are reading this quarter and I thought that was pretty weird. Women and men writers do have a lot of differences and I wondered if anyone thought the same as I do. I think that women definately read more novels by other women rather than men. When I compare the novels I've read from the two sexes, it is hard to find something to connect with in a novel by a male. There are always exceptions but I can understand why the male student in class didn't enjoy the other novels we have read in class.

Ok well in response to why the male characters with the alcohol problem didn't move on to harder drugs seems foolish to me. Yeah drugs are another major issue in American society, but look at the facts.. this is a ballpark figure but I'd say 1 in every 4 or 5 households has an alcoholic in the family. And I can speak from experience that alcohol has a very serious impact on a family. I think what made the shining believable was simply the fact of how disfunctional the Torrance family was, because of Jack's drinking problems and his poor anger management. Now Jack's character made me furious at several points in the book, just do to his reluctance to change. Then above all he regressed all the way back into what he hated the most, which was the portrayal of his own father. As well as it fit into the story, it truly had me worked up.

In class, the "what-if" discussion concerning Jack Torrance really got me thinking. If they had never gone to the Overlook hotel, would Jack have eventually ended becoming abusive? Now its obvious he wouldn't have ended as badly as he did at the Overlook, but would he eventually have turned his inner troubles and angers on Wendy and Danny regardless of the Overlook? In class I argued that he wouldn't, and I think it's because King was so good at getting me to sympathize with Jack. In the book, I saw him as a man who had indeed made a number of horrible mistakes, the worst of which breaking his son's arm, but throughout the novel he seemed to be regretting that, trying to attone for it. The fact is that King made me want to believe Jack was on the road to improvement, when the big bad Overlook went and screwed things up. Looking more objectively at his character though, I find myself reluctantly agreeing that Jack probably would have lost his temper again somewhere down the road. Regardless of what it would be, something would set him off. I would like to point out, however, that in the TV special of "The Shining," King had a direct influence on the screenplay, and was involved in the making of that movie to be certain it was a more accurate portrayal of his book. In the ending of that movie, Danny is grown up, at his graduation, and fully capapble of handling his shine now. In the back of the audience, as he is taking his diploma, he sees his father, smiling at him, proud of his son, and Danny, not surprised in the least, smiles back. This ending is a bit more final than the ending of the book, and I can't help but think that maybe King had something to do with that ending, giving us his idea of what happens after his book ends.

Personally I think The Shining was by far the best book selected for this class. The intensity is what kept me reading. What bothered me is the question on whether or not Jack would have gone crazy if he wasn't at Overlook. I think not, because there has to be a certain level of situations that is needed to drive a person crazy. A lot can be tolerated, but the events of Overlook, I think, is enough to make anyone nuts. I think Jack took the job as an escape, time to be with his family, but in the end he ended up alone and crazy. I loved how the hotel came to life, because, in a way I think that the hotel was the biggest character of the novel. This book was the only book so far that kept me wanting to flip the page, which made it a faster read.

I am glad we read the shining in this class and got to discuss it. Normally when people think of the shining they tend to think Stephen King horror novel, or the famous line from the movie 'Here's Johnny!!!'. Most people don't think of the family aspect of the book, and personally i will never read the book or watch the movie quite the same ever again.

Overall I enjoyed The Shining, but I found myself having a very difficult time getting into it in the beginning. In comparison to We Were the Mulvaneys, I think the description actually helped this book along. I have never seen the movie, but after the discussion in class about how different but yet good the movie was from the book I think I might give it a try. I have just begun reading Bastard Out of Carolina, and so far I am enjoying the change of pace. I am not much of a horror fan, and despite the "family" aspects of The Shining it hasnt turned me on to the horror genre.

THE SHINING was the first book that i had actually been looking forward to reading, its also one of the only books that i actually enjoyed reading for this class... unfortunately i didn't have the time to finish it, what with my brother coming down the weekend before, and all other things like that... i never got around to finishing it, but as soon as i finish BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA i plan on going back to THE SHINING.

I think that my favorite part of the book (from what i've read of it so far, that is) is the part where Danny and Dick are sitting in Dick's car talking about 'the shining.' it made me feel good about the story, even though i knew what was going to happen. I thought that the relationship, even if it wasn't really developed too fully, was the best one in the novel.

Right now i'm about half way through BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, and while its quite the change in pace, i'm enjoing it much more than i thought i would.

I am part of the way through Bastard out of Carolina and already I love it. I like the writing style of the author and I keep wanting to knwo what happens next. I only read a little bitof The Shining, but for some reason I do not like how King writes. Although it was difficult, I like the challenge of the style of writing in Beloved. It isinteresting to compare the works of different authors on style.

I am reading Bastard out of Carolina right now and am very interested in what is happening. I have become more and more interested in studying families as this quarter has gone on and Bastard interests me because their are so many characters that all have their problems and different kinds of relationships with each other. I think the issue of alcoholism among working-class men is interesting, especially since I have a large working-class family with many uncles who like to drink beer, however I wouldn't say they have drinking problems. Of course, the most interesting character is Glen and why he is so screwed up. This book seems to raise the question of to what extent does a parent's treatment of a child affect them as they get older. Is Glen a child molester because his father doesn't live him like he should or just bc he is a pervert. I would go with the latter. Anyway, I think Bastard is a great book bc it seems to make the reader uneasy as they read on hoping that Glen doesn't strike again, or that Bone doesn't have to go back to living with him.

I just finished Bastard Out of Carolina, and although I was disturbed by it, I was also enthralled by the struggles of all the characters. I think out of all the books we have read, this one examines the family in the most deep, profound way. Although the abuse to Bone is horrifying and the plot kept the pages turning, I also feel like this topic has been done over and over. Maybe I'm just jaded because of all the Lifetime movies, but it didn't seem like an original concept. Nervertheless, I still really enjoyed this book, and I loved Bone. I think this was my favorie book out of all the ones that we have read.

   The Shining was an awesome novel. I really enjoyed it. Of course being from the state in whihc it takes place certainly adds to the creepyness factor to say the least. I liked the writing style a lot actually, which is a surprising thing considering that overall I am not a big fan of King's writings in general. The concept of whether or not the book was more scary on a pyscological or basic greaky level was interesting to me. I can certainly see where some people might think that it is more psychological. I loved the way that they book was easy to get through and managed to keep my attention the entire way throughout, unlike all the books read prior to it. As for my thoughts on Bastatrd out of Carolina...ummmmm, well, it is very different. Basically I hate it. It is so boring and drab and everything that I hate in a novel. The sibject matter isn't interesting, nor anything that I can relate to. The part in the beginning where they are eating salteen crackers with Katchup on it...ugh, that me cringe. Hopefully once I reach the end the promise of it being a page turner will be revealed to me.

I found The Shining to be dull. I also thought that even though it was to be a horror book full of suspense, I was not at all enertained by it until the end. The Shining was full of good potential. Had the book been more realistic, for example, Jack goes crazy in his mind from flashbacks that keep haunting him because he has nothing other to occupy himself with while at the Overlook. Jack then relates all of those hard memories to his wife Wendy and his son Danny and becomes enraged with anger. Jack then kills them both out of his own created insanity. I enjoy the more real point of view vs. "The underworld". Overall it was a good book, way better than Beloved. Bastard Out of Carolina is disturbing, but sends a real message about families. This book is the second best, next to The Bean Trees.

well....i very much enjoyed "the shining". it's a well written novel for sure. i really liked danny's character development throughout the book. interesting to compare it to the movie.....as was said in class, the book was far better than the flick! all of the characters were much more alive--even the hotel was more "alive" in the novel. as it should be, no? i thought the psychological aspect of jack's "breakdown" and danny's "breakthrough" was brilliantly written by mr. king. of all of his novels, i'm starting to think that "the shining" could be my new favorite. :-)

with respect to the new novel we're reading, i'm already falling for it! i love southern based novels and am already enjoying the dialect, the scenes, the scents, and the memories this book is conjouring up for me. (i have a lot of family down south.) great characters so far--all of the extended family and accompanying drama/trauma has been great! mama's obsession with bone's "bastard" title--her love and loss of lyle--granny and aunt alma's stories about bone's daddy---excellent stuff. i truly didn't expect what happened to bone while her mama was in labor with glen's child. i was absolutely horrified!! i know it's just a book, but i was moved. and isn't that what it's all about? being touched/moved/shaken by a book? getting excited about reading a well-written work of fiction is so rare...i embrace it when it happens.

thankfully we've read a whole list of books that i like and love. it's been a challenge to reread these books (like my fave, "the bean trees") and assess/critique them. a whole new light really...being shed on them. i like it. it's difficult--sometimes i would like to just "enjoy" the book without having to analyze and digest it so thoroughly. but, again, isn't that what this is all about? to challenge and teach us how to better critically approach fiction??!?!?!? looking forward a nice warm weekend with my new novel and not much else on my plate. aaahhh....don't you just love spring?

I really disliked The Shining. I think the characters were developed well and the book read quickly, but I really just don't enjoy the type of novels that Steven King writes. I didn't like Wendy's character because she was so weak, and all the sexual imagery and Freudian psych. stuff I didn't appreciate either. But I am really enjoying Bastard Out of Carolina. I hope the ending of this book is a bit happier than the others we've read.

Of the books read so far in class I found the Shining to be the most interesting. This was the first Steven King book I have read. I have seen many of the movies made from his books, but the shining is the only book I have read. I want to read more of his books, to see how they differ from the movies, considering the Shining book was different from the movie, but not in so much a bad way. What I liked about the shining was the supernateral part of it, with Danny seeing images. This supernateral was in Beloved,which is one of the reasons I liked it so much, but it was not as much as I would have like to have seen, the Shingin kept more of the supernateral throughout the whole book. The Shining I felt was a great book overall with the supernatural element that it had.

I really enjoyed The Shining. I have never read any Stephens King or any horror novels, so this certainly expanded my interests which is good. However, I read it all in one day, which I do not recomend to anyone. I could not sleep because I just kept thinking about it. I think the power of Jack's relationship with his father is so interesting. I thought Wendy's character was a little undeveloped and I wonder if that is because she was written by a man. It made it a little interesting though to be able to be more free in my ideas of what she was like and her thoughts during the whole story. I think with all this talk about the movie I will have to go out and rent it.