The Shining by Stephen King is an American horror classic. When someone thinks of Stephen King—they think of this masterpiece of a novel. 

After reading about the first 50-100 pages, I thought to myself, Why would a horror book be so slow paced? But I soon realized the setting needed time to develop as the plot started taking a turn for the worst.

This setting is like no other, making the reader feel attached to what causes fear, something that humans don’t necessarily feel safe with in the first place.

Readers could easily be reminded of the terrors of The Shining because of the different techniques that King uses. This could range from the sheer terror of the setting of the hotel to the freakishly creepy characters that haunt the building. All of these details included within the setting create a sense of regret for readers. It makes them think that reading the book will bring their lives great misfortune and a presence of haunting spirits. King strikes these feelings within readers through his consistent use of imagery to create fear within readers. It’s almost like Stephen doesn’t want people to ever pick up his masterpiece ever again. Any book with great detail in every section of the book makes for one that is remembered by an entire society. 

As the nightmare of a story went on, it made me realize that the story was only picking up pace by the page. Seeing characters become further paranoid by the hauntings gave this a clear description. The characters that King uses makes a reader feel like one. It’s almost like the characteristics of the characters are being forced upon the reader to feel the horror of the story that only strikes an addicting sense of fear into the reader. As a reader, it felt like I was falling into madness because of these vivid details 

King doesn’t use the fast pacing mixed with haunting details on accident. It’s obvious that these techniques are used on purpose because of the unique feeling that is struck within a reader. Horror stories and movies are made perfectly to create a feeling like this in someone brave enough to observe the nightmares. 

As I mentioned before, this sense of thrill and horror can cause a strange addiction within the reader that causes you to question yourself as to why the book is still being read. Reflecting back at how it made me feel, I stand with my original opinion; It causes me to feel a tense and frightening feeling but it leads me to read further.