Reviews and Comments

Has the makings for a real good horror novel, but it just overexplains too much. For example, the wasps nest could've been really good symbolism/foreshadowing but then the meaning is literally explained to the reader. Same with Jack sleepwalking initially and the Medoc poem, it could be good but he repeats the relevant poem line later on and ruins the subtlety.

And for the obligatory film/book comparison, they're really not the same at all, the only similarity is the general premise and a few details and that's about it. I prefer Hallorann's character in the book, and wish it was like that in the film, because him just dying right away and having no character in the film sucks. I love the ambiguousness of the film though, the book is 100% guaranteed to be the evil hotel, while the film could've been purely Jack going crazy other than the one singular hint in the concluding shot.

The first four are horror stories centered around the titular play, which is almost like a necronomicon. Those stories inspired writers like H.P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells. There are a few darker or semi-horror stories later, but by the end the stories are romance. Even if you don't like the later ones, at least read the first four, they're really good. The first four are easily 9/10 or 10/10, but the rest of the book is very difficult to get through, not my type of thing.