The Shining for me was where it all began. It was the first Stephen King book I read and after reading it, I was hooked! So obviously, when the sequel was released this year (36 years later!), I was super excited to find out how Danny Torrance turned out.
Although Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining, the story is quite separate and it would be possible to read it without having read The Shining. I would suggest however reading The Shining first to fully enjoy Doctor Sleep.
Most people associate The Shining with Jack Nicholson (“Here’s Johnny!”) who starred in Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of the book. Kubrick’s The Shining is not a straightforward interpretation of the novel; I’m not going to criticise it but to do the film justice, it does need to be viewed as a work in its own right. If you’ve read The Shining, you’ll know it is completely different to the film; Doctor Sleep is the sequel to the BOOK not the FILM.
What you may not know is that Stephen King wrote the screenplay to a TV miniseries of The Shining that first aired in 1997. You can buy the miniseries on DVD (which I did) or it can probably be watched online. I highly recommend watching the TV miniseries before reading Doctor Sleep.
The TV miniseries stays true to the novel, similarly to the TV miniseries of The Stand. There is in my opinion one major difference in the TV miniseries –Jack Torrance is a card-carrying member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I watched the TV miniseries before I read Doctor Sleep and when AA started to be banded about, I must confess I was a little disappointed. By AA featuring in the TV miniseries, it took away some of the fabulous fucked-up grit the book achieved.
The TV miniseries (remember the screenplay written by King) went further than the book did chronologically; in the TV series we see Danny Torrance graduate from High School (at Stovington!) with double honors. At the graduation ceremony, Jack makes an appearance (in ghost-form) which goes further to redeem Jack Torrance as a character. Kubrick’s Jack is beyond redemption!
In Doctor Sleep, the book confirms that Danny graduated high school with double honors but does not mention which high school. The book reveals that although he excelled tremendously academically at high school, at the same time he was starting to drink heavily which is something that the TV miniseries omitted. Well of course it omitted it, that would just piss over the happy ending.
Doctor Sleep is Danny Torrance as an adult who is now known as Dan Torrance. Like his father, he became an alcoholic, but not as functioning as his father as he never made it to college or began a career. The book jumps forward in time to present day where Dan becomes a successful recovering alcoholic (15 years sober) achieved through AA.
The book confirms that Jack Torrance DID NOT go through AA (good!) which contradicts the TV miniseries, and in the book Dan speculates whether things would have worked out differently (for the better) at the Overlook Hotel if his father did go through AA. I’m interested in King’s train of thought when he wrote the screenplay for the TV miniseries, as not even AA could help Jack!
Alcoholics Anonymous does play a prominent role in Doctor Sleep to an extent where it almost reads as recruitment literature – ALMOST. There is some criticism of the organisation in the book, but the overall message is AA cures alcoholism. Stephen King is a member of AA and still attends meetings so King is writing from first-hand experience – I respect that.
AA certainly has changed many people’s lives for the better which is a good thing. I have to say that I attended an AA meeting with a friend of mine and found it a little culty. I was uncomfortable with AA’s pseudo-religious “Higher Power” message – the book does make light of this concept in passing though. I think King just about manages to not ram AA down the reader’s throat.
When I began to read Doctor Sleep, I was totally gripped – it was fantastic. This is the first Stephen King book I’ve read that’s recently been published – so far I’ve only read books from the ‘70s (alcohol decade) and ‘80s (coke decade). Stephen King grounds his work in contemporary reality and you certainly get this with Doctor Sleep. Now I know what it feels like reading a King book when it’s first released – it’s certainly an experience!
This book is a 21st century King book, smoking doesn’t play a role in the story or the word nigger, the best you’ll get is “Chink” which is the nickname of a member of the True Knot. It’s not as gritty or fucked-up as some of his other work is and it certainly isn’t as scary.
Like a lot of his stories, remember he doesn’t plot, it’s about the journey not the destination. Unfortunately the journey got less gripping towards the latter half. The ending was predictable and has almost a fairy tale quality. What a like though about Doctor Sleep is how King links his other concepts to the shining. Jerusalem’s Lot is mentioned, which kind of made sense as the antagonists are vampires – well sort of.
If you read my blog about ‘salem’s Lot, you’ll remember I wasn’t too impressed with book. Since then after reading Night Shift which contains the short story Jerusalem’s Lot, it changed my mind about the book for the better. I like how the vampires in the book are after the energy (they call it steam) from children who have the shining. Far better concept than blood-sucking vampires who can be warded off by a crucifix!
I am truly happy for Stephen King that he has achieved sobriety and a better quality of life. I have to admit though there was a certain charm to his drug-induced writing. I love the fact that he doesn’t remember writing Cujo. Who knows, maybe the drugs enhanced his creativity; I think the coke probably gave It some edge – still my favourite book!
This is not to say that I endorse drug use, I’m currently watching Breaking Bad and drugs can really fuck up lives and those around the users. Therefore it is good thing for King and his family that he has sobered up and it hasn’t affected his creativity, but as far as the bizarre-out-there stuff goes, that certainly has been tamed.
KING OF MACABRE 