Danny’s All Grown Up

“Here’s Johnny” says check out Dr. Sleep! I watched Stephen King’s The Shining for the first time when I was a freshman in college. I immediately fell in love the film, so when my book club picking the Shining as our book for last October I was a bit nervous to read the novel. Normally I follow “the book is better than the movie” as rule of thumb, but I really was unsure what to think the novel would be like in comparison. Turns out I loved the book, although in a very different way from the movie. I was able to keep the two separate from each other. (For frame of reference as to where New Hampshire is, a small geography lesson!) I was elated when I read that Wendy and Jack were from New Hampshire and went to the University of New Hampshire, my alma mater! So it’s not a huge surprise that I was thrilled as I discovered the majority of Dr. Sleep takes place in my home state as well. The creepy REDRUM child is now an adult, and it’s his turn to be a mentor to a child that has the shine.  That child, Abra, has remarkable capabilities. Dan’s (remember, he’s an adult now) analogy of their respective capabilities refers to his shine being like a flashlight and her’s being a lighthouse! Clearly that is bound to cause some trouble. King introduces a group called the True Knot to feed on the shine. Creepy! It was interesting to see the new development in Dan’s life after a troublesome childhood. I think that King was able to create a new story for those both familiar and unfamiliar with the Shining. The majority focused on the new plot, but there were many hints to the previous novel. Dr. Sleep could be read on its own, but I think the reader might get a bit lost at points where someone who has read (keyword: read, not watched) the Shining has light bulb moments connecting the two plots. Enjoy and Happy Reading!