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Doctor Sleep by Stephen King


Michelle

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Doctor Sleep – the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel to The Shining. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely!

 

The Shining has to be my favourite King book, a book that scared me silly as a teenager, and then lived up to a second reading when older.  King himself says he’d often wondered two thing: what became of Danny, and what would have happened if his father had found Alcoholics Anonymous and lived a different life?

 

Doctor Sleep looks at both these issues, as the grown-up Dan faces his own alcohol demons, and then learns to tame them with the AA. We get a glimpse of life for the younger Danny, as he and his mother recover from the events of The Overlook, his struggle with alcohol, and then the story focuses on a sober Dan. He settles into a job in a nursing home, where he provides help and support to the dying in their last moments.

 

He then meets Abra, who has the shining far stronger than he ever did, and also comes to know The True Knot, a group of people who travel around searching for people with the shining for sustenance – they kill them, and gain power from the ‘steam’ they give off as they die.

 

If you’ve not read The Shining, I would highly recommend it before picking up Doctor Sleep – it is possible to read this one on it’s own, but you’d get far more from it after The Shining. However, I don’t think it’s necessary to re-read The Shining if it’s been a while.. as long as you remember the main points (and who wouldn’t with a story so powerful?) you’re good to go!

 

From my own point of view, I didn’t find Doctor Sleep as scary – the beginning part is the closest to The Shining, and rather unsettling, but King then takes it in a different direction. To me this is a good thing, as this needed to be a sequel which can stand up on it’s own merits, rather than a rehash of The Shining. Dan is a great character, despite his faults and struggles, and Abra is a strong, likeable character.

 

I stopped reading King for a while, as I couldn’t get into his books, but that has recently changed. Full Dark, No Stars in 2010 showed a King who was back on form (for me, anyway) and this continued with 11.22.63. Doctor Sleep continues this trend and I’m back to waiting impatiently for the next book!

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I'm not quite sure what you mean? Who's lowest point? The story is about Danny, the boy from The Shining, who's now an adult. 

 

Oh :blush: ... Let me take this foot out of my mouth... I guess I completely misunderstood. All this time I've been thinking of the wrong plot! However, I'm still a bit skeptical with this one. King, for me at least, seems to be a big hit or miss. Is this the kind of book where you'd recommend running right out to snatch it up? Or more of, ehh, well if you've got the time...

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All one has to do is take a look at all the books King has sold. It isn't like he is an unknown author. All authors have some people that don't like their writing but then again, there are some like King that have many, many, fans of their writing.

 

I just bought The Shining as I hadn't read the book and wanted to read it before reading the new one which seems to be getting good reviews.

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  • 4 months later...

I have to agree with Michelle - King went a bit downhill over the last few years. For me that started with "The Dark Half" and lasted till "Cell" (which I thought was OK, but had a really poor ending) . For me he has regained his form, and the stuff he is writing now is compelling. I think a lot of King fans were worried that a sequel to The Shining would be a bad idea, if it didn't work. However, it does work - this book is well worth reading.

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I have to agree with Michelle - King went a bit downhill over the last few years. For me that started with "The Dark Half" and lasted till "Cell" (which I thought was OK, but had a really poor ending) . For me he has regained his form, and the stuff he is writing now is compelling. I think a lot of King fans were worried that a sequel to The Shining would be a bad idea, if it didn't work. However, it does work - this book is well worth reading.

ooohh, i have 2 disagree, i dont think he went downhill at all, but each to their own :smile:

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  • 2 weeks later...

ooohh, i have 2 disagree, i dont think he went downhill at all, but each to their own :smile:

 

I should qualify my statement - even his (in my opinion) "poorer" books still stand head and shoulders above a lot of books I read. He set the bar very high with his early work!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I enjoyed 'Dr Sleep', I am always a bit sceptical about sequels (and I'm almost usually wrong), 'Dr Sleep' was well worth the wait, can't wait to read it again. :)

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  • 1 year later...

I've just finished Doctor Sleep and enjoyed it. I think it can be read without having read The Shining, but it does help with understanding some of the references. I didn't find it scary, whereas some parts of The Shining (hedge animals) really gave me the heebie-jeebies.

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I've just finished Doctor Sleep and enjoyed it. I think it can be read without having read The Shining, but it does help with understanding some of the references. I didn't find it scary, whereas some parts of The Shining (hedge animals) really gave me the heebie-jeebies.

It's good to hear you didn't find Doctor Sleep scary, because I found The Shining pretty scary and that was the main thing I liked less about the book and partly what's been holding me back from reading Doctor Sleep.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Loved it! KIng comes in for his share of criticism, but as one of the biggest

selling authors, that must go with the territory? I have only found a couple

in his vast output to be 'poor' (I.M.O) because,probably they did not live up

to whatever expectations I may have had, prior to reading!

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It's good to hear you didn't find Doctor Sleep scary, because I found The Shining pretty scary and that was the main thing I liked less about the book and partly what's been holding me back from reading Doctor Sleep.

 

There isn't anything very scary in Doctor Sleep, so I do hope you get around to reading it. The Shining was creepy....very creepy in some parts. Actually thinking about Doctor Sleep, it's only the beginning that is a bit scary, but that's because there is more of a direct link to The Shining and things that happened in it. But that is only the first chapter....after that it is all ok. :smile:

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There isn't anything very scary in Doctor Sleep, so I do hope you get around to reading it. The Shining was creepy....very creepy in some parts. Actually thinking about Doctor Sleep, it's only the beginning that is a bit scary, but that's because there is more of a direct link to The Shining and things that happened in it. But that is only the first chapter....after that it is all ok. :smile:

I'm really happy to hear that, thanks BB :)!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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