Are you as excited as I am about the next King release,
‘Doctor Sleep’?
Released next month (September 2013), the sequel to the
classic 1977 novel ‘The Shining’ (which was only Stephen’s third novel, but
already showed so much of what we have come to perceive as ‘classic King’), is
long-awaited and so eagerly anticipated that the first chapter has already been
released on the Stephen King Books super fan area of their Facebook page (see
here).
I have wondered, over the years, what happened to Danny
Torrance; has he grown up, led a ‘normal’ life, and lost his ‘shining’ ability?
Or did he become his father, a low-achieving alcoholic?
Whenever I reread
this book (or watch the controversial-in-King-circles movie – sorry but I
love it), I feel oddly dissatisfied that I didn’t find out more about him, and
where he ended up. I can’t
wait to find out, but I am oddly worried that I will end up hating the man he becomes.
Worse than this, though, I worry that I will feel indifferent about him. I hope
not, the Danny of ‘The Shining’ is a great character, so I hope this new offering
pulls off the extreme and allows a surge of emotion, even if just pity, towards
the character, and most of all I hope that little Danny Torrance is
recognisable somewhere within Dan, his grown-up self. There is something extra
thrilling about waiting for a sequel, that return to familiar settings and
characters that you feel are a part of your own history if you have read the
previous book enough, so the risk of let down is far greater in this instance.
What do you think?
Can King resurrect and improve on his own masterpiece? Or can ‘Doctor Sleep’
never live up to the brilliance of ‘The Shining’?
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