This will be a new semi-regular feature.  I listened to the audio book of The Shining by Stephen King in 2010 (post here) watched the 1980 movie last month (post here).  Let’s break down how they compare.

The Story/Plot  Ultimately, this is the story of one man’s descent into madness.  While I enjoyed Nicholson’s performance I thought the book explained it better than the movie showed it.  If I had just seen the movie I would have missed fully understanding what drove Jack to the brink.  Thumbs up-Book

The Visual  I liked seeing the grandness of the hotel, but missed seeing the hedge animals come alive like they did in the book.  There was a hedge maze but it didn’t have the same effect that the animals did in my imagination.  I bet they could do this if the movie were made now fairly easily.  Tie

Characters vs. Actors Nicholson really put it all out there in the crazy department and I liked it, even if it wasn’t how I pictured Jack at all in the book.  I really liked the mom in the movie, Shelley Duvall, and liked that the movie was just as much about her as a mother as it was that Jack was going insane.  The kid was fine, but somehow it’s easier to imagine the shining than to see it. Tie

The Ending The one thing that drives me crazy about movie adaptations is when they change a perfectly good ending as was the case here.  It’s not even a close call.  I loved the ending of the book and disliked the movie version.  Thumbs up-Book

And the winner is…the Book!

Now it’s your turn to vote

Other book vs. movie polls you can vote on: (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) (Good Morning, Midnight/ The Midnight Sky) (Before I Go To Sleep) (The Little Prince) (Charlie St. Cloud) (Far From the Madding Crowd) (The Girl on the Train) (Tuck Everlasting)  (Northanger Abbey) (Me Before You) (And Then There Were None) (Still Alice) (The Blind Side) (The Fault in Our Stars) (The Hound of the Baskervilles) (Gone Girl) (Jack Reacher) (Ender’s Game) (Carrie, the original) (Under the Tuscan Sun) (The Secret Life of Bees) (The Shining, the original)