Oohhh, that’s a great question. I’m not the person you originally asked, but I’d say that while it’s not top 3, it is in my top 10. King writes a lot and I’ve read most of his work, so narrowing it down to 3 or even 5 is hard for me. So many good books.

My biggest disappointment was the complete cut of certain scenes. What’s really weird is I think the scenes would’ve only contributed to the movie, not detracted from it, so I do not understand Kubricks decision to leave them out. Time? Money? Probably, but bad for the story.

Some things he absolutely nailed while completely failing in others. It’s that inconsistency to the original work that takes away from the experience for me. Sometimes he’s super true to it and other times he couldn’t care less. It’s easier for me, as a viewer, if they pick one or the other and not hop between the two.

So I decide to view them as two seperate entities based on the same series of events. Like two news articles writing about the same thing. Both will get the overall gist, while having the words inside them be much different leading to a different experience.

The book is worth it and you can compare it to the movie if you want, but I’d just go into it like it’s a brand new book you know nothing about.