Misery
by Stephen King
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Read in November, 2007
'Misery' is a gruesome story of torture with blood, guts, and a psychopath. It's a well told tale, the characters are well developed and the fact that there are only two of them never gets boring. It's a real page turner, in fact I finished it tonight after getting off the subway on the platform before I walked home. But, this book is more than just a thriller, just like King is more than just a pulp writer.
I read an article by the ever optimistic and cheerful Harold Bloom in college about h...more
I read an article by the ever optimistic and cheerful Harold Bloom in college about h...more
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Read in February, 2006
Wanting to read some of King's novels, I picked up Misery to start with for a few reasons:
One: It was a shorter book.
Two: He talked about it in his book On Writing: A Memoir.
Three: I wanted to at least read a book while he was still in the throws of his alcohol/drug addiction. I plan on reading a recovery period novel later.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed in my choice. In fact, I found myself drawn swept up in my need to read the book and find out how much of Paul Sheldon is ...more
One: It was a shorter book.
Two: He talked about it in his book On Writing: A Memoir.
Three: I wanted to at least read a book while he was still in the throws of his alcohol/drug addiction. I plan on reading a recovery period novel later.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed in my choice. In fact, I found myself drawn swept up in my need to read the book and find out how much of Paul Sheldon is ...more
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Read in January, 2007
Before I read the book, I saw the movie. The book was actually better, because there is much more detail than in the movie. The book starts out with a writer named Paul. He created a series of novels involving a character called Misery. He decided to end this series of novels in order to make more serious novels, by “Killing” misery in the last book. Later on he crashes his car on a snowy road and is found by a woman named Annie. She claimed to be his number one fan for his book series of M...more
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Read in September, 2007
This has vaulted over almost every other Stephen King book I've read to my top spot, tied with Salems' Lot. I'll have to read Salems' Lot again to see if it really as as good as I remember. Misery is great, completely engrossing.
This book reminded me of something King said in "On Writing", about the writing process. He said to him sometimes, writing was like excavating a dinosaur skeleton. You find just a rib at first, that's like the initial idea. But the whole story is there, it's...more
This book reminded me of something King said in "On Writing", about the writing process. He said to him sometimes, writing was like excavating a dinosaur skeleton. You find just a rib at first, that's like the initial idea. But the whole story is there, it's...more
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Novelist Paul Sheldon has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon's number one fan, rescues the author from the scene of a car accident. The former nurse takes care of him in her remote house, but becomes irate when she discovers that the author has killed Misery off in his latest book. Annie keeps Sheldon prisoner while forcing him to write a book that brings Misery back to li...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Savannah by:
Got curious about it after seeing the movierecommends it for: Everyboy, particularly writers
I seem to come back to this book time and again. It's not "horror" in the technical sense of the term, nor is it one of the Stephen King coming-of-age stories like It, The Body (Stand By Me), or Hearts of Atlantis. In fact, very little "plot" moves the story forward; much of it occurs within the mind of the main character, Paul Sheldon. But I love this book because of the wonderful depths of mood, and because it's about a writer fighting for not only his physcial survival, bu...more
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Read in January, 1990
One of my favorite Stephen King stories, and defiantely the BEST film version as well! It's a story about the best selling author of a fictional character named Misery Chastain, and her series of books based on her life and loves. The author, Paul, finds himself severly laid up after a car accident in the snowy mountains, and in the care of a strange woman named Annie Wilkes, who just happens to be "his biggest fan". Annie claims to be a nurse, and does a great job of getting Paul b...more
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Read in November, 1989
I work in a library, right? SO, books and books upon books pass through my hands nearly every day. Sometimes I take home things I've never heard of and sometimes I crave that which I know--and Misery is one that I knew of old. I guess I read it in '89 or so. I know it was before the movie came out, because the movie came out while I was recovering from my broken leg and I decidedly did not want to see a movie featuring leg torture. I am pretty sure I had a nightmare after reading this one for th...more
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I thought that it was a great book and very entertaining to read. I also thought that it was very intense and had my heart beating every word. The book was based on a man who was an author for a living and was a good one at that. He was very popular, but one day as he was driving in the snow, he crashed and was severly injured. But as soon as he thinks its over for him he is taken in by a stranger. the stranger just so happens to be his biggest fan. But as he lives with this woman that is his b...more
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Read in January, 1997
My first time ever picking up Stephen King, it was this book. And ever since then, my entire reading list was everything he's ever written, and I hailed Stephen King as my favorite author for years. Of course by now, having read most of his works, I wouldn't still say he's "the best writer ever". He's definitely produced some trash along with a few treasures. Misery is, without a question, one of the treasures.
Before Misery I had no idea that it was possible to sit at the edge ...more
Before Misery I had no idea that it was possible to sit at the edge ...more
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I read this book in Middle School. My mother had gone into a period of getting every king book as it came out. This was one of the 1st BIG novels i ever got into. Wow, what a mind warp for a 7th grader. I remember the feeling of dirty associated with this book. What caused this novel to be connected with such a feeling of profound filthiness? The book opens with the breath of life being breafed into the lungs of Mr. King by a fat woman what just binged on junk food. Imagine being awoken from dea...more
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The first novel I can remember ever reading. I never did see the movie, I think it was rated PG-13 or something and I couldn't go. Anyway I can't adequately describe my state of mind when I read this so here's someone else's review that sums up my thoughts and mirrors my experience almost exactly:
Pwntalive-
I read this book in Middle School. My mother had gone into a period of getting every king book as it came out. This was one of the 1st BIG novels i ever got into. Wow, what a mind warp f...more
Pwntalive-
I read this book in Middle School. My mother had gone into a period of getting every king book as it came out. This was one of the 1st BIG novels i ever got into. Wow, what a mind warp f...more
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Read in July, 2008
Thrilling. I usually read King expecting (for some reason) to hate the experience, but he always, always surprises me--maybe it would make more sense for me to raise my expectations a little? Annie Wilkes is an absolutely terrifying villain, in part by how bizarrely sympathetic she is at times. King owes more than a little to John Fowles--which he acknowledges--but whereas The Collector was a tight, claustrophobic little book, the length and intensity of Misery perfectly matches Pa...more
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If you liked the movie, you'll like the book. The story is about a famous writer, Paul, who is held captive by a crazy obsessed fan, Annie. After learning that his latest book kills off one of her favorite characters, Annie forces Paul, under penalty of torturous death to write a sequel to resurrect her fantasy world. Meanwhile, Paul, who is an invalid now due to a car accident desperately tries to find ways to escape from Annie's house, isolated in the snowy Colorado mountains. There are ob...more
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Read in October, 1992
This is one of the first books I can remember actually having to do the equivalent of closing-your-eyes-during-the-scary-bit-of-a-movie: I got to one particularly gruesome bit in the book and closed my eyes, turned the page, and started reading again. And I NEVER skip parts of books, but wow. And gah.
Wonderful book all the same though, excellent stuff. But not to be read at night, alone. (And the problem is, if you start reading it in the daytime, you're not going to be able to stop reading ...more
Wonderful book all the same though, excellent stuff. But not to be read at night, alone. (And the problem is, if you start reading it in the daytime, you're not going to be able to stop reading ...more
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Read in January, 1990
Okay, this not what I am typically reading these days (it must be at least 14 years ago), but I cannot denounce the prowess of Mr. King’s writing abilities! The reason I call this book to mind is I distinctfully recall lying in my teen-age bed, reading this volume, and SWEAR . . . the passage where he describes the smell of Annie Wilkes’ breath when she is performing CPR on him (something about the lid of a freezer-burned ice cream tub, or something of the like) literally, LITERALLY, made...more
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recommends it for:
King fans, horror fans
"Misery" is every writer's nightmare.
Best-selling author, Paul Sheldon wakes up after an auto accident and finds himself being held hostage by his number-one fan, who turns out to be a complete and total psychopath. Especially when she finds out that Paul has killed off her favorite character.
It's absolutely fantastic. The characters - Paul and his number-one-fan, Annie - are well-written. Annie is especially good; King captures her manic-depressive behavior perfectly. She ...more
Best-selling author, Paul Sheldon wakes up after an auto accident and finds himself being held hostage by his number-one fan, who turns out to be a complete and total psychopath. Especially when she finds out that Paul has killed off her favorite character.
It's absolutely fantastic. The characters - Paul and his number-one-fan, Annie - are well-written. Annie is especially good; King captures her manic-depressive behavior perfectly. She ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Lovers of suspense and how to write it
I ate this book up like a chocolate chip cookie. I loved, loved, loved this book. The amazingness of quality in this novel rivals The Shining, in this reader's opinion, and pushes the boundaries of how far you are able to torture not only your main character, but your readers in the process. This is a book to be studied. This is a book to never put down until every last page is savored, and to revel in the brilliance of King when it is finished.
If you're only mildly familiar with Ste...more
If you're only mildly familiar with Ste...more
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The first thing that attracted me to this book was its length-- not nearly as drawn out as many of King's other novels. This one remains to be my favorite of the King novels I've read. Misery instills in the reader the same feelings of claustrophobia and futility found within the Paul Sheldon character. Annie Wilkes is the perfect villain, maternal and sinister at the same time, being both Sheldon's caretaker and kidnapper. That combination is truly a chilling one. In an age where horror is defi...more
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I did not much care for this book because I just knew that any form of torture or mayhem that might eventually be inflicted upon that kooky lady would not nearly make up for her horrible behavior. I read this book in 24 hours, just to get it over with. It just made me so MAD, how UNFAIR it was, like when they used to show those cliffhangers, and one week the car was going over the cliff already, and the next week it was still on the edge of the cliff and the guy escaped, and you were like, &qu...more
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