Book Review: Gerald’s Game

And just where the hell have I been?! Well, I’ve been around. Dealing with life. In between those life moments that nobody can afford to ignore, I’ve found a little bit of time here and there to read and write. Mostly read, which is just as important as writing. I’ve read a couple of good books and plan to write reviews for them, but for some reason I wanted to write one for this one first.

I’m going to skip a synopsis and go straight to the review, because I’m sure you’ve read this before. And if you haven’t, I’m sure you can find a synopsis somewhere before reading this. I’ll probably have spoilers too.

I had passed by this book in the book store multiple times and always wondered about it. Finally one of my friends made up some list that was going around on Facebook and in her list she said Gerald’s Game was one of her favorite books (or something like that). I asked about it and she said it was one of the most terrifying books she had ever read. Another friend told me the same thing. Excited, I planned it as the next book to read. My wife got it for me for my birthday and away I went.

I actually knew nothing about it going into it and was surprised to find out what it’s about, which you find out right in the beginning of the book. Stephen King jumps right into it. After Gerald’s death, which I found shocking, I then found the rest of the book shocking. Not because of what it was about, but because an entire novel was written based around this idea.

Basically, Gerald’s Game is about one small incident that was stretched out big enough to make a novel.

What intrigued me about that was, I have plenty of small ideas that I would love to turn into novels but didn’t think it would be possible. I even spoke with Alexandra Sokoloff once about it, and how my ideas for stories are typically short story ideas and if I’m lucky I’ll get a novel out of them. She was surprised, saying how all of her ideas are novel ideas and how she’d have a hard time writing a short story. To each their own, right?

Well honestly, I didn’t think it was possible to take an idea that on the surface had very little going on with it, and stretch it to make it something bigger. Stephen King, in all of his glory, showed me otherwise. There’s always plenty of places you can go with even the smallest of ideas. Use that imagination!

That was the biggest thing I took from Gerald’s Game, which was enlightening. As for the story itself, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a huge terror to me, but I understand why it was to those ladies I spoke to about it. For me it was just another good King story. There were a few parts I grew tired of, such as the tall skeletal man in the corner she kept seeing. That was, until the end of the book, when I found out… well, you can find out for yourself.

Ultimately, it was a book that I couldn’t put down, such is the case with most all of King’s novels. It got me excited to read another book, which is good because I’m backed up!

I also discovered this is a sister story to Dolores Claiborne, so I might have to read it as well. Especially since a movie was made out of that.

I give this 7 of 10 stars (4 of 5 on Goodreads).