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Misery -- June Discussion -- Section 3-4
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Danielle
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Jun 09, 2009 01:40AM
Just breaking the discussion up to avoid spoilers. This thread is for the second half of the book. Feel free to jump in.
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I'm curious as to what others made of the excerpts from Misery's Return. I'm an occasional romance reader, so I appreciated his crappily melodramatic potboiler, with its cardboard cut-out characters (including a portrayal of 'natives' that sits right up there with King Kong), shock-horror twists and turns, and terrible attempts at dialect. It made me wince and laugh, particularly the reference to his limited run edition of the porn version with Misery and Geoffrey's spaniel!
But I could imagine for those who didn't read romance or enjoy the parody that those sections might drag a little?
I bet King had a good time writing the novel within the novel. Bodice rippers are funny reads anyway.
Yeah, but the funny thing was that if Stephen King earnestly wrote a bodice ripper, I would have been the first one in line to buy it. He is that talented. I actually enjoyed his fortay in it between chapters.
Personally, I might have paid for the small press edition of his dodgy Misery offshoot...I also loved the feeling you got for the whole creative process from this book. The finding and discarding of ideas - I love the scene where Annie calls him on the first start to the novel, because it cheats, and then he goes on to find this exhilirating beginning that spawns the entire crazy bee plot.
I wonder how autobiographical that sense is that it took him some time to accept his own identity as a heartfelt horror writer, rather than trying to make more earnest and 'literary' works of art that he didn't enjoy writing as much?I also wonder whether Paul's re-evaluation of Fast Cars as less than the stellar work he'd imagined it at first is meant to be a truth, of sorts, or how much is him needing to come to grips with the fact that it's gone, somehow, and so detach himself from it emotionally?
I sort of feel sorry for writers that start in one genre, get pigeon-holed by money, fame, and nutty fans, and spend the rest of their lives trying to slay their own Misery Chastains.John Grisham is a good example of this. After writing legal thriller after legal thriller, he writes A Painted House, which is a good little story about a southern family, but his fans barely glance at it as they're salivating over his next legal thriller. If I were Grisham I think I'd just lock myself into a room and dry my frustrated tears with a wad of $100 bills.
Great speech, Mark, cheers for the link!LOL Tressa, I'll have to check out A Painted House.
One of the things that also strikes me about Misery is how concise it is, for a King book :)Two central characters, a battle of wills, and a pretty tight structure. It reminds me a little of Gerald's Game, in that respect.
Anyone else apart from us read it, or planning on reading it this month? What are your thoughts?
Great point, Danielle. King started off as a concise writer, even with books that had more than two characters. But after The Stand his writing got a little messy and pompous.Gerald's Game is not as well-known a King book as his others. But you're right, it is a tight psychological tale of a battle of wills between a woman and her foggy mind. I couldn't sleep for a while after reading it and it made me want to write King and thank him for such a wonderful story.
My library's copy of Misery is out, so I'm going to borrow one and start my jabbering over here.
I loathed Gerald's Game. The only interesting parts to me were the flashbacks of her childhood. The rest was SO tedious.
Seems like Gerald's Game is a love/hate kind of book.
Heh, I enjoyed Gerald's Game too. I like seeing resourceful people battle a tough situation - it reminded me a bit of Intensity, my favourite Koontz novel. A lot of the suspense revolves around one person using dogged determination to get through various physical challenges. I guess the part of GG that sticks in my mind is how she gets out of the handcuffs, and the reveals about the creepy character who has been visiting her while she was trapped.
It might have worked better as a film. For a relatively short novel, it felt really long.
The creepy character is what did me in on that story. It's one thing to be handcuffed and alone, but to be at someone's mercy who isn't all there? I wish I didn't have so many other books to read 'cause I would love to read this one again.
Very few of Stephen King's movies live up to the book. I usually feel let down after watching them. There are exceptions though. Christine was one. Although maybe it scared me so much because I was young and impressionable. Either way, it was one of my favorite King movies. The Stand is my favorite King book, but the movie was freaking horrible.
