Gerald's Game (February read)

[Brittany]

Hi everyone! Another Constant Reader and I are going to start a buddy read of Gerald's Game this February. Please feel free to join our discussion here!

[Brittany]

Buy it quickly?

[Kerry]

I want to re-read it, but have several other books planned before I could get to it, so it might be mid-Feb before I could join the discussion. Will that be too later?

[Brittany]

John & Kerry - we could just wait till mid-month so everyone can join!

[Randall]

I'm game and ready. Thanks for the thread!

My library usually has copies of both physical and digital King books. Hopefully everyone that wants it can acquire it easily.

[Brittany]

Next one!

[Kerry]

I'm in - just let me know what the target date for discussion is.

[Brittany]

I'm sure you can download it on the kindle!

Since several of us are in the middle of (or just beginning) other novels, why don't we set our start date for Feb 6, but feel free to start reading/discussing earlier than that. Also, let's try to keep spoilers to a minimum if possible until everyone's finished reading.

[Tara]

I would love to join.

[Randall]

Feb 6 sounds good to me.

Luckily my library uses overdrive and hoopla. The amount of digital content is great. I wish the audio could be used through the audible app, but I always do the ebooks through kindle.

[Kandice]

John wrote: "I'm sure it is available on Kindle."

If you have a Kindle and a library card, even if you can't physically go to the library, you should be able to check out e-books. Usually it requires Overdrive, but a call to your library should be sufficient to set up an e-account. That way it would be free!

[Brittany]

Not sure how KindleUnlimited works but it might be something to check out, too.

[Sam]

Charlie wrote: "Download on insufficient funds it will download before it realises then put it on airplane mode before the transaction is cancelled ha"

Wouldn't that be stealing?

[Stevo]

I haven´t actually read Gerald´s Game and atleast two people have recommended it to me recently so this could be the perfect opportunity for me. I´ll start it this week with you all. :)

[Brittany]

Awesome!

[Shell]

I have this one and haven't read it yet so I will aim to join in :)

[Brittany]

Anyone begin reading?

[Randall]

I have and finished it yesterday.

I went into it completely blind so I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

Look forward to discussing it. Don't want to spoil or say too much yet.

[Brittany]

I think I'll be finished this weekend... It's hard to put down!

[Kerry]

I'll try to read by this weekend as well.

[Stevo]

I'm hoping to start over the weekend. I'm reading Blood Meridian but can't get into it so I think taking a break for Gerald's Game will be good. :) I've read ~100 pages of Blood Meridian and barely have any idea what's happened during those 100 pages. :s

[Jaro]

I've started, and so far it has my attention. My first time.

[Brittany]

Mine too, Jaro!

[Brittany]

Hey everyone! Since we are all at varying places in the book, let's feel free to begin our discussion but maybe if your post contains spoilers just put that in the first line so those of us who aren't finished yet won't read it till we are. I am about halfway through but I think there's a ton to talk about in this book without focusing on big plot points or twists, and ruining any surprises for anyone. :)

What do you think?

[Kerry]

This is a re-read for me, but it has probably been 15-20 years since I read it last. I am enjoying the re-read, and one thing I wanted to comment on is how different this is from many King reads - especially the more widely read and well-known.

I'm about a third through and what has struck me so far is how engrossing the story is despite the smallness of the setting (a bed) and shortness of the character list (and yes, I'm counting the dog).

I also wanted to post...I had forgotten that this book came out just months before Dolores Claiborne and they they were connected. Might be a time for a re-read of that one, too.

[Brittany]

Kerry, I'm glad you pointed out the smallness of the setting because I also think that he makes the story seem so expansive even though it takes place in a small space with, as you mentioned, a minimum of characters. I think that Jessie's dialogue with all of the voices inside her head helps engage the reader despite the lack of action. The action that there is, like Prince's parts and the water cup, is described in such detail that I felt like I was engaged in a much more complex plot.

[Brittany]

I've just finished this book and have to say I was surprised (and extra creeped out) by the ending! I wasn't expecting this turn at all. I loved the book and at first the ending too, but now I'm not sure if I'm satisfied by it...

What do you guys think?

[Kandice]

I actually love that (view spoiler)[ the ending and what happened to her is real. It could easily have been supernatural, but Jubert (or whatever his name was, can't remember) putting his hands up and making those noises was simply, and realistically horrifying. (hide spoiler)]

[Brittany]

Yeah, now that I've had a sleepless night to think about how I would feel if that were my situation ... I like the ending!

[Jaro]

I'm not there yet (about half way), but I also was surprised by how dynamic the story feels despite its confined setting. I like how he uses the crucible, the idea of tying the character to a situation/antagonist in order for the story to work (if the protagonist can just walk away from the antagonist you have no story). Here though, she is alone, cut off from other characters. And so the antagonist becomes her thoughts, her past or, more obvious, The Room.

[Brittany]

I agree, Jaro. I think ultimately she's her own antagonist as you say with all of those things combined.

[Nick]

Brittany wrote: "I agree, Jaro. I think ultimately she's her own antagonist as you say with all of those things combined."

But I love the in-your-face villain, as evil as any King ever created, and maybe more evil than some he thought were worse. (view spoiler)[I thought the fact that he was gay and so spared her was a little bit of a copout. But still... as bad a dude as Mr. King ever gave us. (hide spoiler)]

[Shell]

Oh I'm so annoyed at myself. I picked up this book on Friday and read a few pages then decided to go back to my current read (Interview with the Vampire) because I had it in my head for some reason that we weren't starting this until the 15th! I'm really happy now because I am keen to get stuck into it, it grabbed me straight away. Definitely going to spend some time with this tonight so that I can join in the discussion!

[Brittany]

No worries, Shell! If it grabs you like it did me, you'll speed through in a couple days!

[Kerry]

It had been so long ago that I read this that I had forgotten the ending so I was surprised all over again. (view spoiler)[ I also really liked that Joubert turned out to be a real-person monster. People always think of SK as purely a supernatural writer, but some of his greatest villians - Annie Wilkes and Jack Torrance to name two - really just become evil in their insanity.

But did anyone else think Jessie was going to do something more drastic than spit on him in the courtroom? Like give him a quick shank? (hide spoiler)]

[Shell]

Brittany wrote: "No worries, Shell! If it grabs you like it did me, you'll speed through in a couple days!"

I had no idea what this book was about, having 'Game' in the title made me think it was going to be about baseball or something - wow, I was way off!!!!

I felt very strong emotions just from reading the first few pages so I know that I am going to fly through this one.

[Brittany]

Anyone else finished this yet?

[Shell]

Sorry, I'm a bit behind - I'm only 34% of the way through. The start really grabbed me but I'm hoping something good happens soon because I'm starting to get bored :/

[Shell]

Okay so now there's (view spoiler)[ a creepy dude standing in the corner of the room (hide spoiler)]... I'm not bored anymore ;)

[Jaro]

I'm finished and have posted a short review. I liked how it is sort of linked to Dolores Claiborne, released the same year. I'm a bit unsure what to think about Joubert and the ending. I liked the the way King for so long maintains the ambiguity between the supernatural and the psychological, and even though the resolution dissolves this ambiguity, I would still argue that this "feels" very much like a supernatural novel.

[Kandice]

Jaro wrote: "I'm finished and have posted a short review. I liked how it is sort of linked to Dolores Claiborne, released the same year. I'm a bit unsure what to think about Joubert and the endin..."

You're right and I think that's what makes it scary. "Real Life" can be that way. We all may be crazy, but what if we aren't? O_o

[Brittany]

Agreed, Jaro. I'm not sure that I wanted the supernatural aspect resolved. I liked the otherworldly feeling of the man in the corner, and the link it created with the "evil" memories that Jessie was struggling with, as if personifying all the fear she was experiencing in a position helpless both physically and mentally speaking. It scared me more than Joubert: to think that maybe our subconscious has the power to manifest in a very real and terrifying way. At the same time it made me question Jessie's mental stability, not as if "oh she's just a psycho who talks to herself," but more so the man and voices and memories helped me see how powerful childhood experiences can be no matter how old we get or how hard we try to forget. But the book's resolution detracted from that power for me and gave me a kind of "standard crazy guy" that made me feel bad for Jessie in a different way than before.

If that makes sense...

[Nick]

Brittany wrote: "Agreed, Jaro. I'm not sure that I wanted the supernatural aspect resolved. I liked the otherworldly feeling of the man in the corner, and the link it created with the "evil" memories that Jessie wa..."

For a long time I preferred the ending because I think it made the book more horrific if the guy was real. But I'm starting to see that Joubert (as a projection of Jesse's fears) is an even more terrifying scenario. Cause let's face it the monsters in our heads never really go away. Still, in general, I like it better when the monster is real (eg: Rose Madder)

[Jaro]

That makes perfect sense, Brittany. Well put. I also very much liked that otherworldly feeling, and I think that maybe not all corners of that feeling, of what she sees, gets explained or taken away by the resolution.

[Kerry]

Question for the group...what does everyone make of the voices in Jessie's head? (view spoiler)[The book mentions that they were with her constantly in the year immediately following her father's abuse, then they went away. (hide spoiler)] Does anybody else feel that they might be a result of dissociative identity disorder and came back due to her stress while cuffed to the bed? It seems implied here, and is a common theme (Dark Half; Secret Window, Secret History; Susannah Dean (DT) in King works.

[Brittany]

Good points, Nick, and I enjoy when the monsters are real, too; and, I think, when they're "other," like Joubert, not "us." It helps make them scary but also more evil. I can more easily despise and disconnect from the monster who isn't me.

But when the monster is somehow intangible, manifesting inside a character or from a character, that's more disturbing for me personally. An other I can get rid of, but something that's essentially me? It's a lot harder and there seems to be a lot more at risk. Joubert can be jailed but only Jessie can control the manifestations of her memories and her personal hauntings. Does this even make any sense? Haha!

[Jaro]

Nick wrote: "Brittany wrote: "Agreed, Jaro. I'm not sure that I wanted the supernatural aspect resolved. I liked the otherworldly feeling of the man in the corner, and the link it created with the "evil" memori..."

I also prefer when the monsters are real, but not only "real" as in possible to explain in what is our concept of reality, as I assume you mean Nick, but "concrete", i. e. taking form in the fictional reality. Although Duma Key is my favorite King novel, I remember I wasn't completely satisfied with how the ghosts were just vague projections, and not "real" ghosts. You will probably not agree.

[Kandice]

I get what you are saying Jaro. I can agree even though I adored Duma Key and count it among my top 5, "real" ghosts would have upped the ante.

[Brittany]

Ooooh, Jaro, I didn't even think about that perspective. Ghosts but concrete in a sense. I get that and agree! I just wish that had been the case in GG... A real monster, not just a bad dude.

[Jaro]

Maybe I'm a bit off the topic of this thread here, but I had another thought about "real" monsters. Regarding It, I’ve sometimes heard the objection that the novel would have been much better if King hadn’t let the monster take form and step out from the sewers, if he instead had let it be a symbol for the lurking evil of the city. I disagree. Neither the novel nor the monster lose their symbolic powers by the monster taking form. Rather it is this concrete form that creates and strengthen the symbolic level. I think it is hard to imagine the novel working without this concrete, material, part.