Gerald's Game

[Joanie]

I just finished this, it totally creeped me out. I know a lot of people didn't like this one and it was pretty gruesome but I liked it. Definitely got my heart pumping in some parts! I like how King can take a fairly simple concept and build something totally terrifying.

[Rebecca]

i loved this book. I could totally see how it could happen that a woman could be trapped in that situation. The part that creeped me the most was when she saw that guy in the corner just standing there watching her. Or was he really there? Very unsettling.

[Shane]

I really liked this one too. I was impressed with how well it worked with one main character like that. What about that stray dog having a bit of dinner...

[Rebecca]

Ooh - yes! I'd forgotten that part. I haven't read this in years. I should pick it up again. Her husband was such a jerk. I wonder if after it was all over she felt grateful just to be rid of him.

[Joanie]

The stuff with the dog was so brutal! That's why King is so good though, as if Jessie's situation wasn't bad enough, let's throw a hungry stray into the mix! The guy in the corner gave me goosebumps-so scary.

[Moon]

I read this book years ago and really loved it in all its creepiness. It was one of the King titles that I was swapping with a friend in high school when we were going through our phase. I happened to find it at the used bookshop that I like to visit a few months ago and just had to buy it for my collection.

[Lauren]

Of all of his books I've read, this one was the hardest for me to get through. I LOVED every moment of it, but I had to take a breather now and then to get through the gory parts... and I can handle gore. The descriptions were so right on that my hand started actually hurting while I was reading it. And the man in the room... what woman alive wouldn't have nightmares over that? Totally gruesome and awesome and absolutely one of my favorites.

[Kandice]

My husband and I were drivng cross-country and listened to this on audio. Of course I also read it, but my husband, who is NOT a reader, LOVED it! I am always shocked that so many people review it badly. It really could happen, and it is seriously disturbing!
Lisa- That phrase was even scarier hearing it! Total shock, and not what you would expect. He is just soooooo good!

[Katniss]

I'm just gonna pop this thread up a bit... 'cause I finished Gerald's Game the day before yesterday. I think it was okay. I'm impressed how he managed to have his main character bound to a bed, alone, in a lonely room for the main part of the book and still keep tension up almost allover the story. But the way he ended the story ruined it for me. Totally.

(view spoiler)[ I wished he would have left it right there with Jessy in her Mercedes, unconscious. Leaving it up to the reader to decide if the Space Cowboy would have been an actual man, something supernatural or just a product of her imagination. I would have loved to hypothesize wheter she made it or not. (hide spoiler)]

King has a way of ruining the ends of his books. I seldom find them to be likeable or "good" ends.

[Kit★]

I read this one most recently towards the end of 09, and before that when I was about 14 (and wow, it freaked me out back then :o seriously) But on the re-read, I really liked it, and I even kind of liked the ending, I thought it was kind of creepy.

[Steve]

I think King did a better job getting into a 1st person-driven female character's mind here (and its "sister novel" Dolores Claiborne) than with the omniscient POV in Lisey's Story.

[Becky]

Oh, I disagree. I thought the POV from inside Lisey's head was very well done.

I haven't read Gerald's Game since 9th grade (which was longer ago than I'd care to admit), and Dolores Claiborne has been at least 5 years I think... I should really read them again at some point soon...

[Amanda]

I saw Lisey's Story as his attempt to imagine the world through Tabby's eyes if he lost himself somehow.

[Kit★]

Hmm, you guys are kind of making me want to re-read Lisey's Story, I only read it the once when it first came out...

[Amanda]

Kit wrote: "Hmm, you guys are kind of making me want to re-read Lisey's Story, I only read it the once when it first came out..."

Do it! It's actually pretty neat if not strictly horror.

[Bondama]

Lisey's Story is one of the best books King has ever, ever written -- simply because he's writing from Lisey's POV. Scott lives only in her memory, and every memory of him is tinged with her feelings towards him.

[Steve]

For me i just couldnt grasp what made Lisey stay with her boyfriend, later husband, through all of that weirdness. Must have been love. ;)

[Becky]

If you want to continue the discussion of Lisey's Story, please use this thread. :)

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

[Kelly]

I have to say that while reading Gerald's Game, it was the most afraid I've ever been while reading a book. It tapped into my imagination in a really vivid way.

[Michelle]

I loved Gerald's Game. It almost definitely my favorite Sai King book so far. I'm not sure that I can give a reason why it ranks so high for me though. I think it is truly a horror story.

[Bondama]

The thing about "Gerald's Game" is the most outrageously wonderful thing about Stephen King: he can write a book with only one small "supernatural" touch - and that one seems to be almost an afterthought - and scare the holy hell out anyone who reads the book! Handcuffs... no, I don't think so!

As Kelly mentions, this book goes straight to the oldest, reptilian part of the human brain: fight or flight -- but here, flight's out of the question. This is true horror -- helplessness.

[Dustin]

Hi, Michelle!

Bondama- you make an excellent point. In Gerald's Game, there isn't the possibility of flight. Jesse MUST endure, despite the helplessness surrounding her.

[Trudi]

So excited to see so much love for GG, one of my favorite King novels which often gets more negative attention than positive - if it gets any attention at all!!! I love Bondama's comment above (22): "this book goes straight to the oldest, reptilian part of the human brain: fight or flight -- but here, flight's out of the question. This is true horror -- helplessness." So true!

Katniss I appreciate your point about the ending, but I respectfully disagree. (view spoiler)["The Space Cowboy" is one of King's most bizarre, frightening, intensely memorable creations and I'm so glad he chose to go the route he did with it. It was scary enough when he was just a figment of Jessie's imagination, I was totally freaked once I realized he was REAL (hide spoiler)]

I think it's high time for a re-read so I can give the review I always wanted to write for this novel :)

[Katniss]

Trudi wrote: Katniss I appreciate your point about the ending, but I respectfully disagree.

It's amazing how those things can be so different for different people, isn't it?
(view spoiler)[Finding out he is real had quite opposite effect on me, it made him less frightening, less intimidating and did so not scare me any longer. I was grossed out, yes. But no longer afraid. (hide spoiler)]

[Dustin]

The Space Cowboy..!?! Wow (as usual) I don't recall that..

[Bojana]

Anyone who can make a one-woman-trapped-in-a-room situation into a 300 page book is pure genius ;)

[Dustin]

You've got that right!

[Courtney]

I started reading this a long time ago and I didn't really like it. I never finished it, and I hate leaving books unfinished. I'm re-reading it now and I'm enjoying it much more this time around. I love one-scene horror movies (a la Open Water or Frozen), and that's what it reminds me of. It does have me cringing from time to time, and that's not an easy thing to do!

[Dustin]

Hello, Cblack, I'm glad you're enjoying Gerald's Game, this time around!!

[Brian]

This is one of the few King titles I got bored with and didn't finish. It just felt to me like it would've made an effective short story, but 300+ pages was too much for this material.

[Trudi]

Brian wrote: "This is one of the few King titles I got bored with and didn't finish..."

And I hung on every word white-knuckled all the way! Even the scene where Jessie fights for the glass of water - so near, yet so far! Agonizing suspense. It's curious that there is such a divide amongst fans in how this book's received ... I wonder why that is?

[Katniss]

Trudi wrote: "I wonder why that is?"

It's just humane. It's the same with everything else. Some people love Stephen King in general, others don't. People love pizza, some don't. People love Tolkien, some don't. It's just the way things are.

[G.R.]

SPOILER
Gerald's Game has one scene in particular that has stayed with me, when the space cowboy first shows up. That completely threw me as I had been reading a fairly straight novel up to that point with no intimations of the supernatural and then *he* materialised at the bottom of the bed and I was all at sea until the end of the novel when his presence is explained and resolved. Expert story-telling right there.

[Janice]

I have read a lot of books that I have no memory of the storyline. Not so with Gerald's Game. I read it a long time ago and I remember it as if I read it a couple of months ago.

I have to agree with Trudy. (view spoiler)[ Finding out that the Space Cowboy was real totally freaked me out. As long as I was wondering if he was just imagined or dreamed, I was comfortable. But when she saw him in that courtroom, I got goose bumps. To think that he stood there, in the corner, just watching her, not helping her was insane! (hide spoiler)]

[Kit★]

I couldn't agree with you guys more. That Space Cowboy, man he was creeeepy!

[Bondama]

Trudi - the scene that you are writing about (view spoiler)[ the glass of water- is an unparalleled example of diamond-edged suspense. (hide spoiler)] One of the best written in American literature.

[Trudi]

Bondama wrote: "Trudi - the scene that you are writing about [spoilers removed] One of the best written in American literature."

Yes! yes and yes! It's burned into my brain as if I've lived it. :D

[Dustin]

Bondama wrote: "Trudi - the scene that you are writing about [spoilers removed] One of the best written in American literature."


Hmmm...I'd have to go back and re-read the book, as I don't recall this scene (no surprise there!:))

[Bondama]

I don't know - it would have to be directed by a real master of suspense, like Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick, and they're both gone--
Those long, deftly crafted scenes, such as her trying to get that drink of water would have to be agonizing. I don't know if many people could manage that.

[Trudi]

You know Bondama, I thought the same thing about Misery before it was filmed -- not a perfect adaptation (there were certainly things I didn't like), but I feel Reiner successfully captured some of the novel's most suspenseful moments and Paul's inner turmoil and conflict.

I would trust Gerald's Game to Rob Reiner, I would also trust it to Frank Darabont. These two gentlemen "get" King and I think either one would do a film adaptation justice. I know I'm still hanging on with bated breath for Darabont's promised adaptation of The Long Walk!

[Lena]

Wow, I just read this whole thread. I read this book in high school and really liked it. I too am surprised when people vote this his worst novel--maybe they find it boring?

Funny that everyone is talking about the space cowboy--I don't remember that at ALL, even now that it's been talked about. So I guess I didn't find it creepy. I do think that sometimes King writes a great book that COULD happen, and then he throws in a little sci-fi that falls completely flat for me. It just feels unnecessary, and it makes the reality of the story disappear. The things that really could happen scare me tons more than sci-fi stuff!

The scenes in this that stuck with me more than almost any other scene(s) in Stephen King's books were: 1. where she tries to get the glass of water. OMG! I just wanted to scream!
and 2. The wild dog. I'm creeped out just thinking about it. Notice how those two things could really happen? :)

[Alex]

I read this novel a while ago now, and thought it was an incredible story. I loved not only how creepy it was, but the way you felt alone while reading it. Also it is a testament to Mr King as a writer than he can create such an incredible book out of what is in essence such a small event. By that I do not mean small in terms of insignificant but rather small as in, few characters, few scene changes, limited mobility etc. There is a reason he is the best and why I (and all aspiring horror writers) hope to emulate him in any way we can.

[Courtney]

Lena wrote: "Wow, I just read this whole thread. I read this book in high school and really liked it. I too am surprised when people vote this his worst novel--maybe they find it boring?

Funny that everyone..."

(view spoiler)[The Space Cowboy wasn't sci fi, in spite of his name. He was a psycho that lived in the area and killed his family, and just decided to hang out in Jessie's bedroom one night. That scene where she wakes up and he's standing in the corner was absolutely heart-stopping for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Bondama]

In all honesty, the "apace cowboy" in "Gerald's Game" was a no-play for me. It was the one introduction of something "supernatural" in a book that depended on its horror for the ordinary. This was the one book that King used the horror of a series of events that COULD happen to terrify the reader. The agony of the glass of water, and the dog far surpassed a lot of the regular genre "horror" he's written, imo.

I must admit, it's been a while since I've read it, since this book and "Cujo" are two books that totally terrified me -- in the sense that I DIDN'T want to re-visit them!

[Lonnie]

Lena wrote: "The things that really could happen scare me tons more than sci-fi stuff!
..."

I couldn't agree more. I have said for years, to those that can't believe I read King, that the things that really scare me are the things that could happen. Of all the books I have ever read only one gave me nightmares and it was a James Patterson book, Season of the Machete. I woke up from a nightmare from that one!

[Bondama]

Exactly, Lonnie - Whereas I truly don't expect to meet a vampire around the corner, it's within the realm of possibilities that I COULD meet a serial killer!

[Kathy]

On my quest to finally read all of Uncle Stevie's books, I've recently started this. This book has me very curious! How will he handle a book with a seemingly "simple" premise? Or maybe it's not as "simple" as I initially thought. We'll soon see....

[Dustin]

That's exciting news, Kathy!! I'm sure you'll love it!

[Amanda]

I think it's one of his best. I found it so hard to read in parts. In particular I was so grossed out at the part where she escapes the handcuffs...eurgh!! Even thinking about it now makes me nauseous. At the time I had to keep putting it aside while reading that part.


http://divaliciouzbookreviews.blogspo...

[Dustin]

I think it's one of King's best, as well, simply because of the overall simplicity of the story, and the fact that he keeps the tension and suspense going throughout it all.:)