Misery Review
Genre📚
Fiction: Horror/Thriller
Quick Summary🗒
A world famous writer, Paul Sheldon, is kidnapped by his greatest fan (Annie Wilkes). Paul is held captive in her home and forced to write another novel continuing his renowned Misery series. He faces excruciating torture and torment, while also crafting “the best work he’s ever made.”
Review🤔
Where to begin with this one…Stephen King is no joke.
I picked this up right before my Florida trip back in June. Lying down on the sand with the waves hitting my feet while reading about Paul’s shattered limbs and agonizing torment was something different. A real relaxing beach read, right?
All jokes aside, this book is fantastic. It's a story with a very simple premise, but King still finds every way to test the limits of its singular location. I can draw it down to two things: the writing and the characters.
There are only two characters in this story, and King made sure I got very comfortable with both of them. I think it's the length of the novel that really strengthened them for me; slowly unfolding new layers of both Paul and Annie throughout the four parts. Paul is in such a hopeless situation that I found myself rooting for every small victory he made in captivity. Any new piece of information, food, or weapon he was able to obtain was progress. This being the level of desperation throughout the entire narrative. Paul is also a realistic character; the things he says or does while imprisoned I feel reflects what an artist being forced to create would do in that situation. The many clever quotes and comments of the artist interjected into the dialogue breathes personality into Paul, and serves as a break from the horror. It's clear King as a writer put a bit of himself into the character and it really pays off.
And then there is Annie. A character so equally terrifying and fascinating that she drives the whole plot on her own. Her unpredictability in particular, was really thrilling. One chapter she may be serving Paul breakfast happy as can be, the next she’s clawing her fingernails into her forehead squeezing out blood like a 3 year old opening a ketchup packet. It’s this kind of ticking time bomb threat that keeps the book interesting. Besides her dicey psyche, Annie’s inner soul is also fleshed out slowly throughout the novel. I eventually learned she’s not the simple “mentally deranged” super fan she appears to be, her past being as engaging as her modern day insanity unfolding on Paul. Annie has a long history behind her character, I'll keep it at that.
The final thing that really wraps this story together is the writing. King uses a variety of sentences and literary devices so that the story never gets stale to read. It seems as in every sequence he writes he asks himself, “how can I make this more interesting?.” It's the little details he adds here and there that glorifies every image. I especially found the opening of the novel to be written ingeniously. In one section, King intercrosses the dialogue of Paul explaining how he got to be in Annie’s house with Annie's side of the story. It's so smart because it makes reading both stories much more interesting as the dialogue is interconnected; it also saves me time as the reader from going over the whole story again making it repetitive. This is just one example of the clever writing King displays in Misery, and his whole technique truly does elevate the novels storytelling.
Overall, Misery reminds me of the movies Jordan Peele has released in the last couple years. Like Get Out, this novel has an already extremely creative premise, but then goes above and beyond with the writing and characters. Check this one out if you are looking for something to keep you up at night page turning. I look forward to checking out the shining next, maybe.
Who is this for?🤷♂️🤷♀️
Fans of Horror
Writers and Artists
Anyone who enjoys claustrophobic, singular location stories
Top 3 quotes💬
“And so began the thousand and one nights of Paul Sheldon”
“Minor matters such as what the fucking book was supposed to be about would have to wait.”
“Writers remember everything...especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is the ability to remember the story of every scar. Art consists of the persistence of memory.”
Criticism🧐
While I enjoy ninety-five percent of the story, there are a couple of segments I would omit. King includes decent sections of the “book” Paul is being forced to write for Annie. While some may find it interesting to get a peak at this novel within a novel, I kind of saw it as pointless. It doesn’t contribute much to the narrative, and I found it was actually pretty boring. I get the idea of showing what Paul is working on, but the story was just so disconnected and less interesting than the main plot between Annie and Paul. Why would I care about Misery’s story when I've spent 5 minutes with her and 5 hours with Paul? I don’t know if this is a hot take since this book is old, but I honestly would just advise new readers to skip these segments altogether.
Reading Difficulty level📊
Super straightforward story; no time jumps or character narration changes. I can’t see anyone struggling with this one. Only thing I could maybe say is that the book does lean to be on the longer side, but that's about it.
Book vs Audiobook📖/🎧
I read the physical version and honestly I wish I did the audiobook. I think listening to it would have injected some more character into the story. Actually hearing Annie have a psychotic screaming match with Paul, while hearing his inner commentary on it would go a long way in enhancing the narrative. Reading it is perfectly fine, but I would definitely hop on the audiobook if it was my first time.
Final Score out of 10⭐️⭐️⭐️
7/10: Fun book that I would recommend to most people.
