Book Review: Misery by Stephen King

From the award-winning American author of horror novels, Stephen King, comes a story that will make you believe that we should not be afraid of ghosts. We should be afraid of the living.

Paul Sheldon, the great and famous best-selling novelist has finally met his greatest fan, Annie Wilkes. But Annie is more than that. She is his nurse… and his captor, who is nursing him back to health to write for her, or else, she could use an ax or needle to make him do her bidding. Now, Paul must write for his life.

I know Stephen King since I was young. I heard his name a lot of time on films and seen it on different articles. That is why I was really excited to read his novel and what the ruckus is about.

First of all, I would not classify Misery under the genre Horror. I don’t know about others, but I differentiate Horror and Thriller genre in this way.

• Horror – This genre is more about ghosts, and paranormal activities.
• Thriller –This genre on the other hand is about stories full so intense and full of suspense that the readers would not dare to take off his eyes of the book he is reading knowing that we would miss the thrilling momentum. Usually associated with psychotic people.

Misery, a Thriller Book

After clarifying my side, I would say that Misery falls under the Thriller genre. Indeed, I felt some tingling suspense in my body when I was reading it because Annie was definitely out of her mind. She is a girl with intelligence but too bad she has a wrong perception of right and wrong, and her conscience is not working normally.


Have you ever read a Thriller book before? Or perhaps, watched it? Because when I watch or read those kinds of books and films, all I could think of is how scary it could be to live in this world. Those things which happened to Paul may happen to us as well. That the dead could do us no harm, but the living could make us suffer.

We should not be afraid of ghosts. We should be afraid of the living.

There are many things which happened in the book. It was too detailed for me that I dare not to read it when I was already sleepy because words would just fly out of my mind.

TIP: Read with passion and thrilling music in your mind.

This could happen in real life

What if you would just wake up from an accident which you barely remember? What if someone who labels herself as your biggest fan would come to you and praise your work? What if that biggest fan loves you so much that she wants you for herself?


Well, if you are famous, you may meet one someday. But for average people life us, let us think about it this way.

What if we met a new found friends and she started to become our best of best friends? And then, she started to keep us for herself? That the idea of us being with our other friends makes her jealous? What if she does things to keep us away from them?

Sounds like the film “The Roommate”? Well, that is the idea.

It could happen to us, anywhere, anytime.

Misery so far?

Set aside that I don’t like my copy because it is really small and the font is just so tiny for me to read, the story is really interesting and I like it because the what-ifs are haunting me. I am not saying that what is happening was good because it not really cool to torture people. But then, how the story was composed feels like it could just jump out of the pages.

The book also contains another set of story

The story which Paul Sheldon is writing for Annie. At some part, he was also giving advices and facts about how writing is done by the professional which kept my interest because I secretly want to be a novel writer someday.

The story also revolves around just two characters

Literally. It is just Paul or Annie. The rest of the characters would appear but they don’t have significant part at all. They just appeared for maybe a brief 20 seconds and that’s it.

Film Adaptations of Misery

Misery novel was adapted to films in 1990. James Caan played Paul Sheldon while Kathy Bates portrayed Annie Wilkes. The idea intrigues me because I have read the book and now I wonder how the things went in the film.

Recommendations

If you are looking for Thriller books, then choose this one. 

I would be kind of bias about it because I have never read something as gruesome as this.

For films, watch the Vacancy. 

I don’t know why but this just came into my mind while thinking of a film which could be somehow related to Misery. This film is set in an isolated place and the cast are also down to a few people and they are the target of cruelty for entertainment and money.

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