Misery
Published December 1st 1999 by Langensch.-Hachette, M (first published 1999), Paperback 96 pages
Simplified adaptation with language-learning materials.
[Penguin Readers Level 6]
Paul Sheldon is Annie Wilkes' favourite writer. She loves all his books about Misery Chastain. When she finds Paul injured after a car crash and takes him home she learns that he has decided to end the series by killing off Misery. Soon Paul's biggest fan turns into his biggest enemy and his nightmare begins! By the master of horror, Stephen King, this will keep you on the edge of your seat!
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
A Fantastic classic book by Stephen King!!
Rating: really liked it
This is one of my all-time favorite books: suspenseful, layered, character-driven. I listened to the audiobook this time, and the narrator does Annie Wilkes - and all the cockadoodie brats who are out to get her - justice.
Rating: really liked it
This book was so excellent. So perfectly written. So much suspicion. It made you not want to put the book down
Rating: really liked it
Such a good book! Very gory!
Rating: really liked it
nice adaptation
does justice to the original
Rating: really liked it
Probably King's best work. Definitely the best work of fiction on addiction. That rhymed. Sorry.
Rating: really liked it
Misery had a bit of a slow start at first, but once you hit a few chapters, the story kicks off at a fast pace. The story starts with fiction author Paul Sheldon having a bad accident near the town of Sidewinder, Colorado.
YES! It is the same town as The Shining!
He is taken in by a former nurse named Annie who is also is his #1 fan. Annie has read all of Sheldon's books. From here the story turns downward. Annie is insane. She is not helping Paul to recover but is keeping him as her own pet author. The clock is ticking for both Paul and Annie.
I found the way that Annie was painted to be very effective in showing how unpredictable mental illness is. One moment they are fine and the next they can snap.
My favorite part has to be the way Stephen King tied the world of Misery and the world of The Shining together when Annie talked about the Overlook that burned down ten years earlier. I thought their existence is in the same literary universe was super dope. It also makes me think do people from that town specifically really have a mental illness for real.
However, Misery isn't scary in the 'Monsters or Ghost' kind of way, but in a psychological way. Misery was not creepy or scary in the traditional sense but it was one of the most suspenseful books I read from Stephen King. I read many Stephen King novels and Misery is one of my favorite books. Many have seen the movie but the book is darker and Wilkes is more insane than in the movie.
In my point of view, I enjoyed Misery more than Pet Semetary, Stephen King does place you into what it would be like to be trapped by a lunatic in this book.
Overall, it was nice to see Stephen King venture outside the supernatural horror field and deal with real-world horror for a change. It is a must-read for any King's fan or even for the psychological horror genre fan, you should add this to your reading list.
Rating: really liked it
It was about 7 years ago I read this book... It was so frightening for me at the time.. hohoo all those dirty rats, the cut hand, corpse... It was alittle creepy for me at the time
Rating: really liked it
Chilling...more brutal than the movie
Rating: really liked it
Synopsis: Paul Sheldon. He's a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader - she is Paul's nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.
Review: Stephen's ordinary human villains tend to be the scariest of them all in my opinion. There were no superpowers, no demons, no paranormal entities in this book at all, just a crazy lady with a very bad temper and lots of unhealed mental and emotional baggage.
What makes Annie Wilkes scary is how close to a real abuser she is. Her actions, mentality and emotional reactions are scarily human. She had moments where empathy shined through, I hated her but understood her. I understood her thinking process and what made her go into spirals of insanity. I didn't want to sympathize with her, but she made me feel like I had no choice at times. She was so despicable and helpless that I looked down on her with terrible pity. I hear that's a staple with truly crazy and evil folks. They have a strange way of making you connect with them and try to sympathize with them instead of shunning them as the massive threat that they actually are. Annie has Stockholm syndrome written all over her.
She also displayed typical behaviors and speech patterns of abusers. "I'm doing this for your own good. You made me do this. It's your fault I hurt you." Some of her words and actions hit very close to home. There were times I wanted to reach into the pages and set her straight myself, but through the eyes of Paul I felt so helpless. Congrats to this book for making me scared, angry and guilty for trying to somewhat sympathize and understand an evil person.
My only complaint about the book is that I really didn't enjoy the story segments featuring Paul's Misery stories. They felt boring and out of place with the rest of the book, but they were decent enough to be able to wade through them fairly easily. Doesn't take away from my enjoyment from the really juicy scenes from the rest of the book, but it did feel like needless padding at times.
***
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Rating: really liked it
This was a surreal one for me to read. Mostly because I’ve met people who have done something like this to me (obviously not nearly as extreme. But yeah, it happened). I think that for the plot to get moving theres a quite a few consecutive coincidences that need to have happened. Which makes it feel contrived. It also gets repetitive. And its got a lot of stephen king tropes. Don’t get me wrong, its a good book. Just not the best from this writer.
This book makes me uncomfortable from a personal standpoint. So this review is short. Ok onto the next book.
Rating: really liked it
Instead of obvious or predictable ending I was waiting impatiently without any idea what would happen to the main character that’s why I can highly appreciate “Missery. The plot was surprising and scary- exactly what I have expected before reading it. Also I have learnt how to stop the bleeding without stitching a huge wound 😂😇
Rating: really liked it
(I read Stephen King’s actual book, Misery, not this adaptation but this is the only version that popped up to rate)
This book was a classic and although I’m a fan of the movie, there was just so much more eerie detail that went into the book! Great book, makes you feel on edge and also slightly disturbed throughout the entire read.
Rating: really liked it
Such a thriller and one of the first books of its kind I remember reading in high school and deciding I love thrillers! The sort of book that will give you goosebumps and you’ll jump if you hear a noise around you while reading. Gory but riveting.
Rating: really liked it
I am a huge fan of King, and this was one of those books that missed the mark for me. Started off with a bang, but fizzled out halfway through. The linear plot was dragged out and the antagonist was luke-warm at best. I was not a fan.
