Misery
Ratings676
Average rating4.1
Stephen King really knows how to show, he makes you feel what the character is feeling.
If we don't know what misery means or feels like pul Sheldon did a great job telling us that.
Annie Willes was crazy no wrong word she was psychotic to the point of man slaughter.
The seens like when she slashed his legs and the pain, oh the pain was so intently portrayed like it was happening in front of me.
Stephen King you are a god in writing cause you make me see in front of my eyes
Classic, beautifully crafted, favorite King's novel I've read (so far).
The way he creates suspense, with most of the novel taking place only in one room, with only 2 characters is exceptional. Book inside a book is a also fantastic, nice meta addition to this great novel. King, once again, proves he is a master of metaphor.
In my opinion, one of the best books King has ever written, exactly because its plot is so simple and ‘out there'. What he does with those two characters is phenomenal.
I'm not a Stephen King fan as I'm not a fan of horror but I enjoyed this one. He had me on the edge of my seat.
This was an awesome, awesome book! One thing of Stephen King's books, that make them so wonderful and gripping, is the Psychology of the characters that makes up a large part of the reason why I can never put one of his books down, once I've started reading it. From Page 1, you're hooked, and Misery was one of the best. I also watched the movie twice!
I remember Stephen King referring to this book as his breakthrough book which established him as a writer in his memoir;On Writing. That's when I decided I need to give it a read. It's a masterpiece!
A hotshot writer gets trapped in a psychotic woman's bedroom, who claims to be his "number one fan in the world". What follows on is a story of Annie Wilkis making the writer write for her and his failed attempts to escape the wrath of this woman's descent into psychotic madness. Initially when I read the premise, I had my doubts over the limited setting of the story. But King has managed to build out this book beautifully. It's action packed, thrilling and an absolute page turner!
Another one of King's novel which I have to give 5 out of 5.
Incrível!
Esse é o quarto livro que leio do King, tirando uns contos, e é o melhor até agora. Sem enrolação, ele já começa com Paul atordoado na cama de sua “hospedeira” e logo no início da pra ver uma maturidade e complexidade na escrita que não vi nos demais títulos que li.
É muito bom o trabalho de Stephen King faz com as várias referências no livro, especialmente Mil e uma noites.
Um dos meus contos prediletos e muito representativo de Sherazade é sobre um feiticeiro que engana um vizir com um livro. O livro está em branco e envenenado e o vizir vai lambendo os dedos e passando as páginas procurando onde começa a história do livro e se envenena no processo. Esse conto é um ótimo retrato da essência de Mil e uma noites e “contar histórias para sobreviver” e sobre a ausência de história levar a morte. E Misery captura brilhantemente essa ideia, só que agora “escrever para sobreviver” ao invés de “contar”. O final do livro acaba da mesma forma, um livro em branco e uma máquina de escrever que não consegue escrever mais levando a morte de Annie.
Os paralelos com Mil e uma noites não se estendem só a referência direta a Sherazade, mas o livro também tem suas “histórias dentro das histórias”: O Retorno de Misery sendo o exemplo mais óbvio, mas também Carros Velozes e até a vida passada de Annie nos artigos de jornal. Além disso, a sede de Paul por continuar escrevendo e querendo ver o que acontece, até que finalmente a própria escrita substituí o vício, é a captura perfeita de Mil e uma noites como a trama sem fim, sempre haverá mais uma noite.
O fato de Annie ser uma assassina em série, quebrou um pouco a imersão para mim, e não achei necessário pra aumentar o terror que Paul já vivia.
O livro também diz muito sobre o próprio processo de escrita do autor, que ele mesmo já relatou que deixa a história fluir e não sabe muito a direção final dos livros. O que torna Misery um livro riquíssimo com muita metalinguagem.
I did not like that girl one bit throughout the whole book! The ending was bittersweet. It was suspenseful to the very end.
A great intro to Stephen King, you can't help but feel bad for both Paul and Annie despite their significant flaws
Wow, this has gotta be peak Stephen King. My jaw literally dropped multiple times while reading this.
The main thought I have post reading this is, how much does King relates to the protagonist, Paul Sheldon? They're both authors and Paul has some interesting thoughts about his writing that I could see King having.
Although King is probably my favourite author, I don't think any of his books have ever truly scared me. Misery finally did. So many pages where I was just horrified at what I was reading. I truly think King is at his scariest when he's not writing about evil, supernatural beings, but instead about humans. There were some slow parts here and there, and the whole "novel-within novel" thing didn't really do it for me, but the rest of the book had me hooked like Novril.
Misery is incredibly suspenseful and captivating. I love horror films and that feeling of suspense or dread that they can give you, but I never thought that I could feel that same way reading a horror novel. Misery absolutely achieves this! There were a number of times I was genuinely terrified for Paul and read on with clenched teeth and a rapid heartbeat.
My only complaint with the novel was that some of the “Misery Returns” sections of Misery took me out of the overall narrative. I understand that the monotony of the story can sometimes highlight Paul's relationship with the Misery series and how he just wants it to be over, but I think this was well conveyed without making the excerpts themselves so drawn out. I would be interested in an edit of this book that only includes the “real world” sections of the novel, and see how it compares to the original.
Stephen King is always a win.
This is a very simple book exploring a very simple concept, but it still got me captivated and on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
This book is about a bestselling author being kidnapped by his number one fan in order for him to write her a novel. A very simple premise and the hole story takes place in a single bedroom. But somehow it works. At the beginning I was skeptical on the premise, it sounded cool but I could not imagine how to maintain suspense and avoid it becoming repetitive and boring. And it did get more interesting as the book went on. On the one hand we have the main story line, then we get a peak at Paul's writing and finally we slowly discover about Annie's backstory.
I must admit at the end of the book the whole novel subplot became a little distracting, it felt like reading the first chapters of a book and then the last ones without any additional context (because this is precisely what happens) . In retrospective totally necessary, because Paul projects into the story and then the story projects back into Paul, and there is a parallel between one story and the other, but it felt confusing.
This book explores the impotence and sense of defeat when you are trapped and there is no viable option out. You are clinging to a very thin edge of hope, but as time goes on you slowly give up. This is masterfully represented with the character of Paul.
I loved the metaphors presented through the book in order to materialize Paul's feeling, the stone pilings(as pain), the hole in the page (as coping mechanism) and the African bird (as this feeling of being trapped until the end).
I must admit it is very visual, but that is King's specialty. I wouldn't it is specially scary but there were some scene which were unsettling. But more in the disgust direction than actual fear.
All in all a great starting point for King's novel, you get a taste of what he is good at without the nightmares and it is a short novel you will power through without even realizing it.
slays as a spooky october book !
annie is a crazy bitch fr why was she not locked up years ago she is not right in the head oh my god
paul says some out of pocket things i'll be real he's not the most likeable character but it gives him some depth i guess he seems more like an actual person and less like a book character which slays
was hard to read when he was actually writing the book like the passages weren't that interesting to me but i can appreciate the meaning anyway
rent was due. eviction notice at the front door. stephen king sat down and said alright, i'm gonna create one of the best villains in literature and boy did he fucking deliver
This book is terrifying in a very unusual way. I was expecting to be bored, considering that most of the book happens inside a single room, and knowing that King can sometimes be overly descriptive, but I was somehow very invested throughout the whole thing. It also doesn't suffer from the problem that a lot of King's books do with the endings not making sense. Perhaps because this is not a supernatural book, he had to actually write a good ending instead of going for a deus ex machina or pulling something else out of his ass.
I listened to the audiobook for most of it, and the narrator was amazing. She put so much emotion and nuance into it. Her name is Lindsay Crouse. I was only slightly disappointed with her delivery of a certain line involving a cockadoodie car, but it's not the narrator's fault that Kathy Bates is so iconic. Overall, one of the best Stephen King books I've read.
i ended up going with 5 stars. the first 15 pages were sorta hard to read/too descriptive but i enjoyed the rest of it. The misery chapters were just filler pages but I understand the purpose they were there. The reason I went with a 5 star was the SUSPENSE and just the overall chills I got reading this and when the scenes happened and the end had me shocked which is an amazing factor. I cannot wait to read more Stephen King because I absolutely loved this one
Stephen King writes epic tales of horror with flashes of symbolism that induce panic, fear, and thoughtfulness, that needle their way into the psyche.
Misery was certifiably nuts from start to finish.
This book has no demonic cars, vampires, or reincarnated pets; what it has is much worse. It has Annie Wilkes, and she wants a happy ending to her favorite book series. Be afraid, be very afraid!
This was creepy! Probably the best King I have read so far! Plays heavily on the psychological horror rather than the supernatural, which I really appreciate - humans make the best monsters!
The central premise is a famous writer gets taken prisoner by a crazed fan and forced to write a book to ‘correct' the ending to a story. The entrapment and torture is gruesome, brutal and deeply unsettling. Annie is completely psychotic as a character, but immensely believable as well. The gradual Stockholm Syndrome of Paul is understandable, the psychological pressure he is put in is visceral in its intensity. The general claustrophobia of the story just acts to heighten the fear.
The history behind the writing of this is also fascinating - written as a backlash against his own fans increasing demands it is a powerful counter to the worst tendencies of fandoms.
Be prepared for an uncomfortable but brilliant read
4,5/5
No olipahan kirja taas! Pitkään ollut minulla lukulistalla ja nyt olen niin tyytyväinen kun sain tämän luettua!
Piinaava (heh) kirja hulluudesta ja mitä se saa ihmisissä aikaan, myös se mitä vankeus saa aikaan mielessä. Teos kaiketi kuvastaa myös Kingin omia vaikeuksia päästä eroon huumeista ja miten niistä voi tehdä oman piinaajansa.
Es toda una obra de arte del genero del suspenso y terror.
El libro es muy bueno, junto con los pensamientos y situaciones en las que se encuentra el protagonista. Da miedo pensar que puede haber gente tan retorcida en este mundo y lo mucho que pueden perderse en su locura, lo que pueden obsesionarse con algo u alguien y como pueden proyectar su frustración en los demás. Un gran trabajo del maestro mostrando una historia fantástica que esta cargada de verdad.
Sin dudas de mis favoritos no sólo del autor si no en general.
Ucuento único que solo Stephen King podría ofrecernos.
(Si pudiera ponerle más de 5 ⭐, lo haría).