Being a fan of Stephen King I am (slowly) trying to work my way through his books. Misery was one I had been told about lot recently, mostly for the film, which I notice is on Netflix now (your welcome) so thought I would give it a go next. It also isn't one of his largest of his books so thought it wouldn't take long for me to get through.
Paul Sheldon is a writer who has just completed his new novel which is sure to be a success, maybe even more so than his best selling books based on Misery, a fictional woman in Paul's previous books. Unfortunately he has a rather bad car accident after celebrating the finish of his book and Annie Wilkes finds him among the wreck. Lucky Annie is there right...! Annie is Paul's biggest fan and LOVES the Misery stories. But there is something not quite right with Annie, and how will she react when she learns the latest Misery book, due for publication any day now, will be the last.
I love the story line; a writer, a crazed fan, mixed with Stephen King's mind is sure to be a success. Well of course it is they wouldn't have made a film about it otherwise! I made sure not to watch it beforehand. Like a good bookworm I like to read the books before the films wherever I can.
However... if I had watched the film I may have realised that there is rather a lot of internal monologue, and not always coherent monologue at that. For the longest time while King is setting the scene, of course giving time for his lead character to recover enough from an accident while also hinting at the weird ways of Annie, there isn't much going on and I have to admit I got a bit bored/lost with the ramblings and wanting the usual Stephen King drama I was expecting. Having speaking to others online I feel I wasn't alone in this thought as others also seemed to struggle. But I knew it must be worth it after hearing so much about it so powered on.
And I was not disappointed! By halfway there were a few events that pulled you back in from the ramblings and made clear just how crazy this woman was. But by maybe the 75% mark it is constant! Literally the last quarter or so of the book wins it back in an incredible fashion! Here is the King we know and love! I found myself in the complete opposite of the first portion of the book and did not want to put it down, I NEEDED to know what happened! It was fast paced, it was shocking and terrifying and the writing itself was brilliant. So vivid I could see everything happening behind my eyelids.
My advice to anyone reading this book, stick with it. Lets be honest when has Stephen King ever let us down?! I gave it 4 stars purely for the ramblings. I think a lot of people would struggle with the start, and perhaps not be prepared for this if they had watched the film first?? I mean that is clearly next on the agenda so I can always update! I hate not finishing a book so always keep going but I do wish the start had a bit more oomf. Overall another successful Stephen King for me to tick off my list!
Misery by Stephen King
Pages - 370
Goodreads rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
