Misery by Stephen King

SPOILERS

I am going to start this review by saying I am 100% biased towards this book and I am not ashamed of it.

Okay so, Misery. This is the first Stephen King book I ever read and the one which made me love him so it's no wonder I'm biased. However, I tried to read it this time round as critically as possible (I was reading it as part of a book club) and even then, I found myself still loving it. This is pure King at his best-no supernatural elements, no weird things with aliens or monsters, just pure psychological horror and two really good characters. Let's start with those.

Paul is of course the main character. It was pointed out to me that he's a little flat by my book club and I really have to disagree. True, Paul is a typical King self-insert and perhaps the most blatant example there is. But Paul has such a strong voice as the narrator that he comes alive. I don't think anyone could read this and not root for Paul, not feel every ounce of his pain. Speaking of which...

Annie Wilkes. My god. As awful as she is, I LOVE her character. By which I mean, I love how detailed and fleshed out she is. Maybe now we're spoiled by murderers with tragic backstories but she was one of the first and one of the best. Not that she isn't causing all the tragedies herself. One thing that did surprise me upon rereading is just how quickly she turns on the crazy but hey, I like that the plot gets kickstarted instantly. I especially like when she gives up all pretence of letting Paul live and how easily she talks about killing him out of sheer weariness. Annie is horrifying in the best way and every second she's on the page, you can't help but tense up.

I promise I will get onto the negatives in a second but first, more gushing! One thing I thought was particularly done well was Paul's descent into Stockholm syndrome. It was blended so perfectly with his med addiction and his growing love of the book he was writing. It felt completely realistic to me and I loved how Annie also seemed to be aware of it, and how needy it made her despite her cynicism.

Okay, so actual criticisms. I have very few to make (big surprise there). A few of the rambly chapters probably could have been cut without too much being lost. I'm not sure what purpose the loss of Paul's thumb served, especially since it happens off-screen right after the on-screen loss of his foot. I guess it's supposed to highlight how awful she is but really, the foot scene worked better and the thumb felt like an add on that wasn't needed. And that's literally all I can think of right now. I really love this book.

Do I even need to sum up? King's fantastic writing style combined with a tense, sardine can thriller that stars two incredibly in-depth characters. A lot of horror, a lot of food for thought and a lot worth reading.

Overall Score:

.5

Gerald's Game by Stephen King

Holy crap.

Let me get this straight. I have read a lot of Stephen King books. He's one of my favourite authors and his particular brand of weird just appeals to me. I can honestly say that Gerald's Game is the one book of his that has actually managed to scare me and I mean, really scare me.

I'm not entirely sure why this is. On the surface, this is a simple tale. A woman gets handcuffed to a bed during sexytimes but things quickly go awry when her husband dies, leaving her trapped and alone. What follows is tense survival mixed with psychological horror and a dash of the supernatural. Along with trying to escape, the protagonist Jessie must also cope with trauma from her past and a mysterious figure who visits her at night.

This book made me tense in a way I rarely feel with books. I read almost half of it in one sitting it was that engaging, and the only thing that made me put it down was sleep. There's not really much else to say about this book. It's told in King's usual style and there are a lot of his trademarks present so if you like his work then you'll probably like this. One thing to warn you about though is how brutal this book is. It deals with a very sensitive topic in a graphic way which could make it hard to read for some people. There is also a very graphic violent scene near the end which I actually had to read in chunks it was so disturbing. These parts only add to the book for me (horror should be horrifying after all) but it is worse than most of King's stuff and it might be too much for some people. If you're not into that sort of thing then I suggest looking up spoilers before reading to make sure you can stomach it.

My only other comment is that the ending does drag somewhat. I'm very glad for the bit after the main story and the light it casts on the plot but I guess for some people it might 'ruin' the horror a bit. Overall though I found it very hard to find fault with this story. One of King's best.

Overall Score:

.5

Rage by Stephen King

Okay, well I wanted to find a good book to start this blog off with and by that, I mean an interesting one. And what could be more interesting than a banned book by one of my favourite authors? Rage by Stephen King is all about a school shooting and it was withdrawn from publication after copies of the book were found in the possession of several real school shooters. Having read it now though, I can't help but wonder if it's withdrawal had more to do with how it ends...

 Rage tells the story of Charlie Decker, a teenage with (you guessed it) a lot of rage. After one too many clashes with the establishment and his father, he brings a gun into school, shoots two of his teachers and then holds his class hostage. The rest of the book is basically like a therapy session for them all, with each student confessing/sharing a story from their past while Charlie explains what led him to do this.

 

This carries on for about 160 pages or so before finally Charlie lets everyone go, promptly gets shot and surprisingly, actually survives. This leads us to my big problem with the novel-in the end, the shooting is sort of portrayed as being a good thing. None of the students themselves get shot and apart from poor Ted, they're all happier and a lot more emotionally-balanced after the shooting takes place. This, while certainly being an interesting ending, is more than a little uncomfortable to read given the vast amount of real-life shootings which have taken place. Ultimately it spoiled my enjoyment of the book too because of how uneasy it made me feel. I'm not one of those people who believes fiction should shy away from difficult topics but there's a difference between telling a story about a school shooting and telling a story which paints a school shooting in positive light.

Was it enough to ruin the book entirely for me? Of course not. This is still a fascinating read and as always, King manages to create a compelling cast of characters. They are perhaps a little less defined than in some of his later work but given its short length, I would still say Rage is definitely worth checking out. Not King's best but certainly not his worst either.

Overall Score: