Misery Be Thy Name!
 Jan 12th, 2004
Advantages:
Gripping, frightening, fantastic characters
Disadvantages:
Nightmare inducing - otherwise none
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
How does it compare to other works by the same author?
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  whoopidoo
About me:
Hiya! :o)
Member since:22.01.2003
Reviews:60
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Review rated by 39 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
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Read Comment
***The Name With Many Faces*** Misery is the heroine in best selling writer Paul Sheldon’s series of romantic historical novels.
Misery is the pig that resides on the homestead of Paul Sheldon’s ‘Number One fan’ Annie Wilkes. When Annie Wilkes rescues him from a car crash - Misery is the situation Paul finds himself in.
Two years of hard graft and in a quiet hotel room Paul Sheldon finally writes ‘The End’ on the novel he hopes will give him the acclaim he so desperately desires. He can turn his back on the romantic slush that has created his best selling author status - the slush that he despises with a passion - and finally emerge as the SERIOUS author he really is. To celebrate he orders a bottle of bubbly - whilst drinking this he decides to get home as soon as possible - get this manuscript to his ‘people’. Get the train a rolling. Ignoring the weather announcers doom and gloom forecasts of the big incoming storm - it’s bound to pass over anyway - he orders another bottle of bubbly for the road. (We all know what’s coming don’t we?)
Driving along with his music up high on the stereo, swigging his celebratory drink, Paul misses any radio announcements that the storm isn’t passing. The storm isn’t just here, it’s parked itself right on top of Paul Sheldon and settled itself down for the ride!
When the car begins to be battered this way and that, Paul sobers up pretty sharpish as he realises he is going into a skid - unfortunately that’s the last thing he will remember until his Number One fan is breathing her foul breathe down his throat in the kiss of life.
When Paul surfaces once more into the land of the living he realises one or two things... He is not in hospital. He is not in hospital and he has been given intravenous drip treatment. He is not in hospital, he has been given intravenous drip treatment and he is now addicted to the drug Novril. - Not only has Paul been ‘rescued’ by his Number One fan - he is in the biggest danger of his entire life. And he can’t move.
***My Thoughts***
This is the one book I swore I would never read. I saw the film many years ago and I still have nightmares about it today. However, Misery is my partner’s favourite book of all time - he has been begging me to read it almost from the very beginning of our relationship. My problem is not the horror aspect but the pain. My worst phobia of all time is pain. I can’t stand the thought of it; I can’t watch it... even Casualty makes me want to vomit. I can’t bear the thought of blood - yes I know, I know, if you have read the other opinions I have done you will know I am a major vampire fiction fan. It’s not the same. I am talking about real pain - caused by knives, sharp instruments...even potato peelers - if I cut myself I can’t suck the blood. Just the thought... *THUD*
Sorry, I’m back. Anyway so there is the reason I had sworn NEVER to read Misery - if the film could affect me so, what would the book do? However a person can only take so much begging and at a particularly low point this week (when I was feeling ill no less) he applied the pressure particularly well and I found myself picking up his dog-eared tatty old hardback with a little trepidation. Three nights later and some serious late night into the early hours of the morning reading and I had won. I had not only beaten Misery but I had beaten Annie Wilkes too. Hell yes I was scared! Scared to turn the page and yet too scared not too. The words flew from the pages, attacking at every turn. The imagery was powerful, the characters detestful and I was gripped, enthralled and loving every minute!
This book is such magic in that for the majority of it - it is entirely about two characters. The interactions, the power, the fear. I could not imagine that I could read a 319-page novel with basically two people in it. And I detested both of them - part of me felt that Paul deserved everything he got. Why? Well what sort of idiot gets behind the wheel of a car after demolishing the best part of two bottles of champagne? What an arsehole! And what an ignorant pig to basically scoff at all his previous novels, to scoff at his fans. No I didn’t like Paul Sheldon at all and a tiny part of me thought it was about time he got a comeuppance.
I was scared of Annie. What she was capable of, what she had done in the past. But Stephen King managed, somehow, to invoke sympathy in me towards her - she was a monster undoubtedly, but she was ill, mentally. Another ingenious aspect of the book was the novel within a novel. I can’t go into specifics without giving the game away but suffice to say I thought it extremely clever. The film certainly didn’t convey this part as well as the book.
To sum up I would say that this book is well worth a read it was a fantastic piece of writing. Yes I have been converted. Saying that - I will never read it again. The horror for me was not in the gruesome bits (of which there are quite a few) but the realism of it. This COULD actually happen. You read cases about what Annie has done in the newspapers, see it on the news. There are probably hundreds, thousands of Annie Wilkes walking the streets everyday. The sad part is that if they got help tragedies could be averted.... The horrifying thing is that they don’t. Misery is available in all good bookshops in the ‘Horror’ section, goes for peanuts on eBay and it is law that every charity shop in the land has at least one hardback copy on their shelves. Failing that go to your local library. Give it at least one read - that’s all it will need.
ISBN: 0450417395 (Many thanks for rooting that out for me karenlearmonth. Craigs was so dog-eared and tatty it didn't have the number!) Thanks for reading :o)
Oh... and the nightmares have started already.
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by (3%):
05.09.2005 15:19
A good review, although the beginning section sounds more like the film version than how the novel begins. Being an avid fan (not quite number one Annie Wilkes style though!) I have read this novel again and again. It actually cheers me up. I like to think that's more to do with the fact that I'm grateful to have never been in such a horrendous situation than being a very warped individual. No one can actually enjoy tales of feet being chainsawed off and people's heads being run over with lawnmowers. Can they? x
28.07.2004 10:03
An excellent review, I've not read this novel since reading it for the first time because it truly scared me, still loved it though. Ellie.
02.04.2004 22:25
Outstanding op here Carmen...this is one of the few King books I've read...a great psychological thriller...what did you think of the movie? Kathy Bates was just extraordinary...Chris xxx