First Edition, 310 pages
English language
Published Jan. 1, 1987 by Viking.
Stephen King is arguably the most popular novelist in the history of American fiction. He owes his fans a love letter. Misery is it.
Paul Sheldon, author of a bestselling series of historical romances, wakes up one winter day in a strange place, a secluded farmhouse in Colorado. He wakes up to unspeakable pain (a dislocated pelvis, a crushed knee, two shattered legs) and to a bizarre greeting from the woman who has saved his life: "I'm your number one fan!"
Annie Wilkes is a huge ex-nurse, handy with controlled substances and other instruments of abuse, including an axe and a blowtorch. A dangerous psychotic with a Romper Room sense of good and bad, fair and unfair, Annie Wilkes may be Stephen King's most terrifying creation. It's not fair, for example, that her favorite character in the world, Misery Chastain, has been killed by her creator, as Annie …
Stephen King is arguably the most popular novelist in the history of American fiction. He owes his fans a love letter. Misery is it.
Paul Sheldon, author of a bestselling series of historical romances, wakes up one winter day in a strange place, a secluded farmhouse in Colorado. He wakes up to unspeakable pain (a dislocated pelvis, a crushed knee, two shattered legs) and to a bizarre greeting from the woman who has saved his life: "I'm your number one fan!"
Annie Wilkes is a huge ex-nurse, handy with controlled substances and other instruments of abuse, including an axe and a blowtorch. A dangerous psychotic with a Romper Room sense of good and bad, fair and unfair, Annie Wilkes may be Stephen King's most terrifying creation. It's not fair, for example, that her favorite character in the world, Misery Chastain, has been killed by her creator, as Annie discovers when Paul's latest novel comes out in paperback. And it's not good that her favorite writer has been a Don't-Bee and written a different kind of novel, a nasty novel, the novel he has always wanted to write, the only copy of which now lies in Annie's angry hands.
Because she wants Paul Sheldon to be a Do-Bee, she buys him a typewriter and a ream of paper and tells him to bring Misery back to life. Wheelchair-bound, drug-dependent, locked in his room, Paul doesn't have much choice. He's an entertainer held captive by his audience. A writer in serious trouble. But writers have weapons too...
Misery is a nightmare only Stephen King could have, and one only Stephen King could render in such gruesome detail. Nice of him to share it with us. --jacket flap
I found a beat-up paperback copy of Misery on the pavement, a few blocks from my old apartment, read it and put it back on the street. Highly recommend reading it this way.
Haven't seen the movie, but I had seen it parodied everywhere I've turned. Figured it was about time I sat down and read it, considering I've loved every other book I've read by King. Started it years ago reading half the book in a single sitting, put it down for one reason or another, had no problem picking it up and finishing it in a second single sitting.
Probably the first horror novel to really make me flinch - especially there towards the last third of the book when the ax gets involved. Annie Wilkes definitely tops out on one of the most horrifying characters ever written.
The entire experience of the book is definitely intensified by the limited cast of Paul and Annie, so much so that when third parties start entering they feel as strange to the reader as they probably did to captive Paul. Definitely a thriller …
Haven't seen the movie, but I had seen it parodied everywhere I've turned. Figured it was about time I sat down and read it, considering I've loved every other book I've read by King. Started it years ago reading half the book in a single sitting, put it down for one reason or another, had no problem picking it up and finishing it in a second single sitting.
Probably the first horror novel to really make me flinch - especially there towards the last third of the book when the ax gets involved. Annie Wilkes definitely tops out on one of the most horrifying characters ever written.
The entire experience of the book is definitely intensified by the limited cast of Paul and Annie, so much so that when third parties start entering they feel as strange to the reader as they probably did to captive Paul. Definitely a thriller and I was definitely cheering for Paul by the end of the book.
Too boring, never finished it
