Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Misery by Stephen King

153 reviews

nneka23's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I’m glad I finished this book, but it took me a lot longer with more effort than I expected. The overall storyline is engrossing in a way that makes it hard to quit, but I definitely came close a couple times. I’m not sure why the passages from Misery’s Return needed to be included - I personally was not at all interested in reading them. I kept wanting to find out more about what’s happening to Paul, and I think sometimes that got lost in the constant inner thoughts or the excerpts from Misery’s Return. I just had a hard time fully sinking into the story. That said, it was still well-written most of the time and King definitely knows how to create an atmosphere of dread as well as tension for the reader. The last act of the book went at crazy speeds. I’m now curious to watch the movie for comparison purposes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Murder, Car accident, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Death

Minor: Racial slurs

emisbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i couldnt put this book down. so suffocating and gripping and gory. annie is a terrifiyingly unpredictable character. you truly get stuck inside pauls head throughout the entire story. highly recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Addiction, Drug abuse, Blood, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit and Excrement

Minor: Racial slurs and Alcoholism

maratagon's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Vomit, Death of parent, and Car accident

coffee_on_the_pages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't think I would like this nearly as much as I did, I am usually not a huge fan of thrillers but I absolutely loved this. Before reading, having never seen the film, I thought how interesting can an author being held captive and forced to right a book really be? As it turns out, pretty damn interesting!

The writing is phenomenal, it shows Paul coming back to himself, then losing himself, then coming back to himself all over again. Perfectly capturing Pauls incredibly fragile mental state. Everything about it from word choice, to sentence structure, to chapter layout was just fantastic. The story within the story of 'Misery's Return' was fascinating escape from the miserable existence Paul was facing and a great coping mechanism used by Paul. 

The descriptions in the novel were "so vivid!" multiple times it had be gasping in shock and feeling a little queasy with just how vivid everything was. King painted the scenes so well I felt like I was there watching it happen in real time.

Annie was a fabulous villain. She made me feel genuinely scared for Paul. Such a complex character I truly loved (and hated) every second she came onto the page. 
"she may be crazy but she sure aint dumb."

An absolutely brilliant read for my first King book. I will definitely be picking up another soon. 

Though this is more of a thriller than a horror it does have some horror elements and graphic descriptions of violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Violence

phantomsparrow's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Violence, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Car accident, Addiction, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Minor: Vomit

rabidboy's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A great reflection on addiction, both to storytelling and substances.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Addiction

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Self harm, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Gaslighting, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

joshkiba13's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

How Stephen King managed to write a thrilling story that stars two characters in one room astounds me. This was my first novel of his and I was absolutely floored. Annie is terrifying, and several scenes had me clenching my teeth. I also loved how the main character was a writer; I feel like King was able to project a lot of his feelings about the craft which was neat. Paul's inner musings were fascinating. And to find out after reading it that King said it's partially a metaphor for past drug addictions, that adds a whole extra layer to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Mental illness

toniw315's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was a disappointment. I didn’t hate it but didn’t really like it either. It takes awhile to pick up and the sections of Misery Returns were long and irrelevant to the actual plot. Very tense with well done suspense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Physical abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Body horror, Blood, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Cursing, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Drug use, Chronic illness, and Addiction

humanhalfofachilleus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

as with most Stephen King, it could have ended 50 pages earlier and the "creepiness" relies heavily on "gross-out" rather than true terror or horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Murder, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Racism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault