A review by tesslw
Misery by Stephen King

dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

When Paul Sheldon, best selling novelist and author of the beloved Misery Chastain romance series veers off the road in a snow storm and wrecks his car, he wakes up with a strange house with Annie Wilkes as his bed nurse. As chance would have it, she’s an ex nurse herself - and his biggest fan. She also HATED his latest release. Keeping him captive in her house, Annie is determined for Paul to right his wrongs and give her the book ending she feels she and Misery deserve. She tells Paul he’s lucky to be alive… but boy does she have ways of making him wish he were dead. 

This was my favourite SK book I’ve read so far (though Pet Sematary,  Salem’s Lot and IT are all still yet to come!). I enjoyed the sheer lunacy that soaked through the pages, and the creeping sense of unease (and honestly, impending doom) that deepened chapter by chapter. The depth of character in both Paul and Annie really kept me sucked in as they both had elements of being entirely insufferable (although insufferable probably doesn’t really cover the bounds of Annie Wilkes’ behaviour and capabilities….!) . I swear to god this book had me sweating at points, it was TENSE. It’s also gruesome and psychologically gruelling so…. If that’s not your bag, I would veer away from this one. 

Additionally I would like to note that there are definitely some questionable racial language and stereotypes that I do not condone, but I do also acknowledge that this was published the best part of 40 years ago. I also borrowed this from my local library, so did not contribute any money to King by reading this. 
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