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Misery
by Stephen King
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Signet (1998-01-01)
ISBN: 0451169522
EAN: 9780451169525
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Edition: 1
Release Date: 2004-10-05
SKU: M124764
Condition: Very Good
Comments: 0451169522 1975 X-Library MMPB with plasticized cover. Only library mark I see is sticker at bottom of spine. Cover shows very light wear. Interior & spine evidence little to no use; overall, a very pretty copy. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
After an automobile accident, novelist Paul Sheldon meets his biggest fan. Annie Wilkes is his nurse-and captor. Now, she wants Paul to write his greatest work-just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an ax. And if they don't work, she can get really nasty...
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Amazon.com Review
In Misery (1987), as in The Shining (1977), a writer is trapped in an evil house during a Colorado winter. Each novel bristles with claustrophobia, stinging insects, and the threat of a lethal explosion. Each is about a writer faced with the dominating monster of his unpredictable muse. Paul Sheldon, the hero of Misery, sees himself as a caged parrot who must return to Africa in order to be free. Thus, in the novel within a novel, the romance novel that his mad captor-nurse, Annie Wilkes, forces him to write, he goes to Africa--a mysterious continent that evokes for him the frightening, implacable solidity of a woman's (Annie's) body. The manuscript fragments he produces tell of a great Bee Goddess, an African queen reminiscent of H. Rider Haggard's She. He hates her, he fears her, he wants to kill her; but all the same he needs her power. Annie Wilkes literally breathes life into him. Misery touches on several large themes: the state of possession by an evil being, the idea that art is an act in which the artist willingly becomes captive, the tortured condition of being a writer, and the fears attendant to becoming a "brand-name" bestselling author with legions of zealous fans. And yet it's a tight, highly resonant echo chamber of a book--one of King's shortest, and best novels ever. --Fiona Webster
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Customer Reviews
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Psycho Woman
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-11-02
This is a good story and I liked the movie equally as much. I wont go into the details of what it's about as other reviewers have already done that. This is probably my favorite Stephen King story. It's scary, keeps you on the edge of your seat and really makes you wonder what extremes some fanatical fans might go to given the chance.
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"You speak as though I were keeping you prisoner..."
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-10-28
Forty-two-year-old Paul Sheldon has finally done it - written a proper novel likely to earn him a bit of literary respect. This, after putting out a series of books about the life of a woman named Misery Chastain who lived during the late 1800s. In the (planned) final installment, he kills off the character. Unfortunately, while driving under the influence in hazardous road conditions, he is injured in a car accident near a small Colorado town. Adding insult to injury, his rescuer happens to be his "biggest fan," a forty-four-year-old mentally unstable former defrocked nurse named Annie Wilkes. Instead of calling an ambulance, or driving him to the hospital, she takes him to her house, splints his injured legs, feeds him intravenously, provides pain meds and waits for him to come to. Over a series of months, her behavior towards him alternates between almost rational and completely insane, Nurse Wilkes' goal being to force the author to bring Misery back to life. Fans of Stephen King's earlier works will not be disappointed with this gruesome story of suspense. As for me, it was just so-so. Better: The Dead Zone by Stephen King (my favorite), Firestarter by Stephen King, and Salem's Lot by Stephen King.
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His Best
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-10-27
This wasn't just a book for me, Misery was a moment. It was April 2000. I closed this book and said, "Yes, that's how you do it." Stephen King is the master at tinkering with his craft. He is not satisfied with putting out the same type of stories over an over.
Misery is his best example of that. It's not a point A to point Z novel. This book defines who Mr. King is as an author.
You can read another review to get a synopsis of the book. I'm guessing you've already seen the movie. Please do yourself a favor and read the book.
So why was April 2000 important in my life? After I finished this book, I decided to become a writer. Not because I thought, "I can do this." It was because I thought, "I want to be a part of this type of art." I have never come close to Misery.
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It's not Misery to read this book!!... Um sorry. I'm truly sorry.
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-09-11
Misery is Stevan Kings best book.The concept is orginal, and it is played out better than you would expect. Annie Wilkes becomes truyly alarming. In every chaper it is impossable to tell what mood she will be in. Will she be angry, happy, sucidal? Will cut of Pual tonge next? When ever the storyline starts to get boring, something else happens.
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Still my favourite
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-12
I first read 'Misery' long after seeing the film, but to this day it remains my favourite novel. Stephen King at his absolute best shows us exactly how to build and maintain suspense throughout with ease.
The movie was a good translation, but it definately failed to show us exactly what Paul Sheldon's No. 1 Fan is really capable of. One word - Awesome!
Horror at its very best!
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