Misery

First Edition, 310 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 1987 by Viking.

ISBN:: 978-0-670-81364-3
OCLC Number:: 472969902

(2 reviews)

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 …

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

60 editions

Ramirenko reviewed Misery by Stephen King

2 stars

Todas las señales indicaban que la obra de Stephen King no era para mí, sobre todo tras leer “Mientras escribo” y poder conocer de primera mano sus ideas literarias. Quise probar con una de sus obras más alabadas a pesar de contar con esa información de antemano y, efectivamente, no me equivocaba.

Lo digo con cierta rabia. Me apetecía sumergirme en su mundo de buenas y truculentas ideas, a pesar de que el principal problema que tengo es precisamente ese: que necesito más que una buena idea razonablemente bien contada. Yo en la literatura no busco únicamente acción, acción y acción; quiero reflexiones, quiero frases evocadoras, quiero que las palabras resuenen, quiero que me cuenten de una forma distinta una sensación ya conocida para que así se transforme en otra cosa… No encuentro en este libro ninguna de los deleites que me proporciona un buen libro. Creo además que ni …

Todas las señales indicaban que la obra de Stephen King no era para mí, sobre todo tras leer “Mientras escribo” y poder conocer de primera mano sus ideas literarias. Quise probar con una de sus obras más alabadas a pesar de contar con esa información de antemano y, efectivamente, no me equivocaba.

Lo digo con cierta rabia. Me apetecía sumergirme en su mundo de buenas y truculentas ideas, a pesar de que el principal problema que tengo es precisamente ese: que necesito más que una buena idea razonablemente bien contada. Yo en la literatura no busco únicamente acción, acción y acción; quiero reflexiones, quiero frases evocadoras, quiero que las palabras resuenen, quiero que me cuenten de una forma distinta una sensación ya conocida para que así se transforme en otra cosa… No encuentro en este libro ninguna de los deleites que me proporciona un buen libro. Creo además que ni siquiera está narrada con especial buen gusto ni oficio. Es tedioso la manera tan pormenorizada de desarrollar la acción. Y si debajo de eso no hay nada, pues poco más tengo que decir.

Lo siento, Stephen. Lo intenté. No te desanimes ante mi crítica y cómprate otro yate.

Books Deleter reviewed Misery by Stephen King

A classic

4 stars

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.

Subjects

Novelists--Fiction.
Fans (Persons)--Fiction.