Misery by Stephen King

Misery is my first Stephen King novel. Actually, I tried to read this years ago but put it down. I had a hard time getting into the novel mostly due to King’s very descriptive writing style. Having read more recently I decided to give it another try.

In Misery, you share a confined world with Paul Sheldon, a prolific and successful writer. Paul awakens from a car accident in an unfamiliar room, with his legs kneecapped and in agonizing pain. He soon meets Annie Wilkes, his seemingly kind but deeply unhinged “rescuer” who also claims to be his number one fan. What starts as a rescue quickly transforms into a harrowing ordeal as Paul realizes Annie has no intention of letting him leave.

I thought that the themes explored in Misery were very well done. It covers dependency, addiction, and obsession. Moreover, King had a very deep connection to this book. Many of King’s fans rejected his epic fantasy The Eyes of the Dragon because it wasn’t horror. Similarly, in Misery, Paul Sheldon was chained to his Misery books. Additionally, another source of the book was King’s addition to drugs and alcohol, and his struggle to get sober.

In conclusion, Misery is a chilling read that showed me why Stephen King is known for horror. Once I got used to King’s writing style, I really enjoyed reading this book. I may come back to King’s other novels in the future.