Product Description

After a car crash, writer Paul Sheldon is saved by his number one fan. She brought him home, splinted his mangled legs, and all he had to do in return was write a very special book, one all about her favourite character. Because if he didn't, if he was bad, she would be cross - very cross.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #225592 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Misery, as in The Shining, 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" best selling 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

Review
'An incredibly gifted writer' -- Guardian 'As a storyteller, he is up there in the Dickens class' -- The Times 'Stephen King is one of those natural storytellers...getting hooked is easy' -- Frances Fyfield, Express

Frances Fyfield, Express
'Stephen King is one of those natural storytellers...getting hooked is easy'

Customer Reviews

One of the BEST books I've ever read
I just love Annie Wilkes! She is one of King's most fascinating, original, crazy and witty characters ever to come from the invention of his mind. From the first page this is powerful stuff, starting with a car crash and then King gives himself the challenge of a one-roomed story. Hard task? Of course, but he succeeded perfectly.
The book is more gruesome than the film, which makes Annie seem more monstrous (although who could ever forget Kathy Bates' perfect, disturbing and sheer brilliant performance of Annie in the film - she really brought another dimension to the character and deserved the oscar she so rightly won). At the time I read this, I had split my leg open and my shin was tied together with 20 thick stitches! Bad book to read when you're in that position!! But I really related to the pain and empathy of Sheldon even more when I was like that.
King captures the claustrophobia of both Annie and Paul (his incarceration and his mind)and punches you slap bang in the face with it so you pay attention. Also, parts of Paul's manuscript are to be read as they are relevant to his state of mind.
Along with The Dead Zone, this is my prefered King book - unforgettable and chilling, like the film adaption, which is one of my favourite films ever. And not one cheesey monster in sight! I've never read a better psychological thriller than this.
reznor84666@aol.com

WOW!
this book was a brilliant read. It kept me up all night reading it. It absolutely blew me away with the writing of Stephen King as this was the first book i had read by him and definetly wont be the last. I must say this is probably the best book i have read in a while bear in mind i am only 15!

Intensely captivating; classic King
Stephen King is known as the master of horror, and in 'Misery', he more than lives up to this title. This book has no monsters, no demons, no ghouls; only Annie Wilkes, and she is infinitely worse than any supernatural creation as she terrorises protagonist Paul Sheldon as he lies crippled in her back bedroom. 'Misery' is not only a novel, and not only a book about how to write a novel, but it is a touchstone for any writer - this book is rich in metaphor of the trials of creating a book that someone, anyone, will want to read, and it is impossible for anyone who has known the pain of writing, and wanting to write, not to identify with Sheldon.

I have read most of King's books, and this is, without a doubt, the best of the lot. The film starring James Caan and Kathy Bates (who won an Oscar for her role) is brilliant, but this is even better. I bought it several years ago, and have read it over and over, because the twists and turns always surprise. Well done to the author for a book honed to perfection.