Book Review: Misery
8/01/21
Book Review | Misery by Stephen King
It wasn’t until Stephen King published his non-fiction work On Writing that it occurred to me to read some of his novels. I’m a voracious reader but I’m not particularly adventurous, generally sticking to genres that I know I like. Horror isn’t one of those by any means and Stephen King books seem to be a genre all of their own, both popular and cult-like simultaneously. Not being sure where to start put me off ever even seriously considering trying. When On Writing came out and was widely regarded as a great book on the craft, I felt that I should also read one of King’s fiction books to see his notes put into action. And when two guests in a row on Comics’ Books, the podcast I set up during lockdown, cited King as a favourite author it felt like fate. After some recommendations from helpful twitter folk I settled on Misery, picked up a copy at the Tottenham Court Road Foyles during that first brief respite from lockdown, and got reading.
Between the unfamiliar genre and the general hype around his works, I was worried I’d be disappointed by Misery. At first that seemed to be the case. The prose was easy to read and the opening in particular was inventive and engaging, putting you straight into the heart of the action. The only problem with that for me though was, since I didn’t know much about the character of the protagonist Paul Sheldon at the top of the novel, I felt detached from the situation he found himself him, despite how horrific it was. It wasn’t that the danger wasn’t clear to me, it was simply that the situation still felt very much fictional and separate to me. In fact, even as I did get to know Paul Sheldon, he wasn’t an immediately likeable character, and I started to wonder what had made this novel such a hit. Slowly though, as the relationship between Paul and Annie deepened, and the unpredictability of her moods became ever clearer, I found myself sucked into the story and midway through caught myself holding my breath as Sheldon made a bid for freedom.
Ultimately it was the slower than anticipated pacing that made the novel so effective. I can’t recall at present if I’ve ever read a novel with such a psychotic central character so I’ve got nothing at hand to compare this with, but in Misery, I think King’s real talent lies in how cautiously he paced the unfurling of Annie’s mental instability. That beginning section of the novel, during which I couldn’t quite understand what I was supposed to be feeling about Annie, was a period of time in which King was luring me into a false sense of security. Somehow, despite being aware immediately that her actions are not only clearly illegal but crazy and dangerous, I was still able to suspend my knowledge of this in order to buy into the moments where Annie seems more vulnerable, more human. While this choice may have initially confused me, I realise that it meant I followed a similar journey to Paul Sheldon, constantly hoping that Annie might be reasoned with, and still shocked long after I should have grasped that the situation could always get worse.
Since I’d been worried that a King novel meant constant horror and gore and murder, I was delighted to find vast sections of Misery given over to Paul and Annie discussing literature, specifically the book she commissions him to write while keeping him hostage. It felt like a mini writing class in itself and gave the book a structure and a narrative away from the horror that I loved but hadn’t been expecting.
While I’m not sure if I’ll feel the same about all of his work, I really did enjoy reading Misery and I’m happy I pushed past those early chapters where I would have been quite happy to set it aside for something else. The way that King’s books are branded mean that, to me, they don’t align with anything else I regularly read. Despite how important branding is however, I’ve realised how silly it is to take it too much to heart when you’re decided whether or not to give something a go as Misery ended up being one of my favourites reads of 2020. So, what next!? I’ve had recommendations for The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Carrie and Mr Mercedes so do let me know if - based on my review - you might know what I should try next!