Horror Aficionados discussion

Our second group read for July is the Stephen King classic Misery.

Please remember to use page/chapter numbers and spoiler tags as necessary when discussing.

Happy reading!

This is one of my favorite King books! I've read it three times. I'll be lurking in the comments :D

This was my first King book, I think and I loved it! I'll lurk here like Chandler!

I've read it a few times, but it is one of King's best.

I loved misery so much! It’s definitely a winter read for me

I just watched it recently again. I’m looking forward to reading it since I heard it was more brutal than the movie.

read this one at least half a dozen times, masterclass in tension

I have not read Misery yet, but have been wanting to for a while now! Excited to finally read it next month and experience it with you all together!

You should add it to the bookshelf for those that are not in the group be able to find it.

I love this book! Can't wait to see what everyone thinks of it :)

I just read this book not that long ago! I hope everyone enjoys it!

Have never read this one and only saw bits of the movie. I’m so ready!!

I re-read "Misery" in May (last month) and wrote a thoughtful review for this novel that is pure psychological horror, considered by many to be a classic. It is one of my personal favorites. If you have never read it do not watch the movie first. There are differences in the film
which I believe were made for the best. The Oscar winning film featuring Kathy Bates is simply marvelous. Hard to believe she was an unknown when called up and offered the role of Annie Wilkes.

I am jealous of those who are reading it for the first time. Such an enormous book. Enjoy.

Sarah wrote: "I am jealous of those who are reading it for the first time. Such an enormous book. Enjoy."

Raising hand- me!! Oh my gosh, I am only about 12% in, but this *is* a hard one to put down. The way it just starts in the middle of everything like that......huge fan already! Putting the pieces back together over time......eeks out the true horror.....

This is one of my favorite Stephen King books. I hope all of the new readers enjoy it!

I'm looking forward to reading this as I have never seen the movie.

This has always been in my top 5 favorite King books. I enjoyed the movie. I liked the back story of Annie in the TV show "Castle Rock". It showed a side of her I hadn't considered. All around, a great story and a must-read for any King lover.

King's first non-supernatural horror novel (not novella). And it showed him a master of the claustrophobic setting with a minimum of characters.

Heard only good things about this one and can't wait to be reading it with everyone next month!

Reading this for the first time and I’m about half way through. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to it to my shame I’ve been a bit snobby when it comes to King and not given him a proper chance. Really enjoying this and just got home from the shop having brought Salams lot!

Also- I’m loving the mastery of King in his writing of a “story within a story” in this one. Namely, how he is also writing Paul’s own book series in the tale as Misery progresses. That takes some true writing skill!

This is the best prose of King's career, with the exception of Bag of Bones (which I have to reread to be sure).

Interestingly enough, this book started out as being a Richard Bachman novel but then Bachman was outed as SK (and it has a lot in common with the Bachman Books).

I've always considered this as part of King's "addiction" trilogy--3 books published as he was getting sober. Misery is about kicking addiction; The Tommyknockers is about being addicted; and The Dark Half is about burying your old self.

I have never seen the movie but kept picturing James Caan and Kathy Bates as I was reading it last month.

I really liked the movie but haven't read the book yet!

I've finished it and I really enjoyed it. It was very tense in some parts.

C wrote: "I have never seen the movie but kept picturing James Caan and Kathy Bates as I was reading it last month."

Me too.

I read this in May with another group, and it was incredible.
My rating = 5 Stars.
I"ll be following your comments here, always interesting.
Here's my review . . . . .
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

C wrote: "I have never seen the movie but kept picturing James Caan and Kathy Bates as I was reading it last month."

That's how it was for me when I read it, too! (I did end up watching the movie at some point since then and enjoyed it a lot, too)

King masterfully delivered a pure psychological horror classic with Misery. Reread it only recently. One of my personal favorites. The movie showed the world that unknown Kathy Bates was a star. Took home the Oscar for Best Actress. Misery has been the only film adaption of King's work which has been associated with an Oscar winning performance.

Pisces51 wrote: "King masterfully delivered a pure psychological horror classic with Misery. Reread it only recently. One of my personal favorites. The movie showed the world that unknown Kathy Bates was a star. To..."
Good point, which I had forgotten. Kathy Bates really made that movie come alive. Very talented.

I read Misery in 2021 and was very engaged the entire time, as it's a fast-paced and very tense read. I have criticisms in much King's work, especially his earlier work, of how women are depicted and how he used fatness and psychosis to depict "evil" women, which is how I felt about Annie Wilkes, although I love Kathy Bates' depiction of her in the film adaptation.

The book works best in the very tense standoffs between Annie and Paul, and I also felt that Misery has some of the best descriptions of pain that I have ever read. I live with multiple types of chronic pain, and the way Paul's character felt and suffered through excruciating pain felt very real and important to his journey.

Just got to a favorite line about 60% of the way in, “Writers remember everything. Especially the hurts.” If that’s not the way to summarize this book (about a hurting writer though literally!) I don’t know what is. I thought about how many meaning that line has by this point and just loved it!

Squire wrote: "This is the best prose of King's career, with the exception of Bag of Bones (which I have to reread to be sure).

Interestingly enough, this book started out as being a Richard Bachman novel but t..."
Thanks for that insight about the "addiction trilogy". I was not previously aware of that. What a way to write yourself out of a problem!

Just finished my reread of Misery, and I have to admit, it's probably been at least 30 years since I first read this book. I truly feel like it hits differently from when I read it as a young adult versus now as an... ahem, slightly older adult. 😏

I love the parallels everyone is talking about with how addiction can make you feel the similar isolation, pain, and despair that Paul is experiencing in this story. Being held captive and seeing no way out of your agony.

Another remarkable aspect of this story is the masterful depiction of a a character with a horrible mental disease. The peaks and valleys; the dissociative and depressive episodes, awareness and lack of awareness of being dangerous to yourself and others. I could go on, but if you've read the book, you know the range of actions and emotions I'm talking about. Again, psychological impairment can also be a stand-in to represent addiction and how it alters someone's personality.

So, the masterpiece titled Misery gives us two strikingly different embodiments that can be interpreted as representing a human being in the throes of addiction. Now go read Empire of Pain. 😠