Of all the twisted, horrific, and strangely fascinating novels I have read, “Misery” is by far the best of them all. Stephen King, the clever mastermind behind the morbid literary piece, leaves no room for plot holes as his breath-taking tale unfolds.
Plot
In the story, Paul Sheldon is a famous writer who undergoes a serious injury after driving his car into a tree during a very bad blizzard. Soon after, a woman named Annie Wilkes finds Sheldon unconscious and “rescues” him. At first, she seems like a very kind and understanding person who had been willing to take the novelist into her home as an act of charity, but before long, we discover that there’s much more to the story and she turns out to be nothing but trouble.
Wilkes considers herself Sheldon’s number one fan and obsesses over one of his characters, named Misery. For example, when the author tried to kill Misery off in his next sequel, the woman freaked out and went psychotic on him. To make matters worse, she confined him to a tiny bedroom and took every possible measure to make sure that he couldn’t get out despite the fact that he was pretty much bedridden in the first place.
Throughout King’s story, Sheldon uses every opportunity to try to escape from this crazy woman’s prison. Every time we think he’ll succeed, though, he’s back at square one again. I had to keep murmuring to myself “Ugh! Why, Stephen?”
How King Builds Suspense
I think one of the reasons this story is so captivating is due to the manner in which King is able to build up such an extreme dosage of antagonizing drama and suspense in a somewhat uneventful series of events. How does he manage to do this in such a unique and remarkable way?
First, rather than placing too much emphasis on Sheldon being rescued from his “rescuer,” King places the main focus on Sheldon, a man who is unable to use both his arms and legs as he fights for his freedom and his life. This keeps us on our feet because we’re dying to know what happens, since all of the odds seem to be against him.
Secondly, King’s characters’ use of seemingly insignificant elements keeps you guessing. One good example of this is when Sheldon kept observing the hairpin laying on the floor. This had me wondering, “What in the world could he be thinking of doing with a hairpin?” Maybe Annie Wilkes wasn’t the only one losing her sanity.
Shortly thereafter and to my surprise, the wounded man picked up the hairpin and used it as a key to unlock the door! Talk about a smart but daring move.
“Misery” is a great read for Stephen King fans young and old alike. If you’re anything like me, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll get a lot out of this literary piece if you have any level of interest in suspense or drama.