So I reread this book, which had become one of my favorites back when I first read it maybe....oh, 20 or more years ago. Long enough ago that I can't even remember when I specifically read it. Either the late 1990's or early 2000's, in any case.
It is one of the most popular books by King, because it is one of his best works. I had quite enjoyed it during the first reading, all of those years ago. Yet in rereading it this time around, it seemed even better than I remembered.
Now, this book first saw release back in 1987. The movie came out in 1990. Hell, I first read this book back in 2002, if memory serves correct. So I hardly think that there is much of a real need to warn people about spoilers.
Still, it seems important in this day and age to provide a warning. So here goes: if you have not yet read this book or seen the movie - and there are actually significant differences between the two - and you want to either read the book or see the movie without it being spoiled for you, then you likely want to stop reading here.
*** Spoilers Ahead!!! ****
Okay, last chance. From here on out, there will be spoilers.
Now if you are still reading, then I have to assume by this point that, for whatever the reason, spoilers do noy bother you. If they do and you are still reading this, then you can't say that you were not warned, after all.
So Misery is one of the most famous and even iconic of King's work. The whole idea of a writer (and it applies to any possible celebrity, or as King suggests, "quasi-celebrity" type. It might not be likely, but it is not impossible. Already, there are some relatively horrific stories of obsessed fans who clearly went overboard in their actions and adulation of celebrities. Two of the first news stories that I can remember - the shooting of John Lennon (who was killed) and the shooting of President Reagan (who survived) - both involved men who were attracted to the obviously high public profile of their targets.
In this story, both the book and the movie have a famous author named Paul Sheldon driving during at an ill-advised time during a dangerous snowstorm deep in the rural Rockies of Colorado. Both have him going off the edge of the road and downhill, where the car spins out of control, and where he sustains very serious injuries, particularly to his legs.
Obviously given such horrible weather conditions during a bad snowstorm in the rural Rockies, Paul probably should have died. But someone spots him, a local named Annie Wilkes. We later find out that she is a nurse, but there is a reason that she is no longer a nurse. She saves Paul, and ten brings him to her home. Once she discovers that he is in fact her favorite author, she is so amazed that she decides to keep him right there in her home, instead of bringing him to a hospital for more proper care.
As Paul comes around, he grows only too familiar with pain. One of the things which I particularly enjoyed and remembered from my first reading of this book was how Paul, via the writing of Stephen King, kept relating the pain to pilings which he remembered from childhood trips to the beach. Those pilings would be buried for a while beneath the high tide, but when the tide went back out again, those pilings were always right there, much like his pain kept coming back once the high tide of the painkiller medication began to wear off. With his injuries, Paul finds himself completely dependent on Annie for everything. And this becomes a serious problem once he realizes that she is, in fact, mentally unstable and extremely dangerous.
Annie is obsessed with the characters of Paul's very popular novel series, particularly the title character, Misery, from which this novel gets it's name. There are parts of these novels interspersed on occasions with what is going on between Paul and Annie. When Annie finds out that Paul has killed Misery in the last book, which comes out while Paul is still locked in the bedroom where Annie keeps him, he begins to understand just how dangerously insane Annie is. She makes him burn his latest novel (and there is no second copy), which is not at all about Misery, and which she finds extremely distasteful. Then, she forces him to begin writing another Misery novel, and to bring Misery back to life.
It turns out that she is capable of more horrors than Paul initially realizes. In his attempts to exert some sort of control over his own life once again, he begins to break out of the bedroom that Annie has locked him in. He smuggles some Novril, the painkiller that Annie has him on - and which he realizes he has become addicted to - so that he can access it if and when Annie denies it to him as some form of punishment. But he also finds a sort of scrapbook, where he learns that, in fact, Annie Wilkes is a psychotic serial killer. She has managed to get away with it, at least enough to not get locked away, even though it has cost her the nursing career. Obviously, this is no comfort for Paul, who begins to plan for some kind of escape.
Ultimately, she unearths his plans after discovering that he has been out of his bedroom. Her response in the book is very different than in the movie. In the book, she takes an axe and cuts off his foot. It is a very graphic scene, as Paul looks at Annie picking the foot up before she disposes it as just some sort of trash. The toes are still wiggling a little bit before they stop. Later, he also loses one of his thumbs. By contrast, in the movie, Annie takes a sledgehammer to damage Paul's legs even more. They are both gruesome outcomes, but to my mind's eye, the book is more graphic and disturbing.
In both the novel and the movie, Annie kills a police officer. In the novel, it is a young officer who is taken by surprise, not really expecting much from his visit to Annie's house. But when Paul shatters the window and yells out, he is momentarily stunned to find that the very man he is looking for is right in front of him and apparently locked away. But Annie sneaks behind him and kills him, although not on her first attempt. Again, the details are very gruesome. In the movie, however, the police officer is from the local town of Sidewinder, and he is an old man. Annie sneaks up behind him while he is distracted by Paul's screams for help in the movie as well, although this time, Paul is in the basement. Annie kills the officer instantly by shooting him in the back.
Of course, a final confrontation between Paul and Annie is inevitable. Annie is very strong, seemingly possessed of seeming superhuman strength. It takes all of Paul's strength to finally kill Annie, and that only barely. In the book, she actually escapes the same bedroom that Paul was locked in, although the police later find her dead. Still, a part of Paul will forever be haunted by Annie. In his mind, she has become almost like a demon who can never die, and will continue to haunt him.
This is not a story with many cheap jump scares. It is more about the psychologic battle between Annie and Paul. The entire story is pretty much told from his viewpoint, and we see him first close to death, then slowly recovering, only to sustain serious injuries again when she chops off his foot, and then his thumb. After that, he has become a defeated, docile man. Yet the instinct to survive is still there, and is ultimately what leads to the final confrontation.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of significant differences between the novel and the movie. Still, they both are suspenseful and rely on the psychological battle between the two characters, as well as Paul's own inner demons. It should be noted that King wrote this while battling his own addiction problems, and this bleeds through the novel, which is one of the reasons why I prefer the book. Don't get me wrong: the movie is good and entertaining. However, King really brings the true horrors of the situation to life in the book, much better than any movie can. As mentioned, small details like the pilings or the wiggling toes stayed in my mind throughout the years, as well as his likening Annie's use of CPR to keep Paul alive as almost tantamount to rape. The unpleasantness of the experience is really brought home in King's description of how he can taste the traces of the food that Annie recently ate while she is breathing into his mouth to prevent him from dying. It is a rather disgusting little detail, but it helps to make this novel feel real. You really get the sense of desperation on Paul's part, finding himself locked away with a true psycho in a dark house filled with shadows, both literally and figuratively, in the middle of one of the most isolated regions of the country, and during the long and foreboding winter season.
Not for the queasy or faint of heart. Yet, I am still recommending this book. King does some very interesting things here as a writer, which I, as an aspiring writer, appreciate.
Misery: 10 Differences Between The Book And The Film BY DAN PEEKE PUBLISHED MAR 7, 2020 The popular novel Misery by Stephen King was adapted for a film in 1990, but the filmmakers made some changes from the book.
https://screenrant.com/misery-book-film-differences/
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