Review: Misery by Stephen King

In New England, this February brought freezing temperatures and more snow than we’ve had in the last few years. Yet, the snow here was nothing compared to the Colorado blizzard that leaves a writer’s car buried while he lies injured and captive in a woman’s home, which is the plot of Misery by Stephen King. It might be too early to say, but it could be my favorite book of the year and definitely one of the tops.

This novel gripped me while also disgusting me. I wished it would end because of how grotesque and tense it was. I expected gore and terror since I’m no stranger to King’s work, but Misery was special. The book is short for a King novel, under 400 pages, but he made use of every word and every page. Misery both repelled and attracted me. Please be aware of major spoilers ahead as I discuss the plot and characters. 

The novel begins with writer Paul Sheldon waking up in staggering pain. He registers that he is in a small room, though slips in and out of consciousness. Once he fully wakes, he learns that he is in the home of Annie Wilkes, a nurse. He explains later that, unaware of the major snowstorm, Paul had left his hotel in Colorado with his completed manuscript and intended to drive out west. However, he gets into an accident and survives only because Annie pulled him out of his car and brought him home. Paul spends the next several months trapped in her small guest room with shattered legs and no medical help outside of Annie and her pain medication. 

The opening of the novel emphasizes the danger that Paul is in. He describes a female voice who urges him to breathe and gives him CPR. Despite the fact that she is saving his life, the language is sinister. He recalls the “foul breath,” which is “forced into his mouth.” This description highlights Annie’s role as his captor. The word “force” shows that she is in control in this situation, and Paul is uncomfortable about it. Paul realizes quickly, within the first few pages, that Annie is “insane” and he is in danger. Her dissociative states keep him from asking too many questions at this time since he’s too weak to move and in so much pain. He requires the medication that she administers, so he remains calm and in her control. I enjoyed the use of “en media res,” a technique where the story begins in the middle of the plot. We don’t initially know how Paul gets to Annie’s home, just that he is there and it’s not a good situation. It made the story more scary and tense despite nothing bad happening yet, though Paul’s situation continues to worsen.

Paul remains injured, crippled and trapped for the entirety of the novel. He uses a wheelchair as he begins to heal, but does not walk until he escapes. He leaves his room only when Annie is out, and he has to learn to pick the lock and leave no trace. Paul understands as the novel progresses that Annie intends to kill him because she could never let him be free. However, she keeps him alive for some time because he is her favorite author and his historical romance series about Misery Chastain is her favorite. When she realizes that Paul killed Misery in the last novel, she demands he revive her and forces him to write a new novel. Paul uses the book as a way to delay his murder and to stay sane. He finds that the books he thought he hated writing about actually provide him with plenty of comfort and excitement. Misery ends with Paul completing the book and using it to bait Annie into an attack that leads to her death. He escapes her house with the help of police and publishes the completed novel, which he views as one of his best. 

This brief summary can’t begin to explore all of the details and emotion in this novel. Not much physical action occurs (aside from Annie’s many acts of violence). Instead, Paul’s internal experience drives the novel. He is constantly thinking and plotting and writing. This approach reflects Paul’s experience. Since the setting is limited to mainly one room, the smallness of the setting and the lack of minor characters mirrors the claustrophobia of the novel. The reader is as trapped as Paul is. All there is to do is read about his pain, his fears, his addiction to Annie’s pills, and his feelings about writing. While the novel is internal, Paul is great company. 

Paul is bursting with life and dimension. He is full of contradictions and growth. He hates his romance novels, but finds solace in the world of his characters. He thinks they are a poor example of his ability, but learns to appreciate his skills and passion for writing through this new book. In addition, his relationship with Annie is complex. He learns her moods and adapts to her behaviors to keep himself alive. While his terror of Annie keeps him locked up and afraid to fight back, especially as her punishments get worse, his survival instinct is constantly present and guides his actions. He needs her as she administers his medication and feeds him, but he knows he must escape and quit the pills ASAP, since he is already addicted to them. Paul’s intelligence and adaptability was my favorite aspect of his character. Despite his drugged and injured state, he recognizes very quickly that he is in trouble and something is not quite right with Annie. He fights for a way to survive, and I couldn’t help but root for him. While the novel is limited in setting and characters, Paul’s characterization adds to the incredible experience of reading this book.

Paul also becomes more likable as the novel continues. His identity crystallizes around his feelings about writing. Paul rejects his popular series about Misery Chastain. He doesn’t want to write gothic romances and thinks they are beneath him, despite the fact that he’s successful. He believes he should be doing something more and takes pride in his newest manuscript, which he views as serious and meaningful. However, Annie makes him burn this manuscript page by page and forces him to revive Misery. When he returns to Misery’s world, he finds it is not only comfortable for him, but engaging and fulfilling. This transformation of his outlook makes Paul realistic. He struggles with everything throughout the process: his broken body, his writing skill, his self-doubt, and his confidence in his work. Yet, he overcomes. I love the concept of “Can You?,” a game which Paul plays with himself in order to see if he can make the novel work. Of course, he finds that he can. His desire to complete the novel and write it well aligns with his need to stay alive. At his core, he is strong and driven. One of the central themes is this ability to overcome, and the major challenge for Paul is with Annie.  

Annie Wilkes is just as compelling and complex as Paul. She is oddly likable, though in a different way than Paul. She fascinates the reader. We know less about Annie than we do about Paul and only discover bits about her as he does. When Paul finds her memory book, he learns that she killed her neighbors as a child, and killed her father, her roommate, and many of her patients as a nurse. Paul theorizes that she snaps and kills them, which tracks with her behavior toward Paul. When he makes her mad, she punishes him. And her punishments get progressively worse— I’ll get to that. However, Annie is still lucid and able to understand what people think of her and why. She knows to keep up polite appearances in order to give her neighbors less to gossip about, and she knows they are gossiping. She also makes thorough plans to ensure her protection against accusations. For example, she explains every detail of how she will cover up the murder of the policeman who came looking for Paul. Paul realizes that while Annie is not stable, she is intelligent and competent. It’s possible she wouldn’t have ever been caught had Paul’s plan to attack her not worked. 

While I enjoy Annie’s characterization, I do not feel bad for her. She’s never written with sympathy, and an explanation for her behavior is never offered. She is evil, and even when parts of her humanity shine through, she appears more terrifying. Paul emphasizes her emptiness and notes early on that it’s “as if a hole opened up inside her and swallowed every human quality she possessed. She seemed to have no memory of these times.” Annie has frequent mental lapses that make her seem less human and less cognizant. These instances show how she suffers from mental illness, but the language to explain them is clinical. Her struggles don’t command sympathy. Her obsession with Paul and his books is relevant throughout different times, but especially today with all the increase in online stans and stalkers, who threaten critics and stockpile information about the object of their infatuation. She could exist in any time and any place and be anyone, which is what makes her so frightening. Still, the logic with which she looks at things makes sense to the reader. She lashes out when she feels embarrassed or hurt, and though you don’t feel sorry for her, you still understand it. Together Annie and Paul create an odd pair, almost like friends, though the constant violence reminds the reader that they are not. 

Annie’s violence progresses throughout the novel. The first instance was bad enough for me. Annie has a fit about Paul’s use of vulgar language in his new manuscript, and she throws his soup bowl at the wall. She takes her time cleaning the mess, even though Paul is in excruciating pain and waiting for his pills. As punishment, she makes Paul drink the dirty, soapy water to swallow his pills. Even thinking about that moment makes me nauseous. It’s not the most violent, but it shows how unwell Annie is and how at her mercy Paul is.

Of course, it gets a million times worse. She smashes his already shattered, unhealed knee at one point and leaves him without pain medication. One of the major climaxes is certainly when she chops off Paul’s foot with an ax and then cauterizes it with a makeshift blowtorch. That scene left me speechless. Gagged is the perfect word. I’ll never forget reading it in my bed at midnight on a Monday. The novel pauses after that moment, but Paul then wakes up without a foot and without a thumb. He explains later that Annie cut it off with an electric knife. At this point, the reader is desensitized to Annie’s violence. King accentuates this through Paul's explanation about losing his thumb like it’s an afterthought. It feels like, whatever, he’s already lost enough; who cares about the thumb? Still, the violence in this novel is staggering, and it’s written masterfully. My body felt tense throughout the whole thing. I wanted it to end as much as I wanted to know how it would end.

The novel wraps up with a fairly happy ending, though I use that phrase loosely. Paul survives, but he is traumatized and imagines Annie coming for him at every corner. I read that the original ending was supposed to be Annie binding the manuscript of Misery’s Return with Paul’s skin after she killed him. While that ending would have been insane and twisted in the best way, I am grateful that Paul got to live. I was rooting for him. I was a bit worried King might kill him, though King doesn’t often kill his main characters— a frequent criticism from readers. Still, I think an ending where Paul lives with a constant fear of Annie coming back offers more to engage with. King has also said that Misery, specifically Annie’s character, is meant to be a metaphor for his drug addiction, and with that in mind, the ending is much more poignant. Addiction is a lifelong illness, even when you get sober. Annie haunting Paul at every corner even after she dies reflects that.  

Like I said, this might be my favorite King novel that I’ve read (and I’ve barely scratched the surface with his works). It was terrifying, yet engaging. I wanted it to end as much as I wanted to keep reading. I appreciated the characters and how multi-faceted they were. I was never bored despite the fact that there’s not much physical action or change of scenery. I watched the film a couple days ago since I heard great things. While I enjoyed it, I was let down because of how phenomenal the novel is. I should have waited a while to forget how good the book was before watching the movie. I would urge anyone who can stomach it to read Misery by Stephen King!