Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Misery by Stephen King

97 reviews

tyelperinquar's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Funny that the last book I finished before my reading break was a King book and this book, the one that got me back into reading again, is also a King book.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this one. Everything takes place within Annie Wilkes’s house, and the tension in the book comes from wondering what Annie will do to Paul next, and wondering if Paul will be able to get out of it alive. (Can you, Paulie?)
For fans of more traditional thrillers, there may not be enough action, because there’s a lot of Paul writing and a lot of him just being cooped up in the bedroom Annie keeps him in. But for people who enjoy psychological thrillers, tense character interactions, exploring the psyche of the main characters, and watching how a traumatic situation can change a person, there’s a lot to enjoy.

This is only the second King book I’ve read, but the guy’s a bit weird about sex. There are some non-rape situations in the book that he describes as rape which are really uncomfortable to read, but I guess that’s the goal? Still, I don’t  particularly appreciate them. That’s the one thing about King’s writing that irks me— otherwise, I adore how he’s able to craft a narrative and portray characters and the scenes they’re in.

I listened to an audiobook recording of this book— Lindsay Crouse was a phenomenal narrator. Her voice for Annie was absolutely spot-on, and the emotion she can conjure up made the story that much more immersive. Highly, highly recommend giving it a listen for her voice work.

I was really worried the book was going to end with

the scene where Annie chops Paul’s head off

, but that ends up not being the case. Thank God. Figuring out the details at the end about

where Annie was found in the barn and how she was holding a chainsaw

… that was chilling.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! Very easy to listen to and pick up. And what can I say, I love reading about men who get into awful situations and are traumatized about it. It’s cathartic. Thanks for your service, Paulie!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

There’s no actual rape, but King describes several non-rape situations (ie.

Annie performing mouth-to-mouth on Paul and Paul stuffing paper down Annie’s throat

asurasantosha's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Not my style, not my genre, BUT it's a good book and Stephen King is a household name for a very good and very valid reason. He sure can write. There's so much tension in this book!!! Even though there aren't really any "surprises" or twists- I very much knew how the entire book was gonna go- I was still on the edge of my seat the whole time and audibly gasped multiple times due to the intensity of the scenes and how well he pulled the reader in.

It also had a good plot, good prose (though genre-appropriate), and real-feeling characters. Good exploration of the human psyche and human condition for both of the main characters: the perpetrator and the victim.

There's a fictional book in this book and "excerpts" from it and, as contrived as the fictional book was, it also honestly didn't sound terrible. I'd read it. Lol.

So I'm not sure if I'll continue reading Stephen King as I'm not a fan of horror and will need to recover a little from this experience, but I'm still glad I gave this a shot. And I think anyone who can tolerate horror should give him a chance, at least for one book. And this is a good one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol

hjb_128's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have such a love/hate relationship with Stephen King's work. This one is by far the best I've ever read. It's perfectly dreadful, and even though I'd seen the film, I still found myself nervous as to what was going to happen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs and Car accident

Minor: Rape

perth_is's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

krmreads2024's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This is my favourite Stephen King's. Definitely. Misery is so tense, agonising, horrifying and empowering. It is about an author, Paul Sheldon, who ends up in a car crash, and wakes up in the house of Annie Wilkes, who is his self-proclaimed number one fan of his Misery book series. It is a tense kidnapping story of this man trying to desperately escape the violent, unhinged and unpredictable Annie Wilkes, as he is forced to rewrite a new ending to Misery. King's magnum opus of a horror novel tackles the parasocial relationship between a super fan and their idol and when expectations are shaken when confronted by the idol's true self. This parasocial relationship is turned up to eleven in the case of Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes, then flipped on its end when both become dependent on one another, in a twisted love-hate-obsession relationship. The fact that this whole book is basically these two characters interacting with each other, trying to assess what the other is thinking, is incredibly strong. It's about authorial intent vs death of the author, and the separation of art from the artist. You can tell that some of his fears and philosophies as a writer come out to most in this novel. There are also themes of addiction and renewal. There are moments of sadness, of pain, of pure horror and of levity and triumph. Such a rollercoaster of a book that you won't want to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Addiction

abbie_eibba's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

chsm8's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Vomit, and Car accident

nneka23's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I’m glad I finished this book, but it took me a lot longer with more effort than I expected. The overall storyline is engrossing in a way that makes it hard to quit, but I definitely came close a couple times. I’m not sure why the passages from Misery’s Return needed to be included - I personally was not at all interested in reading them. I kept wanting to find out more about what’s happening to Paul, and I think sometimes that got lost in the constant inner thoughts or the excerpts from Misery’s Return. I just had a hard time fully sinking into the story. That said, it was still well-written most of the time and King definitely knows how to create an atmosphere of dread as well as tension for the reader. The last act of the book went at crazy speeds. I’m now curious to watch the movie for comparison purposes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs

makeshift_human_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Medical content, and Cannibalism