 Hey guys it's Julia and welcome back to my channel and for today I'm super excited to bring you guys my first review video of 2017. So today I'm very excited to talk to you guys about another King book and that is going to be Misery by Stephen King. I ended up buddy reading this with like a huge group of people so I'll have all their channels linked in the description box and I love this book so much just right off the bat and just so you know the first section of this will be spoiler free and then we'll talk a little bit about spoilers in the end. Basically if you don't know what this book is about, it is about a man named Paul Sheldon who is a famous best-selling author. After he gets into a car accident he wakes up in a woman's home and her name is Annie and she says she's gonna take care of him. She's his biggest fan but like not a normal fan to say the least. She has a lot of stuff going on clearly and she holds him captive in her home and it's kind of terrifying. So that's what this book is about. Talking about the characters of this book, oh my god um Paul Sheldon, I don't even, like I was speechless about how good this book was like oh my god. Basically something that is right off the bat I think is set on the back and yeah. Basically he gets really heavily drugged and he becomes addicted to drugs Paul Sheldon does and it's really interesting being trapped in the mind of someone who's one health captive. Paul Sheldon is in severe pain considering his accident and three is consuming a significant amount of drugs that he shouldn't be taking that many of obviously. So the drug in this was called like Norvril, N-O-V-R-I-L yes and I found that it was really interesting and you got to see like an obsession over drugs obviously. And there's so much more to say about Paul but oh going on to Annie, oh my god one of my new favorite villains. I thought she was so screwed up. I thought like I don't know why but I loved her and Paul like obviously separate like I loved these two characters so much and obviously not like I love you reasons but I just thought Annie was super interesting obviously she had a lot going on um obviously she was really fucked up but I just thought she was an interesting character and I haven't read about a character like her before. Or exactly like no. So basically I did do a tabbing system for this book and I should have talked about this at the beginning but if you're curious if I remember correctly I think blue. Blue is for characters, yellow is for like specific quotes that I wanted to note, pink is for themes, green was for references I think yes and orange is for like plot development so that's what I did for this book. I don't know if you'd want to copy that but if you do I'll have it on the screen. Also with the characters I obviously tabbed a bunch of things and I go into my tab in the spoilery sections just so you know because like I don't want to read you passages and spoil you but these characters so messed up. So interesting like seeing both of them. I've never read like characters like this before. I also just loved King's writing like his writing is always good but in this book it was just extra good. The atmosphere of the whole situation, the tone of the book like I just couldn't believe how good it was. Like I love King like everyone knows that but I was just so astounded by how much I liked this book and how like creepy it was in a way and how much the characters were fleshed out and three dimensional and they had so many sides to them and they were going through so many things and there were so many themes in this book including drug addiction, obsession, dying and like being on the verge of death, pills, drugs, the whole thing. It talks about writing and the process of writing because throughout the book she, that's not a spoiler either. She makes him write the next book in the misery series that he's writing and so you see snippets of him writing it and how that process works especially when you're being forced to write and you're in captivity. There's also a bit of like alcoholism themes within this book as well. So yeah there was just so many themes into this book and there was a shining reference. I was dead. There's a shining reference of this edition. This is the Scribner edition. There's the shining reference on page 219 if you're wondering but I was still happy to see that. It's up here. But yes, it was just like the slightest mention but I was like oh my god yes. So now I'm actually going to get into my tabs and talk a bit of spoilers so if you haven't read this book I would highly recommend it. I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. My only con with it was the ending. I just, I'll talk a bit more in the spoilers because I can't really talk about the ending without spoiling you but there was just some things I think ended too abruptly in a way. I don't know. I'll talk about it in the spoilers. It was so good though that I, like if the ending was horrible I would have docked it down more but yeah it was great. I loved it. Probably going to be, like it's definitely in like my top books of the year so far so I'm super happy I read this one early in the year and it's also on my book bucket list of the year and I got it down. Yes! So let's talk spoilers. Wiped through my tabs. The chill section. So like grab a cup of coffee. Grab tea. I don't know. Grab a granola bar. Sit. Let's chat about this book. Oh I have to quote. So it's, I had no idea who he was or where he was and cared to know either. He wished he was dead but through the pain soaked haze that filled his mind. Like a summer storm cloud. He did not know. He wished it. It's a powerful statement. Like King is killing it with this writing in this book especially. And then obviously I'm not going to go through every single freaking tab will be here all year but I just quote things about the characters. So our introduction to Annie, I'm your number one fan. That's just what I am. Paul Sheldon, his novels. He had been married and divorced twice. Just basic stuff like that. So then just about his misery novels. She's read them like six times. And then Annie, oh my god the lines that she would say to Paul were like so jaw-dropping and so disturbing. Like she was like, you owe me your life Paul. I hope you'll remember that. I hope you'll keep that in mind. And then she laughed. Okay. Like wait a minute. Scared the guy. I thought it was really interesting how much you saw addiction player role in this story. I definitely haven't read about something like this in like so in depth. And I believe at the front of this book it says that King worked with doctors and I think psychiatrists on this book. Doctor of psychiatry and doctors in general about the drugs, mental health and things like that. So that was really interesting. So Norville's not a real drug but there are several drugs similar to it. Is what is also stated in the beginning of it. You just see how much he was struggling to. It's like the beads a sweat on his forehead to feel alternatively hot and cold. Was he going to scream? He thought perhaps he was. And then again he said because I would never, then she said because I would never assume to do such a thing without your permission I expect you too much in fact Paul I love you. Run. Like creepy. The one that like really made me so uncomfortable it was like you're going to be very happy here. She said although a bolt of horror ripped into my heart Paul still did not open his eyes. How he kind of saw Annie was he was with a woman who was not right in her head. A woman who had fed him with IV drops when he was unconscious. A woman who had apparently never ending supply of dope. A woman who had told no one he was here. These things are important but he began to realize that something else was more important. The tide was going out again. He began to wait for a sound of her alarm clock upstairs. He could not go walko off for some long while yet but it was time for him to start writing for it to be time. She was crazy but he needed her. A lot of drugs, a lot of IV and I think the most disturbing parts of this book were definitely when he looked down at his legs and they had like all the bolts in them and all the you know what I mean? That was just so sad like could you like I was just thinking about if I was in his place like could you imagine looking at your body and just looking at your legs and you're like what in the actual like what? And not to mention the ax scene which is like it literally says it on the back. I didn't even know that. Anyone's Paul to write his greatest works just for her. She has a lot of ways to super on him. What is a needle? What is an ax? And then there's with the blowtorch. So like torching his book is kind of the whole thing about that. But oh my god it was so sad when she like burned that copy of um or no she made him burn it. That copy of that book that he wrote flash cars I don't know what it was called but yeah that was oh my god I felt so bad and yeah so definitely the ax scene was terrifying when he like and then doesn't she cut off his fingers too? He also found it so amazing how much him Paul Sheldon writing throughout this whole experience made it so that he could be able to take what he was going through and it could help him cope and it was a huge escape mechanism for him which I think it really goes to show how much writing and reading and words have so much power and how despite everything in his like in his life at the moment was going horribly wrong with Annie he did manage to find some peace in his work and he was able to zone out and get out of that situation in a way. Yeah so she made him do a lot I think she made him drink water from a floor bucket had withheld medication um so obviously when you're addicted to meds you can't just stop taking them because you'll like you can't you just can't do it. What's the word? You'll relapse you'll it's just not safe to just stop meds like that and so she would hold them back um had him burn the only copy of his novel had handcuffed him and stuck a rag reeking up furniture polish in his mouth but she would not take the money from his wallet oh yeah because she's like oh I'm not going to take money from your wallet I need your permission literally does all this shit to him can I borrow money from you? Like why would you ask that? I would assume that she would have taken that anyways the ending that he writes at first she's like no I don't want that rewrite it also you could tell Annie had a lot of stuff going on too she clearly had anxiety issues. She clearly um showed like self-harm traits considering she she pulled it out and then twisted it like this is her lip she pinched her lower lip between the thumb and first finger of her right hand she pulled it out and then twisted it pinching inward at the same time blood first weld between lip and gum and then gushed down her chin she turned in love without speaking a word before his done mind could persuade itself that he had that he had really seen her do that. And then he started talking about a manic depressive personality Paul Sheldon talks about that which obviously there was a lot going on with Annie we learn about Annie and of course she leaves this nice scrapbook full of newspaper things that people die and then he just casually goes and looks at it like he manages to get out of the room which she knew the whole time I kind of figured that she knew that he was getting out of his room because like she seems like the person who would just she's obviously keeping tabs on things she's obviously pretty clever and devious in a lot of ways considering she's never been caught before so actually no she was caught but she was caught for like some other charge I believe if I remember correctly or no she was accused of something and but she was never charged of it but like the cops were like suspicious of her but like it didn't go through. He opens this book and she he finds that she's killed all these people it's kind of like her trophies like it's like all the newspaper articles of the whole situation that she's killed people and she kills several people in front of Paul which oh my god this book was so good in so many ways but like these descriptions were oh my god a lot like not a lot a lot but you know what I mean and like he even compares her to like almost as clever as Satan himself it seemed only now she was starting to lose it it would be precious little consolation to him however if anywhere to be finally brought to bay for the murder of Paul Sheldon so like you slowly see not only Paul's progression and his like downfall as well but you see well Paul can have spikes I guess because his running does relieve some of his what's going on with him but at the same time you just see how Annie just goes downhill throughout this book how she's more she acts out more she's sometimes she's rude like sometimes she's really strict and she's like she comes in and she's upset and then Paul's like oh no and she lives in like the middle of nowhere and cops are coming to her door now and then oh when he when she made him stay in the cellar like when she put him in the cellar with the rats and he was just like in the dark in the cold still like sitting there and like he didn't know she would come back or what would happen and there was points where he was considering like burning the house down and all that sort of stuff oh my god there was so much this book happened that happened in his book and there's this whole thing with Africa like it's like almost like I don't even know how to explain it like it's something that Paul used throughout the book and said a lot throughout the book and it was definitely like a symbolic thing in my opinion I don't know if that's exactly correct I haven't really looked into it but he said Africa a lot I don't know if it was like him on the verge of like insanity kind of thing or if it was like even if it was that they'll stink it was like really symbolic obviously but let me know what you think in the comments and then when Paul starts to get like when the climax that end of the book is happening he said the fact was simple he wants to take a care of Annie Wilkes herself they could put you in jail bitch he thought but I know how to hurt you then Paul gets more and more into his writing kind of as the story goes on and then he burns it like he literally like holds a match to it and he's like hey Annie how's it going I'm just gonna burn this manuscript that she's like not misery no and she's freaking out so it's like oh okay they're constantly fighting trying to kill each other Paul looked at Wix and then he began to scream he was still screaming when he fainted after the whole situation got into the barn and had collapsed there she was dead when Wix and McKnight found her but not a strangulation she had actually died of the fractured skull she had received when she struck the mantle she struck the mantle because she had tripped and so in a way she had been killed by the very typewriter of Paul had hated so much ends like that I don't know because the only problem that I had with the ending was like I did like it like don't get me wrong and like I love this book but my only issue with the ending was like the cops first show up but she just kills them and then more cops show up and like I feel like the same thing could have happened easily again but it's like oh this one works just perfectly it was kind of like the same situation as before and like you knew it was gonna work because it was near the end of the book that like they would find out and deal with the situation and whatever so like I don't know like it was a fine ending but then part of me was like okay but what about like what about Paul's ex-wives and what happened to the other victims what exactly like I know Annie was killed but like is there any more information on her like I just wanted a little bit more which kind of sometimes came kind of if you hang in a little bit so it's just my opinion but yes that was my review on misery I hope you guys liked it let me know your thoughts down below this is obviously my personal opinion so if you don't agree with it cool let me know down below just don't just try to chill with hate because I'll just block you thank you so thank you guys so so much for watching I'll see you all very soon with a new video bye