God Save The King

I didn't read a single Stephen King book while in highschool. And I sure read a lot around that time.

It just may be coincidence that I hadn't read anything by this Maine author before in my life. Or it may well be that, until I knew Finn5fel, I didn't even have a high respected opinion of his work. But, getting to know Fel, I discovered two things: he has a sense of taste very similar to mine on regarding fiction, and Mr. King is his favourite author hands down. Very slowly, my perception of this prolific writer's work and persona started changing, and I began to contemplate that reading one of his books couldn't really be that bad. And then I read The Princess Bride, in where William Goldman talks about his friendship with Stephen King and his adaptation of the book Misery into a now very famous movie. I had never seen it, and since I bought me Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade, another one of Goldman's books in which he talks about the screenwriter trade and his screenplay adaptations, I decided I would read Misery first. Boy I'm glad I did.

It's very possible that I was the only human left on earth with no idea whatsoever of what the book was about. And I mean it. No idea. To me the novel could have well had been about an evil dog, or an evil sect, or a writer who gets evily mad while winter-caring an old hotel (no, I haven't read The Shining either, but I've seen Kubrick's excellent movie).

Then I started reading, and when I finally stopped three days later (three days with their eight-hour work shifts, their house-cleanings, their chauffeur-drivings and other million things that stubbornly kept pushing me away of Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes' lives) I discovered I had finished a book by one of my now favourite writers.

Misery has it all: a brilliant story, incredibly well-drawn characters, wonderful prose, high psychological tension, some true horror moments, a pace that keeps the reader from breathing while turning page after page, a book-inside-the-book plot (I can never get tired of those), a gazillion pop-culture references, and even some writing tips perfectly integrated into the story.

But what amazes me most is the capacity King has to immerse the reader into the story, to make him feel the same way the characters are feeling every moment. That forced-upon empathy he manages to translate to words is something that I haven't found many times. And only because of that, I'm definitely going to follow Mr. King's career. I sure as hell have a lot of reading to do to catch up.