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Title: Gerald's Game by Stephen King ISBN: 0-451-17646-4 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 10 July, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.47 (189 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Polarizes opinions...
Comment: ...but, in my opinion, Stephen King does it yet again. Gerald's Game is a wonderful read.
This is the first novel--not since Intensity by Koontz--in a long time that has really got to me. By that I mean generally frightened me and made me feel for the character. The prospect put for in the novel is downright simple, yet frightining, and King polishes it off with a good plot. The other "characters" are believable and straightforward. Jessie, as well as her voices, work together to make her a complex character with which one can feel deeply for. Will Jessie emerge from the darkness that awaits and the one that covers her past? Read and find out...
The themes of hopelessness, child abuse, struggle with the past, and courage of the human spirit shine bright in this novel.
The ending is what polarizes most opinions. I believe it to be utterly brilliant. Many feel is was just an idea to end the book. However, ask yourself this whether you've read it or will read it: Would Jessie have acted without the horrifying promise and inspiration of "it"?
All in all, a great novel written by a great author. And yes, it was written by Stephen, not Tabitha. You get to know his voice if you read enough of his novels. Not for the kiddies, as usual, but one for the adults looking for an utterly mind bending book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Better than you might expect
Comment: Perhaps the most horrifying moment that a perspective reader could have in confronting the idea of reading Gerald's Game is that time when he realizes that, yes, Stephen King really did write a book trying to confront gender issues. That just FEELS like a bad match, considering the recent history that King had at the time (It is arguably one of the most misogynistic books I've ever read). That said, this book isn't so badly done and, contrary to popular opinion, it's not that much of a departure from "typical" Stephen King.
The book itself tries out an old plot device for King--those who have read Cujo may notice a little of the same formula at work here. The interludes away from the main plot sequence take another form (flashbacks instead of concurrent real-time events), but the structure is essentially the same. While sticking to a formula might seem to be a flaw for the book at first, it turns out to be one of the novel's greatest strengths. Cujo was a well paced and plotted adventure, and Gerald's Game shares those qualities with it. There are occasions in some of King's books (It comes to mind, along with The Stand) where you can sit and read for an hour and feel like you haven't gotten anywhere in the book. That's not a problem here. Another nifty side effect of the format the novel takes is that it neatly cuts off one of Stephen King's more maligned tendencies before it has a chance to develop. Since the number of characters the book can deal with is necessarily limited, there's little opportunity for bloat.
The end result is that you've got a solid, if unexceptional book that anybody ought to be able to comfortably pass a few hours with. There aren't any fundamental revelations regarding gender relations, and the subject matter obviously precludes some readers from picking the novel up (this is, after all, a tale of rough sex gone bad, with a little bit of molestation thrown in for good measure, so you might want to think twice before you let your teenager read this), but the story itself is concise, taut, and well paced and written. Long-time fans of King will be happy to see some old characters make cameo appearances (uh huh--Needful Things was the last Castle Rock story....riiiiight), while newcomers will find an engaging story that will entertain the imagination, even if it doesn't engage the higher mind.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Tense Psychological Thriller!
Comment: After finishing Gerald's Game, I feel like I have just fallen out of the visionary world Stephen King has written, and anybody can journey to it by picking up this book. From start to finish, this is psychological terror at its best, and if a person was entranced as I was they could finish this book in about 2 days if they felt the need to, because the reader just has to know the outcome to the story or he would go insane waiting to see what happens. Although Gerald's Game deals with some very controversial subject matter, such as child abuse and sex, this book is not overshadowed by the mature subject matter. This was once in fact supposed to be a movie, but the producers had no idea how to show somebody topless for the entire movie without recieving an NC-17 rating, so they just dropped the whole movie idea. Here below is a quick overview of the story and the writing:
Story: As the novel opens, we meet timid Housewife Jessie Burlingame, who is still haunted by an accident from the past, and her husband, Gerald Burlingame, the curious husband who has a slight heart problem. Both of them are vacationing at their Lake House when Gerald decides to pull out his handcuffs and test them out on Jessie. Jessie is then handcuffed to both of the bedposts, with only 6 inches of armroom allowed. With Jessie still locked up and the keys all the way across the room, Gerald suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving Jessie hopelessly handcuffed with no way to get out of the bed. As time passes, Gerald's body starts looking pretty scrumptious to a hungry stray, who ventures into the house and starts turning Gerald into Dogfood. All the while Jessie valiantly tries to get a water glass full of water off the shelf that is just barely out of her reach, but she has to try or else she fears she may just go insane. As her hunger and thirst deepens, Jessie begins having recurring dreams about her disturbing childhood that is tarnished by the memory of her father abusing her as a child. As she learns to deal with her inner demons, she soon notices demons aren't only in her dreams, but in the corner of her bedroom. A gaunt shadow stands there watching her throughout the night, and she realizes to her dismay the shadow is real. The only way Jessie can get out of her predicament is to overcome her inner demons and and try not to go mad, while at the same time she must figure out a way to get out of her impenetrable stronghold with all of her options gone except for an empty glass on the bedstand. Jessie learns to overcome fear and herself in the ultimate battle for survival.
Writing: Stephen King constantly amazes me at his always changing and everdevoloping writing styles, and with Gerald's Game, he once again he has done it. Although not as descriptive as say Cujo or The Shining, Gerald's Game describes things beautifully through similes and metaphors that are well-crafted and thought-out. What really amazes me about the writing is the relentlessness of the plot and how he sounds like the Camp Counselor telling ghost stories around the fire, increasing the tension and making you gasp once or twice for good measure. Stephen King is definitely writing in his "I Want to Tell You A Story" mode, never letting the plot lag and the story get muddled with needless subplots that have no basis. GREAT!
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Title: Rose Madder by Stephen King ISBN: 0451186362 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 03 August, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Desperation by Stephen King ISBN: 0451188462 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Insomnia by Stephen King ISBN: 0451184963 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Regulators by Stephen King, Richard Bachman, Charles O. Verrill ISBN: 0451191013 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Bag of Bones by Stephen King ISBN: 067102423X Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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