Rating:  Summary: The stupidest "heroine" ever written Review: * Spoilers*First let me say that this is the worst Stephen King book that I have ever read. Let me tell you why. The premise is that a woman (Jessie) is handcuffed to a bed by her husband and then he dies. I must insert here that I listened to this book on tape. It took Jessie four tapes to try to slide her hands out of the cuffs. FOUR TAPES! Ok, if I were in handcuffs and my husband died, I think it would take me about 10 seconds to try to slide my hands out of those cuffs. If that didn't work, I would try to break the head board. If that didn't work, I would break my hand so it would be able to slide out of the cuff. NINE TAPES into the book, Jessie finally decides to cut her hand-- not to make it able to fit through the cuff, but in the hopes that the blood will make her hand slippery enough to slide out. I was almost screaming at this woman who's stupidity does not end after she is freed from the handcuffs. A lot of readers on this board have said that Stephen King was brilliant in writing a woman so well. If all women were like this one, we still wouldn't be able to vote. If you want a King novel from a woman's perspective, try Doloris Claibourne a book tied in to this one by an eclipse that changes both Doloris' and Jessie's lives. THAT book is truly unique, much better written, and much less boring then this one.
Rating:  Summary: His best novel ever. Review: I must admit, I was one of many who were skeptical about King's "newer" books, but Gerald's Game was an incredible read. Thrilling and suspense-filled, you'll have trouble sleeping for weeks afterward. You wouldn't want to trade places with the heroin Jesse for anything in the world once the sun sets. Bound fast to a bed, no one around to hear her screams for help, save one person... the wrong person. This is King at his best.
Rating:  Summary: Mr. Suspense Review: Like Salem's Lot and Cujo, Gerald's Game is a fine thriller. S.K. not only takes you into his world of "scare ...you" story-telling, he also takes you into your own mind and haunts on your inner feelings and deep fears. S.K. is one of the few who can turn a simple story about a girl who's trapped on a bed into an adrenalin pumping novel. At the end of this book you feel like you want to walk up to Jessie, put your arms around her, and let her know that "we made it". The Delores Claiborne tie-in also adds to the flavor, for those who read it first.
Rating:  Summary: Fighting for life Review: Having a husband who enjoys playing freaky sex games may one day leave you stuck in an akward situation. You could be waiting for death. With only the slightest chance for survival. In the book geralds game, by Stephen King an inocent girl gets stuck in the very same situation. In the middle of nowhere lived a couple,whos names where Geraid and Jessie. They enjoyed living in present day exept for the fact that nobody could here you scream. One day, they were playing a harmless game in which Jessie was hand cuffed to the bed. She thought this was a decent idea. until her husband died of a heart attack and Jessie was left there with nobody to help her. This suspenseful novel kept me wanting more. The biggest thrill was wheather she lived or died at the end. I suggest this book to those who enjoy writing that can not be determined what happens next.
Rating:  Summary: Different, still excellent Review: First and foremost, King is just a plain writer. He is not a horror writer, he is a writer. And for that reason, this book cannot be classified as "different King", because all his books are different, and many of them, like this, are not strictly speaking horror. The basis for the story is simple: a wife and husband engaging in a sexual act whereupon it is necesarry for her to be handcuffed to the bed. the husband, during this act, dies of a heart attack, leaving the woman bound to the bed, in a shack in a wood, alone for miles, no one to set her free. A rather simple premise, and it seemed to me at first that it would have to be an absolutely excellent writer who could sustain interest in the story of a woman in a room for 400 pages. He did it. I was expecting boredom at times. but i found none. This is a wonderful psychological thriller, and the character of Jessie is drawn with such realism that she just jumps off the page. King really gets into that womans head. (He can do it with anything. Men, women, kids, even animals.) The story of Jessie's life and that of her current ordeal are told brilliantly together as they run parrallel to one another. They give the story dimension. The sparring of all Jessie's voices keep the story moving on, and the gradual building up of her life story keeps the suspense going. (As well as the fact of "will she get out alive") The inclusion of some possible horror/supernatural theme again gives the book dimension, and makes it even more compelling and unsetlling to read. Due to the nature of the story, the reader really doesnt think Jessie is seeing any king of supernatural being and that it is all in her mind , but the reader has forgotten the nature of King. The surprise twist at the end is good. All in all, this is another excellent book by King. Very different, but still a great psychological thriller. If you liked this you should read "The Crocodile Bird" by Ruth Rendell, a story whose layout is sort of similar. However, as always, things annoyed me with this King book. He always manages to somehow, but neverly majorly. The things which niggle me don't spoil my enjoyment of the book, nor are they really worth mentioning, but here goes: The ridiculous last names almost all the characters in this book. Some of them are just laughable. Not a normal surname amongst 'em. Also, the ending does hold a certain "and then i woke up" quality. It is definitely not like that, by any means, but it does convey that feeling, just a little.
Rating:  Summary: A Theory Review: First off, I've been a King fanatic since I read The Dead Zone as a pre-teen, many, many years ago. Gerald's Game has always been my least favorite King novel. I've been reading the customer reviews here and I've found them to be interesting. Even people who like the book talk about what a departure it is from "normal" King. Ever since the first time I read Gerald's Game I've felt that it was such a departure from what King would normally write that I had the feeling that maybe, just maybe he didn't write it. Think about it, this is an author that wrote a series of books under a different name just to see if they'd become a hit. Maybe this time he went in the opposite direction, have someone else write a novel and put the name Stephen King on the cover. Well then, who did the writing if this is the case? Look close to home. Read Tabitha King's Small World. The two are pretty similar. Limited number of characters, protagonist is a female trapped through the actions of a man and must survive by her own wits, more of a psychological thriller than out and out horror. Maybe I'm not even close but it just feels right :)
Rating:  Summary: Not the usual King Fare Review: This book was a complete thriller, just not your normal horror of King. I don't know that this book would have gotten published without his name on it. I mean, it deals with a woman chained to a bed for 95% of the ENTIRE book! (although the plot twist at the end is at least one saving grace...good job Stevie, and thats what saved it from a 2 star.
Rating:  Summary: Horrid Little Book Review: I have read most of Stephen King's books, this by far is my least favorite. Yes, it is sick, but dreadfully boring at the same time. I could not even finish the book. I really have nothing "good" to say about it, except that maybe it was an interesting idea initially but somewhere the plot just went no where. (And of course the main character goes "no where" because she's handcuffed to a bed post, and you are left with her just thinking and thinking about nothing much at all) In speaking to another King fan, he was unable to finish this book as well, and was severely disappointed. Well, I guess I need to find somebody I don't care for to give them my hardcover edition of this book, because I certainly wouldn't give it to a friend.
Rating:  Summary: Class Project Review: Have you ever read a book and ended up not knowing exactly what to think about it? Well, that is how I felt with Gerald's Game by Stephen King. The title was a little deceiving to me at first. I figured it was a book about a mass murderer that would first play games with his victims and then go on a killing spree. But I was really surprised to find out that it had nothing to do with that. I figured out that the title was actually very self-explanatory after reading the first couple of pages. To shortly summarize the book, it was about a husband and a wife that took an over night trip to their summer cabin. The couple, Gerald and Jessie Burlingame liked to play "kinky" games. The games got to be too much for Jessie and she started to get uncomfortable playing them. She became really worried when her husband would not stop even after she asked him to. At this point I was really enjoying the book. It kept me in suspense the whole time. Not to forget, the way Stephen King tends to describe the smallest details. Him doing so helps you get a picture in your mind of what is going on. But then Mr. King threw in something that I think he over did. He made Jessie start hearing different voices in her head. These voices were her different personalities that wanted to come out but could not. At this point I got somewhat confused because he talked about Goodwife Burlingame, the "good" girl and a voice named Ruth, the "bad" girl in her. Goodwife Burlingame was the voice telling her to, "Let hem do it, Jessie. Let him shoot his squirt. It's that stuff in his balls that's making him crazy, and you know it. It makes them all crazy." On the other hand, Ruth was the one that kept telling her, "The game's, not mine. We don't have to play it again, Jess, if you don't want to." Again, Mr. King described the voices so well that he helped me find my way back. But even with her struggling to stop him, her husband still continued to "play". The more she tried to stop him the more she realized that he was not playing anymore. The voices in her head then made her panic and to protect herself she accidentally pulled her feet back and ended up kicking him where no man wants to be kicked. Like most other murder books, he falls to the floor and dies. All this happened within the first chapter. Mr. King put too much into the first chapter that he did not have much left to put into the rest of the book. At the end of the first chapter and beginning of the second, Jessie came to realize what she had done. This is were I started to loose interest because Mr. King gave too many details on what Jessie was thinking. Not only did I loose interest but I even got bored because she kept repeating herself over and over. Her multiple personalities kept debating and this continued for almost the rest of the book. Stephen King broke up the continuation of her thoughts by explaining the way she struggled to get a drink of water from a glass that was near the bed. Here again, he gave great description and did a great job because there is not much you can do while trying to get a drink of water when you are still handcuffed to a bed. He finally gets to a point were he lets Jessie think clearer. This caught my attention again because the way he made her get out of the cuffs was real "scary story" material. Mr. King then did what I he should have done all together. In the last couple of chapters he lets Jessie write her thoughts down journal form. This was better than he telling what she was thinking was because it let me see it through her eyes. Overall Stephen King could have done better with this book. I felt as if I was on a rollercoaster ride because the story line would get real good but then he would drag it out too long that it would fall straight down. If he would have shortened the book by shortening Jessie's thoughts or putting them all into journal form at the end, the book would not have dragged out so long. It made it seem like it rattled on and on in some places but Stephen King, being the great writer that he is, compensated in other parts of the book.
Rating:  Summary: Psychological terror at its best! Review: Jessi Burlingame finds herself in an unbelievable, and seemingly inescapable situation, handcuffed to a bed in the middle of nowhere and completely alone - or is she? In Gerald's Game, Stephen King unleashes all of the most basic human fears, isolation, captivity, even the fear of being eaten by a wild animal. Jessi must not only deal with these basic primal fears, but she must also overcome her own internal monsters if she's ever to survive. Lindsay Crouse's narration is fabulous.
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