Which is better, book or movie? That’s always the question. Some won’t even watch the movie until they’ve read the book because they just know the book will be better. But is it? Is the book always better? Let’s find out using Stephen King’s Misery as our first contender.
Here’s what you need to know about me, I am not Stephen King’s biggest fan, in fact, I’m not really a fan at all. Please don’t come at me for this, I can objectively respect his work, it’s just not something I’m usually drawn to. However, because of this – he is the perfect candidate for my little experiment. If I chose an author who’s writing I loved, the movie wouldn’t stand a chance. Since I’m choosing an author who is not usually my cup of tea I can just the book as a book and a movie as a movie.
Brilliant, I know.
I documented all of this on my YouTube Channel, so if you’d rather listen and watch go ahead and press play. If not, keep scrolling for my thoughts.
What is this book even about?
Stephen King’s book, Misery, follows our main character Paul Sheldon. Paul is a famous author, most notably for his romance series Misery. As always, Paul decides to take a trip to Colorado to finish his most recent book (not a Misery book) and decides to head back to New York City with his new manuscript. Except, Paul gets stuck in a Colorado snowstorm (might I add he is driving a car not at all made for snow), his car flips and he wakes up in the home of his “number-one-fan” Annie Wilkes.
Here’s the thing though, Annie may have saved Paul from dying in a snow covered ditch, but arguably what she has in store for him could be considered much, much worse.
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What did I think of the book?
Y’all. I was not expecting to love the book this much. First and foremost, I just have to say that Stephen King wastes absolutely no time at all getting started. There is zero fluff. We just start right off with Paul coming back to the light after almost dying and realizing he is in Annie’s care.
There is so much inner monologue, if you hate that, you’ll hate this, but if you really want to see the inner workings of a character’s mind, this book is for you. I felt like I knew Paul at the end of this book. I mean he plays out full scenarios in his mind. It’s wild.
This book is graphic. Stephen King does not hold back. I had a hard time with this at first, but after a while I just really wanted to know what happened. And if you’re reading the book and think it’s okay, this must be the only graphic part, nothing else will be worse than this, yes it will. You have been warned.
There is a book within this book. As an author, Paul is writing a book while being held captive in Annie’s home. Stephen King actually flushes this book out and while we don’t get the whole story, you get this gist. I thought this was a cool edition to the story.
Overall, I loved this book. I could not put it down. Time reading it flew by but also went by slowly as I was painstakingly reading all that Paul was going through. I have never wanted to a book to end so badly but not because I hated it, but because I just had to find out what was going to happen.
I have a new admiration for Stephen King after reading this book. Will I read others? Who knows. I definitely won’t shy away from them though like I usually do.
Was the movie better?
Here’s the deal. As a standalone, the movie was fine. We’ve got some big names like James Caan for Paul and Kathy Bates for Annie (who was perfect for this role by the way), and the movie was well done.
Here’s the problem.
What I watched and what I read were on two completely different spectrums. I honestly and truly feel like I watched a PG version of what I read. If Stephen King’s work was too graphic for TV (which I completely understand) then leave it alone. This is my issue with books made into movies. Not every good book needs to be a movie. Sometimes it just needs to stay a really good book.
One of my biggest issues with the movie version was Paul Sheldon’s character, and I like James Caan as an actor, but I think he’s the problem. You see, here’s the thing, when I think James Caan, I think macho man, I do not think broken shell of a man, pathetic or hopeless. But those are all words I would use to describe Paul Sheldon. Due to that fact, book Paul and movie Paul were two different people.
And the whole book is based on Paul. If you change Paul, you change the story.
I had mixed feelings about the addition of the sheriff in the movie. On the one hand he and his deputy (aka his wife) added some comedic relief to the plot, on the other hand, there’s nothing funny about Misery and it felt like another strong deviation from the plot.
And the winner is…
The book, by a landslide.
If you have either read Misery or seen the film I would love to know your thoughts! What did you think of the version you consumed? Which do you like better? Let me know in the comments here or on my YouTube Video.
Until next time, I’ve got some more things you may be interested in below.
Happy reading!
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