Status
Available
Call number
Library's review
USA, oktober ca 1992.
Gerald, 46 år, og Jessie Mahout Burlingame, 39 år, er gift med hinanden. De har ingen børn, men de har et fritidshus ved et øde sted nær en sø, og denne weekend har de tænkt sig en lille sexleg med håndjern. Eller rettere Gerald har, for Jessie er træt af det og får
Gerald lukkede ikke yderdøren, så efter et døgns tid kommer en omstrejfende hund, Prince, forbi og tager for sig af Geralds lig.
Jessie er låst fast til sengen, har kun et par nylonstrømpebukser på og yderdøren står åben. Jessie har en indre dialog eller samtale med forskellige stemmer, som er forskellige aspekter af hendes personlighed, fx er Goodwife ikke begejstret for den refleks, der fik Jessie til at sparke Gerald i skridtet.
Mens Jessie ligger lænket til sengen, spekulerer hun over en episode den 20 juli 1963, hvor hendes far under en solformørkelse misbrugte hende seksuelt. Jessie får en mærkelig oplevelse af at en anden kvinde et andet sted samtidigt tipper sin mand ned i en brønd. Det er en forbindelse til historien fortalt i Dolores Claiborne.
Fortællingen er lidt langsom. Fra Gerald falder om og til hun har listet en vandglas tættere på så hun kan drikke lidt af det, går der 10 kapitler. Efter 18 timer kommer vi til kapitel 22. Det er næsten realtime.
På et tidspunkt vågner Jessie midt om natten og synes at der står en meget høj og mærkelig mand i et hjørne af rummet. Hun besvimer og da hun vågner igen, er der et fodspor i hjørnet. Hun har ikke for godt styr på tiden, for der er godt nok en clock-radio i rummet, men strømmen har været afbrudt, så den blinker 12:00 hele tiden.
Hun tænker på den mærkelige fyr som The Space Cowboy.
Jessie får fat i en dåse Nivea, men forskrækkes af Prince, så hun taber den. I stedet skærer hun sig, så hun kan få den ene hånd fri af mandehåndjernene, trække sengen hen til skabet, hvor nøglerne til håndjernene ligger og komme helt fri.
Anstrengelserne og blodtabet får hende til at besvime og Space Cowboy er der igen, da hun vågner. Hun kommer ud til sin bil og kører langsomt væk, men da hun kigger i bagspejlet ser hun væsenet på bagsædet og kører galt.
Hun bliver reddet, men fortæller ikke nogen om Space Cowboy og der er heller ikke spor efter det i huset.
Politiet har i 7 år jagtet en fyr med mærkelige vaner og en dag er der bid. Raymond Andrew Joubert bliver pågrebet af Alan Pangborn's efterfølger som sherif, Norris Ridgewick. Joubert ser meget mærkelig ud og har myrdet adskillige foruden at han har leget gravrøver og indbrudstyv i stor stil.
Jessie får bevis for at Joubert var i værelset og får dermed fred for sine mareridt.
King blev åbenbart ikke træt af at skrive om personen lænket til en seng, for Misery ligner jo på det punkt meget.
Introduktionen til sidst af et mystisk monster, ligner lidt The Girl, who loved Tom Gordon og den lange forklaring til sidst minder om Hitchcocks udgave af Psycho.
Gerald, 46 år, og Jessie Mahout Burlingame, 39 år, er gift med hinanden. De har ingen børn, men de har et fritidshus ved et øde sted nær en sø, og denne weekend har de tænkt sig en lille sexleg med håndjern. Eller rettere Gerald har, for Jessie er træt af det og får
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det for en gangs skyld sagt, men først efter at håndjernene, M-17 og ikke F-23, har sagt klik. Gerald lader som om han ikke fatter det og Jessie kvitterer med et spark i skridtet. Det udløser et hjerteanfald og Gerald falder død om. Nøglerne til håndjernene ligger på natbordet, men Jessie kan ikke nå dem.Gerald lukkede ikke yderdøren, så efter et døgns tid kommer en omstrejfende hund, Prince, forbi og tager for sig af Geralds lig.
Jessie er låst fast til sengen, har kun et par nylonstrømpebukser på og yderdøren står åben. Jessie har en indre dialog eller samtale med forskellige stemmer, som er forskellige aspekter af hendes personlighed, fx er Goodwife ikke begejstret for den refleks, der fik Jessie til at sparke Gerald i skridtet.
Mens Jessie ligger lænket til sengen, spekulerer hun over en episode den 20 juli 1963, hvor hendes far under en solformørkelse misbrugte hende seksuelt. Jessie får en mærkelig oplevelse af at en anden kvinde et andet sted samtidigt tipper sin mand ned i en brønd. Det er en forbindelse til historien fortalt i Dolores Claiborne.
Fortællingen er lidt langsom. Fra Gerald falder om og til hun har listet en vandglas tættere på så hun kan drikke lidt af det, går der 10 kapitler. Efter 18 timer kommer vi til kapitel 22. Det er næsten realtime.
På et tidspunkt vågner Jessie midt om natten og synes at der står en meget høj og mærkelig mand i et hjørne af rummet. Hun besvimer og da hun vågner igen, er der et fodspor i hjørnet. Hun har ikke for godt styr på tiden, for der er godt nok en clock-radio i rummet, men strømmen har været afbrudt, så den blinker 12:00 hele tiden.
Hun tænker på den mærkelige fyr som The Space Cowboy.
Jessie får fat i en dåse Nivea, men forskrækkes af Prince, så hun taber den. I stedet skærer hun sig, så hun kan få den ene hånd fri af mandehåndjernene, trække sengen hen til skabet, hvor nøglerne til håndjernene ligger og komme helt fri.
Anstrengelserne og blodtabet får hende til at besvime og Space Cowboy er der igen, da hun vågner. Hun kommer ud til sin bil og kører langsomt væk, men da hun kigger i bagspejlet ser hun væsenet på bagsædet og kører galt.
Hun bliver reddet, men fortæller ikke nogen om Space Cowboy og der er heller ikke spor efter det i huset.
Politiet har i 7 år jagtet en fyr med mærkelige vaner og en dag er der bid. Raymond Andrew Joubert bliver pågrebet af Alan Pangborn's efterfølger som sherif, Norris Ridgewick. Joubert ser meget mærkelig ud og har myrdet adskillige foruden at han har leget gravrøver og indbrudstyv i stor stil.
Jessie får bevis for at Joubert var i værelset og får dermed fred for sine mareridt.
King blev åbenbart ikke træt af at skrive om personen lænket til en seng, for Misery ligner jo på det punkt meget.
Introduktionen til sidst af et mystisk monster, ligner lidt The Girl, who loved Tom Gordon og den lange forklaring til sidst minder om Hitchcocks udgave af Psycho.
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Genres
Publication
New York : Viking, 1992.
Description
Fiction. Horror. HTML: An erotic game with handcuffs between husband and wife. One of them won't make it through the night. For the survivor, death would have been a blessing..
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
This is a second read for me. It’s strange about Kings stuff, I remember very little of the details and so a second read is just as interesting as the first.
There were a lot of things I could not relate to in this book. The voices are one. Sure, they were a cunning device to goad Jessie into some
The ending too, was interesting. King just couldn’t leave without trying to really gross you out one more time. At least he proved Jessie wasn’t hallucinating as well as hearing voices. Pretty gross Joubert’s nocturnal graveside activities. And he remembered her. I’m glad she spit in is face. Not that it was justice, or anything close, but if she didn’t she’d show her up in her mind with Ruth, Goodie and Punkin. What a crew.
I didn’t really see the connection between what Gerald was doing and her father. I suppose it cold be the view of women as having only one function for a man. Like the violation she felt when her brother goosed her. It must have shaken her pretty badly for her to block it out until she was chained to a bed next to her dead husband.
One of the things I remember from this was a quote that went something like this: a man only puts a ring on a woman’s finger because the law no longer allows him to put one through her nose. I think every man alive should read this book. Many really don’t see us as people for the most part. Everything they think about us is qualified with “for a woman”. Like my humanity is less valuable because I don’t have a penis. Humanity should be measured by the brain. As far as I know there are no physical differences between a male brain and a female brain.
There were a lot of things I could not relate to in this book. The voices are one. Sure, they were a cunning device to goad Jessie into some
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action. She needed to reconcile her past and deal with her present. But, voices? Of other people? In your head? Nope, can’t relate. I did like the bit about the dog, though. That’s got to do some damage to one’s psyche, watching your spouse being eaten by a stray dog. Lassie come home. The ending too, was interesting. King just couldn’t leave without trying to really gross you out one more time. At least he proved Jessie wasn’t hallucinating as well as hearing voices. Pretty gross Joubert’s nocturnal graveside activities. And he remembered her. I’m glad she spit in is face. Not that it was justice, or anything close, but if she didn’t she’d show her up in her mind with Ruth, Goodie and Punkin. What a crew.
I didn’t really see the connection between what Gerald was doing and her father. I suppose it cold be the view of women as having only one function for a man. Like the violation she felt when her brother goosed her. It must have shaken her pretty badly for her to block it out until she was chained to a bed next to her dead husband.
One of the things I remember from this was a quote that went something like this: a man only puts a ring on a woman’s finger because the law no longer allows him to put one through her nose. I think every man alive should read this book. Many really don’t see us as people for the most part. Everything they think about us is qualified with “for a woman”. Like my humanity is less valuable because I don’t have a penis. Humanity should be measured by the brain. As far as I know there are no physical differences between a male brain and a female brain.
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LibraryThing member kayrae
The scariest book I have ever read, this books take place in ONE room. From the beginning, the setting is classical in it's chilliness; in the first few paragraphs you know something is amiss. Gerald and Jessie, a married couple, have come to their lake house for the weekend. It is totally
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secluded, and as soon as they arrive they rush to their bedroom for activities, leaving the screen door open and banging in the wind, and in the background you can hear a wild dog barking and a chainsaw running a few miles into the woods. During some confusion while trying to play a risque game of bondage, Jessie ends up hurting Gerald bad enough that he doesn't get up after falling off of the bed. This leaves her chained to the bed in handcuffs. Soon, the sun begins to set, and night closes in around her. She is completely vulnerable to all of the creepy sounds and creeks in the night, to the stray and starving dog that finds his way inside, to her own haunted and troubled thoughts and memories, and worst of all, vulnerable to the horrible thing that is hiding in the bedroom corner when she awakens from a nightmare during the first night. Is it real or imagined? Because of her emotional state throughout the book, you won't find out until the shocking and unforgettable conclusion just what or who it was that had been watching her from the shadows. Show Less
LibraryThing member Edward.Lorn
WARNING: Here, there be language. If naughty words offend you, putter on past.
GERALD'S GAME is best if you know nothing about it. If you plan to read it, skip this review. It is also the only King novel that I'm sure will never see film. And I kind of like that about it.
Stephen King took a huge
I first read this novel the year it was released, when it came in the mail through my mother's book club subscription. I was young, probably twelve or thirteen, and most of the sex stuff was lost on me because I didn't understand what was going on. Nowadays, I'm a thirty-three-year-old boy, and the sex stuff was about as interesting to me as changing a shitty diaper.
So why did I enjoy this book? Three reasons. The dog, the de-gloving, and the corpse-fucker. Intrigued? Good. Read the book. Appalled? Skip this book.
This is one of those books that a great many readers will hate. It hops through the years of this woman's life like a broken time machine. There is no rhyme or reason to when these flashbacks occur. This isn't an every-other-chapter, past/present/past/present, type of deal. You'll be plodding along in the present and then all of a sudden you're in the past. If that sounds annoying, skip this book. I didn't mind it.
King's vulgarisms even caught this foul-mouthed sonuvabitch off guard. More than once, the phrase "A woman is just a life support system for a cunt," was used in one form or another. And I'm talking more than ten times. A sanitary napkin is even referred to as a cunt-diaper. Not in dialogue, mind you, but in the narrative. If you're turned off by that, you know what which book not to read.
Then you have the tie-in with one of my favorite King novels, DOLORES CLAIBORNE. Both novels were published in the same year and have similar themes (child molestation and the after effects). Oddly enough, the main character's recollection of an event that happens to her during an eclipse of the sun in 1963 runs parallel to Dolores pushing her husband down the well. I thought this was cool, but I'm biased. There's no reason why the MC has this connection with Dolores. None whatsoever. I'm actually shocked this stayed in the book after editing. Then again, most readers will tell you Stephen King hasn't had a good editor since the original, chopped up version of THE STAND.
Be forewarned. I'm an odd duck. I have strange tastes, and will completely ignore huge plot problems if I find the overall story palatable. In other words, if I find the subject enjoyable, anything the author says goes. It can happen because they said it could happen, that sort of thing. In this book, the three things I listed above were well worth all the repetition, time jumps, and plot holes.
GERALD'S GAME is best if you know nothing about it. If you plan to read it, skip this review. It is also the only King novel that I'm sure will never see film. And I kind of like that about it.
Stephen King took a huge
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chance with GERALD'S GAME. First off, this is a three-hundred-plus page novel about a woman handcuffed to a bed. Even in a master storyteller's hands, a tale like this can become tedious. The novel does suffer from a metric fuck-ton of repetition, which is the only reason this wasn't a five star read for me. I first read this novel the year it was released, when it came in the mail through my mother's book club subscription. I was young, probably twelve or thirteen, and most of the sex stuff was lost on me because I didn't understand what was going on. Nowadays, I'm a thirty-three-year-old boy, and the sex stuff was about as interesting to me as changing a shitty diaper.
So why did I enjoy this book? Three reasons. The dog, the de-gloving, and the corpse-fucker. Intrigued? Good. Read the book. Appalled? Skip this book.
This is one of those books that a great many readers will hate. It hops through the years of this woman's life like a broken time machine. There is no rhyme or reason to when these flashbacks occur. This isn't an every-other-chapter, past/present/past/present, type of deal. You'll be plodding along in the present and then all of a sudden you're in the past. If that sounds annoying, skip this book. I didn't mind it.
King's vulgarisms even caught this foul-mouthed sonuvabitch off guard. More than once, the phrase "A woman is just a life support system for a cunt," was used in one form or another. And I'm talking more than ten times. A sanitary napkin is even referred to as a cunt-diaper. Not in dialogue, mind you, but in the narrative. If you're turned off by that, you know what which book not to read.
Then you have the tie-in with one of my favorite King novels, DOLORES CLAIBORNE. Both novels were published in the same year and have similar themes (child molestation and the after effects). Oddly enough, the main character's recollection of an event that happens to her during an eclipse of the sun in 1963 runs parallel to Dolores pushing her husband down the well. I thought this was cool, but I'm biased. There's no reason why the MC has this connection with Dolores. None whatsoever. I'm actually shocked this stayed in the book after editing. Then again, most readers will tell you Stephen King hasn't had a good editor since the original, chopped up version of THE STAND.
Be forewarned. I'm an odd duck. I have strange tastes, and will completely ignore huge plot problems if I find the overall story palatable. In other words, if I find the subject enjoyable, anything the author says goes. It can happen because they said it could happen, that sort of thing. In this book, the three things I listed above were well worth all the repetition, time jumps, and plot holes.
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LibraryThing member PhoebeReading
Stephen King plays does well with claustrophobic situations; in Misery he presented the story of a writer physically confined to a house; in Dolores Claiborne, the story of a woman confined to an awful marriage. Gerald's Game plays similarly with both physical and emotional confinement, though in
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terms of both intensity and craft I'd say it is the strongest of the three.Gerald's Game has a fairly simplistic set-up. Jessie and her husband Gerald have been playing bondage games for several months, but never before with hand-cuffs and never before in their secluded lake house. When a triggering incident makes Jessie suddenly uncomfortable, she asks to be set free--and Gerald proceeds to begin to rape her. Jessie strikes back, but the exchange ends horrifically, with Gerald dead and Jessie still shackled to the bed. We're given a stunningly intimate view of her several day ordeal, which features, among other things, flashbacks to childhood abuse, a stray dog eating her husband, and the totally freaky appearance of a deformed man that Jessie comes to call the "space cowboy."King's set-up could have easily been used in a pornographic way, one that hinged fundamentally on the objectification on the scantily clad Jessie locked to the bed. Instead, he gives us a surprisingly feminist story of survival--and not just survival from immediate danger, but also survival from the sexual violation that so many women and men keep buried in their pasts. I've wondered before how King writes women--particularly middle aged women--so well, but I realized the answer to this question, ironically, during a passage of Gerald's Game told in the perspective of the stray dog who snacks on Jessie's husband. King always approaches his characters with both empathy and respect; he's never afraid to paint a nuanced or complicated portrait.This novel was originally planned to be packaged in one volume with Dolores Claiborne, as they share a central event and the characters view one another, briefly, in a psychic flash (the only supernatural element included in either novel). It's a shame it wasn't. They share more than an eclipse--they both include vivid and well-crafted portraits of amazing women. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carol420
The book starts out in surprising territory for King: a sexual game being played by Gerald Burlingame, who has just handcuffed his wife Jessie to the bed. This is not the first time this game has been played -- it's an old routine at this point, one which Jessie never particularly liked and has now
That's when the story really starts. King's real strength in this story is not just in telling what happens to Jessie in her predicament, but King uses this device to tell the story of how she got there in the first place. What sort of woman is Jessie? What events led her to this place, this man, this scenario? In the course of the story, as Jessie struggles to free herself from her bonds, we also find out why she is there.
In the end, "Gerald's Game" is not one of King's easier stories to read. It deals with some real issues, and its terrors are only too plausible. Unlike "The Shining" or "Cujo," it's difficult to put this book down at the end and convince oneself that the same thing couldn't happen to you. It's not a book about the scary monster that comes from under the bed. No, in the final analysis "Gerald's Game" is about the monsters who sleep in the bed with you, cleverly disguised, and about those monsters who were there to shape your past.
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grown quite bored with, to the point of frustration. She tells her husband that she doesn't want to do it this time, but he presses on. In the ensuing struggle, he has a heart attack and dies, leaving her handcuffed to the bed, in the middle of nowhere.That's when the story really starts. King's real strength in this story is not just in telling what happens to Jessie in her predicament, but King uses this device to tell the story of how she got there in the first place. What sort of woman is Jessie? What events led her to this place, this man, this scenario? In the course of the story, as Jessie struggles to free herself from her bonds, we also find out why she is there.
In the end, "Gerald's Game" is not one of King's easier stories to read. It deals with some real issues, and its terrors are only too plausible. Unlike "The Shining" or "Cujo," it's difficult to put this book down at the end and convince oneself that the same thing couldn't happen to you. It's not a book about the scary monster that comes from under the bed. No, in the final analysis "Gerald's Game" is about the monsters who sleep in the bed with you, cleverly disguised, and about those monsters who were there to shape your past.
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LibraryThing member srboone
A frightening scenario of a bondage encounter gone wrong. Scary and thought-provoking. The better of King's eclipse novels.
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
Talk about all the things that could go wrong during an intimate session with husband and wife! Yikes!! Makes you want to rethink your fetishes...just in case.
LibraryThing member santhony
As with many of King's works, I find his books that deal with real people to be far scarier and more entertaining than the books that involve supernatural (and many times silly) monsters and beings. Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, The Shining, Misery, Cujo are terrifying without being ridiculous.
LibraryThing member kmoynihan
So very twisted. So very wonderful. One of my favorite books by King.
LibraryThing member titania86
* spoilers *
Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald go to their secluded cabin in western Maine to take a romantic weekend together. Recently, Gerald has been spicing up their lovemaking with tying Jessie up that eventually led to handcuffing her. She is growing tired of the game and it makes her
Jessie is a typical wife with a typical husband. They've been drifting apart for years and both have regrets about their life as they near middle age. The light bondage in their lovemaking was the first fire they had seen in a long time. Unfortunately, Gerald chose to try to take advantage of her vulnerable position even after years of marriage together and I had no sympathy for his fate. However, Jessie is now trapped with no one expecting her. It could be a week before anyone thinks to look for her. Her world suddenly shrinks. Things across the room, including the keys to the handcuffs, may as well be in another universe as there's no hope of access. Her entire world centers around getting a cup of ice water for a little bit because it's an attainable goal and a necessity. She is at the mercy of anyone or anything that walks into the door.
Jessie isn't alone, not really. In her mind, she has a variety of voices giving commentary, advice, insults, doubts, or raving more and more as time passes and her panic, thirst, and hunger grows. The first voice that makes itself know is the Goodwife of Goody Burlingame, This hyper feminine voice tells her to keep the peace, keep her feelings buried, and go with the flow. She is the voice of what's socially acceptable, even encouraging her to let her husband rape her to keep her normal life. It turns out this voice is the one of herself at age 10, struggling to cope with her father sexually abusing her. That event happened to coincide with the solar eclipse, so her traumatic event seemed to even take the sun away. She had never really processed her feelings about it and kept quiet about it to preserve her family and her parents' already struggling marriage. Through this new traumatic experience, she returns to the eclipse to remember what happened and process her feelings. Looking back, her father had obviously planned it in advance and had taken advantage of Jessie's guilt and confusion to keep her quiet. These feelings, driven by the Goodwife, kept her in an unhappy marriage and isolated from people who cared about her.
The other voices are not as complacent as Goody. The second voice is that of her college roommate Ruth Neary. She is the exact opposite of the Goodwife, brash, direct, and above all honest. Real life Ruth knew Jessie was hiding something and wasn't afraid to push her for the truth. Jessie reacted by abruptly leaving and finding new housing because she didn't want all that stuff to resurface. Ruth's voice is one of the most vocal and gives her much needed reality checks even if it's harsh. Another voice is that of her ex-psychiatrist Nora Callighan who is less vocal, but gives her ways to center herself, calm down, and also unpack her feelings about the suppressed abuse. The real Nora helped her, but got too close to uncovering her past, causing Jessie to push her away as well. The other voices are UFOs that have depraved, weird things to say. They only serve to derail Jessie and keep her from acting with fear.
The horror of the book gets under your skin. She's vulnerable to anyone or anything that walks into the unlocked house. The first thing is a dog that eats pieces of dead Gerald. The second may or may not be real. She calls him a Space Cowboy and sees him only at night. His looks are grotesque with exaggerated features, abnormally long arms, and a box full of bones and jewelry. He smells like death and doesn't speak. Her biggest motivation to escape is this nightmarish creature. The biggest failing of the book is the epilogue type ending that tells you what happens after Jessie escapes. Her attempt to lie about what happened to the police is incredibly dumb especially when the evidence all points to the truth. It would have been scarier to keep the audience wondering if the Space Cowboy was real or not. It's my main criticism of Stephen King in general that he can't just leave things to the imagination and overdefines things at times. The only awesome part of the ending is the hope of Jessie getting on with her life and contacting Ruth to hopefully rekindle their friendship.
Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald go to their secluded cabin in western Maine to take a romantic weekend together. Recently, Gerald has been spicing up their lovemaking with tying Jessie up that eventually led to handcuffing her. She is growing tired of the game and it makes her
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feel demeaned, but she goes along with it to make him happy. When they get started, she reaches her limit and demands to be released. Gerald, even knowing her protests are real, pretends to assume it's part of their game and goes to force himself on her. She responds with a double kick to the stomach and groin that leaves Gerald writhing on the floor. He has what looks like a heart attack and dies, leaving Jessie with both hands handcuffed to the bed, the door ajar, and the keys across the room.Jessie is a typical wife with a typical husband. They've been drifting apart for years and both have regrets about their life as they near middle age. The light bondage in their lovemaking was the first fire they had seen in a long time. Unfortunately, Gerald chose to try to take advantage of her vulnerable position even after years of marriage together and I had no sympathy for his fate. However, Jessie is now trapped with no one expecting her. It could be a week before anyone thinks to look for her. Her world suddenly shrinks. Things across the room, including the keys to the handcuffs, may as well be in another universe as there's no hope of access. Her entire world centers around getting a cup of ice water for a little bit because it's an attainable goal and a necessity. She is at the mercy of anyone or anything that walks into the door.
Jessie isn't alone, not really. In her mind, she has a variety of voices giving commentary, advice, insults, doubts, or raving more and more as time passes and her panic, thirst, and hunger grows. The first voice that makes itself know is the Goodwife of Goody Burlingame, This hyper feminine voice tells her to keep the peace, keep her feelings buried, and go with the flow. She is the voice of what's socially acceptable, even encouraging her to let her husband rape her to keep her normal life. It turns out this voice is the one of herself at age 10, struggling to cope with her father sexually abusing her. That event happened to coincide with the solar eclipse, so her traumatic event seemed to even take the sun away. She had never really processed her feelings about it and kept quiet about it to preserve her family and her parents' already struggling marriage. Through this new traumatic experience, she returns to the eclipse to remember what happened and process her feelings. Looking back, her father had obviously planned it in advance and had taken advantage of Jessie's guilt and confusion to keep her quiet. These feelings, driven by the Goodwife, kept her in an unhappy marriage and isolated from people who cared about her.
The other voices are not as complacent as Goody. The second voice is that of her college roommate Ruth Neary. She is the exact opposite of the Goodwife, brash, direct, and above all honest. Real life Ruth knew Jessie was hiding something and wasn't afraid to push her for the truth. Jessie reacted by abruptly leaving and finding new housing because she didn't want all that stuff to resurface. Ruth's voice is one of the most vocal and gives her much needed reality checks even if it's harsh. Another voice is that of her ex-psychiatrist Nora Callighan who is less vocal, but gives her ways to center herself, calm down, and also unpack her feelings about the suppressed abuse. The real Nora helped her, but got too close to uncovering her past, causing Jessie to push her away as well. The other voices are UFOs that have depraved, weird things to say. They only serve to derail Jessie and keep her from acting with fear.
The horror of the book gets under your skin. She's vulnerable to anyone or anything that walks into the unlocked house. The first thing is a dog that eats pieces of dead Gerald. The second may or may not be real. She calls him a Space Cowboy and sees him only at night. His looks are grotesque with exaggerated features, abnormally long arms, and a box full of bones and jewelry. He smells like death and doesn't speak. Her biggest motivation to escape is this nightmarish creature. The biggest failing of the book is the epilogue type ending that tells you what happens after Jessie escapes. Her attempt to lie about what happened to the police is incredibly dumb especially when the evidence all points to the truth. It would have been scarier to keep the audience wondering if the Space Cowboy was real or not. It's my main criticism of Stephen King in general that he can't just leave things to the imagination and overdefines things at times. The only awesome part of the ending is the hope of Jessie getting on with her life and contacting Ruth to hopefully rekindle their friendship.
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LibraryThing member lorireed
Few books are truly terrifying – where the mere mention of the title sends chills down your spine. Gerald’s Game is such a book. Gerald and his wife, Jesse, get more than expected out of a weekend at a secluded cabin in Maine. Seeking adventure, Gerald handcuffs his wife to the bed for an adult
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game. In the midst of this “game” Gerald dies. Soon Jesse realizes there is no phone to call for help and no one to hear her screams; she is still handcuffed to the bed, and the cabin’s back door has been left open. Alone with only her thoughts, Gerald’s corpse, and whatever happens to wander in through the open door, the reader accompanies Jesse as she confronts her deepest fears. Show Less
LibraryThing member readingrat
From looking at the other reviews of this book it seems that most people either love it or hate it. Almost all of this story deals with the human mind's response to a "fox in a jaw-trap" situation (think 127 hours) so it's a bit different from King's usual fare. As the story progresses our narrator
Warning: readers with weak stomachs should probably give this one a miss as the gore factor gets pretty heavy in places.
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gets more and more unreliable which sets the stage to make the final denouement even more chilling.Warning: readers with weak stomachs should probably give this one a miss as the gore factor gets pretty heavy in places.
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LibraryThing member jseger9000
Gerald and Jessie Burlingame have taken an off-season trip to their lakeside cabin. Gerald likes to play games that involve handcuffs. After securing Jessie to the bed, he suffers a heart attack and dies, leaving Jessie cuffed to the bed, with no one else around for miles. Or so she
Gerald's Game is an absolutely claustrophobic suspense book. It makes Misery seem epic in comparison. It's almost like King challenged himself to write a book, the entirety of which takes place in a small room and the main character's head. Not only does he succeed, he manages to turn the tale into a real nail-biter.
It also includes the scariest single scene I've read in any of Stephen King's books, or any book for that matter. Gerald's Game is the one book that made me feel uneasy about putting down the book and turning out the light.
On the other hand, it also includes the most unbelievable, unlikely and coincidental plot twist ever encountered in a King book. The fact that the most chilling scene and the most unbelievable are one in the same is part of the problem with the book. I know that it is why I remembered the book as weak from my previous read.
Knowing ahead of time about the blessing/curse of that, I was able to enjoy the book a LOT more on a second read. King makes Jessie a believable character who's own past is as much an impediment to her freedom as the handcuffs are. This is carried out much more smoothly and less obviously than I am making it sound here.
Definitely worth a read. And if a part of it seems wildly unbelievable, just go with it. The rest of the book will make up for it.
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thinks...Gerald's Game is an absolutely claustrophobic suspense book. It makes Misery seem epic in comparison. It's almost like King challenged himself to write a book, the entirety of which takes place in a small room and the main character's head. Not only does he succeed, he manages to turn the tale into a real nail-biter.
It also includes the scariest single scene I've read in any of Stephen King's books, or any book for that matter. Gerald's Game is the one book that made me feel uneasy about putting down the book and turning out the light.
On the other hand, it also includes the most unbelievable, unlikely and coincidental plot twist ever encountered in a King book. The fact that the most chilling scene and the most unbelievable are one in the same is part of the problem with the book. I know that it is why I remembered the book as weak from my previous read.
Knowing ahead of time about the blessing/curse of that, I was able to enjoy the book a LOT more on a second read. King makes Jessie a believable character who's own past is as much an impediment to her freedom as the handcuffs are. This is carried out much more smoothly and less obviously than I am making it sound here.
Definitely worth a read. And if a part of it seems wildly unbelievable, just go with it. The rest of the book will make up for it.
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LibraryThing member lovelyliquid
This book was not what I expected by the title. Absolutely catching, every twist and turn had me turning pages and guessing the out come. Good read for an adult audience.
LibraryThing member seldombites
Gerald's Game failed to pass the fifty page test for me. As a Stephen King fan, I was truly disappointed with this book. Boring, boring, boring!!!
LibraryThing member clayhollow
Gerald's Game by Stephen King
First let me say, I did NOT finish this book. I got one third of the way through and I just couldn't finish it. Too much head noise for me.
The book is a psychological thriller about a couple who have been married for 20 years and have taken a romantic trip to their
Way over the top!!
But if that is your thing, then you might enjoy it. By all means, go for it.
I want to add that this is the first book by Mr. King that I didn't enjoy. He is the author of one of my all time favorites, The Green Mile.
Published in 1993 by Signet.
First let me say, I did NOT finish this book. I got one third of the way through and I just couldn't finish it. Too much head noise for me.
The book is a psychological thriller about a couple who have been married for 20 years and have taken a romantic trip to their
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remote lake house in Maine. During a kinky sex episode, the wife is handcuffed to the bed against her will and accidentally kills her husband. She is now alone with her thoughts and fears and her husband is dead. Page after page we read how she feels, hear the voices inside her head, and I guess we are supposed to be scared but I was anything but. Unless of course you count the mangy hound that came in and started feeding on the the dead husband. I was actually bored throughout the few chapters I did read because of the monotonous details of thought and pain and misery. And if that isn't bad enough, I didn't even like the woman. Way over the top!!
But if that is your thing, then you might enjoy it. By all means, go for it.
I want to add that this is the first book by Mr. King that I didn't enjoy. He is the author of one of my all time favorites, The Green Mile.
Published in 1993 by Signet.
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LibraryThing member gnzink
Being my first Stephen King book, I expected to be blown away and shocked by the great description and horror scenes. After about five chapters, my hopes died, and I was no longer expecting a great read. The more I read, the more I felt this way. If you are a big King fan, I do not recommend this
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book. I know he has many fantastic books, but unfortunately, this was nowhere near the quality of the others. Show Less
LibraryThing member Anagarika-Sean
One of the few King books I haven't read more than once. Overall, a good read. Some nice gross scene's, but not anything that stands out that I want to read again. Average.
LibraryThing member oxlena
I wasn't too impressed with this book. Granted, it made you want to curl your toes and rip your hair out in disgust more often than not, and the ending was more than a little creepy... But what could (should) have been 200 pages was turned into 450 pages. Overall, it *was* boring, but it went
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nowhere at a pretty decent pace. 2/5 deaths that couldn't have been more hilarious, yet in a totally grotesque way. Show Less
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
By no stretch would this be dubbed pornography, the opening scene is pretty racy. The sexual tension soon gives way to the tension of suspense. Some readers may have trouble with this one because for the bulk of the story, there's just one character present. As usual in a Stephen King story, all is
I have not heard the narrator for this tale, Lindsay Crouse, on any other work. She is perfect for the story. She conveys the tension, and the terror, of the story without the narration becoming the focus of your attention, a very difficult line to maintain. I may have to go out of my way to find more stories she's narrated.
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not as it seems, even when it seems the main character is losing her mind.I have not heard the narrator for this tale, Lindsay Crouse, on any other work. She is perfect for the story. She conveys the tension, and the terror, of the story without the narration becoming the focus of your attention, a very difficult line to maintain. I may have to go out of my way to find more stories she's narrated.
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LibraryThing member andyray
It's interesting to me that this second time around with this story I enjoyed it more than the first. Maybe it's that I've learned to be a better reader or writer. Whatever, this story of a middle-aged woman who unwillingly complies to play a sex game with her attorney husband at the out-of-season
The story becomes chiaroscuric from there, except for a stray dog who makes Gerald's body into Kibbles and Bits. One wonders: can a few minutes of sexual arousal of a father for his daughter REALLY cause such a lifelong neurosis as is used for the theme of the book?
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lake house begins with an honest look at today's mixed-up morality versus traditional love. She wants out of the handcuffs and Gerald (Gerald's game) feigns his disbelief in her recriminations. He comes after her and she kicks him in the solar plexus and crown jewels, whereupon he has a mortal cardiac arrest, leaving her stranded. The story becomes chiaroscuric from there, except for a stray dog who makes Gerald's body into Kibbles and Bits. One wonders: can a few minutes of sexual arousal of a father for his daughter REALLY cause such a lifelong neurosis as is used for the theme of the book?
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LibraryThing member klarsenmd
As usual, Stehpen King rocks. This book was just creepy enough to get under my skin, but not so scary that I had to take breaks from it.
LibraryThing member HvyMetalMG
What a scary concept! Getting stuck alone in the middle of nowhere. A simple idea turned into a brilliantly written nightmare. Another great example of King going into deep rooted character psychology.
LibraryThing member booklover3258
This book was a little too freaky for me. Not really scared by it, but just the fact how she was tied up for so long and the dog...ick...
:shudders:
:shudders:
LibraryThing member pingobarg
not my favorite king. panders to too many "isms". i think he was tired the week that he wrote this one
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1992-05
Physical description
352 p.; 24.1 cm
ISBN
0670846503 / 9780670846504
Local notes
Omslag: Bill Russell
Omslaget viser en seng, hvor man ser den ene sengestolpe med et sæt håndjern låst fast
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Side 103: Miller Time - dvs tid til en øl
Side 133: Nancy Sinatra: One of these day these boots are gonna walk all over you.
Side 173: Thinking about dying at this point is probably a really bad idea, toots.
Side 173: On second thought, strike the probably.
Side 206: You would have done me a big favor, Gerald, if you'd popped your cork right then and there.
Side 242: Her hand no longer looked like the sort of equipment normally issued to human beings, but it was her hand, and it was free.
Side 263: fob = dims, noget til at hænge i en nøglering eller urkæde
Geralds game
Omslaget viser en seng, hvor man ser den ene sengestolpe med et sæt håndjern låst fast
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Side 103: Miller Time - dvs tid til en øl
Side 133: Nancy Sinatra: One of these day these boots are gonna walk all over you.
Side 173: Thinking about dying at this point is probably a really bad idea, toots.
Side 173: On second thought, strike the probably.
Side 206: You would have done me a big favor, Gerald, if you'd popped your cork right then and there.
Side 242: Her hand no longer looked like the sort of equipment normally issued to human beings, but it was her hand, and it was free.
Side 263: fob = dims, noget til at hænge i en nøglering eller urkæde
Geralds game
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Cujo by Stephen King
Pages
352
DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |