Gerald's Game: Review

I mentioned in the description on this blog that I would like to try out horror books, and where better else to start than with Stephen King?

After looking for King’s books in the internet, I was intrigued by Gerald’s Game’s premise: a woman handcuffed half naked in a bed and due to some unforeseen circumstances, she was left all alone . . . or was she?

Two weeks of reading (for some reason, this came to be a long read for me), and I found myself blown by this world presented to me by King. I would like to agree that Stephen King is indeed a genius. In this riveting, exciting, page-turning novel, he showed a world that displays the nature of the human mind—through Jessie Burlingame.

Jessie is the main character of the story, married to a Gerald Burlingame. Years of married life led them to this one scenario which the story will revolve around to—Gerald handcuffs Jessie, Gerald dies, and now Jessie is alone in a house in the woods waiting for no one to discover her.

King did great in making a whole lot of breath-taking scenes just from one scenery, from that single bedroom where Jessie is tied up, we are taken to a world beyond which locks up dark secrets from the past. But what lies in her past may help her in what she is going through. Nightmares she buried down in history should be dug in order to wake up from the nightmares of the present.

Listening to the voices inside your head, and acknowledging them proved to be one of this book's greatest lessons.

So much as I’m hoping to find a book that would scare me to my wits, this book’s not it—though I could say I’ve found something better. Gerald’s Game is a psychological rollercoaster waiting to be ridden on. This book took the term “psychological” in a whole lot different meaning and dimension. And even it was written way back, thinking that I was just a year old when this was first published, it surely holds its magic and still haunts and intrigues the readers who decide to take a bite of this little pie called Gerald's Game.

It portrayed different levels of torment and despair—physical, emotional, and psychological. How one is haunted by his/her own ghosts, and trapped by one’s own handcuffs. Symbolisms are lurking in every page that one turns in this book, but even without deciphering them, the reader will still surely learn from this. Besides, this book proved to be one entertaining read.

Characterization is out of the question in Gerald’s Game. The book was full of Jessie Burlingame’s character (or need I say: "characterS?"), one wouldn't miss it. I think King is a genius for building and depicting Jessie’s life and personality and instilling it inside this 400 and something page.

Gerald’s Game opened a new world for me—Stephen King’s world. And from what I’ve read in this book, I will surely be more than willing to try out his other books.

This book is recommended for suspense genre lovers. I won’t suggest this book for the young ones, well that is if you are one and you are open to books with explicit content and a little gore.