Just finished Reading Gerald's Game

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Toni_S_UK

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Apr 4, 2017
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Well I broke my reading list rule of reading in date order to read this one, (Cycle of The Werewolf should have been next!) because my brother and his wife have been bugging me for weeks to watch the Movie adaption, and I won't watch until I have read!

I really enjoyed this book, and scores pretty high on the believable scale which is awesome!

I love the way the story delves into the human Psyche and the struggle to stay sane when left alone with only our thoughts, suppressed memories and realization.

Gerald's Game is certainly a disturbing read on many levels, recollection of childhood abuse and a particularly graphic gory scene (those who have read will know what I mean) that made me look away from the page on a couple of occasions!

I Loved it!

I hope after bringing the book forward on 'The List' the movie adaption isn't terrible!? Have you seen it?
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Well I broke my reading list rule of reading in date order to read this one, (Cycle of The Werewolf should have been next!) because my brother and his wife have been bugging me for weeks to watch the Movie adaption, and I won't watch until I have read!

I really enjoyed this book, and scores pretty high on the believable scale which is awesome!

I love the way the story delves into the human Psyche and the struggle to stay sane when left alone with only our thoughts, suppressed memories and realization.

Gerald's Game is certainly a disturbing read on many levels, recollection of childhood abuse and a particularly graphic gory scene (those who have read will know what I mean) that made me look away from the page on a couple of occasions!

I Loved it!

I hope after bringing the book forward on 'The List' the movie adaption isn't terrible!? Have you seen it?
No - have not seen the movie yet.

I did read the book back in the time it first came out (early 90s) and thought it was quite a scary idea (being trapped in a cabin, alone, after most had left for the season).

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Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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The Netherlands
The adaptation was very good. Like most adaptations it simplifies matters a bit (there is just too much in a book to put in a film in general), but the basic story is handled well. I should rewatch it some time, but my first watch was positive. It's too bad though that what is a very scary character in the book is played by a rather likeable actor (who's from my country actually), so those scenes are not as scary to me as they were in the book.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
The adaptation was very good. Like most adaptations it simplifies matters a bit (there is just too much in a book to put in a film in general), but the basic story is handled well. I should rewatch it some time, but my first watch was positive. It's too bad though that what is a very scary character in the book is played by a rather likeable actor (who's from my country actually), so those scenes are not as scary to me as they were in the book.
With your user name, I guess it was only a matter of time before you posted!

:triumphant:
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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The Netherlands
With your user name, I guess it was only a matter of time before you posted!

:triumphant:

I am glad that what was always one of my favourite books turned out to be one of the better films too. It's unfortunate though I didn't find it all that scary, for the reason I mentioned. But it was made in a inventive manner for a story that's so much in the mind of one character.
I think also because the setting is so simple, it will feel for most people close to the book. A bedroom is a bedroom, they all look kind of the same, so it's never gonna stray too far from how you imagined the book when you read it.
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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The Netherlands
I saw the movie and liked it except for one part that I was anticipating, which was one of my scariest SK scenes from all of his books. It was when she thought she could see something in the dark shadowy corner, but wasn't sure. That part didn't come close to the book.

This was my issue with the film too - this was to me one of the major shocks in King's work as a whole. But I wonder: those who hadn't read it first, were THEY shocked? Or was it just not filmed well?

I remember when I read The Shining I was not shocked by the famous bathroom part, but I had already seen the film and knew the scene was coming in the book too (although they differed quite from each other).
So it certainly works the other way around too.

If you know a certain scene is coming, can you ever film (or write it) in such a way that it will still shock/surprise you?
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
This was my issue with the film too - this was to me one of the major shocks in King's work as a whole. But I wonder: those who hadn't read it first, were THEY shocked? Or was it just not filmed well?

I remember when I read The Shining I was not shocked by the famous bathroom part, but I had already seen the film and knew the scene was coming in the book too (although they differed quite from each other).
So it certainly works the other way around too.

If you know a certain scene is coming, can you ever film (or write it) in such a way that it will still shock/surprise you?
Good point. Foreknowledge and anticipation may have ruined it for me. I was trying to be as objective as possible while watching, but the self always gets in the way.
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Good point. Foreknowledge and anticipation may have ruined it for me. I was trying to be as objective as possible while watching, but the self always gets in the way.

I will need to see the film again, but my feeling is that it just wasn't filmed in a very special way. I think the scene worked so well in the book, because for all the time up til that point you were pretty certain she was alone in that room. Suddenly someone's there, and you have no idea who it is and how long they had been there and why they were just watching and not doing anything. And whether it was even really a person or not.
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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7,168
The Netherlands
I would say that that moment in Gerald's Game and the bathroom moment in The Shining are the literary equivalent of a jump scare in a movie. I wonder though why so few of these ever work in novels; even though I think King tries to include them in more works, they never are memorable. While in films there are numerous that are memorable.
My idea is that it's because jump scares rely for a large part on sound: it's often the combination of showing something scary of horrible suddenly and have it accompanied by a loud sound or music cue. Obviously because a writer doesn't have access to the use of sound it's hard to create that same effect on the page.

Both these scenes have in common that suddenly there is a (presumably) human presence in a place that was thought to be unoccupied.