“Fifty-one hours. He knew because of the pen, the elegant fine-lined pen he had in his pocket when the accident happened. He had managed to reach it and keep it after she left. Thus, with this pen, he would make a mark on his arm every time the clock struck, announcing the passing of an hour. Four vertical marks then a diagonal line to complete the set of five. When he returned home, there were ten sets of these fives and one extra. The small sets were neat at first, but then they began to increasingly waver as his hands started to shake. He was sure he hadn't missed an hour, because he never slept; he only dozed off lightly, as the clock's ticking would wake him every time his eyes closed. After a while, hunger and thirst began to invade his body, despite the pain. The contest between the three sensations was like a horse race. At first, 'King Pain' was far ahead in the lead, and 'King Hunger' was lagging far behind. As for 'Beautiful Thirst,' it was absent in the dust. But, a day after she left, at sunrise, 'King Hunger' began to strongly challenge 'King Pain.' He had spent most of the night alternating between dozing and waking up drenched in cold sweat: he was certainly dying, and after a while, he wished he were. Anything to relieve him of his suffering. Moreover, he had no idea what would become of the pain. All he knew was that the stakes were getting higher.”

From this ordeal emerge the imaginations of Paul, the bedridden writer who suffered an accident that left him confined to bed for a long time. Paul's imaginations grow through Annie, who cared for him during his illness, and whose character inspired him to create a cruel female character who made him a prisoner in a room whose walls and locked door did not prevent him from unleashing his fantasies, allowing him to weave his novel. The reader can trace a line between Paul's pain and suffering and the fast-paced events and strange imaginations; the more pain and fever took hold of Paul's body, the further he went into strange thoughts and events that create suspense and anticipation within the novel.

Novelist Stephen King tries to blend reality with fiction, giving the reader the chance to experience the atmosphere of novel writing and the extent of a novelist's suffering when completing their work in general. It is worth noting that Stephen King's novels have been translated into 26 languages, and more than 300 million copies have been sold.

• Book: Misery
• Author: Stephen King
• Publisher: Arab Scientific Publishers – Beirut
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 398
• Parts: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• ISBN: 9789953871875