The novel Gerald’s Game, is thrilling, terrifying and probably some of the best work by Stephen King. The essential meaning of this novel is how running away from past problems and trying to hide from them will not make them disappear, and that one must sit down and deal with the consequences; one must be strong to make it through because in the end, it makes one all the better because of it. Jessie Burlingame had suffered her entire childhood of sexual abuse from her father and neglect from her mother, who was jealous of the relationship between her daughter and husband. Every time Jessie came close to opening up her feelings of the day the sun went out, she would run away, and finally, now being chained to her country home bed, she could run no longer, and had to deal with past in order to break free from the hand cuffs that held her down, because in the end, if they are not dealt with, one’s problems will catch up to them. Stephen King uses many different approaches to set up the structure of his novel. It can get confusing to read, but in the end all the pieces fall into place. Flashbacks and first and third person are some of the main and consistent details King uses in the structure of this novel. Flashing back from the current moment chained to her bed to the day Jessie and her father sat on the back porch together watching the eclipse, to her brother Will’s Birthday party and to her moments in college with her room mate Ruth, all of Jessie’s past thoughts and feelings help lay out the content of the story. Ever since the day the sun went out, Jessie began hearing voices in her head and they all play an important role throughout the novel. The three main voices Jessie hears are Ruth, Goodwife and Pumpkin. The conversations between Jessie and these voices contribute the first person because all of these voices are really Jessie talking, and the narrator that describes the detail through out the novel is the usage of third person. The diction, syntax and figurative language of Gerald’s Game for the most part is pretty much laid out through the novel. The diction of the story uses contemporary, everyday language. The reading level is not higher than a high school reading level and the book is meant to attract an audience of thirty to fifty year old people, because it surely does not attract a young audience. The language at times can be very explicit and the situations are definitely adult ones, so basically if this was a movie it would be rated R, but what movie by Stephen King isn’t? Syntax and sentence structure of the novel is very evident through out the story. King puts the out comes of the situations before the situations are even presented. An example is when Jessie expresses her hatred toward men, and it is not until one learns about her sexual encounters with her father and her thoughts about her husband, that one can gain perspective of why she hates men so much, especially her husband. Other then flashbacks and such, the novel flows in a pretty straight forward sequence, until the end when Jessie explains in a letter to Ruth the detail of what happened after she escaped. Figurative language also plays a role in the novel with usage such as metaphors, similes and flashbacks. “...Trying to do that she discovers, is like trying to pick up the house by one corner so you can look under it for things that have been lost, or forgotten, or hidden.” This sentence is an example of a simile, but the use of figurative language is apparent in this novel and helps give its chilling definitions. Recommendations for this book are not to strong for people between ages twenty and bellow. The situations are not that appealing to the younger generation and the detail can be dragged out to the extent where one would want to through the book out of the window. All 445 pages cover about a day in the life of Jessie Burlingame, and the book takes patience to understand and deal with the constant suspense drive. Enjoyment of the book from teenagers point of view is not that high, but if suspense, thrill and terror is what one is looking for, then this book is definitely the right choice.
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