January 2020 Re-Read update - original review still below

I have finished the next book in my chronological re-read of King's novels. I knew I was in for a treat because I have always fondly remembered this book as one of his best. It did not fail to disappoint the second time around.

In the afterward, King makes the point that this book was his first release to try and show that he was more than just a horror writer. I will say that this is true, but it does still have some horrific elements. So, don't go in thinking it is all cute bunnies and cuddles!

This book is raw and real. The human condition, temptation, coming-of-age, salvation, etc. are all on display in an amazing showcase of storytelling. While it may not represent King's horror as well as others, there is a definite case to be made for this being the finiest writing he has ever done.

One observation in the re-read (and I kind of remember this from the first time around): there is a short story within The Body unrelated to the main story, Stud City, and it doesn't really feel necessary. It is not a bad part or make the overall experience any less enjoyable, it is just the only tangent in the whole book that feels it doesn't need to be there. If removed, it wouldn't change the book at all.

In conclusion - the re-read confirms for me - a 5+ star book all the way!

ORIGINAL REVIEW

This book is PERFECT King! Each story is interesting and special in its own right. At least two of them ("Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Body") are must read classics that were turned into equally great movies. Apt Pupil might be a little less accessible to some, but is one of King's best character studies. The Breathing Method is one of his shortest novellas, but wildly creative and is guaranteed to leave you saying, "WOAH!"

Every King fan should have read this already. Looking to get into King for the first time? This is a great place to start!2020 audio coming-of-age ...more401 s1 comment Johann (jobis89)709 4,344

"Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free."

Considered by many to be King's best collection of stories/novellas, Different Seasons contains two stories that were ultimately developed into two of the greatest movies of all-time: The Body, which became Stand by Me, of course, and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - the movie is obvious, no?

Sometimes I really hate reading an awesome Stephen King book... no, I'm not crazy. I just get stressed about where I'm going to rank it in my top books list and what other books are gonna get pushed down the list!! Different Seasons is simply a masterpiece. Having read most of King's epic stories, I thought I'd seen King at this best - but no, this is his best. The writing, the characters, the storylines, it feels everything is turned up a notch here. This is a prime example of how King is so much more than just horror.

Let's start off with Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Now I've already seen the movie, along with the majority of the population, but somehow that didn't matter. I still raced through each page, eager to see what comes next, even though I already knew the outcome! It's a story ultimately about hope, resilience and survival. Set against the backdrop of a bleak prison, these themes shine through even more prominently. A touching, emotional story and now one of my favourites.

Next up was Apt Pupil. Now I really d this one. A former Nazi finds a willing student in young Todd Bowden and what follows is pure horror. The most unsettling parts of this novella were those wherein Dussander relays stories from the concentration camps in WWII. Having visited Auschwitz only last year, the atrocities that happened there just feel more real. This novella is a terrifying look at evil and the darkness that resides in these evil humans. Todd has to be one of the most hateful characters I've ever encountered in literature, a sexual sadist, a psychopath, just downright disgusting. Nevermind Dussander himself! Yet this story is absorbing, once it hooks you in, you can't get back out.

The horrific nature of Apt Pupil is swiftly followed by the nostalgic novella, The Body. Reading this novella is similar to being transported back in time to when you were a child, when all you wanted to do was hang out with your friends. You'd leave the house early morning and not come back again until it got dark. It's a beautiful story, and yet also quite tragic. Each of the boys come from homes or backgrounds that aren't entirely supportive and they are able to find true friendship and support within each other. In particular, the friendship between Gordie and Chris is touching, Chris is such a great character - wise beyond his years and he really cares for Gordie. Overall, this is a great look into those years where you "grow up" and relinquish your innocence, symbolised by the dead body out in the woods. Simply amazing!

Lastly, The Breathing Method - I actually read this one first as Abbie recommended to me. It is considered to be the "stinker" of the collection, and therefore I decided to read it first, so as not to end the collection on a bum note. But to be honest, I quite d it! I d the gentleman's club and their penchant for telling stories, it kinda sounded a cool set-up that I'd love to be a part of. Miss Stansfield herself was a pretty badass woman, determined and strong. I don't really understand why people would forget about this one, or just cast it off as the "other story" in this collection. Granted, it's not as brilliant as the others, but it still left a lasting impression with me.

Overall, this book was just unbelievable. I lost count of the number of times where I just felt completely blown away by King's writing. This is a great, GREAT collection and now one of my favourite King books.

Reread throughout each season in 2020. Fantastic way to revisit this collection. Still one of my favourites. The Breathing Method resonated even more this time around.favorites317 s Shelby *trains flying monkeys*1,657 6,362

I'm going to try and do this book justice..but I know it's not going to happen so do me a favor, if you have never picked this book up just stop what you are doing and run get it.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption:
This is perfection. At 101 pages Stephen King packed a story that stays with me forever. I've been a fan of the movie version since the first time I viewed it. I was so pissed when Forrest Gump beat it out as the Oscar winner for best picture that year. I raged..I've since calmed down because Forrest Gump was a good movie also..but still.
I've watched the movie so many times that I can quote passages of it from heart, and I'm not really a TV watcher. If it comes on I watch it. If it comes on again the next day. I watch it. To this reader the movie is a bit darker than Stephen King's story.

This story is not horror. This story is about Hope..it's about picking yourself up every single day and keeping moving..it's about Redemption.


Apt Pupil:
To me this was the darkest story in the book. A young boy learns that a former Nazi general is living nearby and well he stalks him and then latches on to him. He honestly forces him into a strange relationship. They both are some of the most vile characters ever but you don't have to the characters to realize what an amazing story this is.


The Body:
Another of my favorite films were made from this story-"Stand by Me"-I actually have not seen this movie in years but I will now.
This story is sadness of remembering your childhood friends and some of the crap you managed to survive.


Breathing Method:
This one to me started slow. Then when the story unfolded I sat here and shook my head. A woman's desire to have her child out-weighed every obstacle in her course.

And overall? This book was a full five stars. I would give it more if I could. It's hard to describe these stories. They aren't horror but they are about life. I wish I could have done them better justice..but I don't think there are words that can.


This quote is in the afterword of the book, where Mr. King tells how he got typed as a horror author..not that there is anything wrong with that.
I've been in love with these stories, too, and a part of me always will be in love with them, I guess. I hope that you d them, Reader; that they did for you what any good story should do-make you forget the real stuff weighing on your mind for the little while and take you away to a place you've never been. It's the most amiable sort of magic I know.

liburry-book read-2014 the-king247 s Ahmad Sharabiani9,564 79

?Different Seasons, Stephen King

Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four Stephen King novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than the horror fiction for which King is famous. The four novellas are tied together via subtitles that relate to each of the four seasons. The collection is notable for having had three of its four novellas turned into Hollywood films, one of which, The Shawshank Redemption, was nominated for the 1994 Academy Award for Best Picture.

Novellas: "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", "The Body", "The Breathing Method".

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????? ?????? ????? 09/11/1399???? ???????? 15/10/1400???? ???????? ?. ??????? Andrew Smith1,134 723

It's definitive, Stephen King is not just a writer of horror and fantasy. In truth, up to a few years ago I was convinced he was a horrormeister pure and simple. At this point a friend suggested I try out his time travel epic 11/22/63. I was cured. I loved it and subsequent forays into King’s extensive catalogue have shown me the range of the man’s work.

I’ll comment individually on the tales but the common element, the outstanding take-away for me is simply the realisation that here’s the evidence to assert that SK is one of the outstanding story tellers of his generation. Any doubters to the veracity of this statement should pointed in the direction of this exceptional collection of novellas.

In truth, there is one story here I'd class as ‘horror’ – as it happens my least favourite of the set. The other three stories have been all made into films; the only one of which I've seen is Stand By Me (based on The Body) which happens to be one of my all time favourite films.

This is old fashioned storytelling at its best – miss it if you dare!

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Most people will be aware of the film version, which everyone on the planet seems to have seen except me. I'm told the film is a classic and I know some people who've seen the film and read the story – they all seem to prefer the celluloid version! If you’ve caught up with neither than I'd urge you to seek out one or the other. Set in a fictional state penitentiary, it tells of the local entrepreneur, Red, and his friend and customer Andy Defresne, who is imprisoned for the murders of his wife and her lover. Andy’s struggles to established his innocence while he fights for survival and strives to earn the respect of the ‘lifers’ in this toughest of environments is the core of the story. Surprisingly, King is able to invests the whole thing with a degree of warmth (though perhaps no surprise to anyone who has read The Green Mile) and it had me desperately hoping he'd thought up a happy ending to this sometimes brutal tale.

Apt Pupil

Sixteen-year-old student Todd Bowden has discovered that a Nazi war criminal, Kurt Dussander, has been quietly living in Todd’s home town. This disturbing tale documents how Todd first challenges Dussander and then how they begin a complicated but mutually sustainable relationship. It's the longest story in the collection and I sometimes felt I was reading this partly hidden behind a set of fingers. It's a tense psychological thriller that kept throwing up surprises. Spooky as hell!

The Body

Definitely my favourite – yet I think I still prefer the film. Just!
Four young boys from Maine set out to find the body of a boy who has been missing for a few days. They've discovered that the boy was hit and killed by a train and they aim to be the ones to claim the find and maybe become heroes as a result. It’s all a wonderful adventure as various mishaps befall them on the way. I discovered that the narrative of the film closely tracks that of the book and I defy anyone not to laugh and cry in equal measure as this brilliantly told tale unfolds. Superb.

The Breathing Method

A story within a story. An ageing lawyer is invited a a mysterious club where stories are told by its members. One such story takes up a good portion of the overall piece and it concerns a unmarried woman, in the 1930’s, who finds herself pregnant and desperate to give birth to the child, despite her lack of money and the obvious social disapproval. The whole atmosphere of this one was scary. It's the shortest of the four novellas but arguably packs the biggest punch.short-stories183 s Baba3,740 1,138

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption gets an 8 out of 12. A strong story turned to possibly an even better movie?

The chilling Apt Pupil, also gets an 8 out of 12. When petulance and cunning faces off against true darkness and more cunning! A chilling read in which a young man thinks he's uncovered a Nazi war criminal, in a story that doesn't take the steps you'd think it would take.

The Body AKA the movie 'Stand By Me' gets a 9.5 out of 12, a truly remarkable and heart warming coming of age novella, one of my all-time favourite Stephen King reads, and was gladdened to hear that it has been used in American schools as part of the literature curriculum. Hash tag cool!

And last, and easily the least compelling is The Breathing Method which I gave a 7.5 out of 12. You can't win them all :). But overall this collection is a monster, it's Stephen King contemporary writing at its best, and debatably aat a level that he never surpassed. This was King on a roll. A must-read for each and every reader out there!

2016 read; 2003 read
constant-reader-balloon-spells contemporary133 s megs_bookrack1,779 12k

I was so happy to revisit this collection last year with a group of my friends from Bookstagram.



This is such a well-rounded collection, in my opinion, although The Body will always be my fave!

A chunky book but so worth the time.

In fact, this was my favorite collection for many years, only recently surpassed by Full Dark, No Stars!

I'm not sure why I didn't add it on here last year when we read it. I guess the underlying take away would be that I am a dumpster fire with arms most of the time.

Take from that what you will.

stephen-king-read130 s Carol1,370 2,259

Well......WOW! These four LONG-short stories are ALL fabulous! RITA HAYWORTH AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - 5 Stars "Get busy living or get busy dying." Everyone has probably seen the movie adaptation or read the book by now and knows the story about the wrongful imprisonment of banker Andy Dufresne, the horror of "the sisters" and his best friend at Shawshank Red, but if you haven't, you are so fortunate to have this amazing read ahead of you.The novel provides a bit more detail here and there about Red and Andy, is just as enthralling as the movie and unputdownable.APT PUPIL -4.5 Stars - Just a very nice and intelligent 13 year old....uh huh. Todd Bowden wants to be a P.I. when he grows up and is off to quite a start as he sleuths out a criminal of the most vile kind; and as his true unsettling nature begins to surface, our creepy apt pupil gets a whole lot more than he bargained for when he goes up against the master.Dark and powerfully evil, this unique story even has a cool Andy Dufresne tie-in, but damn.....why couldn't the butcher from hell stick to humans.....minus 50 basis points!THE BODY (re-read) - 5 Stars - Four young lads head out on an adventure to see 'the dead body' but what they find is trouble and a few hard lessons learned. Absolutely wonderful coming-of-age story converted to screen as Stand By Me. (once again, the written word wins over the audio version for me) THE BREATHING METHOD - 5 Stars "It is the tale, not he who tells it." The club is creepy.....The rooms mysterious.....The weather chilling.....The fire roaring, and The ghost story.....OMG! SHOCKING!chunkster favorites read-2016 ...more126 s Nayra.Hassan1,259 5,897

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