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hnkuchera's review against another edition
5.0
In my opinion, Stephen King's best stories are his novellas.
kimabill's review against another edition
4.0
Re-read. This is a collection of novellas including the ones that were adapted into the movies Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption. I think for the most part that this is a good collection for anyone who is skeptical of reading Stephen King because they think he is all blood, guts and scary stuff. These stories really highlight what a masterful storyteller he is and how good he is at creating characters. I guess I will review each novella individually...
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Okay, so I really love the movie that came from this book and it is hard to read the book without hearing Morgan Freeman's voice as the narrator. I think everyone pretty much knows the plot of this one, so I won't go into it. But here is a great example of King creating these amazingly well-developed characters with totally authentic voices.
Apt Pupil
This one is a little more traditionally Stephen King. It is the story of a "friendship" that develops between a teenage boy and a former Nazi war criminal that is both disturbing and destructive. It was one of those weird stories where you don't really know who to root for because it's like there are two antagonists and no protagonist. But King is good at making a reader feel unsettled that way. And this was definitely unsettling. A page-turning thriller that sometimes left me a little sick to my stomach.
The Body
This is the story that became the movie Stand by Me. Basic plot: four 12 year old-ish friends take a journey to find a dead body they heard was in the woods. But that's not really what it's about at all. It's about friendship, growing up, facing fears, making connections. Oh my gosh, how I love this story. And I could tell that King loved it too. Wow, does he ever know how to write about childhood and about what it is like to be an adult looking back on childhood. Wow. I felt like this whole story was a love letter to childhood friendships. He totally captured the odd mix of sarcasm and sincerity that happens in kid conversations. The characters, again, are so well-developed, I have to believe King based them on people he really knew. Parts of this were so well-written, it made me choke up a little bit. I just wanted to say, "Yes, yes! That's exactly it!!" It is a great story with some fantastic moments and super-quoteable lines. Five stars.
Breathing Method
This was a weird little story abut a guy who goes to this club where the "members" sit around and tell stories (and other weird stuff happens). Breathing Method refers to the story told by one of the members having to do with what would become the Lamaze method for controlled breathing during childbirth. He tells the story of one of his patients and her devotion to said method - with a Stephen King spin. Dad, you asked me the other day if, given several pieces of writing, I could pick out the one by Stephen King. I was pretty sure I could ... until I read this one... which was written in such a different style, I have to think King did it on purpose. I am pretty sure it was an homage to Edgar Allan Poe. It read soooooo much like a Poe story, it was uncanny. There was this vaguely unsettling secret club with mysterious members and unclear agendas and A LOT of exposition before something totally crazy happened. I feel like King probably had a lot of fun writing it, just for this one scene that was funny and gory in a completely Stephen King kind of way.
I should make note of King's Afterword to this book (which is maybe one of my favorite parts of any Stephen King book). In this one he talks about what it is like to be "just" a horror writer. Spoiler alert: he's okay with it. Also, he defines exactly what a novella is, and why it is so hard to do anything with stories of that length. Interesting in a writerly sort of way.
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Okay, so I really love the movie that came from this book and it is hard to read the book without hearing Morgan Freeman's voice as the narrator. I think everyone pretty much knows the plot of this one, so I won't go into it. But here is a great example of King creating these amazingly well-developed characters with totally authentic voices.
Apt Pupil
This one is a little more traditionally Stephen King. It is the story of a "friendship" that develops between a teenage boy and a former Nazi war criminal that is both disturbing and destructive. It was one of those weird stories where you don't really know who to root for because it's like there are two antagonists and no protagonist. But King is good at making a reader feel unsettled that way. And this was definitely unsettling. A page-turning thriller that sometimes left me a little sick to my stomach.
The Body
This is the story that became the movie Stand by Me. Basic plot: four 12 year old-ish friends take a journey to find a dead body they heard was in the woods. But that's not really what it's about at all. It's about friendship, growing up, facing fears, making connections. Oh my gosh, how I love this story. And I could tell that King loved it too. Wow, does he ever know how to write about childhood and about what it is like to be an adult looking back on childhood. Wow. I felt like this whole story was a love letter to childhood friendships. He totally captured the odd mix of sarcasm and sincerity that happens in kid conversations. The characters, again, are so well-developed, I have to believe King based them on people he really knew. Parts of this were so well-written, it made me choke up a little bit. I just wanted to say, "Yes, yes! That's exactly it!!" It is a great story with some fantastic moments and super-quoteable lines. Five stars.
Breathing Method
This was a weird little story abut a guy who goes to this club where the "members" sit around and tell stories (and other weird stuff happens). Breathing Method refers to the story told by one of the members having to do with what would become the Lamaze method for controlled breathing during childbirth. He tells the story of one of his patients and her devotion to said method - with a Stephen King spin. Dad, you asked me the other day if, given several pieces of writing, I could pick out the one by Stephen King. I was pretty sure I could ... until I read this one... which was written in such a different style, I have to think King did it on purpose. I am pretty sure it was an homage to Edgar Allan Poe. It read soooooo much like a Poe story, it was uncanny. There was this vaguely unsettling secret club with mysterious members and unclear agendas and A LOT of exposition before something totally crazy happened. I feel like King probably had a lot of fun writing it, just for this one scene that was funny and gory in a completely Stephen King kind of way.
I should make note of King's Afterword to this book (which is maybe one of my favorite parts of any Stephen King book). In this one he talks about what it is like to be "just" a horror writer. Spoiler alert: he's okay with it. Also, he defines exactly what a novella is, and why it is so hard to do anything with stories of that length. Interesting in a writerly sort of way.
saxmansnyder's review against another edition
5.0
Loved these novellas. Although, I must admit my favourites were “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body”. The second novella of this collection, “Apt Pupil”, was a believable and creepy tale that read as plausible in its simplicity and frightening content.
The final novella, “The Breathing Method”, reminded me of a fireside ghost story that might be told by creative high schoolers, college English majors, or crazy people like me who in MFA programs. Lol
Fantastic example of why King is the best writer of horror fiction.
The final novella, “The Breathing Method”, reminded me of a fireside ghost story that might be told by creative high schoolers, college English majors, or crazy people like me who in MFA programs. Lol
Fantastic example of why King is the best writer of horror fiction.
mysteriousnorse's review against another edition
5.0
King at his most literary. I love three of the four so much that they transcend the weak summer tale.
“Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” 4.5 Stars
I feel like I might have given this the full five stars if the film didn’t exist. All the ingredients are here, but the adaptation basically makes every change for the better by emphasizing the themes about the injustices in the prison system and the humanity of prisoners. This is an excellent story, and I’d recommend reading it, but if you haven’t seen the film, it is the best version of the story.
“Apt Pupil” 2 Stars
Honestly, I thought this was a little worse this time. The thing that works is the kid being fascinated by the gleam, the polish, the appearance of efficiency of the Nazis. It captures the banality of radicalization. Other that that though, it’s a very edgelord look at two sociopaths that doesn’t get that deep. Just escalating atrocities. I got bored.
“The Body” 5 Stars
This is still the best of the set for me. It tries a little hard sometimes (so does “Shawshank”), but I think it has incredibly high highs. It’s a look at the uncluttered and often messy intersection of boyhood and adulthood. It’s a yearning for things to be simple, even when they never were. Fantastic.
“The Breathing Method” 4 Stars
This is the sleeper of the bunch, and it’s kind of sad that this spooky little tale gets overshadowed. This time around I noticed more connections between the frame story and the story at its core. Both involve connecting with others to get through a tough time. Our narrator needs the book club to get through his aging isolation. The mother needs the doctor to get through being an unwed pregnant woman in the 1930s. These connections are fostered in strange and unlikely circumstances, and I love it. It also looks forward to things like "In a Tight Place" and "The Road Virus Heads North." Honestly, this may be the best reason to read this collection. Underrated gem.
“Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” 4.5 Stars
I feel like I might have given this the full five stars if the film didn’t exist. All the ingredients are here, but the adaptation basically makes every change for the better by emphasizing the themes about the injustices in the prison system and the humanity of prisoners. This is an excellent story, and I’d recommend reading it, but if you haven’t seen the film, it is the best version of the story.
“Apt Pupil” 2 Stars
Honestly, I thought this was a little worse this time. The thing that works is the kid being fascinated by the gleam, the polish, the appearance of efficiency of the Nazis. It captures the banality of radicalization. Other that that though, it’s a very edgelord look at two sociopaths that doesn’t get that deep. Just escalating atrocities. I got bored.
“The Body” 5 Stars
This is still the best of the set for me. It tries a little hard sometimes (so does “Shawshank”), but I think it has incredibly high highs. It’s a look at the uncluttered and often messy intersection of boyhood and adulthood. It’s a yearning for things to be simple, even when they never were. Fantastic.
“The Breathing Method” 4 Stars
This is the sleeper of the bunch, and it’s kind of sad that this spooky little tale gets overshadowed. This time around I noticed more connections between the frame story and the story at its core. Both involve connecting with others to get through a tough time. Our narrator needs the book club to get through his aging isolation. The mother needs the doctor to get through being an unwed pregnant woman in the 1930s. These connections are fostered in strange and unlikely circumstances, and I love it. It also looks forward to things like "In a Tight Place" and "The Road Virus Heads North." Honestly, this may be the best reason to read this collection. Underrated gem.
nilvento's review against another edition
5.0
Possibly one of my most favorite SK books. Includes Shawshank, Apt Pupil, The Body AKA Stand by Me & the Breathing Method (the only one not made into a movie. The breathing method tells of a birth gone horribly wrong with surprising results.
meadforddude's review against another edition
5.0
Audible Edition: Read by Frank Muller
These four stories comprise King's best work up to this point in his career. Barring revisits of The Shining or The Stand, I think this is pretty much inarguably true. But, more importantly, these stories offer a glimpse of King's personality that expands his range of concerns far beyond the horror stories for which he was still best-known. This is where King matures as a storyteller, and it's impossible not to view the final, still-unadapted story in this collection, The Breathing Method, as both an invitation and a warning to his "constant readers."
In execution, The Breathing Method almost feels like the framing device for the anthology of stories we've just read, taking place as it does in a gentlemen's club where the telling of stories over cigars serves as the key feature. It's possible to imagine these old men telling the tale of "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" to their comrades-in-cigars on a wintry night, and I'd be surprised to learn King hadn't at least considered the idea of structuring this novella collection in a way that allowed for that to be more obviously what's going on here.
Considered in brief, "Rita Hayworth" is a minor masterpiece of structural engineering that is almost impossible to separate in my mind from the film it later became, but this is not a bad thing. It offers some shadings, and some minor stories that Darabont chose to leave out, but on the whole this is the rare case where the film is allowed to go further in-depth than the book.
"Apt Pupil" is a sneaky little thriller that deals in some of King's most abjectly horrific subject matter, which was utterly bungled by Bryan Singer in his adaptation. This could be a heightened, even campy satire if executed properly, even if its window of adaptation may be closed for good (you can't really modernize a story featuring a surviving Nazi in 2018, and that's mostly for the best).
"The Body" is haunting, and contains a wealth of information and personality that didn't even make it into Rob Reiner's excellent adaptation. I can see myself returning to this in the future, and its placement in King's bibliography marks it as a bit of a dry run for 1986's It. There's a reason it was the first story adapted from this collection.
"The Breathing Method" is a bit different, and the most overtly horrific of the stories here (yes, even more so than "Apt Pupil," as far as I'm concerned). It lands somewhere in the realm of a Hammer/Amicus tale, a Neil Gaiman Sandman one-off story, or one of the BBC's "Ghost Stories for Christmas" in terms of tone and execution, and that both explains why it hasn't been adapted but also why I love it so much. My expectations for it were low, and I'm pleased to report they really shouldn't have been.
Also, Frank Muller is quietly excellent as an audiobook narrator. Really glad I listened to him read these stories, even if the audio quality occasionally dips for some reason, that's not on him.
These four stories comprise King's best work up to this point in his career. Barring revisits of The Shining or The Stand, I think this is pretty much inarguably true. But, more importantly, these stories offer a glimpse of King's personality that expands his range of concerns far beyond the horror stories for which he was still best-known. This is where King matures as a storyteller, and it's impossible not to view the final, still-unadapted story in this collection, The Breathing Method, as both an invitation and a warning to his "constant readers."
In execution, The Breathing Method almost feels like the framing device for the anthology of stories we've just read, taking place as it does in a gentlemen's club where the telling of stories over cigars serves as the key feature. It's possible to imagine these old men telling the tale of "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" to their comrades-in-cigars on a wintry night, and I'd be surprised to learn King hadn't at least considered the idea of structuring this novella collection in a way that allowed for that to be more obviously what's going on here.
Considered in brief, "Rita Hayworth" is a minor masterpiece of structural engineering that is almost impossible to separate in my mind from the film it later became, but this is not a bad thing. It offers some shadings, and some minor stories that Darabont chose to leave out, but on the whole this is the rare case where the film is allowed to go further in-depth than the book.
"Apt Pupil" is a sneaky little thriller that deals in some of King's most abjectly horrific subject matter, which was utterly bungled by Bryan Singer in his adaptation. This could be a heightened, even campy satire if executed properly, even if its window of adaptation may be closed for good (you can't really modernize a story featuring a surviving Nazi in 2018, and that's mostly for the best).
"The Body" is haunting, and contains a wealth of information and personality that didn't even make it into Rob Reiner's excellent adaptation. I can see myself returning to this in the future, and its placement in King's bibliography marks it as a bit of a dry run for 1986's It. There's a reason it was the first story adapted from this collection.
"The Breathing Method" is a bit different, and the most overtly horrific of the stories here (yes, even more so than "Apt Pupil," as far as I'm concerned). It lands somewhere in the realm of a Hammer/Amicus tale, a Neil Gaiman Sandman one-off story, or one of the BBC's "Ghost Stories for Christmas" in terms of tone and execution, and that both explains why it hasn't been adapted but also why I love it so much. My expectations for it were low, and I'm pleased to report they really shouldn't have been.
Also, Frank Muller is quietly excellent as an audiobook narrator. Really glad I listened to him read these stories, even if the audio quality occasionally dips for some reason, that's not on him.
binarybabe28's review against another edition
5.0
This book contains four stories, one of my very favorite, the Shawshank Redemption. :)
dwhite1174's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0