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weed_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
charcoalpencils's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
smithe22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
voldycat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Cursing
campbellclan's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed the book. I didn’t read the synopsis before starting it but I loved the whole idea of true after life these WW2 nazis had. Interesting story for sure.
katiescho741's review against another edition
4.0
The first two novellas in Different Seasons are some of King's best stories...the second two are some of the most "meh".
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is that wonderful thing that is a great novella and an equally great film. I don't think I can chose which I prefer, but I will say that I can't read it without hearing Morgan Freeman's voice. The story has a dark premise- an innocent man goes to prison for life, and the prison is a hard, violent and oppressive- but the story is one of hope. The feel of time passing is done beautifully and we get a condensed version, and yet we still feel the years go by. The open ending is lovely because it's a rare example of an open end where you truly believe it turned out okay.
Next up is Apt Pupil, which is the complete opposite of Rita Hayworth! A wonderfully brutal story of a young boy's destruction from his own curiosity and involvement with a Nazi. Todd is a typical all-American boy who finds a slightly creepy interest in concentration camp stories. As Todd develops a strange bond with Dussander, we watch him self-destruct. They become gradually more entangled with each other and Todd passes several points of no-return. The ending is inevitable, yet I found myself wishing for things to work out for him. This story always stands out for me as one of King's best because it's dark, twisted horror but it's 100% man-made horror, which I think is scarier than supernatural.
The final two stories are weaker. I'd probably say the Body is the weakest, because The Breathing Method has a creepy element to it. The problem with The Breathing Method is I think there's a lot more King could have done with it, like exploring the Club a bit more. Overall, it's a good story but maybe a little slow.
The Body I found to be extremely slow. It's so slow that King writes two short stories into the plot! It has some nice moments about nostalgia and time passing and loss of innocence, but overall I just didn't find it that interesting.
I can recommend this book purely for the first two stories!
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is that wonderful thing that is a great novella and an equally great film. I don't think I can chose which I prefer, but I will say that I can't read it without hearing Morgan Freeman's voice. The story has a dark premise- an innocent man goes to prison for life, and the prison is a hard, violent and oppressive- but the story is one of hope. The feel of time passing is done beautifully and we get a condensed version, and yet we still feel the years go by. The open ending is lovely because it's a rare example of an open end where you truly believe it turned out okay.
Next up is Apt Pupil, which is the complete opposite of Rita Hayworth! A wonderfully brutal story of a young boy's destruction from his own curiosity and involvement with a Nazi. Todd is a typical all-American boy who finds a slightly creepy interest in concentration camp stories. As Todd develops a strange bond with Dussander, we watch him self-destruct. They become gradually more entangled with each other and Todd passes several points of no-return. The ending is inevitable, yet I found myself wishing for things to work out for him. This story always stands out for me as one of King's best because it's dark, twisted horror but it's 100% man-made horror, which I think is scarier than supernatural.
The final two stories are weaker. I'd probably say the Body is the weakest, because The Breathing Method has a creepy element to it. The problem with The Breathing Method is I think there's a lot more King could have done with it, like exploring the Club a bit more. Overall, it's a good story but maybe a little slow.
The Body I found to be extremely slow. It's so slow that King writes two short stories into the plot! It has some nice moments about nostalgia and time passing and loss of innocence, but overall I just didn't find it that interesting.
I can recommend this book purely for the first two stories!
thaggstrom50's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
dullshimmer's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a few watches of the movie The Shawshank Redemption before I realized that the movie was based off of a short story by Stephen King. I must admit I was rather surprised to hear this and so I did a little research and found that it was in his collection of four stories called Different Seasons. It's also interesting to note that two of the other stories in this book have also been made into movies, Apt Pupil and Stand By Me. These stories are in some ways a little different for Stephen King, but not entirely. To do each justice I'll give a few thoughts on each of the short stories.
"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"
I'll be honest this was the story that I was really looking forward to reading, and it's a very good read. There are some differences between the book and movie, but they're both enjoyable. The main difference is that the story lets you know that a decent amount of time passes during the story. The movie doesn't entirely make this clear, time seems more compressed and the flow of time is addressed much less. Probably my favorite story of the four.
"Apt Pupil"
This was a tough story to get through for me. It's not that I didn't like it, or thought that it wasn't well done. It was more that it just seemed a bit too real. The idea that evil can hide under the guise of a kid who seemed to have everything together. It was sobering, but also made my skin crawl and stomach turn. This was by far the creepiest and most depressing of the stories. I haven't seen the movie to compare, but this story was one made into a movie as well.
"The Body"
This was the story that the movie "Stand By Me" was based off of. I would say that this is probably my least favorite of the four stories. I don't really know why, I guess the story just didn't resonate that well with me. The journey of four boys going to see a dead body just didn't seem as interesting as some of the other stories presented. It's not bad by any means, but just didn't really leave a great impression on me either.
"The Breathing Method"
The last story is probably the strangest of the bunch. It's a bit of a story within a story. It's about a strange club and how the members there tells stories. I good portion of this story is just describing how the narrator was introduced to the club and some of the strange things he had noticed during his time there. However each Christmas the men gather to tell a tale of the bizarre or macabre. Overall this was a pretty interesting story, the club was very mysterious and the tale told in the club is rather short, but definitely fits the bizarre or macabre category. It is somewhat of a sad story as well. Of all of the stories in the book, this one had the most obvious Stephen King feel in my opinion.
All said I enjoyed the book fairly well. While these stories are thought of as somewhat different for King, that doesn't mean to expect happy endings and family friendly fare. The biggest weakness I can think of for the book is the attempt to connect each story with a season of the year. It kind of works but kind of doesn't. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is connected to spring; "Apt Pupil" to summer; "The Body" to fall; and "The Breathing Method" to winter. Some stories are more connected to their season than others. Other than that this is a quality collection of short stories and I'd recommend it, particularly if you have enjoyed any of the movies inspired by the books.
"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"
I'll be honest this was the story that I was really looking forward to reading, and it's a very good read. There are some differences between the book and movie, but they're both enjoyable. The main difference is that the story lets you know that a decent amount of time passes during the story. The movie doesn't entirely make this clear, time seems more compressed and the flow of time is addressed much less. Probably my favorite story of the four.
"Apt Pupil"
This was a tough story to get through for me. It's not that I didn't like it, or thought that it wasn't well done. It was more that it just seemed a bit too real. The idea that evil can hide under the guise of a kid who seemed to have everything together. It was sobering, but also made my skin crawl and stomach turn. This was by far the creepiest and most depressing of the stories. I haven't seen the movie to compare, but this story was one made into a movie as well.
"The Body"
This was the story that the movie "Stand By Me" was based off of. I would say that this is probably my least favorite of the four stories. I don't really know why, I guess the story just didn't resonate that well with me. The journey of four boys going to see a dead body just didn't seem as interesting as some of the other stories presented. It's not bad by any means, but just didn't really leave a great impression on me either.
"The Breathing Method"
The last story is probably the strangest of the bunch. It's a bit of a story within a story. It's about a strange club and how the members there tells stories. I good portion of this story is just describing how the narrator was introduced to the club and some of the strange things he had noticed during his time there. However each Christmas the men gather to tell a tale of the bizarre or macabre. Overall this was a pretty interesting story, the club was very mysterious and the tale told in the club is rather short, but definitely fits the bizarre or macabre category. It is somewhat of a sad story as well. Of all of the stories in the book, this one had the most obvious Stephen King feel in my opinion.
All said I enjoyed the book fairly well. While these stories are thought of as somewhat different for King, that doesn't mean to expect happy endings and family friendly fare. The biggest weakness I can think of for the book is the attempt to connect each story with a season of the year. It kind of works but kind of doesn't. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is connected to spring; "Apt Pupil" to summer; "The Body" to fall; and "The Breathing Method" to winter. Some stories are more connected to their season than others. Other than that this is a quality collection of short stories and I'd recommend it, particularly if you have enjoyed any of the movies inspired by the books.
wyvernfriend's review against another edition
4.0
I've resisted reading a lot of King stories but these four were very interesting.
The first was Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption I've seen a few times and I know several people for whom it's a favourite, and the novella is also an interesting read. The story of a prison escape is good.
Apt Pupil, the second story has also been filmed, it's one I haven't seen but it's an interesting story of a older man, a man who was in charge of a concentration camp during the Nazi era and a young man who finds him and mines him for information, the pair of them feed of each other, and not in a good way.
The Body was the source for the film Stand By Me and is also an interesting story of four friend during a summer where they discover the whereabouts of a body. During this journey they find out more about themselves. The asides from the older author are also interesting.
The last story, The Breathing Method, had potential for further stories in the style of the Black Widower series by Isaac Asimov. A man is introduced to a storytelling group of men and finds himself interested in the group and gives some snippets of stories before recounting a maternity story that finishes with a gruesome twist.
All in all an interesting series of stories and I might try a few more, I'll have to pick the brains of a Stephen King fan or two.
The first was Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption I've seen a few times and I know several people for whom it's a favourite, and the novella is also an interesting read. The story of a prison escape is good.
Apt Pupil, the second story has also been filmed, it's one I haven't seen but it's an interesting story of a older man, a man who was in charge of a concentration camp during the Nazi era and a young man who finds him and mines him for information, the pair of them feed of each other, and not in a good way.
The Body was the source for the film Stand By Me and is also an interesting story of four friend during a summer where they discover the whereabouts of a body. During this journey they find out more about themselves. The asides from the older author are also interesting.
The last story, The Breathing Method, had potential for further stories in the style of the Black Widower series by Isaac Asimov. A man is introduced to a storytelling group of men and finds himself interested in the group and gives some snippets of stories before recounting a maternity story that finishes with a gruesome twist.
All in all an interesting series of stories and I might try a few more, I'll have to pick the brains of a Stephen King fan or two.