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A review by joshkiba13
Different Seasons by Stephen King
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Four novellas 😎
"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" - I was surprisingly underwhelmed my this one. The film is one of my favorites of all time, but the novella seemed so much less intimate; much more distant. I didn't get that sense of hope and triumph that the film gave me.
"Apt Pupil" - By far the darkest and most grotesque work I've read by King, but it was such an alluring and interesting story watching a boy become corrupted by morbid curiosity and obsession.
"The Body" - I read this by itself back in January and really enjoyed it. King has come out and said that this story (minus the device of the body) is pretty autobiographical, so that makes it cool when you look at these 4 young boys maturing and coming into their own. Gordie comes to love telling stories, and I was so touched by Chris's grappling with who he wanted to be versus how he was expected to be.
"The Breathing Method" - I read this one in one sitting (only ~70pgs). Such a simple concept: men gathering by a fire to tell stories (or "tales"). An aged doctor tells a haunting story of a birth that widened my eyes and dropped my jaw.
King states in his Afterword that even if stories he writes aren't "horror" per se, elements of that genre always slip in, which rings true with these four stories. I was touched, I was disturbed, and entertained. I love these words with which he ends his Afterword: "I hope that you liked them, Reader; that they did for you what any good story should do---make you forget the real stuff weighing on your mind for a little while and take you away to a place you've never been. It's the most amiable sort of magic I know." -Stephen King
"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" - I was surprisingly underwhelmed my this one. The film is one of my favorites of all time, but the novella seemed so much less intimate; much more distant. I didn't get that sense of hope and triumph that the film gave me.
"Apt Pupil" - By far the darkest and most grotesque work I've read by King, but it was such an alluring and interesting story watching a boy become corrupted by morbid curiosity and obsession.
"The Body" - I read this by itself back in January and really enjoyed it. King has come out and said that this story (minus the device of the body) is pretty autobiographical, so that makes it cool when you look at these 4 young boys maturing and coming into their own. Gordie comes to love telling stories, and I was so touched by Chris's grappling with who he wanted to be versus how he was expected to be.
"The Breathing Method" - I read this one in one sitting (only ~70pgs). Such a simple concept: men gathering by a fire to tell stories (or "tales"). An aged doctor tells a haunting story of a birth that widened my eyes and dropped my jaw.
King states in his Afterword that even if stories he writes aren't "horror" per se, elements of that genre always slip in, which rings true with these four stories. I was touched, I was disturbed, and entertained. I love these words with which he ends his Afterword: "I hope that you liked them, Reader; that they did for you what any good story should do---make you forget the real stuff weighing on your mind for a little while and take you away to a place you've never been. It's the most amiable sort of magic I know." -Stephen King
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexual content