Different Seasons, Stephen King

Title: Different Seasons
Author(s): Stephen King
No. of pages: 679
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Short stories
Publication date: August 27th 1982
Date read: June 9th 2019

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Different Seasons is a short story collection that consists of four “novellas”. However, I would not call all of them “novellas”, because two of them are at least 200 pages long. To me that’s a full book 🙈

Nevertheless, as you can tell from my rating: I really loved reading all of the stories. I knew the titles of two before reading Different Seasons, namely “Rita Hayworth and  Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body”. So naturally I was looking forward to those two most. Below I will tell you a little about each of the four stories and tell you what I think of it along with my rating per story!

1. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: I guess we all know this story, either from the short story or the film. The story is told from “Red’s” POV. Red’s an inmate in the Shawshank prison and in there he holds a special position: he’s the one who can get you anything. So when Andy Dufresne asks him for a rockhammer and a poster of Rita Hayworth he makes sure he gets them. Without knowing what Andy wants with them …
   I loved reading this story, but because I had really high expectations of it, it wasn’t what I thought it’d be. I can’t really put my finger on what didn’t meet my expectations, but those were only minor. It’s still a great story about what prison can do to a person. I can’t imagine being somewhere for about 50 years, then being pulled from there and thrown into a world you don’t know. Not anymore. I watched the film not long after reading the story and I have to admit that I liked the film a little better than the story 🙊 4.5/5 ★
2. Apt Pupil: The short synopsis of this story on the back of the book didn’t really give me a good image of what I could expect. Not at all. But yeah, I’m going to do the exact same and not give you any more information than the original synopsis. To me, the shock of the actual story was what made me like this one so much. I didn’t see it coming and it unfolded into a weird and really uncomfortable read. 4.5/5 ★
3. The Body: I only know this story from the King episode of Family Guy 😂 It made me really curious about the actual story though! Just like IT it deals with a group of young friends who are “coming of age”. At the start they seem like this innocent group of boys, but at the end they have gone through so many changes that made them more mature in a way. And this in only a couple of days. At the start of the story they get to hear that the body of a missing boy is lying somewhere in the woods and they decide to go looking for it. I liked this story most of all four – I just love a good coming-of-age story and King just writes them best! 5/5 ★
4. The Breathing Method: I had quite a hard time getting into this story, but once it got going I came to like it! It tells of a man joining a mysterious club where the members tell lots of stories. One of the stories is about a woman who’s pregnant without being married. This causes troubles unmarried pregnant women experienced in this time (1930’s?) like losing their job and home. But the most important thing for this woman is giving birth to her child. No matter what. I didn’t know what to expect of this woman from only reading the synopsis, but believe me, this woman is determined to give birth. 4/5 ★