Different Seasons

These first three novellas have been made into well-received movies: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption into Frank Darabont's 1994 The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil into Bryan Singer's 1998 film Apt Pupil, and The Body into Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986).

The final novella, Breathing Lessons is a horror yarn told by a doctor, about a patient whose indomitable spirit keeps her baby alive under extraordinary circumstances. It's the tightest, most polished tale in the collection. --Fiona Webster

The other 3 stories, Apt Pupil, The Body (which became in film "Stand By Me") and the Breathing Method are interesting and along way from fillers, but having owned and loved this book for over a decade I have only read them once and fallen under the spell of Red's narrative many times.


The Best of King!   August 12, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

this is probably my favorite King's book of all times.
The book is divided into four different stories, unrelated to each other. People who have heard of King but never read one of his book may expect horror stories but this is not the case and it is probably why it is one of the best books of King ever.
My favourites are 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Breathing Method'. The first has been made in a very famous movie so a lot of people would know the story of this man wrongly accused of murdering his wife, that quietly, smartly, but with many difficulties finds his place in the prison with other prisoners, one of which his the narrating voice of the story. This may not be 'horror' in the normal meaning of the word but it shows how life can, in itself, be more frightening than stories. What I liked most of the last story, 'The Breathing Method' was the all atmosphere of the strange club, with strange rooms...pure King!
However, the other two novels as well are very well worth mentioning as they are gems as well. 'The Body' and 'The Apt Pupil' talks respectively about the discovery of a body by a gropu of boys and by the sickening but intriguing 'friendship' between a boy and an ex-nazi general.
To reveal too much would be to spoil a beatiful book, well written in pure King's style, a definite good choice to start with if you have never read King


King's best   October 17, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This edition of the anthology is a fabulous, attractive book - something that seems fitting for such a great work.

King's not a great writer. He's not going to be taught at Oxford or Harvard. However, at the best of times he's one of the best storytellers going, and the stories in this one are his best ever. "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption" are two of the best movies ever made, and this book has both... and then two more as well!

King may be more at home with blood, ghouls and hideous freaks, but in "The Body" (the novella that became "Stand By Me") and "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" he's written his two best stories yet. Both are touching, full of heart but also honesty. "The Body" is semi-autobiographical, and you can tell. King has made a name for himself making monsters seem real. Now he turns that on reality and elevates it from the mundane to something illuminating. "The Body" could have been self-indulgent in the hands of lesser authors, but King knows his craft, and that's to tell a cracking story.

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" is likewise a powerful tale. It is not a horror story, though it is sometimes disturbing, as with "The Body". This is not off-putting, as I sometimes find with King's straight horror. It just seems real. King sees the world with an eye few of us will ever have, and that's one of the main reasons to read him.

My only lasting thought is if he wrote more fabulous books like this, perhaps he would get on those university reading lists.