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Different Seasons (Signet)
by Authors:
Stephen King
Mass Market Paperback
Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four novellas, markedly different in tone and subject, each on the theme of a journey. The first is a rich, satisfying, nonhorrific tale about an innocent man who carefully nurtures hope and devises a wily scheme to escape from prison. The second concerns a boy who discards his innocence by enticing an old man to travel with him into a reawakening of long-buried evil. In the third story, a writer looks back on the trek he took with three friends on the brink of adolescence to find another boy's corpse. The trip becomes a character-rich rite of passage from youth to maturity.
These first three novellas have been made into well-received movies: "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" into Frank Darabont's 1994 The Shawshank Redemption (available as a screenplay, a DVD film, and an audiocassette), "Apt Pupil" into Bryan Singer's 1998 film Apt Pupil (also released in 1998 on audiocassette), 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.
Average Customer Rating:
Two good, one decent, one bad.
Hey folks. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the best story in here, and possibly the best novella I've ever read. It's not too long, just long enough to tell the story and still remain powerful and entertaining. The characters are great. The Body is a different kind of story for King, but it's pretty good. I felt a little let down at the end, but it was still worth reading. It's worth liking, but not worth loving. Apt Pupil is great at times, but is ultimately too long and weird. It's an interesting idea though. I didn't like how it ended either. A little editing would have been good here. The Breathing Method is intriguing at times. It could have been much better. I liked the idea of the creepy gentlemans' club, but the actual story of the woman and her breathing method is dumb, and confusing too. Anyway, this is some of King's best stuff, especially Shawshank. Trust me.
King's critics obviously didn't read this.
Like most folks here, I didn't know King was the creator of such works like The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me until long after he'd written those stories. I can say this without hesitation though, that Different Seasons is one of the most powerful works of fiction I've ever read.
The Body, my favorite piece in Different Seasons, is one of those stories that stays with you long after you've put it down. It has its elements of being scary, but overall its a tale of friendship, much as is the case with Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.
You get the sense that King placed many of his own, real memories into The Body, and you also get the feeling that this is his tale (although it's merely fiction) and there's a part of you, as you read, that says, "This is REAL. This author really believes this."
That's when you know you're reading something amazingly profound. Each word has a reason in The Body, each sentence another tunnel to get you where King wants to take you. This can't be said for all of King's works, but it is certainly, colosally present here.
I know many critics hound King for overstating and sometimes, seemingly out of spite, understating, but those that do seemingly skipped past Different Seasons. Note to critics: READ THIS ONE.
A Different King
Stephen King does nothing but horror right? He's all about the monsters and things that go bump in the night. Right? Nope. And if you really think horror is what Stephen King is all about then you obviously haven't read "Different Seasons".
"Different Seasons" is, I think, some of King's best written work ever! Four tales, and they're not horror! As King said in the first page of the book "It is the tale, not he who tells it." This is very much true in this book. Four novellas, each of them accompanied by a "season" theme.
The four Novellas are breathtaking stories (three of them were movies... VERY GOOD MOVIES) that are not about monsters or anything like that, but portraying the human spirit, and the human heart.
"Hope Springs Eternal: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" is the perfect example. Andy Dufrense is a man sentenceed to serve a life sentence in prison for a murder he didn't commit. You'd think the prison known as Shawshank would get to him, but it doesn't. It's Andy's hope that allows him to get through Shawshank and survive a sadistic warden. "Rita Haywroth and Shawshank Redemption" also made the best movie of the lot (I'm sure most of you have seen it).
"Fall From Innocence: The Body" is another perfect example of the common human emotion. Fear. When four boys stumble across a body, they're faced with ultimately the fact that they're not invincible, and that mortality is a reality. "The Body" was perhaps the best story in the entire collection.
Perhaps the only story I didn't like was "A Winter's Tale: The Breathing Method". The only reason I didn't like it was because the other three stories (Including "Summer of Corruption: Apt Pupil" which I didn't talk about) were all about common human emotions. But "The Breathing Method" seemed like a short horror story that King threw in because he can't seem to leave it (he even mentions so in the afterward).
Overall, if you want to see a different side of Stephen King, then "Different Seasons" is the book you want. Other great reads to see King outside of horror are "The Green Mile" and "Delores Claiborne". Have fun, and happy reading. These tales are amazing.
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DVD's
Two good, one decent, one bad. 
King's critics obviously didn't read this. 
