Different Seasons - Softcover

King, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 144472360X ISBN 13: 9781444723601

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks, 2012

Synopsis

Read the original stories which became the celebrated films STAND BY ME, APT PUPIL and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, voted the world's most popular movie.

In this classic collection of four novellas, the grand master takes you on irresistible journeys into the far reaches of horror, heartache and hope.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the story of two men convicted of murder - one guilty, one innocent - who form the perfect partnership as they dream up a scheme to escape from prison.

In Apt Pupil a golden schoolboy entices an old man with a past to join in a dreadful union.

The Body sees four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death . . . and the end of innocence.

The Breathing Method is the tale of a doctor who goes to his club and discovers a woman determined to give birth - no matter what.

About this title

Review:

Different Seasons 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, non-horrific 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, 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

Review:

Triumphant . . . Stephen King remains a master (New York Times)

An incredibly gifted writer (Guardian)

Triumphant . . . Stephen King remains a master. (New York Times)

An incredibly gifted writer. (Guardian)

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 144472360X
• ISBN 13: 9781444723601
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 688