Before reading: This is a collection of novellas that I know include some of King's best movies Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me. I am excited to read those because they are some of my all time favorite films and also see what other gems are in this collection. I wasn't a huge fan of his previous short story collection but I believe these are a little bit longer and more fleshed out than typical short stories. I also know that they are separated out by seasons and I think that is pretty cute. Like I did with Night Shift I will go through and discuss each story individually and also discuss the collection as a whole. Here we go!
After reading: Most of what I have to say will be said below in my reviews of each individual stories so I will try to keep this as general as I can. Overall, I really enjoyed this! I like this collection of novellas more so than I did the short stories. I also love that I got to read two great classics as well as two that I had never even heard about before. The fact that they were somewhat intertwined and that they were themed after the seasons was something I really enjoyed. Do I think it's worth reading all four of them? Yes, I do. They are all worth your while, I believe. If you are looking for a non-horror, cozy, familiar, but still thrilling and a little unsettling read...this is the book for you! I also think this would make a great first read of King if you're just starting out.
A bit of a side note, if you refer to my ranking page you will see that I have ranked this as a collection rather than each individual story. Because there are several collections I will be reading I think this is just the best way to do it. If I were to rank them individually Shawshank, The Body, and The Breathing Method would all rank quite highly and Apt Pupil would be pretty low, because of this the ranking won't be as high as some of these stories deserve. I do want to say here, and I say it again later on, that Apt Pupil has many many great reviews and I've seen several people say it is their favorite of these four. So please don't let my opinion discourage you, it just wasn't the one for me.
SPRING
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: It was so good, you guys. There were obviously differences between this and the movie but as far as movie adaptations go, this one was right on the nose. I absolutely loved the writing. It was written like a letter and it felt like Morgan Freeman was reading to me. Right at the beginning I was so in love with the story and wished I didn't know what happened. There was a reference to The Mangler, which this is now the third time we've read about this machine so that was a fun little Easter egg. I don't have too much to say about this because it was so short. It was a little slow to read, it wasn't necessarily exciting. It took me a couple days to get through just because I didn't feel like continuing on. That isn't to say it wasn't a great read because it was. If you are a fan of the movie I definitely recommend reading this, I also know they sell it on it's own and not only as part of Different Seasons. It's very short and a quick read but it's so rich and full of heart. Also, if you are a Shawshank fan and haven't watched season one of Castle Rock I definitely suggest you do. A lot of it is set in Shawshank Prison. Now I am itching to rewatch both the movie and Castle Rock. Glad I got to read this and I'm so glad it not only lived up to the movie but didn't make me like the movie any less as oftentimes good books do. They are both two amazing pieces of art that I suggest everyone exposes themselves to at some point in their life.
SUMMER
Apt Pupil: Meh. I feel like placing this story after Shawshank wasn't fair. It just did not compare whatsoever. I had such high hopes after zooming through Shawshank and just completing engrossing myself in it that when I came to this one I felt like I hit a wall. It took me a very long time to get through and I had to force myself to read it. I will say that the second half made up for the first half. The first half was so slow and boring and just not any type of material that I personally enjoy. The second half picked up and it became more of a story that I could get into. Right away I didn't trust the main character, Todd, and very early on we are made not to like him. Personally I'm just not much of a fan of stories where we don't like our main character. It makes it hard to read, in my opinion. Why do I care to read a story about some kid that I can't stand? I read some reviews about this one and it seems that a lot of people do enjoy this story so I won't flat out say don't read it, maybe you'll enjoy it. I did think I was going to end up hating it but by the end I was more or less indifferent. There is a movie I had never heard of but it has good actors in it and maybe I'll give it a second chance in movie form. One thing I did enjoy was that it was connected to Shawshank Redemption. I was not expecting any of these stories to be connected and I'll be interested to see if that continues throughout. One final thing, I've said this time and time again but oftentimes these books seem to eerily mimic what is going on in today's world. While it was interesting to watch Todd slowly unravel and just become a worse and worse person, it was a little disturbing to read due to current events. I wouldn't necessarily recommend you read this but I won't tell you not to, who knows, you might really enjoy it. For me, I'm just ready to move on and hope that the rest are a little more Shawshank and a little less Apt Pupil.
FALL
The Body: We are two for three so far. Much like Shawshank this was almost exactly like watching Stand by Me, which if you didn't know is the movie adaptation of this novella. Once again we get just an absolutely beautifully written story with characters that you fall in love with (Chris is probably one of my favorite characters I've read from King so far, I want to put him in my pocket and protect him from harm). The narration actually reminded me a lot of Shawshank Redemption and made me realize how similar the two movies are, as well. Both are written in letter form from one of the characters about events that happened in the past. Both feel very intimate and familiar, as do their movie counterparts. The only thing I didn't love was that stories that Gordie had written (including the pie eating contest) are written in full. Personally it took me out of the real story too much and also the font that they were in the one that I am reading was not pleasant. One of the things I did love, however, which is kind of backwards but a lot of the dialogue in the movie came straight out of the novella. I quote this movie often, it is one of my favorites, so seeing some of those same exact quotes in the book (even anticipating them before they happened because I knew they were coming up) was really fun. Also, we are really starting to see the world building happening within King's larger universe and I think from now on it will probably be difficult to put down how often we see crossovers because I'm assuming they will be happening a whole lot. There were many references to other towns in the Kingiverse (if no one has trademarked that yet I call it) as well as direct references to Shawshank and Cujo since it was set in Castle Rock. We even got revisited from some characters we've met before. This was a great read. If you're a fan of the movie, and I assume you are, this was as close as a book-to-movie adaptation as I've seen. Also, whoever the casting director was for Stand by Me hit the nail on the head. Great book, great movie, great times, 10/10 recommend.
WINTER
The Breathing Method: When I went to look up what this story was about I found this review that only said "well dang, girl what?" with four stars. I feel like that was accurate. I will say that this was written much more similar to Shawshank and The Body where it was a narrative of a character telling us a story from their past. I wish Apt Pupil was written this way so that they flowed better, but what do I know? This was a very short story, I read it in about an hour. It was very well-written and held my interest. But I need more! I've already gone through reddit trying to get to the bottom of things but no one seems to have any answers. As of now, if I meet Stephen King I am definitely asking him about this one. I have so many questions! It was a good read but it was short. I do like the ambiguity but I also like answers, ya know?
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...a talking car? Next up is Christine. Vroom vroom.
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