Stephen King

Four novellas from Stephen King bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters. This gripping collection begins with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge--the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption. Next is "Apt Pupil," the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. In "The Body," four rambunctious young boys plunge through the facade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me. Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in "The Breathing Method."--Provided by publisher.

Four Novellas

Different Seasons

Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s timeless novella “The Body”—originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the 1986 film classic Stand by Me—is now available as a stand-alone publication. It’s 1960 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Ray Brower, a boy from a nearby town, has disappeared, and twelve-year-old Gordie Lachance and his three friends set out on a quest to find his body along the railroad tracks. During the course of their journey, Gordie, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio come to terms with death and the harsh truths of growing up in a small factory town that doesn’t offer much in the way of a future. A timeless exploration of the loneliness and isolation of young adulthood, Stephen King’s The Body is an iconic, unforgettable, coming-of-age story.

The Body

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are things you get ashamed of, because words make them smaller. When they were in your head they were limitless; but when they come out they seem to be no bigger than normal things. But that's not all. The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried; they are clues that could guide your enemies to a prize they would love to steal. It's hard and painful for you to talk about these things ... and then people just look at you strangely. They haven't understood what you've said at all, or why you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

Eliana Ramirez 

madeleine

Teddy and Vern slowly became just two more faces in the halls or 3:30 detention. We nodded and said hi. That was all. It happens. Friends come in and out of your life like busboy in a restaurant, did you ever notice that?

Small events really do echo up larger and larger through time.

The associations the memories bring up to the surface are about as unpleasant as week old river corpses brought to surface by cannonfire.

The only reason anyone writes stories is so they can understand the past and get ready for some future morality

The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.

It scared me that I had come in late on whatever had developed-- too late to defend myself properly, maybe.

I want to go someplace where nobody knows me and I don't have any black marks against me before I start. But I don't know if I can do it.

It's scary to find out that someone else, even a friend knows just how things are with you.

I went because of the shadows that are always somewhere behind our eyes.

..was I enjoying this? Yeah in some peculiar, self destructive way that I have experienced only when completely and utterly drunk. I was.

I probably would have looked like a jack-in-the-book to anyone watching, but to myself I felt like a boy underwater slow motion, shooting up not through five feet of air but rather moving up through five hundred feet of water, moving slowly, moving with a dreadful languidness as the water parted grudgingly. But at last I did break the surface. The last of the paralysis fell from me and I began to run

Someone had redefined his pain, and redefined it in shockingly common terms. That would have to be examined later. In depth. On long sleepless nights.

And now I sit here trying to look through an IBM keyboard and see that time, trying to recall the best and worst of that green and brown summer, and I can almost feel the skinny, scabbed boy still buried in this advancing body and hear those sounds.

I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?

and for just one moment we looked into each other's eyes and saw some of the true things that made us friends.

there was a dreadful exhilaration in seeing things that had bothered me for years come out in a new form, a form which I had imposed control.

The mixture of emotions made ne feel heatsick and headaches.

Emma Ouellet

stephen king’s the body is poignant. it’s reflective. its second, formerly known title, loss of innocence, conveys exactly what the novella is about— growth, change, maturity, and the rapid speed at which a child can lose their innocence when thrown into (and forced to deal with) a terrible situation. it’s a coming of age story in its rawest form. there’s no rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia for gordon lachance (our narrator), he faces his past and dissects his adolescence.

this novella has been on my radar since i first watched rob reiner’s 

 (1986). that movie is an all-timer for me so reading the basis for it felt like a rite of passage. this was my first foray into foray into stephen king’s books and honestly? not a bad place to start. it was short, it kept a good pace, and i was hooked from the first page. what really bumped this up for me though was the 

 are the four boys we follow as they venture through the outer limits of their fictional city, castle rock. every one of these boys are easily discernible, they have a certain individuality about them— they are 

 from the moment you meet them at their treehouse while they play cards, they aren’t characters on a page anymore. these boys are living, breathing beings who jump out at you. they’re your friends, your brothers. you watch them as an omnipresent narrator, hoping and praying you could save them from the hell of their situations.

out of the four boys, the ones who stand out to me the most have always been chris and gordie. i see myself in both of their characters (both book + movie versions). there’s something so personal about two kids who are doing their best keeping one another alive. they both want the best for one another and are willing to do anything to harness the talent/ability of one another. from chris’s chilling, almost authoritarian seriousness while gordie tells his stories to gordie’s constant studying alongside chris, they want the other to succeed. they want it so badly that they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. there’s something so personal about the magnitude of platonic love they share between each other. gordie and chris would walk over hot coals for one another— they are the type of brothers they both deserved to have. they are replacements for the brothers they lost. it’s special, what they share is 

 it’s the type of friendship you’d protect with your entire being.

i adore these boys. they swear, and they joke, and they tease, and they prod, and they poke but their camaraderie is touching. they’re pricks but i love them. i feel maternal and sisterly towards them all at the same time. i wish i could shove my hand into the book and grab gordie, teddy, chris, and vern out of the pages. i want to save them from their plight. they’re my sons, they’re my brothers. they’ve been written so well (and portrayed so well onscreen) that i would put my life down for them all— even when they say something dickish or out of line.

the body is riveting. it sweeps you up in its pages and refuses to lessen its grip on you until the last moment. it balances the ridiculousness of twelve year old boys with older, wiser commentary through the lens of an adult gordie. it provides you with characters you can root for and feel connected to. you can pick and choose pieces of each character and it only makes the characters dearer to you. it plucks at your heartstrings and makes you reflect. this book is one of those examples where it feels like you’ve 

 through the characters. i believe that, without a doubt, is what will stay with me the most— in that brief moment i lived with gordie, or chris, or vern, or teddy. i was right along with those boys. i was seeing that body, i was aiming that gun. for that single moment, i lived their lives (and in turn it made me reflect on mine). there’s nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a book that has changed and altered your perspective. seeing the world with new eyes is the most captivating part of it all.

tink 😵‍💫⭐

stephen king’s the body is poignant. it’s reflective. its second, formerly known title, loss of innocence, conveys exactly what the novella is about— growth, change, maturity, and the rapid speed at which a child can lose their innocence when thrown into (and forced to deal with) a terrible situation. it’s a coming of age story in its rawest form. there’s no rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia for gordon lachance (our narrator), he faces his past and dissects his adolescence.

this novella has been on my radar since i first watched rob reiner’s stand by me (1986). that movie is an all-timer for me so reading the basis for it felt like a rite of passage. this was my first foray into foray into stephen king’s books and honestly? not a bad place to start. it was short, it kept a good pace, and i was hooked from the first page. what really bumped this up for me though was the characters.

gordon “gordie” lachance, chris chambers, teddy duchamp, and vern tessio are the four boys we follow as they venture through the outer limits of their fictional city, castle rock. every one of these boys are easily discernible, they have a certain individuality about them— they are alive. from the moment you meet them at their treehouse while they play cards, they aren’t characters on a page anymore. these boys are living, breathing beings who jump out at you. they’re your friends, your brothers. you watch them as an omnipresent narrator, hoping and praying you could save them from the hell of their situations.

out of the four boys, the ones who stand out to me the most have always been chris and gordie. i see myself in both of their characters (both book + movie versions). there’s something so personal about two kids who are doing their best keeping one another alive. they both want the best for one another and are willing to do anything to harness the talent/ability of one another. from chris’s chilling, almost authoritarian seriousness while gordie tells his stories to gordie’s constant studying alongside chris, they want the other to succeed. they want it so badly that they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. there’s something so personal about the magnitude of platonic love they share between each other. gordie and chris would walk over hot coals for one another— they are the type of brothers they both deserved to have. they are replacements for the brothers they lost. it’s special, what they share is special. it’s the type of friendship you’d protect with your entire being.

i adore these boys. they swear, and they joke, and they tease, and they prod, and they poke but their camaraderie is touching. they’re pricks but i love them. i feel maternal and sisterly towards them all at the same time. i wish i could shove my hand into the book and grab gordie, teddy, chris, and vern out of the pages. i want to save them from their plight. they’re my sons, they’re my brothers. they’ve been written so well (and portrayed so well onscreen) that i would put my life down for them all— even when they say something dickish or out of line.

the body is riveting. it sweeps you up in its pages and refuses to lessen its grip on you until the last moment. it balances the ridiculousness of twelve year old boys with older, wiser commentary through the lens of an adult gordie. it provides you with characters you can root for and feel connected to. you can pick and choose pieces of each character and it only makes the characters dearer to you. it plucks at your heartstrings and makes you reflect. this book is one of those examples where it feels like you’ve lived through the characters. i believe that, without a doubt, is what will stay with me the most— in that brief moment i lived with gordie, or chris, or vern, or teddy. i was right along with those boys. i was seeing that body, i was aiming that gun. for that single moment, i lived their lives (and in turn it made me reflect on mine). there’s nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a book that has changed and altered your perspective. seeing the world with new eyes is the most captivating part of it all.

ghost girl in satin

I totally read this book because I'm a huge fan of the movie adaptation, and now I'm obsessed with it. It's so good, heartbreaking and heartwarming (!!) at the same time, I loved the characters, their friendship, Chris and Gordie's conversations... I cried and I laughed a few times. The coming of age aspect of the novel is amazing.

A Stephen King novel telling of unfair imprisonment and escape.

Amna A.

This book contains four short stories, one intended for each season.

The first and my favorite one was Hope Springs Eternal, consisting Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption:- 
The story is narrated by a prisoner of 'The Shank' called Red, who tells his own story by describing the most important event in his life- Andy Dufresne. Andy walked into prison claiming that he was wrongly accused, but what differentiated him from all the others who said that too, was that he walked around in prison as if he was the freest man alive. Andy always fought for his rights in prison even though the chances of him winning were low, for he was a huge believer of hope. And thanks to hope, he had managed to escape Shawshank after more than twenty years of working on his escape plan. Red confesses that if it weren't for Andy, he would not have had any hope of living normally back in the outside world when he was on parole, and admits that whenever he feels like going back to the Shank a pang of guilt hits him, knowing what Andy has been through to achieve the freedom that he now has.

Sarah Sammis

I only read the first story in the book. As I'm moving soon I want to return this book before it could potentially get forgotten in a box during the move...

I haven't seen the film Shawshank Redemption so it was night to read the story without any preconceived notions (other than knowing that it takes place in a prison). The story took too long to get started but once it gets past the "sisters" it picks up steam. I'm glad it's not anything longer than a novella because I don't think King could have kept the story moving and interesting if he had done his usual back story / character analysis that he does in his longer works.

Robin Waterfield

In 1960s America, four young boys go on a journey to search for the body of a boy killed by a train. As they travel, they discover how cruel the world can be, but also how wondrous.

Stephen King, you broke my heart.

This is my first Stephen King book and the big reason I read this was because of the movie Stand By Me. It is my favorite movie.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Amazing how the movie was the same as the original story aka this book. Well, it's more detailed and honest and vulgar but the atmosphere it created was just the same. Beforehand, I got spoiled that Teddy and Vern also died but it still hurt me so bad after reading that I cried. I love and will never stop loving these four characters. I ache for them, I laughed and cried. I love this book.

I cried for the friendship. I cried for the adventures. I cried for the hardships. I cried for the lost friendship. I cried for the lost of innocence.

This will never be my last Stephen King book and I'm happy that I got to read this one.

So come on, "Skin it, man."

jess larry

loved some stories more than others (especially apt pupil & shawshank : the storytelling, the tense atmosphere, the plot twists, everything was perfect ! apt pupil made me feel deeply scared of the human mind & the ending of shawshank restored my faith in humanity !!) but definitely a good reading experience!

gotta say though that stephen king just LOVES rambling and going on tangents, it gets very tiring at some point. like please get to the point i don't need to read an essay on the color of the sky 

so -1 for that, but overall great book ^^

DIFFERENT SEASONS

Lara Engle

A great collection of novellas. My overall rating averages to four stars, but there's some five and three here, too.
"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" -- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my five star read. The casual racism of several characters to show that they're redneck-types is pretty gross. Other than that, it's beautifully crafted, well-characterized, and the rare Stephen King story that gives you genuine hope.
"Apt Pupil" -- ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Truly chilling in every way. 
"The Body" -- ⭐⭐⭐ Okay, so I was never a young boy and I certainly wasn't a young boy in 1960, but I found pretty much every character in this story completely repellant: racist, sexist, abusive bullies. I hear people talk about this story like it's some rosy nostalgic story about childhood. I disagree. I also disagree with the fundamental idea that you never have friends like the ones you had when you were twelve. I sincerely hope people don't quit having genuine open relationships as adults. What a sad life. 
Gordie and Chris are the only characters who are worth any attention. The only reason my rating isn't lower is that it is very well-written structurally with some gorgeous passages from Gordie's reflective moments.
"The Breathing Method" -- ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved this one except for the rampant misogyny (the idea of determined Miss Stansfield as an exceptional woman, the pursed-lipped judgement of every other woman, the flat characterization of the wives and mothers, etc.). But ... the spooky stories, the frame story, and the fascinating club building at 249B East 35th: chef's kiss.

Lisa Sepulveda

Reading this short story was a whole different experience from watching the movie and it really was an amazing coming of age tale with some pretty significant messages really make you think although the fowl language doesn't bother me in the least there were time were it felt excessive but I know that this is a whole different era so my overall rating is a 4.75 out of 5 I highly recommend this if you want a short story that packs a punch !

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.

Wynter

Absolute proof that King does not have to write only horror to churn out brilliant stories. As someone who loves his supernatural writing and who's been a bit burned by his Bachman books, I approached Different Seasons with care. But my anxiety proved unfounded, as I started the first few pages of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of a falsely accused man and his plan to escape from prison, which is more about human perseverance in the face of despair than a simple mystery thriller. 

Apt Pupil surprised me a good deal and is probably my favourite novella in this collection. We are introduced to an All-American teenager, who appears to be an exemplary student and child, but in all actuality is a sociopathic monster. He discovers one day that the old man living nearby is actually a former Nazi officer, responsible for many deaths during the Holocaust, and blackmails him into telling the gruesome stories of torture and death. The two form an unusual sadistic dependency on each other and eventually plunge even further into darkness. Apt Pupil does have a few scenes that are hard to read, but overall it's a great study of sociopathy and self-destruction.

The Body gave basis to a very successful Stand By Me movie. The premise is simple: a group of boys hear of a dead body in the woods and decide to go have a look at it. The meat of the story has nothing to do with their morbid destination, but focuses on the journey of danger, self-discovery, and friendship. It is obvious that King put quite a bit of himself into one of the boys, and I really thought it neat to draw parallels between reality and fiction. This is the coming-of-age tale done right.

The Breathing Method actually has horror elements and contains some of the most atmospheric writing I've ever read. The gothic house, the mysterious society, the almost otherworldly butler, and the stories told by the roaring fire in the winter storm.... I actually think this novella should be a classic Christmas read for those who don't mind to deviate from the cheery coziness of the season. This is the best horror passage I've laid my eyes on besides Shirley Jackson's stuff:

“His voice was as mild as ever, but there was something terrible in his eyes suddenly . . . no; if I am to be truthful, it was not just in his eyes; the terror I felt had infused the atmosphere all around me. The steady tock-tock from down the lefthand hall was no longer the pendulum of a grandfather clock; it was the tapping foot of the executioner as he watches the condemned led to the scaffold. The smells of oil and leather turned bitter and menacing, and when the wind rose in another wild whoop, I felt momentarily sure that the front door would blow open, revealing not Thirty-fifth Street but an insane Clark Ashton Smith landscape where the bitter shapes of twisted trees stood silhouetted on a sterile horizon below which double suns were setting in a gruesome red glare.”

Delicious! I didn't think I'd love this collection as much, but it's definitely now in my top favourite Kings ever.

Michael Springer

No, I can't remember what "The Breathing Method" was about. Doesn't matter. This book has "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" in it. AND "The Body," AND "Apt Pupil." You can't FUCK with this book. It will beat your roody-poo candy ass. This is absolutely essential Stephen King.

if you loved the movie stand by me then you definitely love this book!🙌🏻 

I absolutely loved the storytelling and the emotional depth/descriptios and its one of my favourite books now.

This book made me feel every emotion all at once, a bittersweet masterpiece.

This is one of those rare books that leaves you still obsessed with it after finishing, and that is such a special feeling 

I absolutely loved the storytelling and the emotional depth/descriptios and its one of my favourite books now.

This book made me feel every emotion all at once, a bittersweet masterpiece.

This is one of those rare books that leaves you still obsessed with it after finishing, and that is such a special feeling 

The film ‘Stand by Me’ has been a favourite of mine since I was a child so I was very keen to finally read the book. 

I was surprised at just how close to the source material the film was. The book doesn’t really expand on the film in any substantial way, but it was still expertly written as is always the case with Mr King.

Andy Nicolaides

The film ‘Stand by Me’ has been a favourite of mine since I was a child so I was very keen to finally read the book. 

I was surprised at just how close to the source material the film was. The book doesn’t really expand on the film in any substantial way, but it was still expertly written as is always the case with Mr King.

A short, yet thoroughly enjoyable read. 

This movie is based on the novella 'Apt Pupil' from Stephen King's collection DIFFERENT SEASONS. A teenager (Brad Renfro) makes the acquaintance of a Nazi war criminal (Ian McKellen) hiding out in a surburban community and becomes his 'pupil', promising to remain silent if the old German will speak of the atrocities committed in the concentration camps. Now a major film starring Ian McKellen , Brad Renfro (SLEEPERS), Kevin Pollack (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and David Schwimmer (FRIENDS), and directed by Bryan Singer, who was responsible for the highly acclaimed THE USUAL SUSPECTS.

Sian Wadey

This was part of a short story collection and it was fair to say it's one of Kings more disturbing stories. It was interesting, informative and was a great example of human behaviour at it's worst, but it was a hard read. I didn't enjoy it and I normally read a chapter of something happier afterwards.

This was part of a short story collection. I already knew and loved the story of the Shawshank Redemption and enjoyed the book just as much. This was one of the cases where it pays to read the book first as when reading I didn't feel the sympathy or love for the characters that I did while watching the film.

Different Seasons by Stephen King

This collection of short stories contained four, actually quite long stories including the original story of The Shawshank Redemption and The Body, which has since been adapted into Stand By Me. 
It's a great collection, particularly The Body and Apt Pupil, a story about a boy's obsession with his neighbour's dark secret. As always King's quality of writing is excellent.

Hannah Futterman

* Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - 5 stars 
* The Apt Pupil - 5 stars 
* The Body - 3 stars 
* The Breathing Method - 3 Stars

Mandy Picard

Very good story, love the movie as well. Some of the scenes in either the book or the movie are hard to stomach sometimes but all around, a good read.

The No. 1 bestselling author Stephen King's timeless coming-of-age novella, The Body - set in Castle Rock and originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the film classic Stand by Me - is now available as a stand-alone publication. We'd all listened to the Ray Brower story . . . he was a kid our age The small town of Castle Rock is tuning in to the news of a young boy who has gone missing from a nearby town. Gordie Lachance and his three friends set off along the railway tracks on a quest, determined to become famous by officially finding the boy's body. But their journey becomes a rite of passage, and as they cross the railway trestle and the tracks begin to hum, the boys encounter an intimation of their own mortality. Adapted into the 1986 classic film Stand By Me, The Body is an iconic exploration of friendship, loneliness and adventure, an unforgettable coming-of-age story by master chronicler of small-town adolescence and universal experience, Stephen King.

Brandie States

Not bad overall. I enjoyed it, quick read and a good book for October.

Emily

I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?

Stephen King never disappoints. Even though this is a short story, I felt like I knew the characters just as well as I would have in one of King's novels, and better than some characters in other authors' novels. 

At the heart of this novella lies a story of youth. A story that can only occur when one is a child. A story that can never be relived. There is an adventurous sense of wonder within the pages of this book, and it is one that no adult can ever achieve naturally. Only four kids would get bored one day and ask, "You guys wanna see a dead body?"

This is a tale of friendship, innocence, heartbreak, and reality. It is not one to be missed.

The start of the book was way too slow for the size of it. Out of 200 pages, there wasn't anything going on for 100 pages before I decided to stop.
A no for me on this one.

Mahasin S Ameen

Who doesn't like River Pheonix and Wil Wheaton?

Communists, that's who.

Different Seasons Four Novellas

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