Three Out of Four

When an anthology has three-quarters of its stories adapted to films, that is a hint that it probably has some pretty good stories, especially when one of them is often at the top of best movie lists.

Stephen King, an author who writes a lot of horror, took a break from his thrilling style to write Different Seasons, a four-story collection with the short novels "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", "The Body", and "The Breathing Method". Although the latter does seem to be an attempt at scariness, it sends nothing more than a slight shiver up the reader's spine.

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", which was turned into the Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins movie The Shawshank Redemption, is about a man named Andy Dufresne who goes to Shawshank Prison. He was convicted of killing his wife and her lover, a hotshot golfer. He was framed, as the narrator, a man nicknamed Red, is sure to point out. Red, the man who can get items for prisoners from his connections outside of the prison, is interested by the sorts of things that Dufresne wants, including a rock hammer and a rock blanket, as Dufresne was a geologist in his earlier life. As Dufresne becomes accustomed to Shawshank and the way things work in a prison, his friendship with Red grows.

The story is a clever tale about a softspoken man who must get used to the terrible realities of prison, including the cruel security guards, the unfair wardens, and the "sisters", bands of marauders. King writes a story about one man from another man's point of view smoothly. Although the idea seems like it could be quite cumbersome, it is handled with literary finesse. This is a good story that was even better than its acclaimed film.

"Apt Pupil" is a quite different story. It is about a young boy named Todd Bowden. He is mostly a normal kid--a B student, excellent pitcher, good family. However, Todd is also fascinated sadistically by the German concentration camps during World War II. Much to his surprise and happiness, there is an ex-Nazi commander living in his town, not to far away from his own house. Todd goes to meet the Nazi, a man named Kurt Dussander who assumes the name Arthur Denker. As the two talk to each other, they each get a hold on each other, and will not let go.

"Apt Pupil" is a great story that shows the coming of age of a disturbed child and his effects on an old man haunted by his past. King writes this tale excellently, showing the complete characters of Bowden and Dussander and the changes they make after they meet each other and try to get the best of the other. This is a story that truly shows King's ability as a writer.

"The Body" is about four kids grownig up in Maine, Vern Tessio, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Gordon Lachance, who hear about a child's death on the radio. Vern tells the others that he overheard his brother talking to his friend that they had seen the dead body while driving around, and Vern wanted to go find the body so that they could report it and be famous. The boys embark on the journey to the body of Ray Brower. On the way, they work their way through hardships together, so that the story becomes less of a trip to a corpse, and more of a bonding novel for young children.

This is the best story in the book. The short adventures the children go through to find Brower's cadaver are interesting and show the true friendships that the kids have with each other. It is not the story that is the good part about it, although the story is really good, but the relationship the kids have with each other, especially Gordon and Chris. It is a very good story, and is one of the best I have read by King.

The fourth story, "The Breathing Method", is about a man named David who is invited to a club by his business partner. He goes, but is surprised by the mystery and unusualness of the place. There are books in the club that the local library does not even have in their system. There are poems in anthologies that have never been written. Companies on machines never existed. Something is obviously odd about the place. And then when a doctor tells a story of an unmarried pregnant woman, the club is discovered to be a little bit odd.

"The Breathing Method" had great potential to be by far the best story in the book. The way the normalness of the building and the place was juxtaposed with the impossibilities inside of it could have made for a very interesting story. However, it seemed as if King did not want to work hard enough to come up with a good ending either for the doctor's story or for his own, and decided to just leave it with a mediocre, half-worked ending that does not explain anything. The book makes stabs at horror, but the only scary thing about it is how Stephen King could write something so under-average after three very good stories.

Like The Stand, also by Stephen King, this book has some very mature themes and language, especially "Apt Pupil". Younger readers should wait to read this, but should definitely pick it up at their parents' discretion.

King scores a three out of four with this anthology. My main suggestion would be to read "The Breathing Method" first, even though it is the last story in the book. All four novellas are unrelated except for minor references in a couple of them. That way you will not be disappointed with the last story. Except for a hiccup King had in one of the stories, Different Seasons is a very good anthology.

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Seasons-Signet-Stephen-King/dp/0451167538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250965412&sr=8-1

Rating: 8.5