Customer Reviews
Masterful - By: Jeffrey M. Black, 04 Jan 2009 
Any writer would give their eye teeth for for just one of these story ideas. It's a mark of King's genius that he can almost throw them away as short novellas (though he does churn them out a little too often these days).
When I casually remark to non-Constant Readers that 'Stand by Me' & 'Shawshank Redemption' are Stephen King stories, I enjoy seeing their looks of surprise. In some people minds, he's been stuckin a horror category with hacks like James Herbert. This collection firmly dispels that notion as he investigates adolescence, corrupting evil & the triumph of the human spirit & rounds it off with a creepy fireside tale.
Of course horror is present here, but it's of the non-supernatural variety. The apparent feelgood tale of teenage camaderie centres around the very boyish desire to see a real dead body - only to confronted & changed forever by the ordinariness of death. Meanwhile, another teenager's morbid curiousity about Nazi death camps sees him change from perfect (if slightly arrogant) student into a monster as he discovers a war criminal lives locally.
Most people will pick this up for 'Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption'. I'd read this before I'd seen the film, so I'm not sure what it must be like for people who do the reverse. However, reason the film is successful is that it sticks to the plot & brings the characters to life.
The final story, 'The Breathing Method' is almost overlooked because it follows three tales where King is at the absolute peak of his dark powers. Whilst not quite as compelling as its predecessors, it's still a damn fine read.
The next time you hear somebody sneering at you for reading cheap trash like Stephen King, just hand them a copy of this. If they're still sneering after that, it's their loss.
Amazing - By: Zoe A., 26 Nov 2008 This is one of my favourite books.
We have four short stories, each around a bit more than 100 pages long & corresponding with the four different seasons. A tale of spring hope, summer corruption, a fall from inocence & a cold winter's tale.
The typical horror story is the one of winter & is chilling, i.e. normal King horror fashion.
But the others are something different altogether.
The horror of the summer story, about a young boy & how his mind is corrupted, you feelin the pit of your stomach. King, never one to shy away from graphic detail, creates a true atmosphere of forebodingin this shocking story.
The tale of spring is astounding, it gives you a true insight into a world anyone who has not been to prison has never seen. It's an inspirational story & leaves a real impact on you.
The Body - the one about autumn/fall - is about four young boys going to discover something morbid & how their journey towards it has a great effect on them. It's a really touching story, & it will move you to an extent that will stay with you forever.
Each of the four stories is narratedin true King manner, the characters being so real it's almost as if you know them personally. A great book.
Incredible Collection - By: J. Vale, 15 Aug 2008 Different Seasons is a collection of 4 novella's, each rather different but all incredibly well written. The four novella's are 'Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redeption', 'The Body', 'Apt Pupil' & 'The Breathing Method'.
The novella's are somewhat different to King's other work. The novella's do have undertone's of horrorin them, but horror or the aim to scare the reader is not the point of the collection. Each of the novella's are full of emotion, humour & suspense - which helps create some of King's best work.
'The Body', later made into the popular 'Stand By Me', is my favourite of the novella's. It is a great story of friendship & growing up, which King writes well aboutin this &in 'It'.
Buy this now!! You won't be dissappointed!
Art of the Novella - By: D. Thompson, 11 Jul 2007 Different Seasons is a collection of 4 novellas, each setin a different season. The stories do not interlink except for a few minor references to each other here & there.
The most notable thing that will first hit you upon reading is that none of the stories are horror, as you may have expected from Stephen King.
What you get are four beautifully crafted individual stories. However, it must be said that each story still does hint upon certain 'horror aspects', but I believe this to only be part of good storytelling & not King slipping into his usual typecast role. The final story 'The Breathing Method' has the strongest connection to horror, being very reminiscent of an Edgar Allan Poe story.
Three of the stories have been made into films, The Shawshank Redemption, The Body (Stand by Me) & Apt Pupil. So the likelihood is that you may have already seen at least one of the adaptations. Do not let this pass you up on reading Different Seasons. Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption as well as Apt Pupilin novella form are far superior & enjoyable to their movie counterparts.
My personal favourite of the novellasin Different Seasons is Apt Pupil. The sheer human psychological torture & overall bleakness makes an outstanding read. It pushes far beyond what a film of our time would DARE to reference to. I should perhaps warn you of the bleakness you will find whilst reading it. But the human condition is a strange thing, & you will find yourself at times questioning why & how you are being entertained by reading it. Amazing.
Four out of four - By: dogbarkssome, 11 Aug 2006 Different Seasons is a collection of 4 novellas, & is notable for seeing King beginning to stretch away from writing just horror tales, though there is certainly enough macabre moments contained here to keep the more bloodthirsty fans happy. `Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption' tells the story of a wrongly convicted murderer & his escape from prison, seemingly a tale told so many times there's nothing more to add, but King transforms this into a beautifully moving character study. `Apt Pupil', while containing no supernatural elements, is certainly close to King's horror territory, being a disturbing a tale about a young boys blackmail of an ex-Nazi concentration camp commandant. A trifle overlong perhaps (this `novella' is around the same length of King's debut novel Carrie) but the bizarre double-blackmail relationship between the two characters is compulsive, & the dispassionate finale is memorable. `The Body' is undoubtedly the highlight of the collection, & certainly one of the best things King has ever written - a thinly-disguised childhood reminiscence fictionalised as a successful authors thinly-disguised childhood reminiscence - it captures brilliantly the coming of age from childhood to adulthood, & features some of King's best prose. Finally `The Breathing Method' is a back to basics old-fashioned horror story - all the basic tropes are familiar genre favourites: the mysterious gentleman's club where Lovecraftian things slither out of sightin upstairs rooms; the Victorian-style Christmas fireside ghost story - but King injects some modern-day grand guignol splatter horror to keep things fresh - slightly ridiculous, but good fun.
With four long storiesin different genres, & every onein it's own way is successful, this is an excellent collection, & one of King's best books.
