Different Seasons - Stephen King

Aha! I have finally managed to drag myself away from Procrastinationville in order to write about one of many fabulous books by the King. Perhaps this might be a little biased, as adore almost every aspect of King's work seemingly unconditionally, so it might not be so much a review as a recommendation. Either way, let's crack on.

Overview

'Different Seasons' is a collection of four short stories (one for each season); 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption', 'Apt Pupil', 'The Body' and 'The Breathing Method'.

The stories are vastly different, and are all hypnotically captivating. I had to take this book in to work in order to continue to read it during my breaks, despite the fact that they are only 15 minutes long, as I was so desperate to find out what would happen next.

I read the stories out of sequence; the first one that I read was the last one in the book. 'The Breathing Method' is the tale of an unmarried pregnant woman in a time when society shunned her for this very reason. The ending is a gruesome twist that is oddly empowering towards women.

'The Body' had many elements in it that I believe inspired the masterpiece that is 'It'. The similarities are clear, and both stories show the loss of childhood innocence in chilling ways. However, I feel that there is a certain amount of self-insertion in this story that is also present in 'It', and several other King stories, which is a little uncomfortable to read.

The other two stories are equally spellbinding, but I shall leave them out in the name of space-saving.

Pros

• Four times the captivating plot lines!
• As always, King manages to word so concisely intricate areas of human thinking.
• The characters remain believable no matter how wild their actions or situations are.

Cons

• At times the narration can be long-winded.
• The aforementioned self-insertion

All in all, this book is a must-read! I would recommend it to people that have attempted to read King before but have found the books difficult to sink into. These stories are short enough for the "interesting parts" to be relatively quick to get to.

Rating - 9/10