Different Seasons Part 4: The Breathing Method

The fourth story in Different Seasons is "The Breathing Method".

This is a story told at a Private Club in New York City one Christmas about a young pregnant woman determined to deliver her baby, regardless of what has happened to her.

Character Dr Emlyn McCarron tells about a patient of his, Sandra Stansfield, who paid for his help in delivering her baby in the pre-WWII era. He introduced her to what he called the Breathing Method to help control the pain and help her concentrate on the birth - what we now call Lamaze.

Sarah was beheaded in a terrible accident outside the hospital as she was arriving by taxi to deliver the baby. As Dr McCarron arrived at the hospital to deliver the baby he bears witness to Sarah's headless body continuing to perform the Breathing Method and aids it in delivering the baby. Once the baby is safely delivered Sarah's body finally dies just as the eyes on her severed head close.

When I first read this story it really made me pause and think about a parent's dedication to their child. You know, there have been a lot of strange, and sometimes unexplainable, things that have happen in the world and this story isn't too far out of the realm of probability - in my opinion anyway.

As horrible this story is in it's description of the birth it is equally pleasing to the reader because the baby lives due to it's mother's dedication to it. Stephen King has given the reader the feeling of feeling sadness and satisfaction at the same time, kind of a reader's version of speed.

This has not yet been made into a movie, but I have heard that there is a screen play out htere that is being shopped around. We'll just have to wait and see if this is indeed the case.

For you teachers out there this story is available as a level 4 intermediate reader from Penguin Publishers. There are fact sheets/teacher notes available on line as well.

A Winter's Tale

Different Seasons - Part 3: The Body

The third story in 'Different Seasons' is 'The Body'.

This story takes place during the summer of 1960 in the Stephen King created town of Castle Rock, Maine. A kid named Ray Brower from a nearby town had gone out to pick berries and never returned. Twelve year-olds Gordon Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio, discover the location of the corpse of Ray Brower through an eavesdropped conversation and decide to go find it.

The rest of the story is about their adventures, and misadventures, in their journey to discover the body and unknowingly, themselves.

Along the way the boys are faced to not only faced with certain perils and dangers ( ie. on coming train while on a bridge), but they also realize that they are getting older and once school starts they may never be the same again.

It is a classic coming of age tale as only Stephen King can tell it.

The movie adaptation was called 'Stand By Me' and was directed by Rob Reiner. I find the movie adaptation of this novella to be very good and it stuck very close to the original story.

Another awesome story.

Fall From Innocence

Different Seasons - Part 2: Apt Pupil

The second offering in Different Seasons is 'Apt Pupil'.

This story is set in the fictional suburb of 'Santo Donato', in San Diego. The main character is thirteen year old Todd Bowden. After discovering an old World War II magazine in his friend's garage Todd becomes interested in Nazi Germany, in particular concentration camps. He is really taken by this one photo of a German camp officer and realizes that the reason why he is captured by it is that it is actually a photo of one of his neighbours.

The rest of the story takes place over a period of 4 years and follows the relationship that develops between him and his 'wanted for war crimes' neighbour.

Everyone can talk all they want about how scary Stephen King books with vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and the like are, but nothing is more scary than the human capacity for inhumane acts on humanity. I found this story disturbing when I read it - I actually lost sleep over it with nightmares. Give me a good vampire story any time.

With that being said, I still enjoyed the story (even though I did lose sleep over it).

This story was also made into a movie by the same name. I found the movie to be alright, and it stuck to the original story fairly well, but I found it less disturbing than the print story.

'Summer of Corruption'

Different Seasons - Part 1: Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption

I'm going to do a four parter on the Stephen King book entitled "Different Seasons". The book itself is made of 4 novellas, each dealing with certain aspects of humanity and human nature.

The first offering in the book is "Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption".

This story is truly a gripping tale of an innocent man's, Andy Dufresne, incarceration in Shawshank Prison. The longer Andy stays in prison the more hope becomes harder to hold on to, especially after proof of his innocence emerges and later disappears by those who run the prison because Andy has become a valuable commodity to his incarcerators.

This is clearly my favourite story in the book, as the story is powerful and is written in a first person narrative from another prisoner's, Red, point of view. Stephen's character development in this story is wonderful. King has you wrapped up and caring about these prisoners - murderers some of them - so quickly that it is truly hard to put the book down.

This story was also turned into a movie simply called "The Shawshank Redemption" and aside for a few plot changes to make the story better suited for the 'big screen', the movie sticks exceptionally well to it's origins.

The movie itself is also one of my most favourite movies of all time. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are each awesome in their roles as Andy and Red. They somehow managed to get the characters from the book and put them on screen virtually unchanged.

Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption is clearly one of the best reads you'll have in a long time, and not only that but the movie is probably also one of the best movies you'll ever get a chance of seeing.

"Hope Springs Eternal"