Different Seasons

1982 · Book · Stephen King

first-person narrativepost-traumatic stress disorderWorld War IIlaw schoolVietnam WarGermans

“There's a guy like me in every state and federal prison in America, I guess-I'm the guy who can get it for you.”

Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four Stephen King novellas with a more dramatic bend, rather than the horror fiction for which King is famous. The four novellas are tied together via subtitles that relate to each of the four seasons. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (external link, opens in new tab)--the most satisfying tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape since The Count of Monte Cristo. Apt Pupil (external link, opens in new tab)--a golden California schoolboy and an old man whose hideous past he uncovers enter into a fateful and chilling mutual parasitism. The Body (external link, opens in new tab)--four rambunctious young boys venture into the Maine woods and in sunlight and thunder find life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. The Breathing Method (external link, opens in new tab)--a tale told in a strange club about a woman determined to give birth no matter what. (source (external link, opens in new tab)) by Stephen King