belle book and candor: Novella November: Seasons Change

"Things come in three major degrees in the human experience, I think. There's good, bad, and terrible. And as you go down into progressive darkness toward terrible, it gets harder and harder to make subdivisions."

"An ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic" is how Stephen King described the novella in the afterword of this collection, and of course he of all authors would say that.

King laughs in the face of the 'slim novel' as even his leaner efforts seem to feel wide, and wander around in their labyrinths longer than the norm. It's why I wondered if placing this book among the miscellany of novellas I read and revisited for this monthly series was a bit fair. Different Seasons is a whopper at 600+ pages, as it contains not one little novel, but four B-I-G novels. The stories pack a punch, and have in a way, outgrown the spines they've been sewn in as three of the four novels have all gone on to become feature films, two of them (Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption and The Body) now considered to be classics and some of King's best adaptations set to celluloid.

Different Seasons itself is also considered to be his best collected work of shorts and novellas for this reason, and I concur. For a time I thought Night Shift had that title on lock, but nah, Different Seasons yanks that crown off of its head, as he doles out some of his finest writing and introduces us to some of his most enduring characters in this collection.

Released in 1982, Different Seasons was considered "un-publishable" at the time due the four tales detouring away from the horror genre that made King serious coin, and it's true, this collection is devoid of supernatural elements, but there are things present that are tangible to terrify and evoke shivers. King excels at putting a lens on humanity (and inhumanity), making humans being as monstrous as we are capable to be, and this collection knows no different. The "monsters" in Different Seasons, whether it be the occupants in a looming maximum penitentiary, a former Nazi war criminal and his psychopathic adolescent tormentor, or four young boys who come face to face with death, do roam, and roam a range that only King himself could concoct.

Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption

"It always comes down to two choices. Get busy living or get busy dying."

Capturing its motto "Hope Springs Eternal" perfectly, Shawshank Redemption is about banker Andy Dufresne's struggle for survival and sanity as he faces a life sentence for murders he didn't commit, and the friendship between him and a fellow prisoner that buoys his hope to not allow the prison system to define and dictate him.

King borrows a bit from a 1872 Leo Tolstoy short story entitled, "God Sees the Truth, But Waits" with this one, but still to me, this is one of King's best, and most complete works, where everything from setting to pacing to narration is crafted effortlessly. Of course the 1994 film starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is a masterpiece that manages to out class and overshadow its source material, and has aged better than the Academy Award winner that beat it out (sorry, Forrest Gump). Like most, I saw the film first via cable television before ever laying eyes on the text, and since the film is so complete in its own way it almost seemed redundant to read it, but I was happy to find that King's ease of prose and dialogue paces this story along afresh.

We become acquainted with Andy Dufresne through the voice of fellow lifer and goods smuggler Red*, who is drawn to Andy by his stoic and orderly demeanor, that sets him a part from other inmates. The two become acquainted when Andy asks Red if he can have a rock polisher, a rock pick, and then a poster of screen actress, Rita Hayworth to hang on his cell wall.

"They mean the same thing to me as they do to most cons, I guess. Freedom. You look at those pretty women and you feel like you could almost ... not quite but almost ... step right through and be beside them. Be free."

As the decades grind by, the pin-up beauties change, Andy learns to allow the prison system to work for him, and due to his accounting talents he gains trust with guards and corrupt wardens, and respect from fellow inmates. Through all this Andy's refusal to accept his fate never wavers, and its this refusal that proves inspirational. As I've gotten older, I now feel the two best King adapted films reside in a fictional prison (waves to The Green Mile), and maybe that is credit to King for bringing hope to one of the most hopeless institutions on this earth, all while portraying criminals in a humanizing way.

Shawshank is truly classic story that takes pause and admires the power of human determination and strength.

* = I can't be the only one who read this story in Morgan Freeman's voice...

Rating: *****

Apt Pupil

For "Summer of Corruption" we bare witness to the draining of the hope springs, as 13-year-old Todd Bowden discovers that one of his neighbors, Kurt Dussander, is a Nazi war criminal once known as "The Blood Fiend of Patin". When Todd goes to confront the now-elderly man, the two of them descend into a twisted and toxic bond where both of them feed and gnaw at one another. If you wanted monsters, here you have it, as these two over the course of the story mutate into some of the most vile and grotesque human beings King has ever created, and they come in the guises of those who seem the less suspecting.

Coldblooded is what I'd call this narrative. It's the longest of the four, and its utter meanness is stifling to a point where I had to put it down for a few days just to get if off my mind. Problem was, I couldn't. The characterization and psychological downward spiral was just too fascinating to ignore, and even when I wanted to look away, curiosity killed me.

This tale does comes with a warning label as there are Holocaust torture flashbacks, animal cruelty (warning for all you cat lovers...), rape fantasies, and murder, so be prepared. Still as brutal as this story is, it's masterful in how it explores how evil and history doesn't remain dormant, and can be unearthed and courted anew. You may find yourself wondering like I if Todd becomes who he was destined to be, or if Dussander and his heinous past was just that influential or vice-versa, but that question remains suspended in the air in the best possible way. The conclusion of this, while ruthless and expected is unforgettable and will knock the wind out of you.

Rating: *****

The Body

I'm committing ultimate sin here, but I never cared much for the 1986 film, Stand By Me.

Yes. I'm evil.

I prefer my "group of (white) boys that go on adventures and come of age one summer in the 1960s" in the form of The Sandlot. So already I went into this tale not enthused. Still, the book is better than the movie, right? Erm. I didn't care for it in written form either, even more so. The premise of four boys who trek on out to find the dead body of a missing boy does stir the imagination, and does give a darker slant to the coming of age tale with an suspenseful train sequence in play, but I just found this...a bit middling? I just didn't feel anything after I finished it which took me off guard considering the first two stories gave me all the feels, good and bad.

Also, as much as I do adore King when he's finessing characters, he spends too much time here telling and not showing, sketching characters instead of not making them take a life of their own on the page, that I grew a bit bored and found myself skimming pages.

Rating: **

The Breathing Method

Hulu's Castle Rock was some soulless bullshit that managed to ignore the sage advice stated in this particular story: "it's the tale, not who tells it". Even though this "Winter's Tale" doesn't really go anywhere (like Castle Rock...), it at least knows what it's supposed to be (unlike Castle Rock...). The narrator doesn't matter --- King has two of them --- but its all about atmosphere and pace, about what isn't being said as apposed to what is, about making the "it was a dark and stormy night" trope do a handstand, and about allowing this story within a story to just be.

Since this is the lone novella here that hasn't been turned into a film (though there have been rumors since 2012) it's hard to grasp a visual in some way, but King paints the scenes well, as things start of cozy and foreboding as we follow a lawyer off the beaten path to an exclusive Manhattan men's club where one of its members tells a tale about a woman's determination to have a child, no matter the (gruesome) circumstances.

You don't know where this one is going, and it's all the better for it.

Rating: ***

////

from the margins