Different Seasons

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Four gripping novellas tied together by the changing of seasons.

Hope Springs Eternal

"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"

An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge...the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption.

Summer of Corruption

"Apt Pupil"

Todd Bowden is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American 16-year-old - until he becomes obsessed with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. The inspiration for the film Apt Pupil from Phoenix Pictures.

Fall from Innocence

"The Body"

Four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face to face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. The film Stand by Me is based on this novella.

A Winter's Tale

"The Breathing Method"

A disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.

©1982 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Hypnotic." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"To find the secret of his success, you have to compare King to Twain and Poe - King's stories tap the roots of myth buried in all our minds." ( Los Angeles Times)

"Buy Different Seasons. I promise you'll enjoy it.... He creates people who are so alive, you can almost sense them." ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

incompetent use (misuse) of chapter/track marks

Good stories and narration, but the audio technician/production engineer got the brilliant idea to omit creating individual tracks for each chapter, leaving us with only four absurdly long tracks, each for one story, even though these stories each had many individual chapters. Apparently this same audio technician thought it was a good idea to have 0.000 seconds of silence between each story. so the story ends and the next story has begun immediately. you don't get 3 seconds. you don't get two seconds, you don't get one second, you don't get ½ a second or even GOD FORBID ⅛ of a second a silence between each story. Whoever did this just did not understand their job in the least.

4 Great shorts.

4 of my fav shorts from King. Written after Carrie,Salems Lot, his editor, trying to keep him from being “typed” as a horror writer, thought it would “hurt his career”. Ha! So these are not “horror” stories,though there are some great creepy moments. All very well narrated. I felt i was walking on that adventure with those boys in “The Body”. Kneeling in the snow, frantically trying to help in “Breathing Method”. I think this is the 3rd time either reading or listening to this set. Be sure to listen til the end another treat from King himself,discussing his shorts, novellas or “god forbid,novelettes”. I enjoy these additions as much as his stories, ALWAYS brings a couple big LOLs

Like a quadruple-layered drink:

The first two stories, really good! The third, still tasty, but not as flavorful. The fourth, nothin’ but watered-down slush. Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption: Book adaptations rarely measure up in film, and hardly ever surpass them, but in this case it absolutely did. Not to say the writing isn’t good, it’s awesome, but Darabont managed to do the near impossible and take King’s 5-star read and turn it into an off-the-charts ten when he wrote and directed the film version. Apt Pupil: Overall the story is better, although nothing can top Ian McKellen’s performance as Dussander in the film, the greatest part being when he starts to transform back into his younger days when forced to march. The Body: Quite interesting and nostalgic, but not as strong as the first two. The Breathing Method: Life’s too short to waste time on hoping a story will get better if you stick around long enough. This rarely ever happens, and even if it does it doesn’t make up for the waste of time leading up to it. After thirty minutes of ‘hoping’ I had to throw in the towel and move on to something better. Life’s just too short.

Love!

Absolutely love this book of novellas and I must say, frank muller is so far my favorite narrator! I feel like he really brought these stories to life! I would highly recommend this book!

Solid stories, solid narration.

What else can I say bite sized King for when you are craving a snack.

Great Stories

I enjoyed all he stories & it's sad how the movies are sooo off when you read the books. The books are so much much better. (Yes 2 "muches" on that one)

The narration though, wasn't real enjoyable. If they had Will or Joe (Mr King does the best narration on his own books though) read it could have...no, scratch that...WOULD HAVE made the stories 100 times better!!

Onto the next book, if you haven't listened to it read Duma Key or Bag Of Bones by Mr King....you're missing 2 great stories with epic narrators. (Mr King being1 such awesome narrator)

You'll see me in the reviews there ;)

Enjoy your books & may you stay fearful when needed & young at heart all the time.

Classic King

Shawshank Redemption The Body (stand by me) Apt pupil The Breathing Method Narrated by the King of audiobooks: Frank Muller Need I say more?

Excellent Listen

A truly enjoyable King experience. Frank Muller as narrator is perfect. He captures every character and enriches each story.

4 novellas full of storytelling!

King is king. Great writing as usual. I love to listen to Stephen King.#expressive
#tagstakes

WOW

Four stories 3 having movie adaptations. What would be the shawshank redemption is great as usual. The body a
a.k.a stand by me isnt as good as the film but still good. Apt pupil is honestly the best story here I had never heard of it but man was it a wild ride I wish it was a full novel. The breathing method is a lil weak tho. It tries too hard to be shocking but it does hint to something reminiscent of the dark tower.
Nartiators were all great.