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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I’m so deeply unsure of what I just listened to
This novela is often referred to online as the weakest novella within the Different Seasons book, but I absolutely loved it. The style very much reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe in The Fall of the House of Usher: the way the narrator discusses his vague feelings of unease about the gentlemen's club, the way he recounts the mysterious books on the bookshelf, the way he uses foreshadowing to hint something ominous is on the horizon. It's all superb.
It's a framed narrative in which the narrator is a member of a shadowy gentlemen's club that meets in a mysterious building to tell stories. The sparse details about the caretaker in charge hints that he is much older than he appears, almost as if he is supernatural or a ghost. The vague hints about the different rooms in the building make it seem like they might be never-ending. Eventually, after giving brief snapshots of previous stories shared at the gentlemen's club, the narrator gets to the main narrative in which a hyped up storyteller tells his first story: The Breathing Method. It's a tale about a OBGYN who is helping an unwed mother prepare to deliver her baby using the breathing method. It ends with plenty of vivid gore and supernatural elements to make it a true tale of horror.
However, the best part of the story to me was no the horror of The Breathing Method internal story, but the outer frame where the narrator gives the details of the club and his initiation into it. The language is just so captivating and the style really gives a sense of character to the protagonist that made it truly great.
It's a framed narrative in which the narrator is a member of a shadowy gentlemen's club that meets in a mysterious building to tell stories. The sparse details about the caretaker in charge hints that he is much older than he appears, almost as if he is supernatural or a ghost. The vague hints about the different rooms in the building make it seem like they might be never-ending. Eventually, after giving brief snapshots of previous stories shared at the gentlemen's club, the narrator gets to the main narrative in which a hyped up storyteller tells his first story: The Breathing Method. It's a tale about a OBGYN who is helping an unwed mother prepare to deliver her baby using the breathing method. It ends with plenty of vivid gore and supernatural elements to make it a true tale of horror.
However, the best part of the story to me was no the horror of The Breathing Method internal story, but the outer frame where the narrator gives the details of the club and his initiation into it. The language is just so captivating and the style really gives a sense of character to the protagonist that made it truly great.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The fourth and final story of the Different Seasons collection is, in many ways, an outlier when compared to the novellas that preceded it. It's shorter, stranger, and it's the one that treads furtherest into King's typical "horror" wheelhouse. It's actually more of a story within a story, and while that may seem unnecessary for an already somewhat short piece of writing, it actually makes sense within its structure and format.
The "outer" story (and the one that I personally find to be a little more interesting) follows and older man named David Adley who gets invited to a mysterious club by a superior at the law-firm where he works. At first this seems like a pretty standard affair, but when he gets to "The Club", it's actually an extremely bizarre and uncanny place. There seems to be an infinite number of rooms and corridors, its library is filled with books and authors that don't seem to actually exist in the real world, and the butler, Stevens, is a very enigmatic figure who actually lives in The Club, and seems not to age. It all seems like something straight out of The Twilight Zone, or maybe some weird Twin Peaks spinoff, but the entire setting has an awesome atmosphere, and the one that I think best plays into the "Different Seasons" shtick running throughout this collection with King doing a really marvelous job of painting a picture of a cold winter night in New York. But The Club, and really this whole part of the story, effectively just exists as a framing device for the "inner" story of The Breathing Method.
Essentially, the members of The Club gather around every night to hear someone tell a story to the group. It becomes more of an event around Christmas, however, when the stories are specifically supposed to be scary or deal with the macabre in some way. So on this particular holiday season, we get a story told by a doctor named Emlyn McCarron about a patient of his, a single pregnant woman named Sandra Stansfield, who is determined to give birth despite how societally taboo single-motherhood was at that time and place. Being the incredibly brave and driven person she is, however, she doesn't take any grief from anyone, and is steadfast in her goal. Sandra begins to practice Dr. McCarron's "breathing method" designed to help women through the various stages of labor. Unfortunately, as Sandra is in labor and on the way to the hospital, the taxi she is in spins out on the icy roads and crashed into a statue, decapitating her. But despite what should be instant death, her headless body continues using the breathing method just long enough for Dr. McCaron to deliver the baby. And just before her death, her separated head mouths the words "thank you" to Dr. McCarron.
The writing here is a genuinely interesting mixture of the grotesque and the elegantly beautiful. The supernatural will of Sandra to deliver her baby is just as affecting as the fact that the body giving birth is essentially a corpse, but for completely different reasons. When McCarron's story is over, we get another couple pages at The Club, but none of its mystery or enigma is ever explained or given further detail, which is actually something I appreciate. King very well could have tried to hamfist some explanation for the weird idiosyncrasies happening all around this place, but the fact that he doesn't works to solidify its pure, unexplainable strangeness. Of the novellas collected in Different Seasons, this is probably the least emotionally profound, and the one with the least discernible "message", but I don't think those were its goals in the first place. It exists to paint an uncanny picture that just leaves you feeling a little... weird. And by those standards, I think it does a wonderful job. I don't know what exactly happens in The Club, or why, but maybe that's for the best anyway.
The "outer" story (and the one that I personally find to be a little more interesting) follows and older man named David Adley who gets invited to a mysterious club by a superior at the law-firm where he works. At first this seems like a pretty standard affair, but when he gets to "The Club", it's actually an extremely bizarre and uncanny place. There seems to be an infinite number of rooms and corridors, its library is filled with books and authors that don't seem to actually exist in the real world, and the butler, Stevens, is a very enigmatic figure who actually lives in The Club, and seems not to age. It all seems like something straight out of The Twilight Zone, or maybe some weird Twin Peaks spinoff, but the entire setting has an awesome atmosphere, and the one that I think best plays into the "Different Seasons" shtick running throughout this collection with King doing a really marvelous job of painting a picture of a cold winter night in New York. But The Club, and really this whole part of the story, effectively just exists as a framing device for the "inner" story of The Breathing Method.
Essentially, the members of The Club gather around every night to hear someone tell a story to the group. It becomes more of an event around Christmas, however, when the stories are specifically supposed to be scary or deal with the macabre in some way. So on this particular holiday season, we get a story told by a doctor named Emlyn McCarron about a patient of his, a single pregnant woman named Sandra Stansfield, who is determined to give birth despite how societally taboo single-motherhood was at that time and place. Being the incredibly brave and driven person she is, however, she doesn't take any grief from anyone, and is steadfast in her goal. Sandra begins to practice Dr. McCarron's "breathing method" designed to help women through the various stages of labor. Unfortunately, as Sandra is in labor and on the way to the hospital, the taxi she is in spins out on the icy roads and crashed into a statue, decapitating her. But despite what should be instant death, her headless body continues using the breathing method just long enough for Dr. McCaron to deliver the baby. And just before her death, her separated head mouths the words "thank you" to Dr. McCarron.
The writing here is a genuinely interesting mixture of the grotesque and the elegantly beautiful. The supernatural will of Sandra to deliver her baby is just as affecting as the fact that the body giving birth is essentially a corpse, but for completely different reasons. When McCarron's story is over, we get another couple pages at The Club, but none of its mystery or enigma is ever explained or given further detail, which is actually something I appreciate. King very well could have tried to hamfist some explanation for the weird idiosyncrasies happening all around this place, but the fact that he doesn't works to solidify its pure, unexplainable strangeness. Of the novellas collected in Different Seasons, this is probably the least emotionally profound, and the one with the least discernible "message", but I don't think those were its goals in the first place. It exists to paint an uncanny picture that just leaves you feeling a little... weird. And by those standards, I think it does a wonderful job. I don't know what exactly happens in The Club, or why, but maybe that's for the best anyway.
The fourth and final story of the Different Seasons collection is, in many ways, an outlier when compared to the novellas that preceded it. It's shorter, stranger, and it's the one that treads furtherest into King's typical "horror" wheelhouse. It's actually more of a story within a story, and while that may seem unnecessary for an already somewhat short piece of writing, it actually makes sense within its structure and format.
The "outer" story (and the one that I personally find to be a little more interesting) follows and older man named David Adley who gets invited to a mysterious club by a superior at the law-firm where he works. At first this seems like a pretty standard affair, but when he gets to "The Club", it's actually an extremely bizarre and uncanny place. There seems to be an infinite number of rooms and corridors, its library is filled with books and authors that don't seem to actually exist in the real world, and the butler, Stevens, is a very enigmatic figure who actually lives in The Club, and seems not to age. It all seems like something straight out of The Twilight Zone, or maybe some weird Twin Peaks spinoff, but the entire setting has an awesome atmosphere, and the one that I think best plays into the "Different Seasons" shtick running throughout this collection with King doing a really marvelous job of painting a picture of a cold winter night in New York. But The Club, and really this whole part of the story, effectively just exists as a framing device for the "inner" story of The Breathing Method.
Essentially, the members of The Club gather around every night to hear someone tell a story to the group. It becomes more of an event around Christmas, however, when the stories are specifically supposed to be scary or deal with the macabre in some way. So on this particular holiday season, we get a story told by a doctor named Emlyn McCarron about a patient of his, a single pregnant woman named Sandra Stansfield, who is determined to give birth despite how societally taboo single-motherhood was at that time and place. Being the incredibly brave and driven person she is, however, she doesn't take any grief from anyone, and is steadfast in her goal. Sandra begins to practice Dr. McCarron's "breathing method" designed to help women through the various stages of labor. Unfortunately, as Sandra is in labor and on the way to the hospital, the taxi she is in spins out on the icy roads and crashed into a statue, decapitating her. But despite what should be instant death, her headless body continues using the breathing method just long enough for Dr. McCaron to deliver the baby. And just before her death, her separated head mouths the words "thank you" to Dr. McCarron.
The writing here is a genuinely interesting mixture of the grotesque and the elegantly beautiful. The supernatural will of Sandra to deliver her baby is just as affecting as the fact that the body giving birth is essentially a corpse, but for completely different reasons. When McCarron's story is over, we get another couple pages at The Club, but none of its mystery or enigma is ever explained or given further detail, which is actually something I appreciate. King very well could have tried to hamfist some explanation for the weird idiosyncrasies happening all around this place, but the fact that he doesn't works to solidify its pure, unexplainable strangeness. Of the novellas collected in Different Seasons, this is probably the least emotionally profound, and the one with the least discernible "message", but I don't think those were its goals in the first place. It exists to paint an uncanny picture that just leaves you feeling a little... weird. And by those standards, I think it does a wonderful job. I don't know what exactly happens in The Club, or why, but maybe that's for the best anyway.
The "outer" story (and the one that I personally find to be a little more interesting) follows and older man named David Adley who gets invited to a mysterious club by a superior at the law-firm where he works. At first this seems like a pretty standard affair, but when he gets to "The Club", it's actually an extremely bizarre and uncanny place. There seems to be an infinite number of rooms and corridors, its library is filled with books and authors that don't seem to actually exist in the real world, and the butler, Stevens, is a very enigmatic figure who actually lives in The Club, and seems not to age. It all seems like something straight out of The Twilight Zone, or maybe some weird Twin Peaks spinoff, but the entire setting has an awesome atmosphere, and the one that I think best plays into the "Different Seasons" shtick running throughout this collection with King doing a really marvelous job of painting a picture of a cold winter night in New York. But The Club, and really this whole part of the story, effectively just exists as a framing device for the "inner" story of The Breathing Method.
Essentially, the members of The Club gather around every night to hear someone tell a story to the group. It becomes more of an event around Christmas, however, when the stories are specifically supposed to be scary or deal with the macabre in some way. So on this particular holiday season, we get a story told by a doctor named Emlyn McCarron about a patient of his, a single pregnant woman named Sandra Stansfield, who is determined to give birth despite how societally taboo single-motherhood was at that time and place. Being the incredibly brave and driven person she is, however, she doesn't take any grief from anyone, and is steadfast in her goal. Sandra begins to practice Dr. McCarron's "breathing method" designed to help women through the various stages of labor. Unfortunately, as Sandra is in labor and on the way to the hospital, the taxi she is in spins out on the icy roads and crashed into a statue, decapitating her. But despite what should be instant death, her headless body continues using the breathing method just long enough for Dr. McCaron to deliver the baby. And just before her death, her separated head mouths the words "thank you" to Dr. McCarron.
The writing here is a genuinely interesting mixture of the grotesque and the elegantly beautiful. The supernatural will of Sandra to deliver her baby is just as affecting as the fact that the body giving birth is essentially a corpse, but for completely different reasons. When McCarron's story is over, we get another couple pages at The Club, but none of its mystery or enigma is ever explained or given further detail, which is actually something I appreciate. King very well could have tried to hamfist some explanation for the weird idiosyncrasies happening all around this place, but the fact that he doesn't works to solidify its pure, unexplainable strangeness. Of the novellas collected in Different Seasons, this is probably the least emotionally profound, and the one with the least discernible "message", but I don't think those were its goals in the first place. It exists to paint an uncanny picture that just leaves you feeling a little... weird. And by those standards, I think it does a wonderful job. I don't know what exactly happens in The Club, or why, but maybe that's for the best anyway.
It's a good story, but the ending is a little unsatisfying. I kept reading because the build-up of suspense worked, but there was nothing very remarkable about the ultimate reveal.
The theme of this story fits Stephen King's repertoire, as does the story-within-a-story structure, but this is definitely not his usual writing style. When I read King, it sounds like a Midwestern White Guy is talking to me - like Bruce Springsteen bought a split-level in Des Moines. In The Breathing Method, it sounds more like a 19th century author of suspense is speaking - Edgar Allen Poe, or maybe H.P. Lovecraft. Also, this story isn't set in Maine, and makes no reference to King's previous stories, which he tends to do.
I'm only up to 1982 in the Stephen King Project. It will be interesting to see if this writing style pops up again later.
The theme of this story fits Stephen King's repertoire, as does the story-within-a-story structure, but this is definitely not his usual writing style. When I read King, it sounds like a Midwestern White Guy is talking to me - like Bruce Springsteen bought a split-level in Des Moines. In The Breathing Method, it sounds more like a 19th century author of suspense is speaking - Edgar Allen Poe, or maybe H.P. Lovecraft. Also, this story isn't set in Maine, and makes no reference to King's previous stories, which he tends to do.
I'm only up to 1982 in the Stephen King Project. It will be interesting to see if this writing style pops up again later.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.25. The only weak link in Different Seasons, but mercifully, the shortest. This is fine. A bit of a cozy winter horror tale, but quite skippable.